[BEatMaKeR]

Hello.

I'm new here, but in my last 4 hours as a member on these boards I've seen more information catered to the small t-shirt startup's than I've found in 2 months of online searches! That's amazing. And I'm thankful. So props to the person (or persons) who developed this site.

On that note... Let me introduce myself and ask a few questions.

I'm based in Baltimore, Maryland - USA. I'm looking to start up a small clothing line (beginning with t-shirts) and I'd like to of course brand my clothing with our identity as well as have a particular quality about them. I'm all about the quality of the material and quality of the finished product(wether it be screen printed, embroidered, or combination of both).

A few things I'd like to achieve:

1) have a QUALITY, thick-durable, SOFT, 100% pre-shrink cotton t-shirt base material. 6oz or better.

2) be able to put my own tag's on the shirts (would like the place to label or relabel them for me - possibly even supply the tags if I supply the art)

3) like most urban brands now-a-days (i.e. Ecko, Akademiks, Phat Farm) I'd like to use the cool inside trim of the shirt to put a customized, repeating brand name, and have it sewn into the shirts like they do. Its looks great.

4) I'd like the shirts to be Made in the USA. Not 100% critical, but definitely a selling point for me.

5) Be able to order small quantities (say 100 of each shirt style)

6) Would like the place to do GOOD, QUALITY, screen printing that CAN use specialty processes and inks like high density, glow-in-dark, etc.

7) Would like the place to also have ability to do complex embroidery (DO NOT want to pay ridiculous setup charges for digitizing artwork and will supply art in any format that adobe illustrator CS2 can export as)

8) Would like the ability to chose shirt material colors from as WIDE range as possible (even choosing my own PMS matched colors if possible).

9) Would like the finished shirts to be pre-packaged (folded in bags)

10) Would like to have my own retail style hang tags (made as stickers) placed on the shirts with plastic attachments.

11) Would like to keep costs down to a reasonable price for all of this (preferably $6 or below per shirt).



Please.... I'm open to suggestions... alternatives.... info. Also, if you could please give me information about your dealing with the companies you refer to me that would be wonderfully helpful. Did you like their service? Are you affiliated with them? Have you gotten products and/or services from them? That sort of thing. But especially, where you HAPPY with what you received in the end. And how does it compare to anyone elses suggested places.

Also, if anyone see's any problems in the things I've mentioned I'd like (albeit, a one source solution not such a good idea & why) or anything of that sort... it would be very helpful as well.

????

Thanks kindly.

 

[Twin85]

americanapparel.net

 

[BEatMaKeR]

Thanks, I'll check them out.

Could you give me a little more insight into them?

 

[Twinge]

American Apparel is probably your best bet for shirts made in the US. They offer a quality shirt and several styles, though perhaps not as many colors or the same price than Gildan shirts can give you.

Not sure what kind of wholesale rates you'll get from American Apprel directly, if they aren't very good you should look at broder.com and see what prices they have. You will need a tax license for either of these, though.

I'd suggest your order the shirts wholesale and supply them to a local screen printer to print the designs up for you. Look around at prices and such for local printers... if you get them done locally you'll have on shipping costs. Shops may charge you a little more labor if you provide the shirt, but they probably charge so much more for the shirt that you'll still save a fair bit buying the shirts yourself. May very well depend on the shop, though.

In general, though, it looks like you're looking for someone else to do all of the work save marketing and design and you get all the money =) You probably will not find anyone who will provide shirts, printing, tagging, and packaging for the kind of price you desire.

 

[BEatMaKeR]

American Apparel's shirts are pretty descent. Although not the thickness and quality I'm going for. The Haynes Beefy T and the Gildan Ultra cotton so far are about the best I've found. Unfortunately they aren't American Made.

One underground brand called 'Fifty24SF' has a very good quality shirt made in the USA that is comparable if not better than those two. I ordered the shirt from UpperPlayground.com whom their affiliated with. I even emailed them to ask what brand of shirt their base material was. I only found out that their printing company orders the shirts and tag's them. I didn't get a response when I asked who the printer was. I guess some things are top secret. LOL

Also, just to clarify... I'm not saying I'm not willing to work at getting things done several different places. But really, why? There should and probably is a few places out there that are full service t-shirt manufacturers. Because if there isn't... that would be the business to be in. It would make all the $$ just simply by being a consolidated place to get stuff done.

I'll keep searching... but there has to be some other suggestions.

Anybody??

 

[SpacemanFL]

Check out http://www.ssactivewear.com for a variety of brands. You need a tax id. to get the price list. I found the Jerzees ZT was superior to 14 others I tried including the Hanes Beefy T and also .12 cents cheaper. None of them are made in the USA though.

 

[jdr8271]

Jerico sportswear is a t-shirt manufacturer in Canada. I know that they will put custom tags into shirts for large quantity orders. Id check them out. http://www.jericosport.com

 

[aokusman]

Hanes beefy is no way near the quality of AA. Hey, check out alstyle.com

 

[Twinge]

Beatmaker: I'm sure there ARE places that will handle everything for you (even shipping out, potentially) but they will want more than $6.00 per shirt, is what I was saying. A friend of mine that runs www.syswear.com basically has someone else handle everything for him (no tag switching AFAIK) but they charge him over $10.00 per shirt to do that (not sure of the exact amount). Understandable since they are doing more of the work.

 

[BEatMaKeR]

Thanks all for your replies.

aokusman, I did get samples of alstyle.com's shirts. Nowhere near the quality or thickness I was looking for. And the AA is just too darn thin. Its waaay softer than anything else out there I've gotten. But the thin shirt is annoying. I like some 'heft' to a good tee. I wish they offered a thicker material.

Its very hard to find shirts at 6.1oz or better other than the Haynes Beefy T or the Gildan Ultra cotton. I'm not sure about the Jersey Z you mentioned SpacemanFL? What's the thickness of that shirt? Why is it better than the Beffy T or Gildan Ultra? Is cost the only factor in your decision or quality and thickness?

Twinge, I took a look at your friends site. Wow! I can't believe he's paying $10 or more a shirt and only selling them for $17.99! How does he make any money? I'd be willing to pay $10 a shirt for everything in my list up there. I'd gladly pay that. But I'd have to sell them for $24.99-$32.99. Still, where does your friends get his shirts made that he gets all that done in one place? I'd like to check them out.

Thanks again everyone for your suggestions!!!

 

[Twinge]

Because he doesn't do anything besides make the designs and promote the site. He's making plenty for what he's doing, I think =) The guy he has a deal with also kind of screen prints on demand for him... every week or so he'll print up all the orders, which can mean doing a run of one 1 shirt at a time. That's definately part of the cost right there. He's got a pretty special deal going on there and I don't know if he'll do it for others, so it probably isn't worth persuing the same company. I'd suggest doing more yourself so the cost is less.

You'll be hard pressed to get anyone to pay more than $25 for a t-shirt (especially a normal male's shirt), and even that's pretty high; $10-25 is the normal range, with $15-17 about the average.

 

[BEatMaKeR]

I know. $24.99 is about right... but $32.99 is still ok for special knit shirts like Ecko does allot. I happily pay $32 for a nice shirt with some seriously detailed knitting on it. Its just amazing quality for attention to detail. They are also almost always combinations of knit, embroidery, and screen printing in one. I can't image how much that costs to make. So I'm sure the mark-up is small. But because their made in probably the 10,000-100,000's they are likely getting a good manufacturing price I'm sure.

 

[Twin85]

Beatmaker, there are places out there that are verticle factories that will do a complete package, but you have to have the numbers. If you are just starting out then you are wasting your time and money trying to find someone like this. I have been at it for two years and just now am getting everything custom done under one roof.

I don't know what market you are after, but find a printer in the yellow pages. Tell them what you want, he will order the shirts and print for you.

Forget the tags and the poly bags, it is not a must have for a start-up and really doesnt make a difference. Walk into any department store and there will be shirts in there with just the AA tag. If you want tags then do a google search, you can get them for around 10 cents each and then go to your local dry cleaner or tailer and they will probably sew them in for you.

AA has basically every color you want and if you have the numbers they will even do custom colors. Concentrate on your designs and your pitch and worry about small details later.

 

[mothertongues]

Beatmaker, I agree with previous posts that you'll be hard pressed to find all of that for such a cheap price... But it also depends on a lot of factors, like what kind of screenprinting you do. Some of my Ts have 6 colors on the back, (see the ubuntu t-shirt at my Printmojo site: www.printmojo.com/mothertongues), that dramatically increases the price.

I started at Printmojo, just to get it going, and then switched to local printing to save on those shipping prices. I found somebody locally, who is basically like a "broker" for me - she has all the wholesale and printing contacts, and she is organizing the printing of my own tags now, I just send her the artwork and order, and she delivers it at my house! And it works out cheaper than any printer I could find myself.

About T-shirts: I print on Authentic Pigment Ts (available at a lot of places) - good quality, heavy, but not locally made...

Good luck!
Peace,
Michelle
www.mothertongues.biz

 

[BG Concepts]

Hey Beatmaker...depending on how serious you are about actually starting this, our company does do the things you're wanting done, minus the poly bags...we can do retail hang tags if you'd like though, sticker or normal cardboard...we can also do relabeling if you want to throw in your own shirt label.

Basically, we can do everything on your list...instead of me listing it all out, if you're interested, just PM me or email me.

 

[BEatMaKeR]

Yes, I'm very serious about this... I'll PM you for more information.

Thanks!

 

[JPOLO2001]

When you get any answers to your questions please let me know. I've been in the business for a minute and I still don't have it all worked out.

P.S. Good luck on the line holla at us and keep us updated with your progress. 1

 

[conspiringmind]

I believe another company that sells american made products is Alternative Apparel, i looked into them but we decided to go with American Apparel.
http://www.alternativeapparel.com

 

[Twinge]

JPolo: You have a horizontal scrollbar at 1024x768 (On Firefix, dunno about IE)... you shouldn't even have one at 800x600 if at all possible. Also, the shrit images look really akward, like they are stretched out one way or something.

 

[nathanwide]

Hey BEatMaKeR you ever find a nice thick t-shirt? I have been looking for one also. Hey BG Concepts you mind if I email or PM about some of the same requests?