My wife and I visited a very active flea market yesterday. There were tons of people and lots of vendors. The traffic is definitely there.
I made mental notes of the handful of printed t-shirt vendor I saw there.
The first printed t-shirt booth was selling a variety of solid color tees with japanese themed art work in a 5x7 rectangle in the front middle. The art looked fine but their setup felt unrelaxed. They had all their shirts folded on a table and they didn't post their price which was $15 a shirt. They used half of their 10x10 area for themselves behind the table to give themselves shade and a place to sit. As I looked at their t-shirts I felt like I was being watched and I didn't feel like handling their shirts as not to disturbed their nicely folded setup. It felt uninviting. They had a great sign though.
The second printed t-shirt booth felt more inviting with a friendly owner greeting anyone who walked in. He sat in the corner using the rest of the space for customers to come in and explore his merchandise. He appeared very established with a variety of cartoony animal characters on a wide array of colors and shirt styles. The shirts were all pinned to the wall and you had to ask him for a size which were all in large plastic tubs. I tried to google the store but couldn't find him although the company name was somewhat unique...too bad for that. The setup was inviting and his friendliness a plus.
Oh, his price price structure was 1 for $15 and 2 for $25.
There was a vendor with a very large setup. It must have cost $400+ for the market space. they had a variety of prints and possible "knock offs". Lots of racks and tables. People were all over it. It was nice to see people shopping for t-shirts in general.
I saw one booth selling prints on long sleeve thermals. It was 100 degrees at the flea market and you are selling thermals?!?!
I then ran across and t-shirt factory on wheels. The had a computer, vinyl cutter, epson, etc....in this truck with a window opening on the side. I'm sure they had a heat press in there somewhere. Most of the designs on display were "sayings" and mostly vulgar. I wouldn't want my kid near that store. I felt like I could walk up to them and ask them to put anything I wanted on a shirt and have it in a few minutes. Would've loved a tour of the truck
We then run into this lady with a beautiful booth and every label is perfect. The presentation was there and professional. The store had a woman's touch and it was used well. The theme was about peace with prints of MLK and Ghandi. She has a vision and that's fine....more power to her. If she were more "commercial".....she'd make a killing IMO.
The last booth bothered me becuase he had shirts
from $3 to $10. Most of the shirts looked like all over
DTG printed tees. All the shirts were branded with company name. I told my wife it bothered me that he was selling shirts for $3. Was business soooo bad that he had to price everything that low?? She told me the designs sucked....too busy...sloppy. I couldn't google this store either.
It was enlightening and we are still targeting a booth there in September. I told my wife I didn't care if we sold anything in September as long as our name got out and we had fun. She didn't respond....LOL
Scoped out a flea market...my thoughts and concerns 
Re: Scoped out a flea market...my thoughts and concerns 
