Custom t-shirts for sale to a limited group?

August 26, 2013 7:13 AM

A large group of friends will be running a 5k in October. I'm wanting to get some custom team shirts designed for the group, but I don't want to have to fool with collecting money from everyone. So what I'm looking for is somewhere...

I can upload my design for the shirts.

I can send out a link to the participants and let everyone order on their own.

The shirts are not openly available to folks outside the group. (I understand that someone might be able to forward the group's link. I'm just not really wanting it available on the open marketplace.)

From what I'm seeing on sites like Cafepress or Spreadshirt, I can't limit who can buy or will I have to place the whole order myself. It is entirely possible that I'm missing something, though. Decent quality is a plus as well. Thanks in advance!!
posted by MrToad to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (10 answers total)

Teespring is pretty much the closest thing I've found to what you're looking for (full disclosure: my old roommate works for them).
posted by daniel striped tiger at 7:20 AM on August 26, 2013

How large?
posted by k8t at 7:26 AM on August 26, 2013

I think cafepress would be fine. If you don't tag your design (or write a description) when you upload it, no one's going to randomly stumble upon it.
posted by pyjammy at 7:37 AM on August 26, 2013

Response by poster: Not sure. Estimating 20 to 50 participants.
posted by MrToad at 7:40 AM on August 26, 2013

We used customink for our 15 year turkey bowl tshirts this past year. Held up to mud and "light tackles" while folks went after the flags. I was really happy with the quality compared to cafepress.
posted by bfranklin at 7:44 AM on August 26, 2013

And I should explicitly note that CustomInk meets all your requirements. And a cephalopod mascot!
posted by bfranklin at 7:46 AM on August 26, 2013

I use RaceRagz. You want to stay away from cotton for a race, and RaceRagz has nice tech shirts that aren't too expensive.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:46 AM on August 26, 2013

Just about any online company that sells shirts to fraternities or sororities can do what you want. www.createmytee.comcomes to my mind...they can do the group order by sending out a link, no problem. I believe Customink.com can as well.
posted by MultiFaceted at 8:31 AM on August 26, 2013

CustomInk is a really great company with an intuitive design lab (that you can upload your design to) and great quality products.
posted by picklesthezombie at 9:19 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

I used custom ink last year and found their customer service to be superb. Really nice people and they're open on Saturdays. I didn't know about the ordering by sending out a link thing, but they were even willing to send part of our order to a different address than the others.
posted by matildatakesovertheworld at 9:26 AM on August 26, 2013