Best way to do T-shirt sales for activist group?
February 14, 2021 5:01 PM Subscribe
I am thinking about my activist group selling T-shirts to our members. We have about 200 members across the state. There are at least a couple of ways we could go about this, and I wonder whether you have any recommendations or other advice.
Print on demand
One option is to just go print-on-demand with some online vendor. That is, we would design the shirt, members could order, the vendor would print and send the shirts to members, and we would get a cut of the price.
The problem with this option is that we are good Democrats and would prefer to use a union shop. Do you know of any such vendors? Or, if not, one that has better ethics and corporate responsibility?
Local shop
The other main option is to use a local union shop. There are a couple here that we are familiar with.
Given the pandemic, that means people would need to order online. We would need to set this up on our website somehow. We would make the order with the shop. After the shop printed them all, then I would need to send these out across the state. Do you have any idea how much containers and shipping would cost per shirt?
Color
A local shop recently printed us a few banners. At first, I wanted to use the banner background color for the shirts. Then I realized that is probably difficult or costly. It’s kind of a royal blue, but I think it’s not a color used for mass market. Is it worth trying to get shirts with this blue as color of the shirt, and then our logo on top?
Etc?
Any other info or advice you think could be useful?
Print on demand
One option is to just go print-on-demand with some online vendor. That is, we would design the shirt, members could order, the vendor would print and send the shirts to members, and we would get a cut of the price.
The problem with this option is that we are good Democrats and would prefer to use a union shop. Do you know of any such vendors? Or, if not, one that has better ethics and corporate responsibility?
Local shop
The other main option is to use a local union shop. There are a couple here that we are familiar with.
Given the pandemic, that means people would need to order online. We would need to set this up on our website somehow. We would make the order with the shop. After the shop printed them all, then I would need to send these out across the state. Do you have any idea how much containers and shipping would cost per shirt?
Color
A local shop recently printed us a few banners. At first, I wanted to use the banner background color for the shirts. Then I realized that is probably difficult or costly. It’s kind of a royal blue, but I think it’s not a color used for mass market. Is it worth trying to get shirts with this blue as color of the shirt, and then our logo on top?
Etc?
Any other info or advice you think could be useful?
Best answer: It looks like this is where Warren’s campaign did their print on demand merch, judging by the photos. It’s Union made in the US and I can attest to the very high quality of Warren’s merch.
posted by shesdeadimalive at 5:54 PM on February 14, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by shesdeadimalive at 5:54 PM on February 14, 2021 [3 favorites]
I'm not connected to this shop but based on this video (which YouTube's algorithm recommended to me several months ago because I'm subscribed to Bon Iver's YouTube channel) Ambient Inks sounds like a pretty impressive print shop. I have no idea if they do print-on-demand but they sound like very thoughtful people who may be able to provide you with recommendations if they cannot meet your needs.
posted by ElKevbo at 9:55 PM on February 14, 2021
posted by ElKevbo at 9:55 PM on February 14, 2021
Response by poster: Thank you, all. I am leaning strongly to Fii Marketing.
posted by NotLost at 7:21 PM on February 16, 2021
posted by NotLost at 7:21 PM on February 16, 2021
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by aniola at 5:19 PM on February 14, 2021