Discuss the process of getting your t-shirt line into brick and mortar stores and selling offline. Topics include industry tradeshows, events, line sheets, sales reps and other retailing tips and advice.
I am going to sell t-shirts at an event. I have the event t-shirts all ready and good to go. I do not have my brand attached to the event t-shirts. But I do have a website and brand that I am going to promote out there while selling the event shirts. I am going to print up giveaways with my site/brand on them. The shirts I sell on my site consist of tee's that have my logo and a bunch of novelty/funny stuff. The tee's are 100% cotton ringspun when you order from my site. I was thinking of printing some shirts from my site to sell at the event but using a 50/50 and selling them at a lower price. Almost like a sampling of whats on the site but instead of using my higher end shirts that I sell on the site between $16-18 use a slightly less expensive shirt and lower the cost. Also, It will be very hot out and I think a lighter weight shirt will sell better. Has anyone done this? Will I make my brand look bad for doing this? Someone suggested that I sell the shirts at the same price and that the customers kick back is not having to pay shipping since I have the product on hand. What do you guys think??
PS. this will be the "coming out" of my logo and brand.
Signed,
Ignorant to the business side of t-shirts selling.
I happen to use Gildan 6.1 cotton tees but I get just as many orders for 50/50 tees if not more. Both shirts are Gildan and the price difference is like 3 cents so I don't see where you feel that the 50/50 is a cheaper quality shirt and that by using it will hurt your brand or that you will sell if for cheaper because it is 50/50.
I also use the Hanes 6.1 tagless and the Hanes 50/50 sometimes and the price difference is still only a few cents.
I don't see why you would sell it for lower because of this. Again in my area, I have just as many customers that request 50/50 over 100% cotton if not more.
The 100% cotton ringspun are slightly higher and run between 4.2-4.5 oz. It almost seems like the lighter the tee the more expensive. Gildan 100% cotton and 50/50 are almost the same price ..yes. But I get people telling me that the 6.1 is too heavy so I don't use 6.1 for my brand.
But I sell the 100% cotton ringspun on my site which is a softer lighter tee. I dished out money for the event shirts plus have to go out of town for the event so I am on a tight budget. I guess what I want to know if it is bad that I don't use the original shirt (ringspun) that I sell on the site to using a 50/50 (cheaper than the ringspun) to sell designs from my site at the event.
I can't say I'm a fan of the idea. Everything you do represents your brand, and I think consistency is important. Are the event customers not as discerning? Sophisticated? Deserving? Why sell a higher quality product to one group than another? If cost cutting makes sense for them, why doesn't it make sense all the time? I guess I'd just say I have concerns
As far as not paying shipping... you also hope to get a higher conversion rate when selling in person. Shipping is a weird thing in people's minds. I think people regard it as a necessary evil, and even if they're not thinking about it consciously they're aware that you don't get to keep the money. Mentally, it's more like a tax or a fee than part of the product cost. It's not really something you can profit off if it's not there; people expect not to pay it in person, so it can't be used as a justification for cutting corners ("You're paying less, so I'm profiting more by giving you a crappier product... that way we both win, right? Right?? Where are you going...")
__________________ "Ah, Henny Penny," said Chicken Little, "the sky is falling, and I must go and tell the king."
Yeah I got ya, Solmu. It's true .... I need to be consistant with my product. I was trying get some designs and samples of what I carry on my site and get exposure AND try to cut corners at the same time. That does not go hand in hand. I did some thinking and I'm just going to bite the bullet and shell out for the original t-shirts from the site. I won't be able to get as much tee's as I hoped but maybe when I run out that will have them turn to the website.
For event I'm using Gildan 50/50 tee. Those will not have the Wicked Monkey label on it. The shirts on the site are a Hanes ringspun 4.5 100%ringspun cotton t-shirt.
The gilden is probably the 5.6oz and the hanes is the 4.5 oz ringspun tee. There isnt a huge difference in price. Do you perceive the feel of the 50/50 inferior to the hanes especially after a wash?
The event shirt which is a heather ringer is a little more expensive than the Hanes that I use for the site shirts. I had dished out quite a bit of money for the event shirts then had the idea to promote the website at the event that when I looked at what funds I had left it I was thinking well maybe I can do some designs from my site and sell them at the event. I was going to take advantage of the Alpha sales they have every now and then and print some designs from the site and sell them. I never find sales with the Hanes that I'm using for the site so I thought I would just get the regular Jerzees or Anvil whatever was on sale and print them up and sell them but at a lower cost than the website since it's not the original tee I use. But Solmu did make a good point about needing to be consistant. So instead of purchasing 75 Jerzees that is not the original tee on site than just going ahead and ordering 50 of the shirt that is on the site. I was just wanting to purchase as many tee's as I could for the amount of money I have left. Does that make sense?
How do I go about this?? 
