Show HN: Helvetitee: Custom tee. No bullshit. (Our four-day startup) • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Helvetitee: Custom tee. No bullshit. (Our four-day startup)

#21

Post by tomcavill » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 5:03 PM UTC

courtewing wrote: post #17

I really dig the simplicity of the process. I love that the entire top of the homepage not only shows exactly what you offer, but it is, essentially, your entire user-facing product. The price point is a little high compared to normal custom t-shirt offerings, but if you're offering higher quality shirts and a better user experience, then that isn't a bad thing. A couple of suggestions: 1. The person/model used for t…

Thanks for the really comprehensive feedback.

I actually agree with every point you raise. We've got a great deal to improve upon but like you say at the end, it has only been a quick project thus far.

I hope you'll take a look back (or follow one of us on twitter - @tomcavill / @helvetitee / @ccharlesworth) so you can see the site improve over the next few weeks.

Thanks again for taking the time to comment.

Re: Show HN: Helvetitee: Custom tee. No bullshit. (Our four-day startup)

#22

Post by tomcavill » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 5:05 PM UTC

bluetidepro wrote: post #20

For ~$40(USD) I want a much higher quality shirt than Gildan. That seems ridiculously over priced. With a quick Google search "Gildan's 100% cotton, ringspun, pre-shrunk sofstyle tshirts" (what the about page says you use), the shirts cost less than $3.00(USD) to buy in bulk. Suggestion: Why not lower your profit margin a little bit (you have to be making at least $30+ USD on each order right now) to make it more aff…

All the feedback so far indicates our pricing is too high. That'll definitely be the first thing we'll fix.

Re: Show HN: Helvetitee: Custom tee. No bullshit. (Our four-day startup)

#23

Post by tomcavill » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 5:07 PM UTC

antihero wrote: post #18

So £25 (fairly expensive) for a t-shirt based on a fairly dead meme that is available in one colour and can have no other details? Apple fans are going to love it. In all serious, I'd be tempted if this was sub ten quid but for £25 you can get so so so much more for your money, and if you're willing to pay that for a white t-shirt with a word on it you have far too much money.

Fair point. We'll come up with a better price as everyone seems to agree it's too high.

Re: Show HN: Helvetitee: Custom tee. No bullshit. (Our four-day startup)

#24

Post by slantyyz » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 5:14 PM UTC

It would be cool if they included Cooper Black for those of us who grew up in the 70s and 80s.

Re: Show HN: Helvetitee: Custom tee. No bullshit. (Our four-day startup)

#25

Post by ethan_t » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 5:35 PM UTC

Congrats to you guys. Loving the dead simple process and clean UI design. I will definitely put in an order for the support of hacker's spirit.

Btw, how do you plan to do marketing on this? (Besides posting it on Hacker News - which probably brought you a ton of traffic already)

Re: Show HN: Helvetitee: Custom tee. No bullshit. (Our four-day startup)

#26

Post by citricsquid » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 5:43 PM UTC

I like that you included photos of the printed t-shirts, also I like that you're using a printer with no web presence so we can't go straight to the supplier, hah.

A cute idea that might help people to spread their shirts: If someone creates a shirt (let's say I'm miley cyrus and I make one for my fans, "I The way you described the t-shirts makes them sound quite appealing so I figure I'll order one, no idea what to put on it though... :( maybe "I just wanted a t-shirt".

oh also I assume "handmade in London" refers to the business; but with t-shirts it would read as if you're saying the t-shirts are handmade in London, which isn't true.

Re: Show HN: Helvetitee: Custom tee. No bullshit. (Our four-day startup)

#27

Post by rorrr » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 5:48 PM UTC

$40 for a shirt with a word on it? That's bullshit.

I can have a custom Gildan shirt for $16:

http://www.customizedgirl.com/category/menstops.htm

Re: Show HN: Helvetitee: Custom tee. No bullshit. (Our four-day startup)

#28

Post by noonespecial » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 5:53 PM UTC

Nice. Very nice. The simplicity is extremely appealing. I'm going to jump on the "price too high" bandwagon as well. Unless you really need that price to cover costs and make any profit at all, I'm going to suggest that you can make more money selling them for just a little less.

You're sitting right at that point where a slight ease in price is going to result in a significant increase in quantity sold. Unless your production capacity is constrained or you're already very near your break-even point on cost/price, charge less and sell more.

Re: Show HN: Helvetitee: Custom tee. No bullshit. (Our four-day startup)

#29

Post by rhizome » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 6:16 PM UTC

tomcavill wrote: post #23

antihero wrote: post #18

So £25 (fairly expensive) for a t-shirt based on a fairly dead meme that is available in one colour and can have no other details? Apple fans are going to love it. In all serious, I'd be tempted if this was sub ten quid but for £25 you can get so so so much more for your money, and if you're willing to pay that for a white t-shirt with a word on it you have far too much money.

Fair point. We'll come up with a better price as everyone seems to agree it's too high.

How did you come up with the current price?

Re: Show HN: Helvetitee: Custom tee. No bullshit. (Our four-day startup)

#30

Post by rhizome » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 6:19 PM UTC

tomcavill wrote: post #9

gadders wrote: post #6

Good effort for making a bootstrap site not too bootstrappy. Also, how many people pronounce it Helv-Titty?

Ha. Maybe too many. We're not closed to the idea of changing the name if we think of a good one. Suggestions? Thanks re: bootstrap.

Unless you've found others with similarly structured names, I would imagine that the word "Helvetica" is trademarked and thus a possible dealbreaker on the name anyway.