September Release!
8.31.2008
Wowzers. I've been sitting at my computer for many solid hours trying to crank out this release, and I'm super happy to announce that everything's finally live! (A few mins late though, sorry!)
The stuff:
Tee Reprints
Epidemic and The Most Fantastic Things
New Belts
Yeah, there's a ton of them, plus reprints of the Classic and Frankenstein ones!
Plush Toy!
Waaaaahooo! It's finally out! This thing was months in the making from figuring out how to produce it to actually manufacturing a good part of it in-house. But it came out just beauuuuutiful! For this first batch I've only done a few to see how they do, so grab em quick if you're interested.
But that's not all...
I've got a coupon that will run for the next 4 days, but here's the trick: It starts at 20% but each day it'll decrease by 5%... So by Friday, it won't be around... Act fast!
Just type in SOFRESH at checkout!
Whew...
posted by Mr. Linty @ 11:40 PM,
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The mail-lady actually beeped her horn at me
8.27.2008
Seriously! I was in my office doing some design work and all of a sudden I hear the miniature rumblings of a tiny engine chugging up the driveway. I poked my head through the curtains and spotted a mailtruck reversing determinedly towards the house.
My custom boxes!!!
Obviously they mailed flat (as opposed to folded as in the pic), but since I got about 800 of them in varying sizes, it still took up a significant amount of space in the truck's compartment.
Oh! And that was another thing - so I'm helping her pull these unwieldy stacks of boxes from the truck and I realize that this is the first time I've actually seen inside the back of a mailtruck! As I've mentioned here before, one of my goals for the near future of Linty Fresh is to purchase a small van, custom design the exterior and interior, and put in shelves and such and turn it into a mobile shop, touring around nearby cities and selling stuff out the back. Mailtrucks were in the offing for awhile, but lately I've been thinking that something bigger would be more sensible. But after actually getting a close look at the space in there, I was pleasantly surprised! I found myself analyzing the compartment thoughtfully, imagining how I'd organize the space. I think the mail lady thought I was weird, so I decided not to ask where I could buy a retired mailtruck (they must go dirt cheap, right?), but I think when she comes back tomorrow (she's got another shipment to drop off), I might pick her brains on the subject... Hm.
How cool would that be, right?!
posted by Mr. Linty @ 11:01 PM,
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If you missed the Woot...
8.22.2008
You can still get it here:
8 Fists of Death.
Thanks for all the kind emails folks!
posted by Mr. Linty @ 8:56 AM,
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I'm on Woot!
8.21.2008
First off, apologies for not posting about this sooner so that some of you could have the chance to snag one of my designs for just $10 from Shirt.woot.com... In any case, here it is... Late, but here!
The design:
I can't remember if I posted about this earlier or not, but to be completely frank about it, it's a little weird seeing one of my designs on a site that isn't Linty Fresh. Ironic, really, since I got my start competing for contests like Threadless, but now it feels strange to see this sort of thing anywhere but my own site.
Is it a pride thing? Maybe... probably. I turn down commissions each month from other clothing lines looking for designs. I feel that keeping "Eric Terry" synonymous with "Linty Fresh" is mutually beneficial. Plus, after working for hours on any one design, it only seems right for it to find a place within the LF family. And boy am I sounding retarded about all this. Lol.
In any case, when Woot came to me a couple months ago proposing that I do a design, I was interested in doing it for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, these guys have been awesome in getting exposure for Linty Fresh. They've had me featured as the Side Deal 3 times (Dec 07, Apr 08, July 08) and are always supportive of my work. So if there was anyone I was about to break my little rule of exclusivity with, it was gonna be them. The second thing was that the pay was good, with a healthy chance of residuals for months to come. So yeah, it was a smart move. :D
Anyway, when I got up this morning and checked my email, I had a little cluster of "Congrats!" messages from various friends and fans of LF. Strangely enough, they spotted the Woot feature before I did and were already snatching up the tees I didn't even know had been printed yet! And when I checked the shirt.woot front page, there I was!
I noticed, also, that the design had been commented on by about 40 wooters. But as much as I wanted to read those comments, I'd made a vow to myself not to do it! See, wooters can be a bit of a tough crowd to appease, partially because the demographic is so varied, and partially because they're so used to seeing a steady stream of really awesome designs, dispensed daily, at a really great price. And other designers and illustrators I've known (and highly respected) have had their stuff recieved very poorly, so I was nervous. Maybe most folks in the design industry have learned to develop a thick skin about this sort of thing, but because of the amount of myself that I put into everything I create, I can tend to take things pretty personally. So I had just decided to avoid it altogether.
But then. Tonight. I let my curiosity get the better of me. I clicked.
And it wasn't what I'd expected! Although there were a few negative comments here and there, the vast majority accepted my fiery amalgam of ninjas and dragons with open arms (and wallets)! Better yet, some knew me from Linty Fresh, and a few even mentioned that they already had some LF swag! It pretty much made my day.
Anyhow, if you're one of those fine wooters, I really appreciate it! I thank you for stopping by my shop and picking up some of my products. I know that they aren't available for the prices that woot offers, so knowing that you folks value my stuff enough to go beyond what you're accustomed to means a lot to me!
Thanks. :D
posted by Mr. Linty @ 9:19 PM,
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Ooh! Yum!
8.14.2008
K, so last night as I said I came up with about 30 new button designs. Printed them today (ran out of yellow half way through - wonderful!), and was able to assemble about 200 of them this evening. After I'd put em all together and had them in this giant pile on the floor, I noticed that it seemed that just about every color was present, from the classic LF lime-green to cyan and 2 different shades of purple! So I decided to lay them all out and see how it looked when arranged from hue to hue. The result was really cool! It really reminds me of gumdrop candies.
From time to time, people have described my designs as "delicious" "tasty" and "delectable". I think that's pretty rad! So hopefully that plays off of that same vibe. I'm going to be arranging the buttons this way for my show for sure, I just gotta figure out a way to keep them from moving around... hrm.
posted by Mr. Linty @ 7:35 PM,
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Brainstorming
8.13.2008
Well things are coming together nicely for these next couple of shows coming up. Not sure if I mentioned this or not, but about a month after my Renegade/Chicago show I've got another one in North Carolina, "Craft Attack!". Initially I was requested to apply by one of the organizers of the event, and after poking around online I was a little hesitant since there wasn't a whole lot on them. It'll be their first show, so it's a gamble. But after a few days of correspondence, I was sold on the event and applied. They've really done their research on the location, which is in the proximity of two colleges and lots of trendy hangouts. So hopefully it'll be a successful show. If nothing else, it should be fun, and it's a LOT closer than The Windy City. (Only 4 hours away!)
Anyhow, with these two shows coming up and the next ICE in the winter, getting the kinks ironed out for my displays is a smart move. One issue that needed resolving from the last show was the space organization. Although those 2 giant panels I brought did a great job displaying the shirts, they were bulky, heavy, and pretty unstable (we had to put the legs of the table on the their bases to keep them from tipping!)
So after a bit of brainstorming, I came up with a comparable idea that saves space, weight, and actually looks a lot better in the end. It's pretty simple - a thin strip of styrene plastic (leftovers from the washing machine print job) j-clipped (sorry for the fancy signage jargon!) to the corner poles of my shelves. The strips are fitted with velcro squares which then attach to removable hooks that hold up the shirts. Amazingly, it's very stable, too. Those clips hold a ton of weight.
Another thing I want to do for these shows is sell buttons individually. The packs sell just ok, but they've been in my store for ages now, and I want to mix it up. So for the show (and I'm not sure if I'll be doing this online yet), I'll have a giant felt mat affixed with dozens of buttons. Today I managed to come up with another 25 different designs, so those will be released along with the Smile, Monkeys, and Sailors classics. Which means that for the next week, I will be on my office floor crouched over the button machine pumping these things out. Fun times.
Actually, it kind of is fun. Tedious, repetitive, and mindless, but somehow a bit theraputic...
In other news, the "secret" project is coming along nicely. I had a little stress-out session when they first came in and we couldn't produce them as I'd envisioned, but with a little adjustment we were able to get them back on track. Happily, they'll be out in September as planned. Yay!
posted by Mr. Linty @ 10:54 PM,
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Schtuffffs...
8.07.2008
Sorry for splittin these up into two entries, but the formatting here always is screwy! Anyways, here's what all those pics were about!
1.Yay! Washing machine printed! After some consideration I decided to adapt this idea for a countertop instead of trying to precariously balance it on the roof of my booth. I'd like to think it was a good decision (after all, Chicago is "The Windy City") I still need to build a wooden frame for it so it's not all floppy-like, but yeah. You get the picture!
2. Assorted signage for the show in Chicago. That probably didn't need an explanation...
3. Aren't these cool! I just got them today and I'm stoked! I used a new printer for these, and he's one of the best manufacturers I've ever worked with. He was super communicative, punctual, and talented. Will definitely be working with him for new stuff in the future! That said, I probably won't do these mailers this way again due to complications in the printing and the overkill thickness of the actual envelopes. Still, it'll be a little while before I use em all up. They're going to go into circulation once the last of my paper mailers is used up, although I did just package one order in one of these...
4. And this is the one! It's going out to someone who's purchased a lot of LF gear in the past. It only seemed right that he'd get the first of the new packaging!
5. Garage! I sometimes like to think of LF as this living, breathing monster (I rather like monsters if you haven't noticed) that's slowly conquering the house. My office/room is already full to the brim of LF goodies, and now the garage has been infected!
6. Sneak peek! Of what? You'll find out in September!
posted by Mr. Linty @ 7:34 PM,
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Oh man. Sweetness.
posted by Mr. Linty @ 7:03 PM,
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Keith shirts update
8.06.2008
Well, apparently I should've misprinted shirts earlier... That, or it could be the ridiculously low price... Hm.
In any case, I've only got about 10 or so left in various sizes. So if you're still interested, here's what I've got:
Guys small (black)
Guys large (black)
Guys 2xl (black)
Guys 3xl (black)
Girls small (black and purple)
Girls md (black)
That's it!
posted by Mr. Linty @ 9:51 PM,
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Patience is a Virtue
What. A. Day.
I should start off with a word of thanks to those of you that have snagged some of these Keith tees from me. I'm down to about 45 or so, which is great. I'll continue to leave this option open to you guys for a few days before taking the remaining stock to a Goodwill.
I gotta say, it's surprising how many folks put in orders since this blog is the only place I mentioned it (so far), and I didn't think I had that many readers! I track traffic here, and I thought I was averaging just 45 hits a day or so, but apparently I need to check that figure again... :D
I also want to thank those of you who went out of your way to express.... uh... I guess you'd call them condolences (?) over this latest tee disaster. They say misery loves company, but I think it's pretty satisfied with acknowledgment as well, and getting emails to that extent made things just a little better today.
And then I went to FedEx.
I hate to make this blog a podium for my grievances about life, (yeah, another one of those bloggers!) but I've gotta say, this week has SUCKED. And today's fiasco at the local FedEx shipping center was so bad that it just makes me laugh to think about it now.
Ok. So. Here's the story.
So I've been getting into this wholesaling thing lately, and that in itself has been a formidable challenge. Like anything business-related, it meant a lot of research, brainstorming, and problem-solving along the way. Which is fine. I like challenges like this, and it's cool to feel that sense of accomplishment once it's been handled successfully.
Anyways, one of the wholesaling accounts that I landed was for a retailer in Tokyo. This is pretty great for me, because I've always thought my stuff would do fairly well in Japan, and getting into a physical store there was a bit of a dream come true. And finally, after many emails back and forth, they made the payment for the order today and asked that it be shipped via their FedEx account. Fine, I thought. I'd never used them before, but it'd be nice to get one more thing under my belt in terms of experience.
So I go down to the nearest FedEx/Kinko's shipping location and place the box on the counter along with all my paperwork. Now, as I said before, I take a bit of pride in learning how all this stuff works, so I felt pretty good standing there with my Formal Invoice and Certificate of Origin in hand, neatly typed out and stapled together. I even knew how much the package was going to cost to ship - $178. I'd done my work, and figured it would be a painless process to send this thing on its merry way.
Well, the employee was an older man, very kind and soft-spoken, and went about carefully weighing and measuring my box while I waited. Then he entered the amounts (one key at a time) into the system and we waited some more. He had a frown on his face at this point, and entered the numbers a second time. Then a third. Clearly, something was wrong. We were about 5 minutes into it at this point. I asked what the problem was, more out of curiosity than annoyance, and he slid over the receipt:
"Well this just can't be right," he said, motioning to the total figure. It was $19,442.00. Yikes.
I thought about this for awhile, and the answer suddenly became obvious. For one reason or another, the amount was showing in yen, the Japanese currency. I remembered from when I was in Japan last year that a single yen was roughly equal to the American cent. I was never a math genius in school, but it doesn't take one to move the decimal a couple spaces and figure out that this would've just about matched the amount I'd come up with earlier.
I proposed my hypothesis.
"No, no, it can't be that," he said. "System just doesn't work that way. Must just be a glitch." He said this while shutting of the computer and hitting the restart button.
It was at this point that I realized I was in for the long haul. I decided to let him deal with the issue while I walked around the store. I did this for about a half hour. I'd peek over occasionally at him huddled in a corner on the phone, talking to tech support, gradually losing hope of ever leaving the place.
But FINALLY, 45 minutes after first entering the store, he motioned for me to come back over to the scale, my box, and my neat stack of documents.
"Well, you'll never believe this," he said. I was pretty sure I would.
"Looks like this is in Japanese money! How about that!"
But you know, I really couldn't be mad at the guy. He was doing his best, and made a mistake, and that was that. That didn't make me not want to ram my head into a wall, but it did soothe the issue just a bit.
What a day. What a day.
posted by Mr. Linty @ 4:56 PM,
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Not a good day...
8.05.2008
Well, today I received the "Keith" tees from my printer. That may seem strange since I've been selling them for almost a week, but because I have to keep to that schedule, sometimes I have to open sales before I get the products, meaning that what folks see in the shop are just mock ups done in photoshop. This has never been a problem in the past since my printer does excellent and reliable work, but this time there was a goof up that ruined about 70 of the tees. A bad thing.
Anyways, this really wasn't meant to be a complaint or rant about anything. I just chatted with my printer and he'll be reprinting them this week or next and replacing all the bad ones. In the meatime, I've deactivated the "Keith" tees from the site (although the hoodies are still available) and I've emailed everyone who ordered one before today explaining the situation (although I did manage to send out all of these orders since I had enough good tees to fulfill them).
However, I'm still left with a huge pile of tees (mostly the black ones), and that is the actual purpose of this email. My first thought was to just drop them all off at the nearest Goodwill, but I figured that you guys might want first dibs. I'm basically giving them away. All I ask is that you pay the shipping. (Flat rate of $3 to the US and $7 international, just like it's set up on the site.)
If you're interested, shoot me an email with your size & color choice and I'll invoice you: gameyy[at]lintyfresh.com
Here are some pics of the bad prints, so you know what you're getting:
posted by Mr. Linty @ 11:34 PM,
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Why I do it.
8.04.2008
Well here I am, sitting in front of my iMac at 11:55, having just woken up after another late night. I've got a half-finished plate of breakfast in front of me (eggs, sausage, and rice, because I'm that Asian) next to a little bowl of fruit cocktail. And I've gotta say, working for myself is pretty nice.
In all honesty, though, that's just half of the picture. The other half, which often goes unmentioned, is the part where I freak out after spending huge chunks of cash on new releases, or after I go a day without a single order. It's pretty scary, and especially at this time of year (when things are slower), I find myself sweating more and more often. Because when all is said and done, Linty Fresh isn't just a hobby. Heck, it's not even just a business anymore! It's my sole livelihood. It's part of the reason I put 110% into everything I produce!
But every so often, despite sluggish sales and high overheads, I get a little boost that makes up for it all. This past week, it was an email from another indie clothing line owner. I won't share all of it because it was so personal and sincere, but this was one sentence that particularly got me:
"...Your journey of building LF has help me see how i can combine everything i love about art, passion, life, positivity, and helping."
Needless to say, I was pretty blown away by it. And this, more than anything else, is what keeps me creating. Like seeing the reactions of people viewing my products at ICE, messages like this one remind me that being able to inspire other people and brighten their lives (even if just a little), is a way more rewarding result than making cash.
posted by Mr. Linty @ 10:55 AM,
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