Lets talk merch

[TheWinterSnow]

So I have been crunching numbers for my bands budget, including liens of revenue vs profit. I have an idea in terms of percentage how things will be split among resources and band members when it comes to albums sales. Funny thing though, I can't for the life of me find any place that does printing for band shirts. What are some places that you guys have used before that you would recommend?

Without knowing how much any of that costs it gets hard setting a budget to allocate funds for reinvestment of merch and what is going to be spent going on the road (gas, hotels venue fees etc).

 

[joelplagues]

I just posted about my band shirts.

We were actually going to purchase them via the US(we live in aus) the exchange rate was great and even with freight we could still get them a little bit cheaper but ended up finding a reasonabley cheap place near us which meant we could have new shirts available for a show.

U.S company. check out "Threadbird" we talked with them and got quotes. really friendly/great customer service.

you will make a SHIT TON of profit selling shirts. It's the cheapest easiest thing and people pay alot for them. our first run is being sold for $10 each but we didn't want to make a profit.

Sweet story:
we sold a few the other night because people stood at the merch desk and saw everyother bands shirt at 25-30 dollars then saw ours for 10 bucks. when they asked the other merch dudes how we could sell em for so cheap, dudes had no answer.

Just make sure you have a great design. no one wants the boring shit. spend some extra cash on a big name.

 

[JonWormwood]

Terminustees
Contagious graphics

For the SE anyways. Merch will keep you afloat on the road. We paid 3.89 for each shirt (13x19graphic, gilden, high quality)

Sell it for $10/12 + album + gaurentees...

 

[iambillylange]

+1 Terminus tees

also mammoth print shop in atlanta, ga have been very good to us.....i am a screenprinter so i did some of our bands easier shirts cause i didnt wanna deal with the headache of the hard stuff at work

3.98 is a good price for a one color....most of our stuff was 4 or 5 and mammoth has very reasonable prices about 6 dollars each for 4 colors

are you looking to keep your profit margin big or have eye catching t shirts?

Feel free to PM me if you ever get a quote where you think someone is ripping you off or if you have any questions on prices and numbers and sizes

 

[TheWinterSnow]

Thanks so far guys. Its really nice to get an idea of how much they are going to cost in general. Going to have to save those names and really weigh them out when the time comes.

 

[JeffTD]

Cheers for making this thread, been curious about it for a while.

Are you guys finding anyone complaining about quality of shirts? I *really* want to get some stuff printed on American Apparel tees since I think the cut is perfect and the quality is way better than Gildan/Hanes, but it is like a dollar or two more per shirt.

 

[Sloan]

I just ordered some shirts through http://www.acmeprints.com
good service/communication, should get these in maybe a week so i might report back in a bit.

 

[iambillylange]

Cheers for making this thread, been curious about it for a while.

Are you guys finding anyone complaining about quality of shirts? I *really* want to get some stuff printed on American Apparel tees since I think the cut is perfect and the quality is way better than Gildan/Hanes, but it is like a dollar or two more per shirt.

AA isnt necessarily better quality its just ringspun cotton/polyester blend and made in america so its more expensive....theres a few companys that make this same type of shirt...anvil makes a ringspun and so does bay island at a more affordable price

 

[JeffTD]

Ahh ok, go figure. Honestly, I just like the softness of AA and they tend to last way longer before getting pitstains/small holes in them than Gildan/Hanes, not to mention they fit a fuckton better IMO. The others always have huge sleeves that stick out past my arms; I like sleeves to stay around my arms and not box out like crazy. Tultex makes a comparable shirt I've found, looks to be cheaper than Hanes but not quite as cheap as Gildan.

 

[iambillylange]

haha dude i know what you mean....me being so picky with shirts if a band is selling gildan i dont even buy it haha....
the sleeves are a huge factor gildan and hanes sleeves are huge...
youre right about the cut of AA it is much better but check out bay island and anvils (AA) version shirt quite a bit cheaper and personally the anvils are my fave i also find AA to run a bit small too

and if youre feeling frisky buy an AA "track shirt" i believe its called...youll never take it off...soooo comfy

 

[JonWormwood]

Terminustees
Contagious graphics

For the SE anyways. Merch will keep you afloat on the road. We paid 3.89 for each shirt (13x19graphic, gilden, high quality)

Sell it for $10/12 + album + gaurentees...

 

[DanLights]

Great thread, Im also interested in this. Any Europe people can reccomend some good ones or is it better to order from Usa?

 

[TheWinterSnow]

Ahh ok, go figure. Honestly, I just like the softness of AA and they tend to last way longer before getting pitstains/small holes in them than Gildan/Hanes, not to mention they fit a fuckton better IMO. The others always have huge sleeves that stick out past my arms; I like sleeves to stay around my arms and not box out like crazy. Tultex makes a comparable shirt I've found, looks to be cheaper than Hanes but not quite as cheap as Gildan.

+1

Can't stand when the sleeves "box" out, yeah you may pay more for the fitted shirt, but you will wear it more because you don't look like clown shoes.

I also prefer the shirts that have a blend of polyester in them, which makes them softer and a hell of a lot more comfortable.

 

[PhilR]

We're getting into doing the screenprinting ourselves so we can have maximum flexibility over what we have to sell. Just as soon as our fucking drummer tidies out his garage anyway.