Im new here. (dumb question?)

[ChristianWolf]

Must i say that everyone on this forum is very respectful, i have been lurking around for a while and then finally made an account... but it took me some time to build up the confidence to create a thread. I did some research (maybe not thoroughly enough) but still have some unanswered questions that maybe you guys can help with.


I have a website i created that i am going to use in a variety of ways. One way i am going to use is it is to sell some apparel (mostly for advertisement purposes). I can buy custom t-shirts (6-8$/shirt) from a local guy that lives a couple miles away from me but before i decide to get a bulk order from him i was wondering if anyone can go over the whole OUTSOURCING process with me?

how do you outsource?
how much is outsourcing?
can it be a one and done thing?
How many shirts do i need to order?
How do i send them my design?

basically i know nothing about it but if it can save me money and get me a lot of t shirts I'm interested

 

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[ChristianWolf]

help please

 

[bigred]

Welcome to the forum

Have you tried researching any of the questions on your own?

If the guy that sells the shirts is a couple miles away, why not go meet him and discuss the whole process.

 

[GravyBoat]

odesk.com
elance.com
fiverr.com
even craigslist works sometimes

 

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[jon.a]

A long time ago, a friend of mine wanted to go into the R/C model business. He went to work for an existing R/C store for 6 months first. He was their best employee until he quit and became their best competition.

 

[TJPB]

Are tee-shirts your product? If you are just using them for marketing, what is the product?

 

[Catalyst]

Am I reading correctly that you want to sell swag for your business? Why will someone buy it? what is your core business?

 

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[ChristianWolf]

I hate the word swag so no I do not consider it "swag for my business"

I am starting a website that will help push my local people into improving their lives.

I am a big time fitness addict and I get a lot of people asking me what I do so I decided to make a website and put it all on there.
The shirts are just a bonus I will mostly be giving out for free just to my followers.

I actually ended up talking to a local guy that charges 6$ a shirt. I'm considering business with him.

 

[TJPB]

Is this your Fastlane plan or just something you're doing for fun? From the limited information you gave above, it does not meet many aspects of NCEST.

 

[ManWithABeard]

how do you outsource?
how much is outsourcing?
can it be a one and done thing?
How many shirts do i need to order?

Hey man, welcome to the forum. I've done t-shirts for a few years for my own past business as well other peoples' business before, I'll try to help and answer some questions for you.

1: How much is outsourcing? My apologies if I don't understand this question. Assuming you're doing the designs in-house like I did, all I did was sign up for accounts with a few t-shirt manufacturers with my resale certificate and basic info. This gave me access to really good wholesale pricing and really good quality cotton. I was using the same manufacturer that Nike used at one point.

2: Can it be a one and done thing? Yes it can be. Looks like you're making tees just for promotion so since it is for that purpose, you're not doing a full on line or collection of say a clothing line. You just give the printer your order and they print the tees. Sidenote: In my experience, when I provided my own tees, it cut the overall price of the job down by a lot.

3: How many shirts do I need to order? Depends on how much you plan on selling/moving. How big is your following? And is it a following that converts well? That will give you an idea. However, many printers and almost all t-shirt manufacturers have a minimum quantity to order, so if unsure you can try out a minimum order and go from there. If the tees are for promotional giveaways (typically called "swag" LOL) then you can print like 50 of them as you won't have to worry about actually selling them.

Also, to answer the last question about how to send the printer the design: Ask them to be sure, but the printers I've used typically required the file to be in .Ai or .eps format so that they can prep the file for the silkscreen cut then for print.

Hope this helps man and good luck on your project!

 

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