Discuss the various t-shirt fulfillment services in this general fulfillment forum. Newer companies like RedBubble, etc can be discussed in this main forum.
Companies that have been around 2+ years (CafePress.com, Zazzle.com, Spreadshirt.com, PrintMojo.com, PrintFection, etc), may have their own separate subforums below (as demand permits).
I have a small t-shirt brand I’ve been working on for a while. I stuck on choosing a good fulfillment service; I have read a lot forums posts but I’m still a tad lost.
My basic requirements are this:
1. I don’t want to handle the selling process (e.g. handling the cash) at this stage.
2. Would like to print on American apparel quality tees.
3. Don't want the site to have obvious fulfillment service brandings (eg cafe press bar across the top.)
4. It would be nice if I could get custom labels or label-less printed. eg print inside the collar type style.
5. Ideally isn't like zazzle where they only give you 10% of the profit.
6. Ideally delivers to the Asia pacific region a bit faster thank 10 - 12 days.
7. Quality is King; I'm really picky about the quality.
An ideas or opinions are welcomed; I'm going to go back to trawling the forums!
Sounds like you need to be doing your own fulfilling.
Your wish list is the reason people don't use fulfillment companies, and instead do it in-house.
If you have to use fulfillment, put your list in descending order of importance and choose the company who can deliver the most from the top of your list. You won't find a company that can do it all-not and have a competitively priced product.
1. I don’t want to handle the selling process (e.g. handling the cash) at this stage.
3. Don't want the site to have obvious fulfillment service brandings (eg cafe press bar across the top.)
I think these two requirements will cause you the most trouble.
If another company is processing the transactions for you, it is required that they have some obvious branding so that the customer knows and remembers the company name that will show up on their credit card statement.
If you handle the processing yourself, you may have more options available to you.
After thinking about the branding requirement, I relised I just didn't really want obvious branding on my home page while the users surfs my site and products, having the branding during the check out isn't so bad. It all about branding i dont want customers to think "Cafe Press" own me
A this stage its really about seeing if anyone would like my designs, I can always move to doing my own fulfillment further down the path. test the waters rather than jumping in head first
Currently PrintMojo meet this requirement, do you know of any others?
Check with RawTalentInc.com as well. I think they may also fit that requirement.
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6. Ideally delivers to the Asia pacific region a bit faster thank 10 - 12 days.
Not sure about this requirement either. For reasonably priced international shipping (USPS Global Priority or First Class), it can sometimes take longer than 10-12 days depending on the location and the postal service speed (and customs agents) of the country it's going to.
I Think I might use a fulfillment service to distribute my designs globally, and buy them myself in large quantities to distribute locally (eg to local shops).
The thing that turned me away from spread shirt was the DTG printing, I assumed DTG wasn't as good as screen printing from a quality perspective, or am I totally wrong with that assumption? I would hate to have my shirts fade after a couple months or a year.
PrintMojo do the label removal / replacement. I thought SpreadShirt would too but now I can’t find where I read it (maybe I’m mistaken)
So is DTG that good? or is screen print better? Does DTG have unlimitedish colors?
Thanks Guys, Really appreciate everyone’s help so far, -Maxus
So is DTG that good? or is screen print better? Does DTG have unlimitedish colors?
This is an often debated subject Some people may prefer DTG and others prefer screen printing.
DTG can print a very wide range of colors in very small runs (as small as 1 t-shirt).
Screen printing can print a wide range of colors, but you need larger runs to make it cost effective (24+ - 50+ per design)
If you research both DTG quality and Screen printing quality here in the forums (try searching for dtg vs screen printing), you'll find lots of opinions and experiences posted on the subject.
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I thought SpreadShirt would too but now I can’t find where I read it (maybe I’m mistaken)
As far as I know, spreadshirt doesn't do relabeling. They do offer some extra branding opportunities on the packing slip (and outer shipping packaging I think)
By the way, Spreadshirt's main trump card isn't DTG....it's plot printing (flex / flock).
It means virtually no-fading and insanely high-quality prints.
Also, there's the possibility of printing glitters / glow-in-the-dark / special effects on the t-shirts, like allowing you to write on the t-shirt with a special marker pen and erase it away.
Imagine that on a t-shirt!
Anyway, since you intend to buy the t-shirts and buy them yourself to distribute it, then PrintMojo and CustomInk are the best way to go.
Other PODs like PF, SS, ZZ and CP just ain't economical if you intend to go that route.
Hi Xeon, How many colors can you do on flex flock? I not sure of the technology, haven't heard of it before. Does sound pretty cool though.
It's limited to just 3 colors, but in terms of fading-resistance, it defeats even screenprinting, if I'm not wrong. Also, the colors are very bright and solid, although it's not for every type of design.
If your designs are those highly complicated ones, it won't be suitable due to plot limitations.
You can see 2 examples of two Spreadshirt shops using plot printing here:
See? Their designs are pretty simple and solid types, not those super-complicated kind of tribal, grunge designs. Plot is good, but for people like me, I can only go DTG.
Choosing a Fulfillment service + Requirements 
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