[FacebookGroups]

Hi everybody,

Well, I'd first off like to thank the many members of this forum that have contributed with helpful posts to help noobs like me. If you haven't noticed, this is my first post. I've been reading up on opening a T-shirt store for a couple weeks now and without you guys it would have been a much more frustrating process.


Without further ado, I'll cut to the chase. This is my first shop and I absolutely have no idea what I'm doing. I'd like to get your opinion on my site design, products (I know they are few right now, I'm working on more), and what I can do to promote my store more. I'd like to stay away from essentially spamming (even though I am guilty of it a little) and get into more clean ways of getting my store exposed.

Any feedback would be much obliged!

Best regards,

A.J.

Store link :
FaceBook Groups- Trendy shirts for trendy people!

 

[freshlysqueezed]

You need way more designs! Also I don't really get the part about the 2 rainbows?

 

[FacebookGroups]

You need way more designs! Also I don't really get the part about the 2 rainbows?

Thanks for the reply! Yes, I'm aware aware that I need more designs. The rainbow shirt is in reference to a viral video on YouTube.

 

[EnMartian]

There really isn't much there. You're depending on the designs to get people to click through so they'll get more information, and I'm not sure that's going to work. I think you need a little bit more content on the front page. Why did you pick those particular designs? How do you decide which trending topics get made into shirts? Who are you guys?

I guess what I'm saying is I'm not getting any sense of personality from your site. You're creating t-shirts that are kind of capitalizing on being in on the joke or the trend, so you need to give the people who visit your site a way to feel they belong. Maybe have a vote on which trend gets made into a t-shirt next. Explain where the themes for the shirts you have made came from (the double rainbow is a good example - I didn't know that one either). A blog might be a good idea for you, because you could go in depth regarding your designs there.

Right now it pretty much looks, and please don't be offended by this, as though you couldn't think of any design ideas so you seized on Facebook and tried to use that. There isn't any reason given as to why you thought that was a good idea or wanted to spotlight the trends, so I'm guessing it won't motivate a lot of people.

Just my two cents, and please don't think me harsh. I just think honest feedback will get you where you want to go faster than saying it's nice and moving on.

 

[FacebookGroups]

There really isn't much there. You're depending on the designs to get people to click through so they'll get more information, and I'm not sure that's going to work. I think you need a little bit more content on the front page. Why did you pick those particular designs? How do you decide which trending topics get made into shirts? Who are you guys?

I guess what I'm saying is I'm not getting any sense of personality from your site. You're creating t-shirts that are kind of capitalizing on being in on the joke or the trend, so you need to give the people who visit your site a way to feel they belong. Maybe have a vote on which trend gets made into a t-shirt next. Explain where the themes for the shirts you have made came from (the double rainbow is a good example - I didn't know that one either). A blog might be a good idea for you, because you could go in depth regarding your designs there.

Right now it pretty much looks, and please don't be offended by this, as though you couldn't think of any design ideas so you seized on Facebook and tried to use that. There isn't any reason given as to why you thought that was a good idea or wanted to spotlight the trends, so I'm guessing it won't motivate a lot of people.

Just my two cents, and please don't think me harsh. I just think honest feedback will get you where you want to go faster than saying it's nice and moving on.

No harsh feelings at all. I really appreciate your feedback! It's that third person view feedback like that that steers me into the right direction.

I'll take everything you said into consideration. I plan on doing a revamp of the site tomorrow as well as adding some more designs. I'll keep you posted.

Once again, thanks for the detailed feedback!

Best regards,

A.J.

 

[kimura-mma]

I think it's a clever idea, but it seems like an intellectual property nightmare. You may want to seek some legal advice before you get too invested.

 

[mads]

I think it's a clever idea, but it seems like an intellectual property nightmare. You may want to seek some legal advice before you get too invested.

Yes, Disney and The Jonas Brothers could definitely lawyer up and have you pay for damage to their brand.

You need way more designs! Also I don't really get the part about the 2 rainbows?

It is a reference to this video: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI[/media] It's pretty awesome.

What I think of the site:
- FaceBookGroups isn't a very good name, because people will not know that you sell T-shirts – you could be a directory of Facebook Groups for all they know.
- The wood background is visually pleasing and adds personality to the site: good!
- Instead of just showing the plain designs, take some photos of the shirts! People want to know what they are buying. A design in photoshop and a finished shirt are not the same. I have bought shirts before just by looking and the design, and I was usually disappointed when they arrived.
- Can you change the color of the white bar in the top to the header blue or something resembling the wood brown? The solid white adds visual noise. Also, the text should be centered like your site. It is easy to overlook.
- Other than that, I like it. Very simple and to the point, which is nice.

 

[FacebookGroups]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I've been working on a revamp for a couple days now. I'll let you guys know when it's up!

As for the comments in reference to legal liabilities/copyright issues; I could probably see it for the double rainbow shirt, but I highly doubt Disney/Jonas Brothers/Justin Beiber could do anything about the shirt in reference to them. It's an opinionated statement.

 

[n.signia]

I agree on the name, maybe facebook shirts would make more sense, but then I'd be worried about that not being legal, I'm not a lawyer, but it leads one to believe you are affiliated with facebook. They will probebly have an issue with that. As for the look of the site, use shirts to show your designs, so the customer can see how the design will look on the shirt, gomedia has templates that you can get and in no time mock up shirts that look like real printed shirts.

 

[kimura-mma]

As for the comments in reference to legal liabilities/copyright issues; I could probably see it for the double rainbow shirt, but I highly doubt Disney/Jonas Brothers/Justin Beiber could do anything about the shirt in reference to them. It's an opinionated statement.

The statement itself is not the issue. The issue is the usage of registered trademarks and a person's name.

"Jonas Brothers" is a federally registered trademark for use on clothing. Unauthorized usage, in any context, is potentially infringement. I would say you are risk to be sued, or at least getting a cease & desist order.

All people have a Right of Publicity, which grants them the exclusive right to profit off their own name and likeness. So using Justin Bieber's name without permission is violating his right. Again, I would say you are at risk here.

"Facebook" is a federally registered trademark for a whole bunch of classifications including clothing. While you don't actually use the mark on your shirts, you are using it in your brand name and on your website. This creates enough confusion in the market as to whether your shirts are in some way officially affiliated with Facebook. That confusion is the basis for a potential infringement lawsuit.

As for using the titles of Facebook groups, I would think that Facebook could make a claim that it falls under their intellectual property. That claim may be completely unfounded. But they can certainly pursue action which would force you to shut down or pay the legal fees required to defend the action.

Sorry to be such a buzz kill. But these are all things to think about and be aware of as you get going.

 

[FacebookGroups]

The statement itself is not the issue. The issue is the usage of registered trademarks and a person's name.

"Jonas Brothers" is a federally registered trademark for use on clothing. Unauthorized usage, in any context, is potentially infringement. I would say you are risk to be sued, or at least getting a cease & desist order.

All people have a Right of Publicity, which grants them the exclusive right to profit off their own name and likeness. So using Justin Bieber's name without permission is violating his right. Again, I would say you are at risk here.

"Facebook" is a federally registered trademark for a whole bunch of classifications including clothing. While you don't actually use the mark on your shirts, you are using it in your brand name and on your website. This creates enough confusion in the market as to whether your shirts are in some way officially affiliated with Facebook. That confusion is the basis for a potential infringement lawsuit.

As for using the titles of Facebook groups, I would think that Facebook could make a claim that it falls under their intellectual property. That claim may be completely unfounded. But they can certainly pursue action which would force you to shut down or pay the legal fees required to defend the action.

Sorry to be such a buzz kill. But these are all things to think about and be aware of as you get going.

Not a buzz kill at all lol. Better to be safe than sorry. Mind you I haven't made a single sale till this day, so nothing is worth risking at the moment.

Just a thought though. In the same sense that Justin Bieber is a public figure and I could potentially be sued for referencing him on a shirt (defamation and what have you); President Obama is an even bigger public figure and yet CafePress have a featured market for pro and anti-Obama shirts. Some of those shirts even have Obama's face on them. Surely CafePress wouldn't condone illegal activity, nor would they risk themselves and open doors for potential lawsuits.

Anti Obama T-shirts, Bumper Stickers & Gifts

 

[mads]

Just a thought though. In the same sense that Justin Bieber is a public figure and I could potentially be sued for referencing him on a shirt (defamation and what have you); President Obama is an even bigger public figure and yet CafePress have a featured market for pro and anti-Obama shirts. Some of those shirts even have Obama's face on them. Surely CafePress wouldn't condone illegal activity, nor would they risk themselves and open doors for potential lawsuits.

Anti Obama T-shirts, Bumper Stickers & Gifts

I don't know the exact rules, but I would think it's impossible to register state officials as a trademark, because they aren't (or shouldn't be) directly involved in trade. Obama doesn't get paid to speak at conferences, Justin Bieber does however get paid to perform at a concert.

If you could trademark the government, free speech would be compromised.

 

[kimura-mma]

Just a thought though. In the same sense that Justin Bieber is a public figure and I could potentially be sued for referencing him on a shirt (defamation and what have you)

Defamation is not really the issue. Even if you were doing a pro Justin Bieber shirt, it is still violating his Right of Publicity. Any usage of a person's name or likeness requires license or permission.

President Obama is an even bigger public figure and yet CafePress have a featured market for pro and anti-Obama shirts. Some of those shirts even have Obama's face on them.

Mads is on the right track regarding elected officials. First amendment rights of the people come into play. And while elected officials don't actually waive their right of publicity, they generally do not pursue legal action against it because of the public backlash it would create.

Surely CafePress wouldn't condone illegal activity, nor would they risk themselves and open doors for potential lawsuits.

Generally speaking, t-shirt fulfillment sites are not a good guideline to follow regarding legal issues. The content of the products on the site are uploaded by users without any automatic filtration system that rejects copyrighted or trademarked material. The sites do their best to clean things up, but a lot of stuff slips by. The legal responsibility falls on to the users and there are many instances of infringement on these sites. I'm sure big time IP owners and attorneys browse fulfillment sites all the time and issue C&D orders where applicable.

 

[FacebookGroups]

Thanks for all the information guys. You learn something new every every day. Before I started to design my shop and start creating shirt designs, I was aware that I was entering murky waters in terms of legal issues. But I didn't think it would be this involved. I might have to reconsider game plans on this one.

My whole intention in creating this shop was to capitalize on trending topics (impulse sales if you will). More often than not, trending topics usually involve celebrities and famous people. I'm not exactly an artistic person myself (I'm a nerd programmer ) to create nice original shirts. This was more of a side venture to make an extra buck or two. lol

Thanks for all the help guys. I really appreciate your prolonged patience with my questions. And thanks for the thorough answers.


Best regards,

-A.J.