T shirt time again, all suggestions gratefully recieved.

[skidder652003]

So we are thinking of doing another run of 100 T shirts as we sold out the last lot.

 

Colour design, complicated, I like the look of them, we are lucky that a pal is a graphic designer.

 

So who uses who for their band Merch?  Looking for the best bang for buck if possible, all suggestions most welcome, Thanks!

[Guest]

Amazing artwork! 👏🏻👏🏻

 

Sorry I can’t answer your question though.

[Skybone]

I had our shirts printed up by https://www.shirtysomething.com/, based in Nottingham. Good price, great service, great prints.

[BigRedX]

I've used Shirty Something for Terrortones T-Shirts and I believe the last In Isolation design was done by them too. However I'm not impressed with the current web site design as it makes finding print prices far too difficult. In fact AFAICS you now have to call or email them to even get a quote for anything other than unprinted items. That certainly wasn't the case when I last used them.

 

BTW the full colour design while looking fantastic may turn out to be too expensive to print unless you are considering a print-run of thousands

Edited November 27, 2023 by BigRedX

[Stofferson]

On 25/11/2023 at 17:03, Skybone said:

I had our shirts printed up by https://www.shirtysomething.com/, based in Nottingham. Good price, great service, great prints.

another plus 1 For Shirty Something!

[Skybone]

On 27/11/2023 at 08:35, BigRedX said:

I've used Shirty Something for Terrortones T-Shirts and I believe the last In Isolation design was done by them too. However I'm not impressed with the current web site design as it makes finding print prices far too difficult. In fact AFAICS you now have to call or email them to even get a quote for anything other than unprinted items. That certainly wasn't the case when I last used them.

 

BTW the full colour design while looking fantastic may turn out to be too expensive to print unless you are considering a print-run of thousands

 

They were pretty good in answering emails and/or phone calls.

 

Obviously, they need a high resolution image to base a price off, but they'll also give you options. Looking at the image posted (especially the colour one), it'll probably need the "Direct to Garment" print, rather than your "traditional" screen print. I'm assuming that it's basically just like an inkjet printer type piece of kit that prints direct onto the shirt. Unfortunately, this isn't cheap, IIRC, it was working out at around £12 per shirt for a small number run. The more you have printed, the cheaper each shirt will be.

 

I only ordered 50 black Gildan shirts with a white print, turnaround was about 8 days from paying to them arriving at my door. Great shirts, well happy with them.

 

Payment was by Bank Transfer, they don't take cards or PayPal.

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, Skybone said:

I only ordered 50 black Gildan shirts with a white print, turnaround was about 8 days from paying to them arriving at my door. Great shirts, well happy with them.

 

I f you don't mind me asking how much was this? Also what sizes did you go for? I've always found that no matter what size your typical audience member is, only L and bigger tend to buy band T-Shirts.

 

I know it's quick and easy to call, but it would be more efficient to get a rough idea of the price from the web site first.

[Skybone]

It cost £306 for 50 shirts. The more you buy, the cheaper each individual shirt will be. We can sell the shirts for a reasonable price at gigs, and still get some money back with profits going into the band coffers. 

 

Having done t-shirts before for another band, like you say, the larger sizes sell better, so I went for 10 Medium, 20 Large & 20 XLarge. All of the Mediums have been sold, I think we're down to 10 Large and about 12 XL's.

 

The band had been talking about getting merch / doing a CD of the album, but that's as far as it ever went. I got a tad frustrated with this and just ordered them. I did have to chase people to get the artwork in a suitable resolution to order the shirts, but thankfully, everyone chipped in, so I managed to get 3 quarters of my outlay back, which helped.

 

 

[BigRedX]

11 hours ago, Skybone said:

It cost £306 for 50 shirts.

 

That's pretty much doubled in price in the last 10 years. I had 100 done last time and it was only slightly more than £300. However every T-shirt run I've done in the past has more than paid for itself despite having loads of S and M sizes left.

 

Our next design will have front and back prints which will double the print price. I am hoping it will still be possible to sell them for £10 and make a profit.

[Skybone]

Agreed.

 

The only thing with merchandise, especially if you don't gig that often, it is a bit of a "slow" return.

 

I suppose it will depend on the design for the front and back prints. If it's a relatively "simple", single colour design, it should be feasible to get them done at a reasonable price. The more complex the design, the more expensive it'll be.

 

If you look at getting a vinyl print, it might reduce the price even more. The downside, IMO, is that the print isn't quite as good as screen printing.