UPC all gone!
3.05.2008
Well as you may have noticed, over the weekend I sold out of my first tee ever: UPC! Crazy. It's the 2nd most-viewed shirt on my site which is so weird to me. I really never thought it was all that spectacular, and as other designers have eagerly pointed out, it's been done before. So do I reprint it? Hm. On the one hand I've gotten at least half a dozen emails asking me to do it, but on the other hand I want to get new stuff in the store...
Help me out guys! To reprint or no? Another thing to consider is that I've got 2 more white tees in the queue, and one that's black on white just like this. I just don't know if it's a good idea to take a step back like this, even if it's a seller...
Labels: designs, linty fresh, reprint, tshirt info, upc, zebra
posted by Mr. Linty @ 8:35 PM,
,
March 1st goodies!
3.01.2008
See! I kept my word!
This one turned out specTACular. The colors are a perfect match and I'm just nuts about my new custom tags printed on the inside! Anyhoo, this design is on sale now at Linty Fresh and I've even got a discount code for you guys: "SOFRESH". If you use it now you'll get 10% off your order, but every day it'll go up by 1% more. I'm not gonna say when I'm deactivating it, so either buy now and get a guaranteed 10% or wait a little bit and see what happens... ;D
Oh, and my board worked great! Despite the breaking it in pretty rough with bails, ice, tree-crashes, and other wear-and-tear, it looks fantastic. And the slopes were great, too. One of the employees there told us it was one of their best days there at Cataloochee. We had a blast!
Labels: designs, fish, new products, shirts, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 3:34 PM,
,
March 1st!
2.17.2008
So in keeping with my goal to release new goods on the 1st of every month, the beginning of March will bring a new tee, "Fish, Etc." and some other goods. The new tee design looks like this:
It'll be the same colorway for guys and girls on chocolate American Apparel jersey tees, as always. This design is actually pretty old - a couple of years now. I submitted an earlier version of it to Threadless (which never won) and a second altered version (which lost as well). But both submissions scored highly and I received a lot of helpful feedback. The problem with the initial concept was that the objects weren't arranged in this shape - it was just all in a giant circle, which was pretty boring. The second version introduced the whale shape but it wasn't clear enough (in fact, most people thought it looked like a brain...).
Still, about half a year ago I got an email from a tshirt company asking to buy the design (version 2). I turned them down though, knowing that I wanted to release it myself. So here we are, in 2008, and it's finally getting printed! It's always exciting to see ideas go from paper to digital form to printed tee. It's a long and sometimes grueling process of sizing, color matching, and close communication with the printers, but in the end, when I see folks buying the tees and sporting them around proudly, it's totally worth it!
Now, as for the "other goods" mentioned... Well, you'll just have to wait and see. I imagined I've established a bit of a reputation for starting things without finishing them, so I'm gonna keep my mouth shut until they're in stock and ready to sell... But I will say that from the designs that have been submitted, I'm very excited with how it's turning out! :P
Labels: design, designs, Eric info, graphic, linty fresh, new products, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 11:04 AM,
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New shirts on their way in...
2.11.2008
Well last week I put in the order for a new print... Well, technically it's pretty old... I designed it almost two years ago as a threadless submission. It scored moderately but some suggestions were made for revising it, so I did, and resubmitted it. Again, just moderate. So I changed it one last time and instead of submitting it yet again I kept it in a file never to be seen again... Until now!
(I know this post is pretty lame without a picture of the design - I'll upload one when I get a chance)
In other news, the new shirt is selling pretty quick (especially in girls' sizes). So if you've been waiting, you may want to pick one up soon. Also, I'm in the early stages of getting things together for a mobile shop. I think I've mentioned this idea here before, but basically I want to deck out a minivan with decals and logos and throw in some shelves stocked with tees. Then I'll cruise around Atlanta and see if anyone's interested in making a street side purchase! It should be quite an adventure, and one I plan to go on again if it's successful.
Anyhow, that's all for now.
Labels: design, designs, new products, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 4:08 PM,
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They're here!
1.31.2008
Dude, guys, gals. It's so totally stocked. And looking rather awesome. Custom tags are SIIIIIICK!
I've got the feeling these are gonna go pretty darn quick...
Labels: designs, graphic, linty fresh, new products, site info, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 11:46 PM,
,
Whew!
1.09.2008
I think I've finally come to an important decision regarding Linty Fresh. Honestly, it's been pretty weird the last two years since I've just designed whatever came to my head in whatever style I could conjure up. Problem being, without some sort of lowest common denominator, some overriding look, it's hard to really define myself. So I've made my decision. I'm going for "stylized street art cartoons and graphics" ...I guess that still seems broad, but just visualize my last design - it had some streetsy cartoons (the little orange dudes) mixed with my more typical dead tree and leaf graphics and lots of fun and flowy, purely design stuff. My buttons, too. Cartoony, but not in a kiddie-book-illustrations way.
Anyways, that's kind of what I'm going for. Also, BOLD colors and large designs. Now that I've finally established a cheap and reliable printer, I can go way beyond 4 colors, too. And now I want to do wrap arounds, hood prints, and even bags. There's a lot of reasons that I think make this a good idea. First, I haven't seen too many other people do this (bags, that is). Second, I love bags (I use mine whenever I can!) Third, I think the style will really complement the bags well (Most likely a simple, wide, one-color print)
I guess I've sort of been going about LF wrong. Basically I was attempting to compete with the tee giants like Threadless and Design by Humans. This, of course, is ludicrous. I simply can't create that many different styles for tees. But what I can do is invert that formula - print a lot of different things with a single style. Obviously, my main thing will definitely still be the tees, but I really want to expand. This may even be the perfect platform to launch the sneakers. (if I ever figure out how to do it!)
Anyways, I'm looking for some input on the bags below. These bags are my top 3 choices for printing. They have nice, print-able flaps, are comfy looking, and practically shaped:
DW805 Desert Wash Medium Messenger Bag
"100% cotton rip-stop soft structured messenger bag with open interior and brushed nickel hardware. adjustable strap for cross-body carrying. back pocket with velcro closure."
12" w x 9" h x 2" d.
405 Anvil Messenger Bag
"600-denier polyester; laptop and pda friendly; adjustable 2 shoulder strap; lined flap with two zippers makes imprinting easy; front adjustable-clasp closure; main compartment has inside slip pocket; front panel has zippered compartment"
DEPTH 5" LENGTH 14.5" WIDTH 12"
1908 Authentic Pigment Pigment-Dyed Raw-Edge Messenger Bag
"100% cotton canvas, 14 oz; enzyme-washed; adjustable cotton webbing shoulder strap with antique brass slider and d-ring; large flap with magnetic snap; exterior and interior zippered pockets; storage side pockets"
DEPTH 4.75" LENGTH 16" WIDTH 11.5"
I'm leaning towards the first one now but open to feedback. Probably I'll print on black & khaki for the first run. Any input on this would be great!
Oh, and one last reason why the new printing company is the best ever (and I'm so excited about this it's a little insane) THEY ARE GONNA DO CUSTOM TAGS!!!
In other words, they are going to remove the American Apparel tags by hand and screenprint a 3"x4" tag design onto the back neck. And because they are so incredibly awesome, it's only going to cost another 40 cents per tee, even though each size will have a different tag! I'm super thrilled because getting my own tags was like the final step to feeling official about these tees. From now on, they are 100% LF. Just awesome. On top of that, every tee I release will have a different tag design. This is the one I did for the upcoming tee.
Labels: bags, design, site info, tags, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 12:25 AM,
,
Oh snap, Jungle Book reference!
1.06.2008
Holy bajera this has been a sweet week! My Epic tee won Tee of the Day yesterday on Emptees and this morning in my inbox I had 3 cool emails: two were from apparel companies emailing me about some possible contract work. One's a Georgia motocross clothing line and the other is some NY-based thingy so that's cool beans! The third email (and probably the one I'm most excited about) was from Woot.com, a trendspotting/consumer reports type site that will be featuring me on their homepage tomorrow!
I asked how they found me and they responded: "We were looking." Ok then.
So '08 is starting off on a good foot I'd say! And I plan on really kicking things into high gear. I've got the next designs off to the printers as of this afternoon and once that comes in I'm going to load up my mom's van and camp out in some parking lots that get concert traffic. I always spot kids in threadless and the like, so I'm hoping they'll have it in them to support their local underdog. ;)
Anyhow, I've been getting lots of great advice from the other merchants and designers on Emptees and have even set up a trade with the guys that run Seibei and Carraway. I think that's been one of the coolest parts of running LF: networking. It's so inspiring to hear the stories of these small-time designers that found their niche, started a little following, and ended up making a living out of it.
See, I don't see myself as a fine artist by any means - I know I abandoned that path long ago by dropping out of my art major. But honestly, it wouldn't have suited me. Working for days or weeks on a single piece... ack. I'm way too impatient for that kind of long-haul discipline. But the process of being a small-time merchant/designer is so satisfying to me. The design aspect is awesome because I'm not answering to anyone but myself. No clients to make senseless comments and inconsistent decisions, no deadlines, no set standard of colors or styles. It's just whatever I feel like. And then the actual vending is super rewarding too. It's not the monetary thing at all really. Honestly, my profits this year are so low because of all my dead end LF projects, but still, it was a blast for me. Every time I get an order it's like the coolest thing - the fact that someone is willing to part with their hard earned cash for a chance to sport one of my designs is just the coolest thing to me.
Well that was quite a rant. So to contrast with all this upbeat crap, I have to announce some sad news - I totally ruined my Ponys tonight! I wasn't happy with the markers so I painted over them with acrylics. That was stupid because acrylics are basically liquid plastic, so once they dry, they only stick to things that soak them up. And my shoes didn't. So it's all peely and ugly now. My final plan is to spray paint them, but that could be even more disastrous. And this was totally a business write off, so there goes $25 in profits for '08... Lol.
I need to be more like corporate cat.
Labels: commissions, designs, emptees, printing, trades, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 1:06 AM,
,
Does this guy even do tshirts anymore?!
1.04.2008
Of course I do! Just having some fun experimenting with other stuff, yanno? Here's the latest projects from the LF workshop:
Basically my day went like this:
9:00 AM - Had a whim to do some custom kicks.
12:00 PM - Ate lunch while further contemplating the kicks.
3:30 PM - Entered a Marshalls and purchased some Pony's.
8:00 PM - Fulfilled my whim. Not 100% happy with these as the colors seemed to vary depending on what surface I was using the markers on, but in the end I'm cool with it. I'll still wear em, I mean.
Anyways since uploading these shots to my flickr, I've gotten 4 requests to design custom pairs! So who knows, maybe this is the future of LF! Either way, if you're interested, hit me up and I'll see if I can't figure a way to get one to you. :D
Also, it's 2008!!! And what better way to go into the new year than doing what I love: sitting for hours in front of a computer screen tugging at pixel points. Yeah, yet another tshirt design to add to the shelf. As in, the digital shelf. I'm still waiting on the info to come through for my loan application, so until then things are at a bit of a standstill tangible-goods wise. Here it is:
This is actually for a competition over at Emptees, which I've been perusing a lot lately. It's a nice little community of other tshirt vendors and designers, which means, unlike Threadless, you can actually get some useful information out of the other members. I've already got some A+ advice on what kind of business structuring works best for the industry, plus other stuff on shirt brands and what not. Oh, and I managed to hook up with one of the printer guys on there and he'll be handling my next batch. It's super affordable and his screens are 20"x25"! (Most are 16" x 13", so they can't do full front prints like he can!) Anyhow, the theme of the contest is "In Dreams". Which is open-ended enough to afford space for some of my newly lovable toothy characters (now as bunnies). I'm happy with the design, and whatever happens with the contest, I'm planning on printing this soon. As in, '08. Ha.
Labels: design, Eric info, graphic, linty fresh, shoes, site info, sneakers, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 8:34 PM,
,
Yoooooooooooohoooo!
11.28.2007
Huzzah!
LF 2.0 is live, and with a brand new tee in store! Go check it out here!!! Big Cartel is truly wonderous. I'm really looking forward to using it from here on out! Man, this calls for a celebration... Maybe a sale?
Yeah, that sounds pretty good!
Ok, all older shirts (ie: Behold Modern Beauty) $10! And the newer ones are $15!
Now go buy stuff!
Labels: site info, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 5:33 PM,
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New stuff to land soon...
10.31.2007
Well after volleying emails, order forms, and pdfs back and forth with the printers, I'm pleased to announce that the order has been finally and officially placed! As usual, I'll be experimenting a bit with this batch of shirts by releasing not just guys and girls standard cut tshirts, but unisex long sleeve tees too!
I can't speak for your part of the globe, but over here in Georgia the temperature is starting to dip into the 30s (which is especially disagreeable for one originally from the tropics such as myself). So I figured it'd be nice to provide the option of a slightly warmer (while still suitably fresh) piece of apparel. (Next up, scarves... or leg-warmers...)
In addition to printing this latest design on three separate styles of shirts, I'm also releasing an exclusive, hand-sculpted collectible toy. These will be available at the same time as the shirts, and will feature the same character and style. I'll release more information on them as soon as I decide just what this information will be.
Labels: designs, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 11:14 AM,
,
Almost 2 months!
10.19.2007
A long time!
Well things are still going here at LF. It's been a little quiet lately due to a site error on my part that was keeping the shopping carts from functioning correctly (now fixed). Prior to that I reprinted Once Upon a War on the original gold color and pink too (guys and gals). Also, like I mentioned a few months back all the shirts are now on American Apparel. It means the price has gone up a few bucks per shirt, but on the plus side all the older shirts on Fruit of the Loom have gone down to $15. Plus the new shirts are going to fit and feel a lot better. I'm wearing one now, so you can trust me. :D
This afternoon I sent out an email to the shirt printers with the specifications for a brand new design. I can't promise a release date since it's pretty much in their hands at this point, but I'm thinking that they should debut sometime in mid-November. (Gotta tag them and get product shots made before I'm ready to put em on the site)
Speaking of which, the last photoshoot was a blast! My friends brought over wigs, props, costumes, and other gags and we worked them into the shots one way or another. You can see many of the best ones in the catalogue or on my Flickr (you can also spot the new tee design if you browse my albums...)
Labels: site info, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 3:27 PM,
,
You wonderful patient people!
8.22.2007
I know! It's been ages since there's been any activity either on Linty Fresh or here on the blog, and for that I offer my sincere apologies! I mentioned in a previous post that I'd started a new website called The Artbook Coalition, and since it's opening it's expanded much faster than I'd anticipated, which is good and bad. It's good to see projects expand, but it's bad when you have to tell someone you can't hang out with them on the weekend because you need to moderate a forum. And I like to keep some semblance of a life outside the realm of the internet!
In any case, there were a few hiccups with the new printers but things are finally back on track with new shirts in the works and reprints in stock and ready to ship. I've been keeping them from the site thus far, though, because in about a week I plan to reshoot them all professionally and retweak some elements of the site. But I'm really happy I made the switch to American Apparel! The shirts fit even better than Fruit of the Loom and they're much comfier! You'll see...
So again, thanks for being patient with me and sending me reminders to get my butt back on track with Linty Fresh! You guys rock.
Labels: site info, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 11:06 AM,
,
Change is good!
6.15.2007
JUST IN TIME. I ordered these about two weeks ago and was getting a little nervous since I was down to my last two stickers after sending out a few orders yesterday! Actually I was especially worried yesterday when they didn't show up at my door even after UPS's tracking site listed the package as "delivered". I checked every door of our house and didn't find a thing. It was only after trudging around outside for a bit that I finally located it next to the bushes by the garage door... Not too impressed with that. :(
In any case, these kilt-inspired stickers have arrvied safe and sound and are ready to accompany future orders!
Things have been pretty hectic around here lately with the next batches of shirts in production. It's always a frantic process of exchanging emails, print proofs, invoices, and phone calls. I learned early on to put forth 110% to make sure that every detail is to my liking. There were a couple of early prints where I OK'ed things that I had nagging doubts about, and sure enough it caused problems in the end. I even had to send back a batch and get them reprinted once... So now I really bug the printers about stuff, and that takes lots of time and energy. But on top of this usual craziness, I should probably mention that with these new tees I'm testing out a totally new printing company based in Florida. Their prices are a little bit better due to them being smaller than Customink, and they seem to be even more responsive and cooperative, which is crucial for me.
Because printing is cheaper with the new company, I'm upping the quality of the shirts. Starting with this next batch, both guys and girls shirts will be on American Apparel!!! (Styles 2001 and 2102, if you wanna check em out). The benefits of this decision are overwhelming. For example:
- AA's product quality is one of the highest in the tshirt industry
- Their shirts are super duper soft and comfy
- All labor is sweatshop-free, meaning high wages for their employees, health benefits, and excellent working conditions. (Made in the USA)
- A better color palette than Fruit of the Loom (my current brand for guys' shirts)
- Identical colors for guys' and girls' (no more re-choosing pantones!)
Of course, printing on AA products pushes the price up for me a bit (about $1.50 a shrit, actually). Additionally, I plan to start using more colors in the designs and printing in more unique locations like back and sleeve, so this adds to the cost, too. Still, these new printers are so reasonable that when all is said and done, I'm only paying a little bit more per shirt. So while the price of shirts is likely going to go up, it'll only be by a dollar or two. My goal in all of this has really never been profit. Although I'd love for it to be my sole source of income one day, my first priority is to make the art I love and share it with people around the world!
Labels: site info, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 8:30 AM,
,
A plethora of blah
6.05.2007
So the sale's going well with an average of 2 shirts selling per day! I know that must not sound like a whole lot, but when you're used to that many selling in a month (the way it was about a year ago), it's a MAJOR deal!
Does it mean I can quit my day job any time soon? No. Not that I mind it a whole lot; the job I have is at a print shop and the skills that I've learned there-be it designing, doing layout, packaging, etc-have already proven invaluable to LF. Plus I'm only there part-time through the week and I enjoy the work (I get the warehouse to myself since we're a small company). So I'm not griping.
But the idea of running LF as my sole source of income is SUPER alluring. It's funny, I fantasize a lot about opening up an actual shop in Atlanta all the time. Whenever I'm down there and I see a vacant storefront I get all antsy and excited picturing a giant clothespin on the awning and "Linty Fresh" scrawled on the window. A good friend of mine even pitched a bunch of ideas to me about how the inside could be set up, complete with washing-machine window panels for shirt displays and a dry-cleaner type conveyor system constantly going with shirts... Seriously, how cool would that be?
In the meantime, though, I'm happy with just running this as a little venture from my closet. There's a certain appeal to the smallness of the operation at this point. Shirts are litterally designed, stocked, and shipped from one room-the same one I'm sitting in now, typing away.
ANYWAYS, my real reason for posting was to share some pics of these tags I printed up last week. I bought a fastener online for a few bucks and it just came in last night, so I was busy fastening tags to all the shirts. They look really cool! (Click the pic for more)
Also, new stickers are coming in mid-June. I never thought I'd see the end of the last batch (from September), but after these 40 or so, that'll be it. The new ones should be a lot better than the old. I designed them with bleeds (no white borders) and it's a completely new design, too.
Finally, there's a massive batch of new shirts currently being worked on by the good folks at CustomInk. It's the biggest order I've done so far, so I'm a little nervous about it... You'll see them in probably about 3 weeks. It should be interesting to see how they go over.
This is such a learning process...
Labels: designs, Eric info, site info, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 10:57 PM,
,
Hello fanbase!
5.09.2007
Man that week went by fast! I've been trying to update more often, but with time flying like it does, it's no easy task. Goodness, listen to me. I guess I'm getting old... or maybe just getting busy (synonyms, no?). Alright, enough existential drivel, let's talk TSHIRTS.
First up, the exciting news: the order for the newest LF shirts was placed yesternight!! That means that their ETA is somewhere within the next three weeks! Pretty sweet stuff. So start saving up kiddos! Like I always say, shirts do actually go pretty quickly, due in part to the fact that I print in such small quantities. In fact, for shirts like Once Upon A War and UPC, there's only like 1 or 2 shirts left in the XL or XXL sizes. So, in summary, don't delay. Especially since it's going to be a sale and all.
So what's the design, you ask? Well I've actually decided to keep this one under wraps until the official release on LF, so you'll have to wait a little longer to get the answer to that. But I realize it's a little cruel to leave everyone completely in the dark in lieu of your loyal readership (all 5 of you), so I did think it appropriate to give you a sneak peak at a piece of the design.
So, uh... Voila! Yeah I know, it's not a whole lot to go on, but... well, that's kind of the point really. I mean, you get a basic idea of the colors, right? So at least you can plan your wardrobe accordingly, or buy matching jewerly...ladies.
And, just to make this post deserving of a third meta tag, I've got some site related news for ya. Firstly, you may notice that the "Linty Quest" is no more. Or, more likely, you didn't notice. That's kind of why I took it down. :( I did, however, update the ever-intriguing FAQ for all your entertainment needs. I mean really, would you rather be scavenging for a 3 dollar coupon underneath some cruddy bridge or reading a captivating paragraph dedicated to the art of T-shirt maintenance?
Labels: designs, site info, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 9:58 PM,
,
Slacker
5.03.2007
Hey, it's THURSDAY! Sweet. Thursdays are always nice because they're kind of like the first free nights of my week. And today is especially thrilling because I had a few breakthroughs last night with old Tshirt designs that just never 'clicked' for me. Like I finally came up with another scheme for the "Mondays", a design that was simply too boring on black. "Radio" also got a makeover. Since Real Heroes I've come to appreciate how difficult it is to work with colors on khaki shirts.
Old "Radio" design
I've also been trying to come up with new shirt ideas. Yesterday I came up with a handful, some conceptual (like "War") and others more decorative (Uhm, "UPC", I guess). Right now I have a list of a couple dozen or so that I'd like to start woking on when I've got the time. I've also started a folder of reference images and styles to browse through when I need some direction and momentum. Often I'll be looking through photographs for some side project or commission when I stumble accross an image that really jumps out at me. Usually it's that image that evolves into an idea and subsequent design. Typically the end result looks nothing like the original.
I'm still having difficulty getting the printers to replicate the pantones I've given them for the latest design, but I have a feeling the error is on their side, the way they're processing the images they've shown me. I think my best bet is to let them go ahead with the screens and have them send me a larger proof format when that step is done... Yeah, just thinking out loud here.
Oh yeah, and I still have to get those product pictures up for the last shirt! Super slacking here!
Labels: designs, site info, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 2:26 PM,
,
By the way...
12.18.2006
Oh hey, I totally forgot to mention something earlier about the new shirt. I actually did some research on barcodes before doing the design and learned that there are lots of different kinds of barcodes these days, including ones that use circles, dots, and stars. But in the more classic, UPC (universal product code) style, there are two sets of five numbers beaneath the barcode split by a space where some of the bars stretch to the bottom. This is the style that I used for the shirt (hence the name!), specifically because of the amount of numbers in each set. Indeed, the numbers have significance...
Hint: predictive text, my friends!
Ah, and while we're on the subject of barcodes and their visceral coolness, check out this site.
Labels: designs, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 10:47 PM,
,
Shout out to Customink
12.11.2006
I'd like to take a brief moment to show some appreciation for Customink, whom I currently use to print my shirts. They're a giant printery of miscellaneous items based in Kentucky. I've never known anyone in Kentucky, but based on this company's merits alone, I'm going to set a goal to start forming friendships with people in that area, because I bet they'd be cool. So far, 5 of the 6 runs I've done for Linty Fresh has been through Customink, with the exception of Nuclear Moonlight. For this shirt, I decided to experiment with another printery, which was a good deal cheaper. Well, they say that you get what you pay for, and that was most definitely the case with this. Instead of being professional about the process and getting my approval along the way, they made a lot of assumptions about how I wanted things done.
For example, placement.
To date I've been somewhat coservative with the placement of my designs. Of course, as I get a little more daring and restless, this'll probably change, but as it stands I feel that going standard is a good choice. This is what I had in mind for Nuclear Moonlight. But when the shirts arrived at my doorstep I was appalled to find that the printers had gotten it completely wrong. The design was 5 inches too low! Instead of an intriguing desert scene encased in dead trees, it looked more like an Xray of my bowels.
Minutes later I was on the phone with an apologetic sales rep, who assured me that they'd fix it immediately. This was good, I guess, but his remarks preceding this promise made me want to shoot lasers from my eyes:
"Yeah, you know man, I remember these shirts coming off the line and I had, like, seen the original design file, and I was all like, 'woah, they're way too low,' but I didn't really say anything or anything."
Suddenly I was back in first grade, but instead of being one of the students I was the frazzled teacher with the eye-twitch, scrambling to make sense of the firecrackers going off in the hamster cage, but every kid I looked to for answers was busy eating play-doh.
He went on to rationalize the decision behind the placement, explaining that the guys who actually do the printing are taught to align the screens to a certain point-the top corner of the design. Well shoot, that doesn't work for Nuclear Moonlight, does it? The top corner is the tip of a giant branch, so if you start with that, the rest of the design is going to sit on your intestinal track. As if further explanation would convince me that everything was ok, he had me put my right hand on my heart and explained that wherever the tip of my pinky was, that's where they put the top corner of the design, and the rest of it is just "whatever". I felt like countering by telling him to put his right hand in front of his head, curl it to a fist, and then lunge at it with his face, and however he felt afterwards, well, whatever.
Weeks later I got the replacement batch, and now the colors had somehow gotten messed up. Oh, and the "small" shirts were a different brand from the rest. (?!?) Seriously guys, just start making tacos or something, because this whole shirt thing really isn't your game. In any case, at this point it had been three months since I'd come out with a shirt, and I was beyond caring, really. And they weren't that bad, just not what I wanted. Anyhow, after that little escapade I returned, tail between my legs, to Customink. The print quality, customer service, and turnaround time are all excellent. The pricing is a little higher than I'd like, but again, you get what you pay for.
Oh yeah, and the whole reason I wrote this was because the new shirts (+ more!) have arrived 5 days ahead of schedule! Woo!
Labels: site info, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 9:42 AM,
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John Henry and his white tee
12.08.2006
For awhile I'd been mulling over the idea of writing an article on "The History of The Tshirt" for the site. The more I thought about it, though, the more daunting the task seemed of doing the actual research involved. My next idea was to just make up all the facts in the article, a strategy I often revert to in these types of situations. But then it occurred to me to just check Wikkipedia under "tshirt". Well today I finally did that.
The most surprising thing I found was how specific it was on tracing back the lineage of the modern tee. According to the article, they've only been popular in the US since their import from Western Europe in the early part of the 20th century. I say "only" because tees seem to be such a basic garment compared to their buckled, buttoned, collared counterparts. In my mind, it's like people inventing castles before inventing bricks. Doesn't it just make sense that some American (a lumberjack in the Ozarks, say) circa mid-1800s would have gotten sick of the protrusions from his shirt neck and inadvertently come up with the idea of the tshirt? What about John Henry? I mean, I know it's folk story and all, but isn't he usually pictured wearing a tshirt? At least that's the way he's portrayed in this comic I found. And we all know that comics are the final authority on most things, especially fashion.
Anyhow, my favorite part of the article was the mention of Matt McCallister, who currently holds the world record for number of tshirts worn (121). (I think that's more shirts than I currently have in stock.) My second favorite part of the article was the completely non-objective statement, "The T-shirt became cool when James Dean wore it in the film Rebel Without a Cause."
Not that I disagree, it's just funny.
Oh, and you can read the full article here.
Labels: tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 3:55 PM,
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