Custom Hawaiian Shirt Fabric / Tie Fabric?

October 18, 2005 10:16 AM

I would like to make custom ties, and maybe even short-sleeve button downs (think hawaiian shirts) with my own designs on them. How can I go about doing this? There are companies that do this (e.g., these guys, but they're in the UK), but I'm sure that I'll pay a big premium to do it this way. Is there a way that I can have custom fabrics printed / woven in some garment producing country (Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh,) and then turned into shirts based on some reference design? Are there other ways to do it?

Note: I don't want t-shirts. I want custom "fabric" : cotton, poly blend, polyester ties, silk ties, etc. I want to turn in an illustrator (or some such) file and get bolts of fabric or, better, finished ties / shirts. These could be for corporate-type events / giveaways (That's not my application but if you imagine a Gillette Mach III razor hawaiian shirt, that's what I want to make. But not that hideous, of course.).

posted by zpousman to clothing, beauty, & fashion (5 comments total)

Kottke had a link to a NYT article on someone who did this. I think he was a 16 year old kid when he started and now his ties sell in NY stores for $100 or so. Give a search over on his site--it was in the past month or so. I remember the kid was Jewish, lives in NY and manufactures in NY as well. (Might give you some terms to search for at NYT as well).

In addition, Naked & Angry sells their own custom ties. Perhaps they could offer advice. That said, it takes about 10 emails and 6 months to get answers out of anyone at SkinnyCorp so don't get your hopes up. Their customer service sucks ass (and I refuse to buy anything from any of their companies because of it, even though some of those ties are sweet).
posted by dobbs at 11:00 AM on October 18, 2005

Hey - I found a place. Clearwater Screen Printing in Toronto. If you go to the link, click their "Gallery" link at the top of the page, you'll see they even do custom hawaiian shirts. Huh.
posted by GuyZero at 12:27 PM on October 18, 2005

Find people local to you. What you need is someone to help you print materials (silkscreen probably, not too sure about this) and someone else to actually sew the clothes together. If you don't have experience doing this, you need to be hands on. Unlike buying books, this is one thing you do not want to be doing over the internet until you get some experience in the process.
posted by jedrek at 5:30 PM on October 18, 2005

There are definitely _tons_ of companies that do exactly this. I can't remember their name, but I remember meeting someone about 10 years ago who worked at a company that did precisely what you're talking about--they took designs and specifications from "front end" companies, and handled all the details of getting the materials, producing the textiles, assembling the garments, etc.

Most companies like this are set up to handle larger front-end outfits--the second-tier labels that you see everywhere. Still, there have got to be companies that can handle smaller-volume requirements like yours. (Just wish I had any idea how to help you find them.)
posted by LairBob at 7:43 PM on October 18, 2005

Found one more with new search terms "private label." Thanks all.

Shop4Ties - uh, ties only.
posted by zpousman at 7:53 AM on October 21, 2005