Discuss the wholesale blanks industry: Factory direct, custom labels. You can also use this forum to locate a wide variety of wholesale products including t-shirts, hoodies, mousepads, coffee mugs and other imprintable products.
I had a question regarding what you might be noticing as far as trends in the sizes in your area. Here in NY area, I am selling considerably fewer 5XL & 6XL. Most of my customers are only wanting up to 4XL now. Also, the urban wear guys are telling me they don't want the t-shirts as long any more, but still longer (taller) than regular tees.
The other trend I'm seeing in the urban / hip hop market is guys actually wearing slim tees, like american apparel. Now I don't know if this is just particular to NY or is it happening in your markets as well?
I'm putting in my production for thermals, hoodies, and zip-up only up to 4XL. But I'd love to get some feedback from the forum on any trends you see in the urban / hip-hop blanks to see if I'm on the right track.
I've seen pretty much the same thing, although it's still pretty diverse.
There are still some ubran/hip hop fashion folks that like the super big t-shirts and there's a whole 'nother set that likes the more fashion fitted designs.
Im kinda late to this thread but heres my .02. When dealing with the urban market the trends switch so fast its sometimes hard to know which direction to go in. Fortunately for me Im in the south, so if somethings hot on the east coast right now it wont be hot here for another few months. Another thing is to spend some time researching music videos, celeb interviews, etc. As this is wear most urban customers look to find the newest "style". As far as the big t's Ive always found this ridiculous. Im a big guy, I wear a 4x-5x Tee. Ive seen guys a lot smaller than me wearing a 6x. I think that is starting to phase out though.
Also, hip hop/rap is starting to go into this "rock star" phase. So the fitted T's maybe a good idea. A lot of my customers want something similar to "affliction clothing"
This is not just an NYC thing. I'm in B-more and the trends are going in much the same directions. The super long tee is dying a slow an painful death. We have essentially phased the 36 to 40 inch length shirts out of our line. Watch the hoodie sizes though, most seem to still want thos as baggy as we can get them, or at least the men do.
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I'm not an artist, but I play one on t-shirts
Thanks for the feedback. I'm headed to Magic in Vegas tomorrow. Maybe get a better idea of what's happening. I'm getting inquiries for the more fitted or "rock star", as Blacklegends put it, and perhaps in pigment dyed as well so I'm working on sampling for spring 08. also all of a sudden v-neck tees are hot.
Any tips on which hip hop/rap artist to watch right now? thanks again
I noticed Ecko dropped their sizes to a more fitted tee like the Zoo York line. Used to be an XL fit like a XXL. Now its more true to size. Not that they are the style guru's but they are a popular line to follow as far as trend research goes.
Personally, I like and wear longer tee's. Not dress-like... but longer more comfortable fit. My customers seam to like this as well. A good mix of old and new styles. Somewhere "in-between" is a good falling point. The American Apparel fit (Euro fit) is not a style I see adapted to the hip-hop scene, but dress-like tee's are definitely dying out.
Just got back from Magic in Las Vegas this morning, and all I can say is t-shirts, t-shirts and more t-shirts. oh, and zip-up hoodies. with prints, paints, stones, crystals, and anything else you can think of thrown on them.
the "rock star" look with the faded, pigment dyed, or garment wash tees is making in-roads into the urban market. but the cut is more of a regular tee than the tall tee. and as Beatmaker said, not quite the American apparel fit either. I hadn't been to Magic in about 12 yrs so it was a bit of info overload.
it's a great time for a buyer, with so much variety in the market, and not so rigidly segmented. also, for designers, since everyone is looking for something fresh, at the same time it is challenging to get noticed amidst all the noise.
Ed Hardy and his imitators seem to be the mainstreams design darlings of the moment. which in the urban market often means that it'll be burned out by end of 2008. so milk it while you can.
everyone seemed very uncertain at the show, vendors and buyers. back-to-school sales were a flop for most retailers and wholesalers. so, I don't know how that bodes for the economy as a whole.
I would suggest keeping inventories lean and overheads low. not that you shouldn't anyways, but especially now.
Hey Ayaz, thanks for the first report back from Magic.
Anything really wow you this year?
sorry for the belated response.
I guess the only thing that really wowed me was the sheer number of little guys (not mean't disparagingly) with their own labels and designs. I mean it's a buyers heaven, but a marketers hell. how do you get yourself known?
from my perspective, I'm trying to make a couple of basic t-shirts right, probably 145gsm and 175gsm, and then I can do small private label runs for a lot of the guys.
Hey Broadwaytees,
I'm in Philly and the hip hop crowd here is getting into more of a form fitting tee. I hope this information will help you and good luck in your ventures.
question about hip hop t-shirt sizing trends 
