sure, why not?

cool, just didn't know if the artist would go for it

i is own store. click me for great storabilities

if it will make some undiscovered artist a few bucks, they'll go for it.

very true, thanks for your comments

i dont think you should because there is just so much politics involved

you have to oreder the shirts
print on them
work out a deal with the artist
get yourself out there/advertisements
and then you start selling

i wouldnt ;)

just make sure when you approach the artists you have a business plan of some sort.. A reason why they would partner with you such as how you plan on promoting your shop, hit predictions, do some serious research into all of this.. Someone approached me the other day with this same idea on AIM he was gonna start a cafepress shop or he did. He said he contacted some artists from threadless already about it and they said ok, but I said no thanks because A. I already have my own cafepress shop as well as a few others, so what do i need him for? B. he had no plan If he was going to be marketing the hell out of his store, I might have considered it, because he might generate more sales than I could, but his plan was simply marketing it on Facebook..

yeah skafiend thats true but the seller would have to sell100 shirts for the artist to make 10 bucks

no... the seller would have to sell 100 shirts for the artist to make 100 bucks

but that in itself is quite the task when you're just getting started

you have to oreder the shirts - done easily i work for a shirt wholesaler

print on them - done easily the sister company i work for is a screen printer and i deal with them on a daily basis

work out a deal with the artist - once the art is submitted they hand over the rights to that art

get yourself out there/advertisements - not a huge deal, blogs will be my frends :D
and then you start selling

HA! hand over the rights to the art...

daniellesgarden: cafepress you gota sell your shirts alot higher than a 10-15 price point i would have to make a profit of any kind.

honestly, if your just starting out, id suggest giving the designer slightly more of a cut. only slightly. I dont know too many people whod be willing to put in hours of work with the prospect of only making a couple bucks. Also, I doubt designers will "hand over the rights to the design"

well dont you? even if you submit to threadless
"you acknowledge that you assign to skinnyCorp LLC and its subsidiaries and affiliates (hereinafter collectively "Threadless.com") the entire right, title, and interest in and to the copyright in your Design"

oh nevermind. i knew that tora

but silent, you have a lot of competition out there. What is going to make your design-a-tshirt website stand out?

or like threadless does, you could give them a flat payment ifrst and no residuals. like threadless

good point skafiend

there are tonsss of shirt companies/websites out there.

price point, and the designer profit, and the designs...? i would also hire a designer to build the site from the ground up

well, yeah, a buck a shirt sounds good on paper, but like tora and other point out, you'd have to sell a bunch of shirts to make some real doe-ray-me. At best, how many shirts of any given design do you think you're going to sell? 50? 35? and can ANY artist submit ANY design or will you impose some sort of system to limit the input of designs, say a customer voting system?

well dont you? even if you submit to threadless
"you acknowledge that you assign to skinnyCorp LLC and its subsidiaries and affiliates (hereinafter collectively "Threadless.com") the entire right, title, and interest in and to the copyright in your Design"

yeah, but we're talking giving up rights for a large scale payment vs giving up rights for a few bucks.

silent1643 on Jan 02 '08 at 11:24am





yea, but threadless pays you 2500 bucks

oops, good work tora

have you figured out how much the blank shirts will cost (will you just use white t-shirts or colors), the cost of stockin various sizes of shirts (or will everyone just get large?), how much the silkscreening cost is per shirt (four colors or one color... makes a big price difference), the cost of shipping the shirts to various parts of the country or the WORLD....

lots of things to consider

i work for a screen printer, and I see everyday how much it can cost to print 'sell-worthy' garments. i want to print my own designs through the company, but its tough to pay for all the shirts and printing, and then get them sold with profit.

"yea, but threadless pays you 2500 bucks"

good point - but the rights to print and sale the design should be given to me - not sure what else to add or remove from the rights since the profit is based on sales

cost of the shirts will vary around and under 2$ to have them printed will vary depending on the amount and the colors.. i will use whites and colors for shirts, more than likely gildan product

shipping could be done USPS to save cost

its not a perfect idea, but i think it is possible and worth putting some money into it.. and to see what it becomes...

If I were you I would get it all down on paper, figure out the exact costs of everything involved. good luck with it.

thanks for all the feedback!

it's a pretty big endeavor, especially if you plan on doing all the shipping/etc yourself.

i sold about 110 of my own shirts earlier this year, which i had to invest about $600 in initially. that was just for one design. and i probably spent at least 10 hours dealing with packing and shipping the shirts out.

also note that any costs you omit, such as the shirt brand, number of colors (though sometimes limited colors work out), etc. can affect the eventual profit you make, because they're deciding factors for whether people will want to buy the shirt.

i think it'll be tough finding artists to go along if they get nothing upfront. i'm sure you could find some artists who'll do it for free, but ultimately i think that'll reflect on the quality of work you're given, as is the case with any business trying to cut costs.

i agree.. up front cost could come later as the site would grow but initially i just could do it

just about handing over rights- threadless only holds the right for printing on tshirts, or maybe it is apparel of any kind. Other places, eg. Luckythreadz who's printed one of my designs, and gives commission, holds the right for it's selling use on anything for one year only. Most places still give credit to the deigner and still allow them to use the design for self promotion.

Just a few thoughts. Good luck

couldn't even

very interesting thanks for the insight info wanderingbert