Taking over the world... one torso at a time!
4.02.2008
I'm very pleased with my decision to do new releases on the 1st of each month. It's a great way to build interest since people can count on it every time. The thing is that it makes my 30th, 31st, and 1st of each month crazy hectic with getting everything set up. It really pays off though - 8 tees and 6 belts went out yesterday! Crazy!
But yeah, hopefully in the future I'll be able to stock them earlier and have things set for release at midnight.
And, I'm out of space! I gotta go get some new shelves from Home Depot today since the Epidemic shirts are coming in Friday and I've got nowhere to put them. I should just bite the bullet and buy myself a nice sturdy shipping table where I can fold shirts and pack up orders and stash stuff under, but (a) I have no space for such a monstrosity and (b) I'm trying to use all LF money for new products. Later (possibly in the fall) I'll take the plunge for all that other stuff, including a scale and a label printer. I'm at the post office every day now and I'm pretty weary of it.
Oh, and regarding that Collaboration design that I did with J3 - this morning I bought his half of the design from him, so I now own it in full and can do whatever I like with the art. I'm thinking that doing allovers are out of my league right now (minimums are like 300 pieces!), but I believe I can simplify the design for a shirt. So that should be out sometime in the summer. (Hopefully in time for the show, but that's doubtful) I know this kind of goes against my vision of designing everything 100% myself, but by the time of its release it'll contain almost none of the original elements of Jared's design, just his style. And it's a cool style and gets along well with the LF vibe I've got goin!
What else... Ah yes! Custom packaging! I was on the phone with Jimmy the other day and we were brainstorming about ways to do it. I'm thinking I'm going to switch to paper mailers so that I can print with regular plastisol ink on screens (just like my tees are done). They'll be patterned similar to the header banner at my store and the one I did as a collab, but it's going to have a comic strip feel to it with a graphic narrative and stuff. If I have time I'll start it tonight.
In a few months I also want to release cardboard gift box mailers. Basically it'll be an item that can be purchased in the store for $5 or so, and it will enable people to send their friend LF goods in a special LF box with custom designs and even a personalized note card that they can fill out at checkout. 
ALSO (goodness, is there no end??!), I just bought this awesome clothing rack from Amazon for only 21 bucks! Crazy! I ordered some new American Apparel goods, too, like a collared shirt and a wallet, because I want to analyze them and see what kind of designs I can work up for them in the future. Oh, haha, and I just got word back from my printer that he's got some badical glow in the dark ink now available for experimentation... Hm...
Finally (to save the most delicious for last) - last night I made some Chinese dumplings (from scratch!) and goodness gracious. They were pretty stinking scrumptious. I'm having them again right now for lunch! Man, fresh food makes me so happy.
Labels: belts, business, business plans, dumplings, packaging
posted by Mr. Linty @ 10:56 AM,
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Ramblings
3.18.2008
I think the real catalyst for getting Linty Fresh out there locally is going to have to be in-person sales. I'm going to be selling at ICE for sure in June, but I don't think it'd be a bad idea at all to think about doing some smaller shows to. ICE is great but it's only twice a year, which seems a little hit-and-miss. Either way, local recognition will be a huge step for me, especially if I'm ever going to think about opening a shop... which I am.
I know, I know, it's a LONG shot from where I'm at now, but it'd be just too awesome to run a little Linty Fresh storefront and maybe even employ some of my friends. I'd have a little gallery section showing off local young Atlanta artists' work, a "work-in-progress" bulletin board where people could check out my preliminary designs, and of course all kinds of LF goodies from tees and hoodies to skate decks, shoes, snowboards, and art prints. And at that point I might even consider doing collaborations with other guys (I've got dozens in mind from Flickr and Emptees alone)
...But on the other hand, the one thing I've been ultra stubborn about is doing all the design myself up to this point. Everything. Every piece of packaging, every character, every graphic on the site, every image shown on a product page, and especially every tee. It's tempting to hire other artists; from a profits standpoint, it makes complete sense. I'd be getting all kinds of new flavors and styles which would certainly bring new customers to the site, all for a couple hundred more than I'm currently spending per print. But I refuse! This probably sounds like megalomania, but I guess what I'm trying to get across is that LF isn't just there to make me as much money as possible. If it were I'd pick a theme and start hunting for other artists instead of tackling it all myself.
A few sites I frequent have done this. Coincidentally, a few of them started around the time LF did, but their ranges of styles and designs surpassed me ages ago. It can be a little discouraging, to be honest. But what I try to focus on is that fact that LF has always been (and will hopefully always be) more about me as a person and an artist than just a site with cool designs. Not that I'm in any way ragging on those other guys - I keep in contact with a lot of them and buy their stuff, even - it's just not my gig.
In a way, I almost approach LF as a portfolio or a photo album, a documentation of my progression and development. The cool thing is that this seems to be appreciated and respected by a lot of guys in the industry. And that's one thing that blows me away in all of this - the support from the competition! I recently found out that I was getting traffic from Seibei, the owner of whom I know and have chatted with a few times. How cool is that? Despite being competitors, he's totally plugging me on his links page.
Just one of many things that make me love this - it's just one awesome experience after another.
Labels: business, ideas, indie craft experience, linty fresh, seibei, tshirts
posted by Mr. Linty @ 9:53 PM,
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