tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26995429844956089202024-03-14T03:25:50.384-07:00T-shirts OrgBilly Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.comBlogger159125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-77561847936359466372013-06-12T00:41:00.000-07:002013-06-12T09:32:50.654-07:00Shopping cart development continues - Woocommerce is my current mateI've been hacking different shopping carts together for Ekay.com and I hit a wall with the Cart66 set up in that I was only able to set two categories of options. That seems like enough options for any regular type of business, but not for me. I need at least 3 options on a regular basis; one for t-shirt sizes, one for t-shirt colors and one for tee shirt designs. I did quite a bit of work to add some products before I went searching for a new love and I was wooed by Woocommerce.<br><br>It is a confusing name and some of the plug-ins and themes are confusing, but it has been an easy transition from Cart66 to the Woocommerce except for having to recreate the products. Woo also interfaced with the credit card processor that I am using, so I did not have to start over for that.<br><br>I have also worked on expanding the Alstyle t-shirts being offered through and at Ekay in Los Angeles. The 1301 is a popular t-shirt for young men. Specifically the t-shirt known as the Triple A, AAA 1301, is a durable garment and it's thickness and full cut are something that the hip hop crew and skateboarders like. The Alstyle t-shirt line has tear away tags that can also be removed for printing in your own logo, so a lot of people who are starting out with making their own line of t-shirt like this benefit. The problems with this brand is that the inventory is spotty from time to time, so you can't always get all of the t-shirt colors and sizes that you need when you have a big order.<br><br>Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-19769684151304239302013-05-23T09:46:00.001-07:002013-05-23T09:46:15.022-07:00A T-shirt Shopping Cart is a form maker and I am a form readerBesides processing credit card information in a secure way, a shopping cart is essentially a form maker. The "Order" button allows a user to take an action, which adds bits and pieces of data into a form. Once the information is securely packaged, including the credit card information, then the data is passed through to me online. As the t-shirt sales person I read the information and either fill the order, modify the order or delete the order depending on the inventory and validity of the credit card processor response. It is helpful to have formatted data in a form that allows me to do my job like a checklist instead of like a crazed maniac trying to decipher emails filled with bad artwork and vague references to t-shirts.<br><br>The problem with a shopping cart is that if you project all of the ways in which a person can answer all of the questions that need to be answered, then most of the time the person is gone before they finish submitting the t-shirt shopping cart form. Here are two examples of mediocre forms linked to t-shirt databases. <a href=http://www.imprintablefashion.com/cgi-bin/brand/site.w?catalog=top&sponsor=001919&frames=no&target=main>BlankTshirt.com</a> and <a href=http://ncshirts.logoshop.com/>NCShirts.com</a>. These forms work and they are tied to a larger database of information, products and pricing. My personal opinion is that if someone simply emails me back the basic information for a potential t-shirt order, then I can confirm the order and process it without a fancy cart.<br><br>This is an example of what I typically need to process a t-shirt order:<br><br>Brand, Style Number, Color, Quantity for each size.<br><br>Repeat until complete.<br><br>Name, address, zip code, phone number for shipping, email is whoever sent it to me.<br><br>I can then make the order and create a link for processing the payment.<br><br>A shopping cart will do these functions for me, but at what cost? If I can't keep the information up to date and the formatting of the t-shirt shopping cart is too difficult, then the shopping cart will bog down the entire system. I agree that a shopping cart should take the credit card processing information, but I can arrange that separately or have a shopping cart just for people to sign up and put in their credit card data as a registered customer. Once they are in the system then I can accept formatted emails and process their orders quicker than spending all of my time building a perfect cart.<br><br>There are systems for payments that provide a secure environment to process payments, but I don't trust them any more than they trust me, like Paypal or Amazon payments and possibly a bunch of others that I haven't tried. Also there are systems to allow users to sign in through their universal login, like Facebook and so on, but I don't like my activities to be tracked so that I am constantly being hit by advertisements. It's like they are in my brain with these friggin' advertisements these days, Jeez. Stop it already. There isn't an easy answer, but if there way it would simply be send me a properly formatted email as listed above and then I can fill your order or provide a link for you to fill your order in the most efficient and affordable way possible.<br><br>The above described process makes me want to go towards Wordpress for the registration system, but Google also has some interface that may allow people to join circles and communicate in a group after registration. With Wordpress there are so many fake users that I don't even have the time to delete them all, much less their comments. With Google I may be able to allow customers to access a spread sheet and fill in their order and we know how much people love spread sheets. Still it is the communication and form that are important here, so for now I am just going to encourage that my website users look through my products and then send me a formatted email, like above, that I can quickly review and respond back with a link to place an order. It's barbaric I know, but this is a default instead of jumping from one cart and proprietary system to another.Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-75339748030892538492013-05-23T09:08:00.002-07:002013-05-23T09:08:59.495-07:00Pretty websites vs. functional informationEverything is pretty these days and large company websites usually have smooth design elements, because they paid for them. The same thing used to be true with rock concerts, until punk rock came along. When a band was coming to town you would hear about it for weeks on the radio. The concerts were large and extravagant affairs with a little band way down on the floor for everyone to barely see while the music was blasted throughout the arena. In the Eighties small club punk rock took hold and the bands were right in your face, as well as, the flyers and posters of the upcoming shows. Around town there would be hand drawn xerox copy flyers with ransom note fonts and scribbles about random stuff that may or may not relate to the upcoming show on the flyer. These were real community affairs in that the group of people who were interested in the shows knew what was happening, without all the paid advertising.<br><br>The internet was supposed to be something like that with information and it is, sorta. Information is funneled through one main source, Google, and if you put something online then it is supposed to be able to be found if it is searched for in a specific way, which means long tail text strings that match what you have on your site. The internet also replaced the phone book in a city by city way with a national phone book.<br><br>Problems like fake web pages and spam grew as money could be made from advertising on webpages until the web itself is a phone book that anyone can own a piece of. In order for a larger company to stand out and get recognized on the web it became apparent that they needed to look better than the competition. Also the idea of branding and somehow gaining space through increased visitors could be bought through a good looking webpage also took hold. If a webpage isn't captivating, then why would people stay on it once they get there? Simultaneously web search engines like Google have become more and more complex to the point where it is like a large brain or the Wizard of Oz. The voodoo that is required to get a high ranking on a subject like Funny T-shirts is elusive to many people and companies, thereby making the challenge to have a good looking website even more compelling. My big question is whether or not a little punk rock flyer type webpage, with specific information about a specific subject would be better than a huge fancy webpage with a bunch of junk on it?<br><br>Besides the content on a webpage and speed that it loads the page is relevant, but also the popularity of a website is most likely a measure the success for indexing purposes. This is why a page that is fancy with more bells and whistles may outshine a more relevant, but less popular website when it comes to Google. I don't think the shopping cart is anything more than a problem that could negatively influence a webpage or clutter the design, so I am starting to be of the opinion that it should be hidden until it is needed. The problem that arises here is that if it is hidden on a different website than the page with the product information, then it may be a bounce from the website. A shopping cart is nothing more than a form that allows a potential customer to put in information and then that information is transferred through to the vendor for processing, like a fax, but in as data. To keep things simple I have to work on my webpage first and the shopping cart second, which should also free me up to design my webpages anyway I want, just like a punk rock flyer. Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-48369604615116144802013-05-23T00:07:00.001-07:002013-05-23T02:57:43.797-07:00Fast T-shirts, Faster WebsitesI am trying to determine the speed of some of my websites to see if text based webpages are faster. I went to a Compuware website that promised an evaluation and I am going to evaluate the speed of MarinShirt.com to a wordpress based site, ekay.com and then my main website at yque.com. I will post the results when them come through and reach a determination on what type of website may be the most successful format when it comes to speed. I would like to point out the Compuware itself is very slow and hasn't responded for over 5 minutes, whaddup?<br>5 Hours now, very slow. I did find out that one of these images makes it seem like something is happening on your website, even if it isn't.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF-mEDmwX52Ilu6Nf9uTAWRhgyZYuKopoZkR2oChhlJZ_-mFMz3sKI4l7NnNx9JjbCuI9hZQrDnXypUTslmPxafL7Do3wX78cBIYaIn4hIh9AMvJTWvOTkQMqCNnWe8IObR2irHc_EuyeE/s1600/processing.gif" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF-mEDmwX52Ilu6Nf9uTAWRhgyZYuKopoZkR2oChhlJZ_-mFMz3sKI4l7NnNx9JjbCuI9hZQrDnXypUTslmPxafL7Do3wX78cBIYaIn4hIh9AMvJTWvOTkQMqCNnWe8IObR2irHc_EuyeE/s320/processing.gif" /></a>Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-3711452432003183582013-05-22T23:25:00.001-07:002013-05-23T00:00:21.924-07:00T-shirt website discussion - Back to basicsScreen printing is an old craft that goes waaaaaay back to the imperial dynasties of the Chinese. I am pretty sure that screen printing was used for many things that we don't even know about and still somehow we go back to these same methods today, thousands of years later. There is no shame in doing something that uses ancient techniques and now I am applying that same principle to creating a few new webpages. I am upset at not being able to decide on which shopping cart is the best for a t-shirt business and since the shopping cart is essentially the website, I have been stuck on redesigning some of my focused websites. <a href="http://marinshirt.com">MarinShirt.com</a> is an example of an unresolved shopping cart problem. Today I went down and sat in Sausalito to get some inspiration for t-shirt designs that will relate to the area and decided I just need to put up a site and skip trying to make it have a uniform or modern look and just add the shopping cart later.<br><br>Without destroying all the old links, I placed a backup link to the old front page and then wrote in the most basic html ever the code for links relating to t-shirt pages that I already have up. I am not proud of the design, but I am trying to get past the smoke and mirrors of web design and just deal with the fact that all a webpage really is, is just images and text. A shopping cart is a code that links to a payment system after the fact. The fact is that the potential viewer has to find a page and see the image and the text, no more, no less. Large images are becoming dominant as if they are a design in and of themselves. Personally I like the idea of using a webpage as a gallery, but I haven't bought into a large photo as being web design.<br><br>My goal for <a href="http://marinshirt.com">MarinShirt.com</a> is to develop a niche market for the local crowd and sell some printed designs that truly represent the area in order to support my boating activities in San Francisco Bay. First I need a static webpage that isn't tied to a shopping cart that has all the basic information about my designs. Keep an eye on this page as my example of a web site that will in the end be compatible with some shopping cart or credit card payment system, but the website should not have to wait for the cart, nor be committed to the cart as if it was owned by the server it runs on.<br><br>The information I will be providing on these webpages is valuable to the viewer because it will either save them money on t-shirts and screen printing. It's like secret information that you can get elsewhere, but it is better if it is delivered in secretive packaging. This value should get my content indexed through Google, as long as it is relevant to what people want. Now that I have learned that templates may be the equivalent of duplicate content I am afraid to format anything, just like I am afraid to commit to shopping carts. This leaves only one compatible format and that is text based webpages that are sparsely decorated with images.<br><br>Speed is also relevant on SEO and indexing, so by having simple pages I should be able to keep the speed of my pages up. I was thinking about how a webpage is sort of like a hot rod and speed enhancements would be a great way to make things faster. But you nothing is faster than basic text and until a search engine decides indexing based on style elements, then a basic web page may even be more successful than a cluttered one. I have no facts to back this up, but with the exception of popularity, a page of only words, just text strings, would have to read quicker than a page filled with a bunch of meta tags and triggers, codes and scripts providing invisible options.Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-13047627550259732872013-05-22T09:30:00.003-07:002013-05-22T11:30:30.749-07:00Making an online t-shirt store with Wordpress and beyondI have only been in the t-shirt business for, a long time, and on the internet for a long time too. Still I find it difficult to integrate the perfect website design and order processing interface. I have searched the world over and used many of the payment systems and web design hosting platforms, but every system keeps dragging me in deeper and deeper into their world of tricks and gadgets that end up costing too much money or are cumbersome and difficult to manage on a daily basis. I've tried Google Checkout (being retired), Amazon and eBay and Yahoo(expensive and restrictive), Volusion and Magento and OS Commerce (each has database management issues), Free carts and Zen carts and Wix carts and form based carts and plugin based carts and widget based carts and Woo Carts until I have become gun shy about buying anything since I have paid and wasted so much time playing with the different carts and payment methods to-date. Compatibility with shipping rules and payment processors is always an issue, size and color options are always and issue, image presentation and preview is always and issue, SEO and web indexing is always an issue, quantity based pricing is always an issue and finally security is always and issue. I can never get around to design because I can never leave the world of functionality long enough to worry about how my pages look.<br><br>I have been working with Wordpress lately and still I am restricted to the designs that are available as themes, but now I realized that if other people are using the same theme, then it may be seen as duplicate content on the web. Also, security on the server side is risky since Wordpress has been weakened from time to time through my host. Luckily the orders and credit card information is not stored on the same servers and not available to any hacking breach, in fact I don't even have access to the card numbers any longer. I like the fact that I am not exposed to the risk of handling credit cards, although it is inconvenient when crediting charges. Wordpress as a shopping cart is still blog-like and I am not 100% sure that it is worth the time it is taking to get it operational.Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-84337605553106386472013-03-02T10:31:00.000-08:002013-03-02T10:31:12.774-08:00Ethyl Cellulose - Now add a binder and we got lift offAdhesion is very important when it comes to t-shirt printing, which is why my approach at making an ink that would wash out is ironic, or moronic, depending on how you look at it. Still it was harder than I thought to make an ink that would wash out, even without any binders. My research and craftiness has now taken me down the path of making a natural ink and it appears that the stuff I was using as a base, Ethyl Cellulose, is actually used in inks for printing.
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi52G_tEAHB031p0o2ep9873O_Ksl0JWCRFWgfvRFOxuCi6LjJ7LyO0TFak_yJNBTv-1H_xh9M6pximS5efvY5Y8NONrSEPR5P-rVUZdJbzNU-SpxNj8BmRXCEQnNxoCjNA5jcIX8eTYzKe/s1600/cellulose.gif" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi52G_tEAHB031p0o2ep9873O_Ksl0JWCRFWgfvRFOxuCi6LjJ7LyO0TFak_yJNBTv-1H_xh9M6pximS5efvY5Y8NONrSEPR5P-rVUZdJbzNU-SpxNj8BmRXCEQnNxoCjNA5jcIX8eTYzKe/s320/cellulose.gif" /></a>Article posted at <a href="http://mason.gmu.edu/~jdiesel/ethylcellulose.html">mason.gmu.edu: http://mason.gmu.edu/~jdiesel/ethylcellulose.html</a>
stated: "It is also found in printing inks, hot melt adhesives, football helmets, and tool handles".
This means that my use of Ethyl Cellulose was not far fetched as a printing medium. I have made some concoctions that grew mold or didn't seem to gel, but with this encouraging news I am going to go back to the drawing board and see what type of gooey mess I can come up with. I am afraid to use my old batches of goop and I am going to make a more sterile solution so as not to encourage a growing environment for other things.
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3H9ugo9wP94hAzNEDKp0Nk8HxqQnIUGb3c3xUIMfj93Wzzb7PZLosmoI766n26B_8zgyvjIB_vBywAWEETX9dRAfMzlGzsKzt6oZjGR3cLZxsABRESTlCjv08TUfRg5o90mfy2IpPmVeG/s1600/ethyl_cellulose_bag.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3H9ugo9wP94hAzNEDKp0Nk8HxqQnIUGb3c3xUIMfj93Wzzb7PZLosmoI766n26B_8zgyvjIB_vBywAWEETX9dRAfMzlGzsKzt6oZjGR3cLZxsABRESTlCjv08TUfRg5o90mfy2IpPmVeG/s320/ethyl_cellulose_bag.jpg" /></a>Ethyl Cellulose only has to be mixed with water and allowed to gel. I purchased the stuff in 1 pound bags at Douglas and Sturgess in Richmond, CA.
<a href="http://www.douglasandsturgess.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=DAS&Product_Code=GR-1046&Category_Code=">Ethyl Cellulose one pound bag for sale online here: http://www.douglasandsturgess.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=DAS&Product_Code=GR-1046&Category_Code=</a>Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-82663344804416474232013-03-02T09:53:00.000-08:002013-03-02T09:53:24.364-08:00Slap Tags that can be made with t-shirt printingI recently learned the phrase, "Slap Tag", and liked the way it sounded. Although you can easily say the word "sticker" for an pressure sensitive adhesive backed image that can be put around in places for promotional purposes, it doesn't quite contain the process of promoting in it's name. Slap Tag implies the process of slapping a label on something and the sing-song sound of the words together made me repeat it for a few hours. The problem with slap tagging in public is that it is illegal unless you voluntarily give the sticker to someone and they put it on their car or personal property.<br><br>I have been playing around with t-shirt transfers and punk rock fonts and recently found that I can make a thick plastisol print and turn it into a removable sticker for car windows and some other surfaces. I am calling these slap tags, with the idea that if they were used in public, it may not be illegal since the sticker itself can be removed easily and would not cause any damage. More to come...Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-25629266708098006962013-03-02T09:24:00.001-08:002013-03-02T09:45:11.170-08:00The perfect font - Punk Rock Lettering for transfersI have always avoided t-shirt transfers for a bunch of reasons, but for lettering the issue of getting the transfers straight would worry me so much that I have never done lettering for t-shirts, unless I could print the whole name. Then I started experimenting with a punk rock font that I could use to make emblems for cars and not worry about how it lines up since it is "Punk" to begin with. For t-shirts the concept should be the same, so I mocked up a bunch of neighborhood and city text designs for Los Angeles to get the idea out there that I can now do lettering. Here are some samples:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3_4EYOvx6ZSgOJ5UEUnomxQdELRdFzJoZjN3KfFeovx_bMZ_E1OsLtoSM27gzRh0tfv3Vbi0ml4HiQiPwzmpMhg40tiQx84PisdgT88KtbFAkGAr6RpMJBDvtT9K-ojdViKv8jCsKSZ3l/s1600/hollywood_ca_punkytown_white.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3_4EYOvx6ZSgOJ5UEUnomxQdELRdFzJoZjN3KfFeovx_bMZ_E1OsLtoSM27gzRh0tfv3Vbi0ml4HiQiPwzmpMhg40tiQx84PisdgT88KtbFAkGAr6RpMJBDvtT9K-ojdViKv8jCsKSZ3l/s320/hollywood_ca_punkytown_white.jpg" /></a>I call it Punky Town t-shirts, although I am thinking about changing it to Phunky Town. These shirts are going to be listed <a href="http://ekay.com/?page_id=2">for sale online here:</a>Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-29144603734996490842013-03-02T09:13:00.000-08:002013-03-02T09:13:23.610-08:00The time has come to experiment with the cotton matrixI have spend a lot of time working with cold casting materials and epoxies to create durable artwork, mostly detailed here at <a href="http://photofresco.blogspot.com">photofresco.blogspot.com</a>. Now I am going to turn my attention towards cotton and printing and try to have the same amount of fascination that I have had with embedded pigments and apply it to screen printing. I love testing things and seeing if they work, so I hope this makes for some interesting projects.<br><br>My last experiments with t-shirt printing was to make a label free t-shirt by printing the size information into the shirt with an ink that would wash out. I found that mixing particles in a water-based paste would still leave pigments embedded in the fabric, which I think is the basis of pigment dyed garments anyway. The smaller the pigments the more they should embed themselves and the more difficult it would be to remove the color, even if there isn't any binder holding the pigment in the t-shirt once it is washed. Which means that it could be possible to print with inks that have no binder and still get designs that stay on a t-shirt, for awhile. Eventually it seems like the pigments would loosen and wash out. This would cause a t-shirt print to lighten over time. This very well could be a more organic way to print t-shirts even though it would essentially be an image that could dissolve away.<br><br>My base ink was made with a ethyl cellulose and I tested mixtures of gum arabic and some thickener. I was surprised by how well the ink printed and how well it stored in a plastic container with a lid. I am going to get out my concoction, now that it is a month later, and see if it still works.Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-7512854648242439992013-01-30T11:43:00.000-08:002013-01-30T12:31:04.586-08:00Here's the deal - no carrier, mas organicT-shirt printing is typically the physical process of pressing an ink gelatin through a polyester mesh onto a shirt and creating a physical bond between the typically plastic ink and the fibers on the t-shirt. Because the inks themselves are pigments, they are resting on top of the fiber versus a dye which would be embedded with the fiber. A discharge ink is considered a dye because it removes the dye that is giving a shirt a color. In order to put a color on a t-shirt you need to embed a pigment. The pigment themselves are natural in that all color comes from organic materials, but the carriers, the solutions that the inks are printed with art typically plastisol or acrylic. Water based inks are acrylics, generally, with the exception of discharge inks, and therefore they harden around the fiber and the only difference between acrylics and plastisol is that plastisol hardens with heat and hardens quicker. My work is based on literally embedding particles, smaller and smaller, into the fibers so that the physical bond of the color is with the fiber itself and not with the plastic mediums that hold the color in them.<br><br>Why, oh why do I find these things to try and turn the world of printing upside down? I don't know what, but I am not happy with the idea that water-based inks are considered more natural than plastisol, when they are just as much as plastic themselves. Printing directly with pigments that create a physical bond inside the fiber of the garment is a direct process that can eliminate the chemicals that are typically considered "bad" for screenprinting. I don't have a name for this stuff yet, but the concept to me is simliar to sand painting and therefore the t-shirts with this type of design should not be considered as permanent. Just like you don't expect your vegetables to last forever, you should not expect your t-shirt designs to last forever.<br><br>The harsh reality comes down to the question of will this cost more? T heoretically less materials should result in less expenses and translate into less cost for the consumer. The problem, and this is how we getcha' is that there is more immediate handling of the inks and shirts, so it may be a product that cost more, as far as, time on the press, handling and dry time. Personally, I don't care about the cost from an individual printing my own work standpoint, but from the consumer's standpoint this could be an issue. I like the concept though because it takes me back to my original expertise, which is from photography, and the idea that the pigments make the design is also similar to how the silver pigments in film and photo-sensitized paper is what makes the image appear in photographs. I am now conceiving a print of very fine particles of graphite on a t-shirt, without a gelatin emulsion carrier, being embedded into a white t-shirt with a physical bond between the fibers and the graphite making the print stay. This is a truly archival print and until the cotton or the graphite are disturbed, nothing should break them down besides atmospheric conditions and atomic decay.Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-9178286818166208472013-01-29T22:16:00.001-08:002013-01-30T08:12:37.616-08:00Printing shirts so that the design will wash out? - Label Free T-shirtsEvery now and then something comes up that is different, like long sleeve t-shirts or discharge inks for t-shirt printing. This year is proving to be the year of the private label t-shirt with many companies selling the same thing, but with a different label. The market is now expecting even the smallest of designers to provide a private label t-shirt, as if they were a large company manufacturing every stage of the final product, even though they are simply printing a design on a manufactured product. The way to succeed in t-shirt printing is to brand yourself and by printing your own company logo or brand into the graphic and t-shirt let's people know that you are what you sell. The problem in the past has been figuring out how to get that label into your own t-shirts without having to make thousands of t-shirts and without manufacturing thousands of t-shirts in advance of when you actually need them. <br><br>The context of the wash out design concept is to reduce the life expectancy of the shirt and to limit the period of time that the manufacturer is responsible for the t-shirt. Let's assume that you are in the vintage clothing business and therefore you are selling items that are not new and thus they are being resold. A t-shirt with a private label is the same type of product, but the relabeling process is by itself creating a secondary market for a product that gives it a new and second life. If the design of the original manufacturer can be torn out or washes out, then that should be an acceptable process for relabeling a product, because it has also undergone a change of ownership with the second owner in the same way that a vintage clothing store is reselling clothes that have been owned before and therefore should not be required to list the same information that was required in the clothing's first life as a new product.<br><br>As a t-shirt printer the most important information that I need in a t-shirt is the size and cotton content. I work in a pretty limited range of materials, so 90% of the products I use are 100% cotton and a few t-shirts are 50/50 or a blend of some combination of cotton and polyester. When I sell t-shirts as a retailer the most important information is the size and the brand, which sometimes indicates the type of cut of a t-shirt. Still most of my retail t-shirts are 100% cotton and some heather t-shirts are 50-50 blends. If a shirt is sold with a
life expectancy of one wearing, then the labeling instructions should only need to be included with the garment for the period of time. The idea here is that a tear away tag with the basic information is sufficient until the garment is sold and a size and company brand information could be printed with ink that will wash out after the first use or when the shirt ends up in the wash for the first time.<br><br>In this case the first owner is the printer, who buys and embellishes the shirt with a screen printed design and may or may not remove the care instructions in favor of printing their own brand name. At that point the life expectancy of the blank t-shirt is complete from the manufacturer's standpoint. The new owner is the printer who can choose to brand the product to whatever degree they feel comfortable with. As a retailer I can choose to leave the tear away care label, which should also have the country of origin and size, while advertising the fact that the label can be removed easily by tearing it from the t-shirt. By printing the size with ink that can wash out, then a printer can remove the label on their own and still
be able to tell the size of the shirt, while proceeding with screen printing their own design which may include their own company or brand information. As the new owner it would be up to them to decide how much information should go on the t-shirts that they are selling, depending on the life expectancy of the garment for their market.Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-88156190593799598992013-01-20T16:40:00.001-08:002013-01-20T17:30:57.113-08:00Another Year and Another Batch of T-shirt CompaniesIt's hard to choose the players this year from the new crop of contenders, but the overwhelming drive in the market is going to be based on having an inventory of blank t-shirts in the proximity of the customer to reduce shipping cost. The other variables that are starting to create alternatives are cheaper Made in the USA t-shirts that are fitted, as well as, basic t-shirts for your every day low cost t-shirt job. T-shirt contractors are also finding new ways to market their services, so the end result of that type of competition should drive down the price for contract screen printing jobs.<br><br>Being the cheapest printer on the block has never been a goal of mine, but if I can put together the right suppliers for the wide range of techniques that are required to compete in the t-shirt industry these days, then I can offer a wider array of services from different parts of the country. Turnaround times are also based on the supply chain of t-shirts to the printer who can do the job the best, but doubling the shipping time and potential cost of getting the shirts to the printer and from the printer to the customer just cost more than the services themselves.<br><br>My other option is to station myself, as a t-shirt printer, right next to my favorite suppliers in different parts of the country and price my goods based on transit cost versus cost of the t-shirts themselves.<br><br>Basically my business structure makes me a T-shirt Pimp. As a pimp my job is to get to you the T-shirt styles that you need to fill your order and make your customers happy. I'm not biased in a business sense to one t-shirt brand or another except for the fact that there has to be a certain profit margin and demand for any particular brand of shirts to make it worthwhile to sell them. Choosing amongst the legion of brands that are now readily available will help my potential customers reach a decision about what they are going to buy and when all is said and done, we all want our jobs to be easy.<br><br>Now comes the tricky part; making a convenient structure upon which to compare apples to apples with and oranges to oranges. 90% of shirt sales are of Mens styles, also known as Unisex, so any brand we are going to list my be based off the Mens style and preferably have a Womens matching style to go with the Mens line, but the Mens style numbers are the first line of comparison. Secondly, the styles within the brands are a bit confusing, but "Standard-Cut" and "Fitted-Cut" seem to be applicable phrases that best describe the style differences within brands. The Standard Cut t-shirts are the "Full-Sized" larger, boxy, thicker types of t-shirts that were commonly on the market in the 80's and 90's, but slowly became old school in the early 2000's as more and more fitted styles came into the market.<br><br>Price, Weight and the type of cotton are additional variables, but these can be compared more easily in that they have numerical variables that allow us to make some sense of them, versus the description of a "thicker collar" and "longer look" types of qualities.<br><br>The weight of fabric is usually measured in ounces per square inch with 4.0 oz per sq inch being on the low side and 6.0 oz per sq inch being on the high side.<br><br>Ring-spun cotton or open-ended cotton. If a description does not say "Ring-spun" which is more refined cotton and of a higher grade of cotton. The alternative to ringspun cotton is generally open-ended cotton which is less refined and therefore not as soft, nor as expensive. Lighter t-shirts are often made with ring-spun cotton because they can knit tighter fabric configurations that allow for a lighter final product. If you are looking for soft you have to get ringspun cotton, which cost more, or work with the lighter fitted t-shirts generally.<br><br>Price is always the final determining factor whether people want to admit it or not and basically you get what you pay for these days. The cheapest scenario I can offer is a white t-shirt in the $1.50 range that is open-ended cotton, standard cut, at about 5.4 oz per sq inch, which are the stats for a basic cheap t-shirt. The other end of the scale is a 4.0 oz per square inch fitted ring spun cotton t-shirt in the $6-8 price range. That's the high and the low of it, so if you mix and match these basic descriptive terms you should be able to have an idea of what you are dealing with when comparing one t-shirt to another.<br><br>Other variables that can effect the final price is country of origin, which means is it Made in the USA (more expensive even for United States deliveries) or made somewhere else in the world, like Pakistan, Haiti, Central America or even China or Turkey.<br><br>Availability is the most important variable that nobody mentions, because most distributors would like to think they have everything all the time, but they don't and often when it comes time to fill an order, the item that was the cheapest has sold out and won't be in for a couple of months.<br><br>Tear away tags, sewn in tags or labels that have been heat transfered or printed into the collar of the t-shirt. Hanes for example promotes their tagless t-shirts, but the tag has been transfered or printed inside the collar and they act like it's a good thing, it's not. After we have purchased a shirt we don't really want to be reminded of the brand unless it is a status symbol, which Hanes is not a status symbol. Tear Away tags have grown in popularity because they can be removed and the company name can be printed onto the shirts for the final company using the shirts, like a private label. People often call me and ask for t-shirt that are completely blank, no label, but then I ask, "how would you know what size it is?"<br><br>Still as a consumer of t-shirts you will need to purchase actual t-shirts and put them through the wash and wear cycle to get the feelling on what is the right t-shirt for you. I can have two customers tell me exactly opposite things about the same t-shirt when it comes to the final fit, amount of shrinkage, colors fading, printability and the myriad of other characteristics that make every consumer a critic these days. So break out your wallet and buy some samples before placing a large order to make sure that you are ordering the right t-shirt for your customer or job.<br><br>Coming up Next: A survey of the available t-shirt brands.Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-61956902360925354932012-08-22T23:07:00.003-07:002012-08-22T23:07:55.381-07:00T-shirts in the newsHere is an almost worst case scenario for a t-shirt printing company:
<a href="http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/19865156/giants-cancel-order-for-melky-cabrera-tshirts-for-fan-giveaway">Giants cancel order for Melky Cabrera T-shirts for fan giveaway</a>
"The San Francisco Giants canceled an order for 20,000 Melky Cabrera T-shirts just in time.
Giants spokeswoman Staci Slaughter said Tuesday that the order was stopped just before printing after Cabrera received a 50-game suspension from Major League Baseball last Wednesday following his positive test of testosterone. "
It doesn't get much worse than that. Just the restocking fee would kill me, plus the cost of transporting the shirts to the print shop. Bummer Dude. I am mostly worried about the poor, poor Milk Maids, girls who go the Giant's Games dressed as Dairy Chicks. What are they going to do with their outfits?Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-65061811299191841162012-08-22T23:02:00.001-07:002012-08-22T23:02:29.031-07:00What has changed in the t-shirt world?Every day I get up and do the same thing, look at artwork, place t-shirt orders, check inventory and so on. Sometimes I think it is going to be different today, something is going to happen to make t-shirts come alive and print themselves. Or my designs are going to get inducted into the Museum of Modern Art in some large international city. Maybe I will get a huge order from a mainstream company that I can work on for the rest of my life, maybe, maybe not. Nothing changes that fast and nothing has been significantly different for a few years.
I have expanded my collection of fitted t-shirts on yque.com and blanktshirt.com, no biggie. The prices have come down a bit to the $4-5 range for a decent Next Level 3600 fitted t-shirt. V-necks have come into fashion in a strong way, but not for huge custom orders. I've been playing with spray paint stencil designs, but nobody is really a fan of that except me. Prices have gone up a bit due to some droughts, but have come back down this year. I would be surprised to see a rise in prices next year if the drought in the United States hits the cotton crop. Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-48716361065143252402012-07-16T08:10:00.001-07:002012-07-16T08:43:38.894-07:00Other Markets and Why Aren't Trade Shows Outdated?Trade shows are outdated, but I still feel the need to go to them every now and again as both a buyer and seller. There are other markets these days like eBay, Etsy or even your own website, but the fashion business still seems to be stuck in 2nd gear and thousands of people march around the world to trade shows all year around in the hopes of finding something somebody else hasn't already found. The money and expense of the booth, the travel and the display all add to the cost of these products. When the internet was evolving, I thought trade shows would die out quickly, but instead they are dying a slow agonizing death. The internet has not completely replaced the tactile nature of picking up and seeing products first hand, but still there are fewer and fewer people attending most trade shows as buyers and sellers.
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Some trade shows have closed, like the Action Sports show that used to be in San Diego. It was a paradise of bikini models and free stickers from all the trendy skateboard companies vying for attention. This was more of a party than a trade show, so it was only a matter of time for this type of wasteland to go away, but I do miss it now that it's gone.
<br><br>eBay has been a big let down as a place to sell wholesale as the prices that they charge are too expensive to maintain and the customers don't really buy in a large volume. I tried selling stuff on eBay for a few years and the fees just got higher and higher, then they purchased paypal and things got worse, not better. Double dipping is what I call it as they make money from the sale and the transaction, which ends up costing both the consumer and seller in the form of higher prices. Then the cycle continues as higher prices mean lower volumes until everything is retail.
<br><br>Etsy seemed to be like a place where fun stuff could be sold, but again, it ends up being more retail than wholesale types of transactions, if any transactions are made. The format is interesting, but without some sales that convert it seems like a showcase for quirky things.<br><br>Amazon is another good idea that has turned into a monster. I worked with their marketplace and attempted to sell a few things, but their fees are impossible and anything that you create as a niche on Amazon will most likely be sold by Amazon in a matter of months, or right before you make any significant money, because they steal every market that is created on their system. I even considered having them ship and store products for me, but they it is like paying them rent to steal your business because if your business is any good at all, (and they will know from the data), they'll just sell the products themselves at a lower price.<br><br>Running my own website works, but having to field tons of calls from people who don't know what they want can drive you crazy. With the advent of smart phones people have gotten dumber because they don't read the information that is posted on the web since their screen is too small. Now most of the answers I have to give on the phone are like, "Have you gone to the website?" or "If you click on the item you will see more details about that product". I am the first to admit that my website isn't organized that well, but I have noticed a decline in the relevance of the types of questions I get that will actually influence a sale with the increase in the popularity of smart phones.<br><br>Wholesale margins have shrunk over time and even the cost of fees charged by the credit card processors and website hosting services have a significant effect on transacting wholesale business online. I was glad to hear that the credit card companies are being forced to pay a large settlement, but there is no way to get ahead of system when it comes to fees and charges that drive a company into the red. Fraud is the other problem with the internet and although there are ways to reduce credit card fraud it is a constant battle. For example, some of my largest orders in the past have been to international companies in Australia, France, Germany or Japan, but in order to do a wholesale order I only do wire transfers. Well in order to get a wire transfer you have to give the person your bank information, which is risky in and of itself. There is not way to stop a chargeback with a credit card, so that is a bad way to do international business and checks, well let's not even go there. It is hard to trust anyone when it comes to international orders and in the end it is easier to just ignore this large potential market than to take the risk for such small markups.Trade shows are outdated, but I still feel the need to go to them every now and again as both a buyer and seller. There are other markets these days like eBay, Etsy or even your own website, but the fashion business still seems to be stuck in 2nd gear and thousands of people march around the world to trade shows all year around in the hopes of finding something somebody else hasn't already found. The money and expense of the booth, the travel and the display all add to the cost of these products. When the internet was evolving, I thought trade shows would die out quickly, but instead they are dying a slow agonizing death. The internet has not completely replaced the tactile nature of picking up and seeing products first hand, but still there are fewer and fewer people attending most trade shows as buyers and sellers.
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Some trade shows have closed, like the Action Sports show that used to be in San Diego. It was a paradise of bikini models and free stickers from all the trendy skateboard companies vying for attention. This was more of a party than a trade show, so it was only a matter of time for this type of wasteland to go away, but I do miss it now that it's gone.
<br><br>eBay has been a big let down as a place to sell wholesale as the prices that they charge are too expensive to maintain and the customers don't really buy in a large volume. I tried selling stuff on eBay for a few years and the fees just got higher and higher, then they purchased paypal and things got worse, not better. Double dipping is what I call it as they make money from the sale and the transaction, which ends up costing both the consumer and seller in the form of higher prices. Then the cycle continues as higher prices mean lower volumes until everything is retail.
<br><br>Etsy seemed to be like a place where fun stuff could be sold, but again, it ends up being more retail than wholesale types of transactions, if any transactions are made. The format is interesting, but without some sales that convert it seems like a showcase for quirky things.<br><br>Amazon is another good idea that has turned into a monster. I worked with their marketplace and attempted to sell a few things, but their fees are impossible and anything that you create as a niche on Amazon will most likely be sold by Amazon in a matter of months, or right before you make any significant money, because they steal every market that is created on their system. I even considered having them ship and store products for me, but they it is like paying them rent to steal your business because if your business is any good at all, (and they will know from the data), they'll just sell the products themselves at a lower price.<br><br>Running my own website works, but having to field tons of calls from people who don't know what they want can drive you crazy. With the advent of smart phones people have gotten dumber because they don't read the information that is posted on the web since their screen is too small. Now most of the answers I have to give on the phone are like, "Have you gone to the website?" or "If you click on the item you will see more details about that product". I am the first to admit that my website isn't organized that well, but I have noticed a decline in the relevance of the types of questions I get that will actually influence a sale with the increase in the popularity of smart phones.<br><br>Wholesale margins have shrunk over time and even the cost of fees charged by the credit card processors and website hosting services have a significant effect on transacting wholesale business online. I was glad to hear that the credit card companies are being forced to pay a large settlement, but there is no way to get ahead of system when it comes to fees and charges that drive a company into the red. Fraud is the other problem with the internet and although there are ways to reduce credit card fraud it is a constant battle. For example, some of my largest orders in the past have been to international companies in Australia, France, Germany or Japan, but in order to do a wholesale order I only do wire transfers. Well in order to get a wire transfer you have to give the person your bank information, which is risky in and of itself. There is not way to stop a chargeback with a credit card, so that is a bad way to do international business and checks, well let's not even go there. It is hard to trust anyone when it comes to international orders and in the end it is easier to just ignore this large potential market than to take the risk for such small markups.<br><br>Even though there are new and interesting ways to market products the benefits of seeing a product firsthand and meeting a company, before you do business with them, still seems the safest way to keep the ball rolling with wholesale clothing companies. Admittedly I still order from the same companies that I have dealt with over the years, at least the ones that are still in business. My business model has changed, but I have not been able to duplicate the success that I once had in wholesale, by attending trade shows, with my wholesale enterprise through the internet. Simultaneously my expenses have decreased too, so I also don't have to go to a show and make huge sales just to survive, but I do miss those big paydays and larger orders. The margins of dealing online with 3rd party companies that are also competitors has changed the game to where processing cost and shipping are the largest expenses in business. Fraud is a limiting factor and finally even if I find a great product by attending a trade show, the larger companies also find these products and buy out the stock with their deep pockets before I can get a decent market built for the product in my retail store or online. This makes it impossible to profit from products that are a "hit" since you can't get them when you need them. The only way to profit from the next "Big Thing" is to make the next "Big Thing" and control the production. This could be through private labeling or through production of unique items, but there isn't a easy way to profit by just reselling and stocking fashion and accessory items that aren't commodities like blank t-shirts.Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-43485327137183003122012-07-16T07:22:00.000-07:002012-07-16T07:37:49.051-07:00Convergence of Ideas, Methods and ProductsEvery year when the Magic trade show rolls around I get anxious. I haven't exhibited in trade shows for years and have limited my wholesale activities to t-shirt printing jobs, blank t-shirts online and a few stores that buy my designs from time to time. Still it is as if the call of the wild is in my bones and I start making things every summer as if I was going to go to the trade show and exhibit my products and be a huge success all over again. When push comes to shove I don't spend the money on a booth and attempt to get some other company to carry my stuff, which never really works out.
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Nobody will sell my products like I would and by the time everyone involved gets a piece of the action it just doesn't seem worth it. The draw to trade shows like Magic is to increase the volume of production for some of my products so that I can crank up my capacity and have a steady stream of orders instead of the stop and go that comes from only selling retail. Originally the store in Los Angeles, Y-Que was to be like a wholesale showroom so that I can avoid trade shows altogether, but now it is pretty much retail with a few racks in the back for the wholesale t-shirts I sell online.
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I have been mixing my techniques and have been making a bunch of different products/things that are almost ready for market, but it takes thinking about a trade show and actually selling these things to finish them and make them presentable. That is one of the best uses for a trade show is to get products finished into a form that customers may indeed consider carrying in their own store. Here is a scribble image of the assortment of products and accessories that can go with some of the same t-shirt designs that I currently print.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhYqRFy3wMjgJdGUdg0b7hboT3udP2nSil8Bwg64-JX3GLDjsQt8coZ3qoZpujaMPqJY4uvFhTZMM82tSgwL5jH-cNya0i6dLJa-l__vDOL-8kSoHwZc_OwChQADQ2CCcA0g2Ykoc0oDUQ/s1600/Photo_Fresco_Products_Catalog_Sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="146" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhYqRFy3wMjgJdGUdg0b7hboT3udP2nSil8Bwg64-JX3GLDjsQt8coZ3qoZpujaMPqJY4uvFhTZMM82tSgwL5jH-cNya0i6dLJa-l__vDOL-8kSoHwZc_OwChQADQ2CCcA0g2Ykoc0oDUQ/s200/Photo_Fresco_Products_Catalog_Sm.jpg" /></a></div>
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I often make things that are decent, but the finishing touches are missing when I put the items on the shelf and sell them one at a time in Y-Que Trading Post. Sure it's fun, but it's not the same as putting it on a table in a 10 X 10 booth and standing next to a limited number of products while analyzing the gaze of potential buyers to see if they think my "items" are the next big thing. This process is one of the few ways I have made things that I could actually sell to other companies and without that inspiration my products sort of float around the retail store until the sample is gone or broken.
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This year I need to break the cycle and approach wholesale manufacturing again, but use the store as if every day is a trade show. My products are almost ready for the market and if I catalog and clean up the loose ends I think I can make a consistent presentation for potential customers that do come into the store looking for the next "thing". My product line includes an assortment of image based products that I have turned into t-shirt designs, key chains, mesh trucker hat designs, magnets and stickers, the usual suspects in a pop-art line of products for retail gift stores. I'll post a sampling of the concepts here just to get the ball rolling.
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As far as t-shirts go the main development is to break down the designs into an interface that will allow my retail customers (or wholesale buyers too) to be more particular in their choices by selecting from a wide range of t-shirt brands when purchasing a design. These days everyone is a critic and the availability of fitted and standard cut t-shirts is overwhelming, but most people are very determined to get the exact type of shirt they want. I need to make that happen in my own little world in order to satisfy the demand for different shirts in different markets for different people with my designs. In fact some designs work better on some shirts than others too.
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Most people have switched over to fitted t-shirts these days which I call the trendy styles, but older people, 30 years or more, still tend towards the standard cut t-shirts. Young Men in the urban market also go towards the standard cut and larger cut t-shirts like the Alstyle 1301 which I call the skateboarder styles. There is no easy answer for all the reasons why some people like one t-shirt brand over another, but one thing is for sure and that is you can't just offer one type of shirt and think that it is going to work in all markets. Plus people need more information about the t-shirts that they are ordering these days so that they are comfortable with their choice. Nobody wants to be surprised about the fit and color of an item once it shows up in a package at their home or office. The cost of reshipping, making and the time involved are all wasted if a customer does not get the right item the first time.
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My goad has been to resolve this without resorting to t-shirt transfer printing, which is an option. I have been modifying Ekay.com to include a wide array of designs, but to also include a Brand Selector. Within each t-shirt design there is going to be a choice of brands and even styles within some of the brands, so that customers can drill down to find the exact style, within reason, for any t-shirt graphic design that I offer. Check it out and excuse the dust while it is being developed. This is sort of my trade show for now.Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-41135776373816425942012-06-01T09:11:00.000-07:002012-06-01T09:21:18.146-07:00Hanes is closing shop - Can't handle the heat, get outta' the kitchenSometimes you don't really want to go into the kitchen and see how the sausage is made. I knew a guy who designed equipment that compressed meat to the right density for making hot dogs and the description took a bit of the mystery out of what a hot dog really is. When I was a child I also got to walk through a meat packing slaughterhouse and see the equipment and process for which cows are processed to hamburger. It's not a pretty picture, but that is how things are done. Now with Hanes, a longstanding leader in t-shirt fashion and printable clothing, announcing that they are trying to sell Outer Banks, a sport shirt clothing line for golfers, and that they have exited the clothing business in Europe, I sort of wonder why? Aren't they supposed to make and sell clothes if they are going to be Hanes?
The picture behind the scenes may not be as simple as that. As I child I was brought up on the Winston-Salem area, where Hanes Brands is based. This may be because in some ancient times cotton and t-shirts were manufactured in North Carolina. There were cotton mills in the area I lived and schools named after cotton Barons. These times are but a memory as all things made are made elsewhere, but what is a company like Hanes to do if it can't compete any longer. Admittedly it is their lack of taste and inability to stay up with the styles in the t-shirt fashion industry that has caused their brand to be shelved by consumers, but is that all there is? The real problem may be that they just can't make money the new way, using contractors and there is no where left to expand to, so they are lost as a company and a brand. The Hanes Beefy T is the last symbol of the brand that still exist to me. Links and more new to follow on this post.
Here is the text of a letter I received via email:
1000 East Hanes Mill Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27105
May 30, 2012
Dear William,
Today we announced our ongoing commitment to the US decorated apparel business centered on our strongest consumer brands, Hanes® and Champion®. As part of a larger corporate Imagewear strategy, we also announced the sale of our European wholesale business and the planned divestiture of the Outer Banks® brand. Outer Banks inventory continues to be available through our wholesale partners as we actively seek a buyer for the business.
Hanes, trusted for comfort, quality and value, is the #1 basic apparel brand in the US and is found in 9 of 10 American households. Hanes’ fast growing nano-T® and Cool DRI® collections address consumer mega trends, our Tagless® and Beefy-T® products offer tees with better-best value propositions and our ComfortBlend® EcoSmart® products offer sustainability at a great price. Look for our new Hanes TV commercials breaking this week featuring Michael Jordan and reinforcing Hanes’ comfort position.
Champion is the #2 activewear brand in the US and has experienced tremendous growth over the last five years. Champion is anchored by authentic heritage products like Reverse Weave® sweats and cotton tees and coupled with performance products like Double Dry®. Additionally, Champion’s new core fleece has more selling stories than ever with a new Champion Eco® fabric, better make and a more consistent color story.
Hanesbrands remains committed to the decorated apparel market as a branded printwear supplier. We are committed to helping you grow your business by offering great Hanes and Champion branded products your customers trust and will want to buy and strong marketing propositions to help you sell. We are confident this strategy of investing in our strongest consumer brands will generate increased customer demand and growth within the wholesale market both now and for years to come.
Thank you for your continued support.
Best regards,
John Fryer
General Manager – Hanesbrands Branded PrintwearBilly Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-83233850234497823952012-05-30T20:31:00.001-07:002012-05-30T20:32:42.050-07:00Free T-shirt Deal approved by Ting Cell Phone service provider for cross promotionI've been looking for a product that I could promote with a Free T-shirt deal online and I have finally found it with the Ting Mobile Phone Provider. Currently I have an affiliate relationship with the cell phone service provider and if a potential customer clicks on the link I provide, like this one here: <a href="https://ting.com/r/vtimr91">https://ting.com/r/vtimr91</a>
then the user will get a $50 discount coupon to be applied to their service. The details of the service can also be found at that link. In turn I would receive a credit for encouraging potential customers to check out the phone plans that Ting offers. My idea is to also provide a free t-shirt to the users who actually convert and sign up for the Ting service as an added bonus. Check out the details of this free t-shirt deal here: <a href="http://nocontractphoneservices.com/free_t_shirt_offer_with_Ting_Cell_Phone_Service.html">http://nocontractphoneservices.com/free_t_shirt_offer_with_Ting_Cell_Phone_Service.html</a> or go here to read more about the <a href="http://nocontractphoneservices.com/no_contract_phone_services.html">No Contract Phone Plans that Ting offers.</a>Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-57972633628849666572012-05-20T20:35:00.002-07:002012-05-22T10:50:51.547-07:00List of T-shirt Design interface updatesThe following is a list of links to my updated t-shirt design interface. These webpages are hosted on <a href="http://ekay.com">ekay.com</a> and serve as a based for the designs sold by <a href="http://yque.com">yque.com</a> and Y-que Trading post in Los Angeles. I have been working on a T-shirt app with my son and except for the descriptions and specifications that are required by the Android App Marketplace it is ready to go, so I have been updating the design interface online so that it will match this App. The entrance page for the t-shirt designs is at Ekay.com and basically it is a grid of current designs that we have available in Los Angeles. The idea is to offer a variety of colors of shirts for customers to preview how any particular graphic t-shirt design will look on a variety of shirts.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1jzvkaKmZVTdgAljONqlfKueaPp_SwDStcbI8_nRfbS7jFcn2sv_Osnnx3R-aj7ogmdtO7-CgovxlybN-1MJrFnGxEZoXt9S8iVhLe-dF3meqspnVHRBOi6HDn5etXQ2RmWTnxi7O80Q7/s1600/Ekay_T_Shirt_Design_Interface.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1jzvkaKmZVTdgAljONqlfKueaPp_SwDStcbI8_nRfbS7jFcn2sv_Osnnx3R-aj7ogmdtO7-CgovxlybN-1MJrFnGxEZoXt9S8iVhLe-dF3meqspnVHRBOi6HDn5etXQ2RmWTnxi7O80Q7/s200/Ekay_T_Shirt_Design_Interface.jpg" /></a></div>
These images lead to the design interface where the background shirt can be changed. If someone clicks the text under the graphic of the design then it will take them to the shopping cart online where they can purchase the t-shirt. Production time is still an issue because our normal turnaround time for blank t-shirt orders is 3-4 days, but since these shirts have to be made to order it is typically 1-2 weeks. I will work on this as the traffic picks up and if the designs seem to be selling more, but for now it is faster if the stock color, the one shown on the shopping cart, is the color that is ordered. Still 1-2 weeks for a made-to-order tshirt seems pretty good to me.
Here is the list of active designs:
<a href="http://ekay.com/T_Shirt_Design_Interface/Pluto_Never_Forget_BW/index.html">Pluto Never Forget in black ink for light t-shirts</a>
<a href="http://ekay.com/T_Shirt_Design_Interface/Powered_By_Pancakes/goldyellow.html">Powered by Pancakes t-shirt</a>
<a href="http://ekay.com/T_Shirt_Design_Interface/Generic_Turntable/index.html">Generic Turntable Record Player t-shirt</a>
<a href="http://ekay.com/T_Shirt_Design_Interface/Moog_Keyboard/index.html">Moog Keyboard t-shirt</a>
<a href="http://ekay.com/T_Shirt_Design_Interface/Platypus/index.html">Platypus T-shirt design</a>
<a href="http://ekay.com/T_Shirt_Design_Interface/Available_For_Filming/index.html">Available for Filming t-shirt</a>
<a href="http://ekay.com/T_Shirt_Design_Interface/Amplifier/black.html">Guitar Amplifier t-shirt on black</a>
and so on. I'll add more links later, but this should give you the idea. The t-shirt app we are making is basically a phone version of the shirt color changing mechanism and it will allow the user to flip through the colors quickly by tapping and change the design by swiping the screen.Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-78983224301734974692012-05-07T20:00:00.001-07:002012-05-07T20:00:06.893-07:00T-shirts without tags - Is there such a thing?A common request I get is for t-shirts without tags. Although I sell several styles of shirts that have tear-away tags, removable labels inside the collar, some of the shirts on the market that are called "tagless" in fact have tags that are laminated inside the collar. These transfer printed tags in the collar cannot be removed and although they are tagless there is no way to get rid of the company name that identifies the garment. I am very sorry, but when I get request for shirts with absolutely no tags, I have taken to asking the potential customer, "How will you know what you have?" Most customers haven't considered this problem, but today I had a customer respond with, "I'll just compare them to each other and figure out what size they are". Good idea if you want to waste all your time sorting shirts.
I do sympathize with the customer in this situation because even tags that are removable they require some work and effort to cleanly remove the label. Any label can be cut out of a shirt, but yes, there is going to be some remnant of the tag in the shirt. Unless you have a seamstress that is willing to cut the threads inside the collar cleanly this would be way more trouble than it is worth. My opinion is that you just have to be crafty in this situation and it is nearly impossible to imitate a large company product effect by removing and sewing in your own labels.
May people cut or remove the tags and then print inside the collar the size and the name they want to represent. This works, but it is the same work and cost of doing a one-color print on the front or back of a shirt. Economically this doesn't seem like a good idea, but for style reasons some people will spend the money to do this. Keep in mind you have to have a layout for each size of the shirts you are printing, so you need a design for the small, medium, large, xlarge...Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-46898264143006438922012-05-06T22:14:00.001-07:002012-05-06T22:14:08.090-07:00Y-Que adds Bandito image and redesigns Ekay t-shirt design interfaceThis new image is an example of the simple printing that Y-Que does, but if you go to <a href="http://ekay.com/T_Shirt_Design_Interface/Y_Que_Los_Angeles_Bandito/white.html">Ekay.com</a> you can see the modified t-shirt design interface and see how this design looks on a wide range of t-shirt colors.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip-qp0eO-8VeokeT6XkgXRYUArhzgx_VKmk3WfRxfsDh0Xg8cvahYA-sSmpD_bU2iBMnZ4CwoMCet5gLvDrntTcUw_8E4ipMDryVvs_s3wKvunq2xzs7Sr5vL6lf6F6jt84DtffVvcmsBp/s1600/graphic.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip-qp0eO-8VeokeT6XkgXRYUArhzgx_VKmk3WfRxfsDh0Xg8cvahYA-sSmpD_bU2iBMnZ4CwoMCet5gLvDrntTcUw_8E4ipMDryVvs_s3wKvunq2xzs7Sr5vL6lf6F6jt84DtffVvcmsBp/s200/graphic.gif" /></a></div>Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-61952063584819406862012-05-04T00:27:00.002-07:002013-03-02T09:13:44.401-08:00Gildan buys Anvil - How does this affect you?Gildan buys Anvil for approximately 90 million. Sounds like chump change for a major brand, but what do I know. Things may have been tougher for Anvil than we realized. Although I like and promote many of their shirts, I didn't think they were a takeover target. If anything I considered Anvil to be a bit of an upstart with innovative lines attempting to do for t-shirts what American Apparel has done for marketing. The construction is always missing something with Anvil, but the same can be said for Gildan t-shirts. I sell more Gildan t-shirts than I do Anvil, but that is mostly a price issue. I just hope that some of the new lines of organic t-shirts are not discontinued. Also, I am hopeful that the new USA made Anvil shirt gets off the ground with more production so there can be more inventory in the pipeline. Better Gildan did this than anyone else.Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-64973837262847654772012-04-30T08:12:00.000-07:002012-04-30T08:12:05.748-07:00The new T-shirt Swatch Catalogs are here - Yipeee!I now have the complete selection of color swatches for the following brands of t-shirts: Anvil, Hanes, Gildan, Fruit of the Loom, Bella Canvas, Jerzee and my new favorite Next Level Apparel. I will be posting these colors with references and links to allow a broader selection and choice for t-shirt colors from these brands. Colors are everything when it comes to t-shirts, even with Organic t-shirts the colors are getting better. Anvil is attempting to be a leader in Organic t-shirts and let's hope they pull it off because it has not been easy getting exactly what people want when it comes to an environmentally sensitive garment. Next up, Swatches, everyone.Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699542984495608920.post-33202007828564309462011-11-06T23:04:00.000-08:002011-11-06T23:09:07.304-08:00It's a dirty job, but my son has got to do it...My son has been working on Flash web design interfaces for simple games over the last few years. He's gotten a pirate ship to shoot canons and lines that do something or another. However, lately he's been focused on making a web design interface to allow me to show images on t-shirts similar to my barbaric version shown here at Ekay.com and here at: free-speech.com/City1<br /><br />The basic concept seems simple, but I can tell he has advanced himself in his knowledge of scripting because he no longer acts like it is easy and marvels at getting some of the seemingly simple task to work properly. I think the biggest challenge is to tie any interface back in to a shopping cart, but we won't bother to go there for now as this is just fun and games.Billy Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05978983149901078806noreply@blogger.com0