Re: Melbourne? source info
madmaxx
Yes, like me, you are finding the quality blank situation in Australia pretty dire.
I found Dollarshirts to be too expensive, also, because of their shipping charges - do some calculations, and I think you'll see what I'm saying. Maybe they're ok for very large orders.
Ounce was utterly useless in my experience - I tried to get a simple quote on some Ts and shipping to Perth and they didn't reply to my emails, then apologised and said they'd get back to me, ignored two subsequent reminders from me, then said they'd lost my emails and asked me to resend them. I did so, and they never got back to me, ignoring a further reminder. I will not reward that sort of inefficiency with my business, so they're permanently crossed off my list.
Sanmar is the best US blank source I've found so far (incidentally, many of the US wholesalers that look promising from their websites won't ship to Aust, or internationally generally - apart from Hawaii for obvious reasons, and US Forces bases).
If you are not concerned about name brands, it is possible to source nice heavyweight Chinese blanks.
I forget who, but someone told me of a Chinese retailer in Melbourne who sells good heavyweight cotton Chinese Ts @ 2 for $7, but only in Men's styles and only in black or white...that's as good a price as I've seen in many months of researching Aust sources, BUT the Ts are not the well-known brands like Gildan, FOL, Hanes, Port and Co etc that are relatively cheap and commonplace in the States...don't know if this matters to you, but I fear that prospective customers would be put off by no-name Chinese Ts, even if the quality is good.
The other route I've been exploring is sourcing blanks direct from China, but so far, I have not had any success. It's very difficult when the web is your only contact source. Most Chinese manufacturers/agents/wholesalers deal in container-loads. My initial order limit would be in the hundreds max, so many lose interest when they become aware of that.
One last comment: Kmart has started selling Gildan Ultracotton 2000, which I think is a good quality T - they were on special a couple of weeks ago @ $15 for 2. That's about as good as it gets in Oz, for Gildans - in my experience, at least.
You might consider using an American fulfilment company to do your printing and supply American-brand Ts. It seems ridiculous that it is cheaper for Aussies to have our Ts printed and supplied from the States, but for small operators, it is the best option I have come across so far. I think at least one of your fellow Melbournians, Monkeylantern, carries on his business using Aust sourcing, but from what I can work out, he has a decent sized business. Scale is the big problem if you're just starting out. Nothing is cheap when you are ordering small numbers (same in any business, of course), but it does seem particularly expensive for T designing/printing start-offs in Aust.
All very annoying.