T-Shirts

So you've played a bunch of shows, have a CD to sell, and are slowly starting to build a draw of people to each show. Great! Now you're starting to think about T shirts to add to your merchandise table. Awesome, that's the next step right.
But what do you put on a T Shirt?
Lots of colour?
Fancy Designs?
Album art work?

So many options to go with that it can be overwhelming and confusing. If you go with album art work, cool, but how many can you sell and how many do you have to have printed right off the bat? This is where a lot of the risk comes in to play when planning your T shirts. Sure the more you Buy the better the price is you pay, but what if you don't sell hundreds of shirts for a long time? What if you end up with a stack of shirts with album art work from a CD you did 5 years ago?

So here is what I would suggest and what my thinking is. Start out with something simple. Do a classic one colour print with your band name and a a logo on it. No matter if it is your first CD or your 10th, That basic design will always sell. Look at the classic Ramones T shirts you see around at shows, simple, one colour, band name, and logo. Often you see a white T shirt with a black print or a black T shirt with a white print. They still sell that Type of Ramones Shirt on a regular basis. Its a simple and effective design that is basically timeless. The great thing is a simple design like that will transfer to stickers, web site, hats, coffee mugs, sexy underwear, or what ever you can think of.

Why risk having a tone of an album specific T shirt when you are starting out? Make and plan for something you can always sell. Once you get that going then you can easily down the road start adding small batches of more designs and special event type T shirts to your table, and right beside them all have a standard that anyone can add to their loot.

Now the next thing you start thinking about is what colour of T shirt do I go with?

It seems typical that all shows you see the basic black T shirt. It always looks great! This is a fine idea. The only draw back I can see with a black t shirt is that most screen printing shops charge a bit more for them. They usually have to add a layer of white under your design if your using a lot of colour to help the colours stand out and not look faded some. This is an added step in the printing process and usually you end up paying for it. This can cut into the packet some when getting them printed and adds a little more cost when you go to sell them at your shows. Now plain white T shirts are usually the best price, but not every one wants a white T shirt. The nice thing is you can get them quicker and for a better price.

So what one could do is go for a bit of a split on coloured shirts and your basic black, this way you can get an over all base price that's easier to handle and leaves you with a bit of profit at the end of the night.

The last thing you have to guess at is what sizes do you go with. That is a hard one to figure out. If you are working with a good company that does shirt printing, chances are they can help you out some if you ask them what the most popular or common sizes are. They can also help you with colours, and give design advice.

I am sure there are many more things that one can go over when it comes to T shirt designs and printing. But this is a basic look into it to help get you thinking about what you want to do. I could probably go on a long time on just designs and logos alone. Best bet there if your having a hard time thinking up something pop by a art school and you could find someone eager to do up a design for a reasonable price. Starving students and all.

Rock On!
Cheers