The Tee Shirt

[LegendWoodsman]

Not too good with introductory statements so... I thought I'd detail some of the benefits of t-shirts:

Compared to printing books, t-shirts are easy. Tees can support a lower print run and provide a decent profit. My local silkscreen specialist¹ does a minimum 12 shirt run for $12/shirt. For an initial investment of $64 [plus initial screen costs and tax] you can sell your very own tee at a reasonable mark-up. For 50 shirts the cost per unit drops to $8... and I'm not lowering the price of the shirt. More profit. 

The risks:

• A high print run may be appealing but if your design isn't popular enough, you'll be left with a lot of surplus
• Size selection can be tricky. I used a 1:3:5:3:1 ratio for Small:Medium:Large:XLarge:2XLarge - but some designs are more popular for different sizes
• Not enough color choices can have some customers saying, "I'd buy it if it was available in red"
• Too many color choices can leave you with a surplus of unpopular colors
• Ladies' tees are nice, however they are more costly to produce and some of the sizes are ridiculously small. Size ratios of 1:1:5:5 for Small:Medium:Large:XLarge [see above]

The risks aren't too bad though. You can start small and take bigger leaps as you feel more comfortable. The black tee with the white printing is usually the first step. Expanding into colors from there.

Your thoughts and comments are appreciated.

¹minimums and prices will vary at different locations. I chose my silkscreen specialist because of a recommendation. Shopping around to compare prices isn't a bad idea though.

[Rob]

I think we actually have someone working on an article for this. So hopefully that will be coming along soon. 

[LegendWoodsman]

oops 

[Pete]

Based on my experiences with t-shirts - and this goes for just about all merchandise - is to not make it comic-specific.  Sure, the hardcore fans might want a t-shirt with a character of yours, but what about the people who have never read your comic?  Choose a design that appeals to both fans and n00bs alike.

For example, I did a run of t-shirts with my comics (then) logo and a tagline, and nobody except a handful of readers cared.  However, I did a line of t-shirts with a line from my comic that said "If you give me cookies I'll believe anything" and a giant cookie on them, and people went nuts over them (in fact, I've done a whole line of cookie-related merch that sells well).

Bottom line is keep it as universal as possible and you'll get more sales.

[Rob]

Oh! No ooops!

Talk about whatever you want. I was just mentioning that someone with some special experience or point of view will be making an article on the subject soon. Just making conversation.

As you were. 

[Alectric]

I played with the idea of designing t-shirts, but was very dissapointed by the restriction to solid colors, color selection and number of colors, the limited area that you can actually fit the designs onto, the available shirt colors, and the fit of the available shirts.  I'm kind of picky in this area.

[LegendWoodsman]

@Pete: I agree with the universal appeal. It's my vanity that makes me want to make the shirt with the comic's logo on it... decent for branding when you are attending a convention but not too good for mass appeal.

@Alectric: I met some dudes at SPX who do their own silkscreen operation. They have really neat designs that are printed over the shoulder where they mix their own dyes and screen paints. If you're interested, you may want to attempt that route.

[Cebronix]

the T-shirt article is almost finished! I'm editing it down now. The thing came out a lot longer than I thought it would. Even after I broke it down into two parts, the thing was LONG. apparently, I have a tendency to prattle on and on and on....

[Rob]

Well don't cut the good stuff out. Just the prattle. 

[LegendWoodsman]

the T-shirt article is almost finished! I'm editing it down now. The thing came out a lot longer than I thought it would. Even after I broke it down into two parts, the thing was LONG. apparently, I have a tendency to prattle on and on and on....

I'm looking forward to it.