# labels and hand-outs



## Major_Grooves (Apr 26, 2005)

I know that getting celebs etc. to wear your t-shirts is well discussed here, however I do have one problem with doing that.

My shop is a spreadshirt shop, therefore the t-shirts with my designs on them are hanes or fruit of the loom.

While they may make good t-shirts, a fruit of the loom label doesn't exactly look cool, or suggest that you have your own label.

If I was to get some t-shirts made up in my own shop and sent to me for freebie distribution, I would not want to send out a bunch of t-shirts with fruit of the loom on them.

Has anyone ever tried with taking off the labels and replacing them with your own? Is it possible to buy small quantities of bespoke labels? When I've looked, you have to buy them in the thousands, but I can't imagine I would need more than 100.

I know there are certain rules to do with having washing instructions, and country of origin on the label, but I'm guessing that might not apply for freebies.

Any opinions?


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> Has anyone ever tried with taking off the labels and replacing them with your own? Is it possible to buy small quantities of bespoke labels? When I've looked, you have to buy them in the thousands, but I can't imagine I would need more than 100


If you do a forum search for relabeling or luckylabel you should find lots of information on this. Happens all the time  If you look through some of the threads in the Wholesale T-Shirts forum you'll find good info as well.

You might find a supplier that will do a smaller run, but having extra might not be a problem if you grow 



> Any opinions?


My personal opinion is that it's the design on the t-shirt that will stick out, not the label inside. I think "in general" actual customers wearing the shirts could care less about the label on the neckline (it's more of a thing done by the actual companies to make themselves feel better or to brand themselves...but I don't think it impresses the customers as much as the actual design).

If this is just a freebie for celebrities, I'm not sure I would spend money on labels to make it stand out. I'd spend money on the packaging, the print materials you send with the t-shirt and the design.

That's just my opinion though, hopefully other members will jump in with more input


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Major_Grooves said:


> Has anyone ever tried with taking off the labels and replacing them with your own? Is it possible to buy small quantities of bespoke labels? When I've looked, you have to buy them in the thousands, but I can't imagine I would need more than 100.


Lucky Label's minimum is 1200 (rather than thousand*s*), I think a few other places may have the same minimum. You could consider doing that (they're not that expensive, and if you ever move production out of spreadshirt they'll be useful), but it is a bit wasteful.

If you just want a company name (as opposed to a full label) you could get a name tape and add it in - those often have *considerably* lower minimums.



Major_Grooves said:


> I know there are certain rules to do with having washing instructions, and country of origin on the label, but I'm guessing that might not apply for freebies.


Laws vary from country to country, so if you're planning on sending them to UK celebrities you'll need to check EU law.

In the case of the US... I don't recall _specifically_ whether or not it applies to freebies, but I would err on the side of caution and suggest that it probably does.

Generally the care/origin tag and the brand tag are kept separate (i.e. one tag says "Fruit Of The Loom" and the other "Made in El Salvador", "Wash in medium heat", etc.) so that you can easily remove the brand tag and replace it with your own - if you just leave the original care tag (which isn't branded) you don't need to worry about it.


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## hostingdiva (Mar 31, 2006)

If you're going to the trouble to mail your shirts out to celebrities - than replace the labels. Coming from someone who watches E! television and the Style channel way too much - celebrities are not going to be into wearing shirts with Fruit of Loom or Hanes labels. Well, they may be, but not out where they will get photographed (which is what you're really after).


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## Major_Grooves (Apr 26, 2005)

hostingdiva said:


> If you're going to the trouble to mail your shirts out to celebrities - than replace the labels. Coming from someone who watches E! television and the Style channel way too much - celebrities are not going to be into wearing shirts with Fruit of Loom or Hanes labels. Well, they may be, but not out where they will get photographed (which is what you're really after).


Yup you're right. If I was a celeb, with the ego to boot, I would not wear a fruit of the loom t-shirt. However, I might wear a t-shirt from a new and upcoming label that happens to be internet based.

Just have to work out if the investment in a minimum label order is worth the potential exposure of sending to celebs. I'm sure my t-shirts are the sort of thing TV presenter of the 'yoof'-type channels would wear. I'm thinking people like Steve Jones and Vernon Kaye (for the UK people) or Ashton Kutcher in the US.

Furthermore, I would like to send freebies to magazines, such as FHM, to try and get 'reviewed' in there, and there is no way they would look twice at you with a fruit of the loom label on there.


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## JoshEllsworth (Dec 14, 2005)

I'm not sure about the exact relabeling process, but from hearing the minimums it sounds like a significant investment/high quantities for just sending to celebrities. Why not get a small 4 x 6 heat press and custom label your own samples for this purpose. You can order transfers to apply for this. Minimums are much less, somewhere around 12 transfers. then if you do hit the big time you can get the shirt style that takes off custom labeled in the larger volumes. Just a thought...


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

JoshEllsworth said:


> I'm not sure about the exact relabeling process, but from hearing the minimums it sounds like a significant investment/high quantities for just sending to celebrities.


Yeah, it's not a great proposition.



JoshEllsworth said:


> Why not get a small 4 x 6 heat press and custom label your own samples for this purpose.


Hmm, interesting idea. I did a quick search and the cheapest name brand press I could find was a GK 9x12 for a few hundred dollars (there might be something cheaper, but that gives a ballpark figure). If I remember correctly that's a similar cost to getting 1200 labels, so if someone was prepared to do one, I suppose they could do the other.

If you were only going to use the press for the labels it would probably still be better to go with woven labels, but if you started using the press even a very small amount I could see how it could justify itself.

I'm still inclined to think the _cheapest_ way (though not necessarily the slickest) would be to get a small quantity of 'Comprehension Clothing' name tapes made up. Or to heat press the labels, but outsource the pressing to someone else (rather than buying your own equipment). A small press is an affordable investment though.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> celebrities are not going to be into wearing shirts with Fruit of Loom or Hanes labels. Well, they may be, but not out where they will get photographed (which is what you're really after).


Nobody knows what's on the labels of the t-shirts that celebrities wear. They don't show their neckline label in photographs or on TV.

In my opinion, celebrities are just people, and people like cool, original designs.

That's my 2 cents anyway


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## TeeShirtSamurai (Feb 8, 2006)

I agree with everything Rodney has had to say in this thread thus far.

I live in Los Angeles and my wife is a producer. I've been on set with her many times and have had the opportunity to meet a decent amount of celebrities. From my experiences Rodney said it best, they're people just like you and me.

The majority of the time it's going to be what's on the shirt not what's on the label that attracts or deters them from wearing something. The other 5% is reserved for the Paris Hilton's that want their picture taken wearing a particular brand.

Sit down and watch Jay Leno/Letterman/Conan O'Brien tonight. Take a look at what the young celebrities are wearing when they come out. Most of the time they are really trying to get across that they are no different from you or me. They want to be seen as down-to-Earth not the exact opposite that the media makes them out to be.


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