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Getting Boxes of T-shirts printed up?

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Getting Boxes of T-shirts printed up?

#1

Post by e1ven »

Getting boxes of T-shirts printed up?

We're going to be presenting at an industry trade show this August, and we're looking to have some apparel made up for giving away to attendees.

For the show, we're interested in finding the cheapest reliable vendor possible, so we can crank out the shirts, and give as many away as possible. Hopefully we can give away a few hundred one-color logo shirts as freebies.

After the show, we'd like to sell shirts from the website, but these will probably be through a vendor who can print up nice multi-color shirts, as well as handling the inventorying for us and POD.

If you have any experience with getting shirts printed up, either van loads of cheap ones or expensive nice ones for sale, I'd love to hear it.

Re: Getting Boxes of T-shirts printed up?

#2

Post by michael_dorfman »

Back in a previous life, I used to work at a silkscreen T-shirt factory. There was a decent one-time set-up charge, to cut the screens-- but once this was done, the per-shirt charge was pretty reasonable (pricing depended on the quality of the shirt and the number of colors), and the screens were kept on file in case there were repeat orders.

Any vendor should be able to send you samples, so you can check out the quality of the printing.

I'd suggest you try to find someone reasonably local, so you can pick up the shirts yourself and avoid the shipping costs, and can check out the quality in person. Plus, many shops have designers in-house, who can help you if you don't already have a finished shirt design.

Re: Getting Boxes of T-shirts printed up?

#3

Post by e1ven »

michael_dorfman wrote: post #2

Back in a previous life, I used to work at a silkscreen T-shirt factory. There was a decent one-time set-up charge, to cut the screens-- but once this was done, the per-shirt charge was pretty reasonable (pricing depended on the quality of the shirt and the number of colors), and the screens were kept on file in case there were repeat orders. Any vendor should be able to send you samples, so you can check out the qua…

Thanks! Very good point. I hadn't been accounting for how bad the shipping might be.

We're boston-based, so QRST might be a decent option. Do you have any other direct experience?

Re: Getting Boxes of T-shirts printed up?

#4

Post by dkokelley »

My Uncle has a promotional products business (anything that could be printed on, really). The website is a little antiquated but the quality is great.

http://allamericanmarketing.com/

They also have a special inkjet printer to do images and other things that couldn't be done with traditional silk screens.

The great thing is that they'll also do pens, mouse pads (does anyone even use those anymore?), hats, etc, so you can do more than just shirts all from only one supplier.

They're located in Valencia, CA so I don't know if it's too far for what you want.

Re: Getting Boxes of T-shirts printed up?

#5

Post by tandaraho »

my co-founder also founded a t-shirt design/print company. He can do the sourcing, design, and printing for your apparel, and you'd be helping a fellow YCHN member:-). He is based out of Portland, ME, so pretty local to Boston. He recently did a couple of projects for Dana-Farber for the Boston Marathon. Send me an email if you'd like to talk to him about your project. Thanks!

Re: Getting Boxes of T-shirts printed up?

#7

Post by michael_dorfman »

e1ven wrote: post #3
michael_dorfman wrote: post #2

Back in a previous life, I used to work at a silkscreen T-shirt factory. There was a decent one-time set-up charge, to cut the screens-- but once this was done, the per-shirt charge was pretty reasonable (pricing depended on the quality of the shirt and the number of colors), and the screens were kept on file in case there were repeat orders. Any vendor should be able to send you samples, so you can check out the qua…

Thanks! Very good point. I hadn't been accounting for how bad the shipping might be. We're boston-based, so QRST might be a decent option. Do you have any other direct experience?

Well, the place I worked for (about 25 years ago!) is still going-- Original Design Company (http://www.originaldesigncompany.com/) in North Woodstock, NH-- just a trip up 93 from Boston. I have no idea how their prices are these days, but they are good people, and do great work. (Or, at least they did a quarter century ago...)

Re: Getting Boxes of T-shirts printed up?

#9

Post by SwellJoe »

I'm also getting new shirts printed up so I'm looking for a printer here in the bay area. Anybody have a favorite, preferably in the south bay (I'm in Mountain View)?

A good one in Austin is Vreeland Graphics...not super cheap, but reliable and great quality prints.

Re: Getting Boxes of T-shirts printed up?

#10

Post by fourlittlebees »

e1ven wrote: post #3
michael_dorfman wrote: post #2

Back in a previous life, I used to work at a silkscreen T-shirt factory. There was a decent one-time set-up charge, to cut the screens-- but once this was done, the per-shirt charge was pretty reasonable (pricing depended on the quality of the shirt and the number of colors), and the screens were kept on file in case there were repeat orders. Any vendor should be able to send you samples, so you can check out the qua…

Thanks! Very good point. I hadn't been accounting for how bad the shipping might be. We're boston-based, so QRST might be a decent option. Do you have any other direct experience?

Check out who Tangosol used to use. I'd bet they sourced locally.
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