Greggor10

I just finished directing/producing a movie that has been picked up by HBO. It airs on June 16. I want to have a T-shirt made to sell on the web site beginning on June 14. I know almost nothing about the T business and as I peruse this site I am a bit overwhelmed at how little I know. I have begun discussions with a T-shirt designer, I have a few favorite T styles (including American Apparel) but I am wondering where does one start on so short notice? Any general advice? Where does one buy T-shirts for an initial run of 500? How much would I expect to spend on a good design? For printing?

Thanks and sorry for all the newbie questions.

-Greg

 

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Sheepsalt

Hi Greg,

Do you have an idea of what you want the graphic design to be and how you want the shirt composed? Just about anything is possible these days, but some things are more $$$ than others, so knowing what you want is key to getting solid pricing.

~Brian

 

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Greggor10

Thanks. I think it is probably best to keep the design to something simple and iconic. One color. Does this help?

 

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Sheepsalt

Yes, a 1-color design would be very easy.

 

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Rodney

Quote: but I am wondering where does one start on so short notice? Any general advice? Where does one buy T-shirts for an initial run of 500? How much would I expect to spend on a good design?

It's really a lot easier than it seems.

You're not really looking to become a t-shirt printer overnight. Sounds like you just want to sell some movie merchandise when your film hits the screen.

So you just:

1) Figure out what design you want and find a designer.

2) Take the design file the designer gives you and call around to a few screen printers.

3) Ask the screen printers how much it would cost to print your design on 500 american apparel t-shirts.

4) The printers give you quotes and you pick one to use.

5) The printers print up the t-shirts and ship them to you.

6) You put up a quick "buy now" button on the website using PayPal or Google Checkout with a picture of the t-shirt above it.

7) When people visit the website after seeing the movie, they can buy the t-shirt by clicking on the buy now button.


That's the basics

You can make it a bit more fancy by adding a "shopping" cart to your website which will make the ordering process and customer handling process easier. There are popular free shopping carts like cubecart, zencart, oscommerce out there that would work fine. If you have a blog on the website powered by wordrpess, thereare wordpress addons that work as a shopping cart.

Another option would be to use a fulfillment company to handle the printing, order processing and shipping of the products. This can free up some of your time if you end up having to ship a lot of t-shirts.

Another option would be to use a "print on demand" fulfillment company like Zazzle, Spreadshirt, CafePress, PrintFection to sell the designs. This would require less of an upfront investment because all you have to do is upload your design to these services and they will create an online store for you to send customers to . They will process the payments. When orders come in, they will print the t-shirt for you using "direct to garment" printers (not screen printing, but still nice quality). They will ship your printed t-shirt directly to your customer. They give you a "base price" for the products and you can markup the t-shirts above that base price to whatever profit levels you're interested in. At the end of the month, they send you a check for the sales you've made.

You have lots of options. It just depends on how much you want to do and if you have a printing type preference.

thread note: if you have questions specifically for greggor10 about his movie, please contact him directly via PM. The focus for these forums is helping him understand what his t-shirt options are. Not to make a sale

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Greggor10

Extremely helpful. Thanks.

 

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PP_CEO

My boyfriend and I, just started a merchandising company. Our first line is t-shirts and we are trying to figure out how to lower our cost per item. We are now paying $7.50 (3 colors/50 shirts)per t-shirt. I guess I need to know are we being unrealistic in thinking we can get a better price? I know part of the problem could be our quantity. At what quantity can we get a better price (generally) and what do you think a reasonable price would be at that quantity? Our sales price is $24, which is good when we sell directly to customers even at 7.50, but when we try to sell to retailers that's where the problem comes in.

 

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