# To theme or not to theme?



## spackle (Oct 22, 2008)

I am new to the T-shirt game and want to start my line small with maybe three different designs. I have many different design ideas ranging from slogans to political to pride to artsy. I guess my question is, is it better to stick with a theme or to diversify? Some of my design ideas would be attractive to totally different demos.


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## Calibrated (Oct 26, 2006)

Its rather hard to address your question, since you really are not offering many details.

Are you going to sell them on a website? In local stores?.....? What is your market research?

Obviously offering choices to your potential customers is the best idea, since not everyone likes the same things. But as mentioned, you need to offer up some more details before anyone can offer much advice.


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## gaseousclay (Nov 14, 2007)

my theme is to not have a theme


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## kurt (Apr 29, 2008)

Test it and do what works. If a theme works and you make money and create a brand then its good. If you can not create the brand and theme then try again until you find what works for you and your company. Create test designs and one of them will eventually be hot. You will find companies that have themes and not have themes and both may be successfull.
Kurt


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## jkruse (Oct 10, 2008)

Have a game plan. Do one thing and do it the best.


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## lburton3 (Aug 14, 2008)

theme theme theme! one of the best examples of this is Eric Terry's Linty Fresh brand. I've been following his blog for a while now, and when he first started he said he didn't really have a theme (or "brand"), but just made shirts that looked cool. This works if you want to sell a few shirts here and there, but if you want to have a loyal fan-base (repeat customers) and recognizable clothing, you've got to find your overlying theme and stick with it. This goes deeper than just t-shirt designs, because it also limits your target market and demographic, so make sure you choose wisely. Just to add some validity to this argument, Eric stated in a web chat that he did not really focus on branding early on (Dec 2007), but when he really focused all of his efforts on creating a brand for his company Linty Fresh, he sold as many shirts in the first 3 hrs of December 2008 as he did in the entire month of December 2007 (when he did not have a solid grasp on branding for his company).

Hope this helps!


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## Robert H (Mar 27, 2007)

Themes are the best way to go if you have artistic apparel. It may be a bit hard for you if your apparel is a mix between art and slogans. You may want to stick to one or the other as you might have trouble attracting the customer. Do you want to be a variety seller or sell something specific? That is the real question.

If you move forward without a theme and continue to create artistic shirts, you will be behind the game in the long run. If I were you, I would start learning the ropes of theme creation now.


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## vexx78 (Oct 15, 2008)

Since I'm targeting a niche market, Poker, I am using a theme. After that my other designs will have a theme so I will say have a theme and a direction you want to go with your brand.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

I definitely would say a theme also as it lets people know you sell a certain style. Maybe you can somehow tie your slogans artistically into the same style as your art. Remember there are a million people selling slogans, but art has its own style when it is created.


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## flirteegirl (Apr 10, 2007)

Yes, go with a theme. A theme helps create an experience for the buyer...like Linty Fresh and Johnny Cupcakes and Pecan Pie Couture. The end result is usually a stronger brand and image.


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

TEst it and see what goes, make a few and have friends all wear em to the mall, and see what turns heads,,


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

and send those friends with cards,, you might be surprised..


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## gorilladuck (Jan 28, 2008)

I'm still a newbie, but I'm not sure that "themes" and "branding" are the ALWAYS the same thing. In some cases, I would think you could have a couple of different themes as part of one brand. That said, branding does seem important. It might be possible to find a way to link your different themes or styles into one brand, but that will depend on the specific qualities of your designs. I would say with only 3 designs that are completely different styles, etc, it will be hard to unite them into a brand. I'd say you might find more success picking one style and trying to brand with that one. Pick the one you think will sell the best and would be easiest to market and start there. At some point you can start another completely different line that could be branded differently. Sort of like how Epic Comics is owned by Marvel, but is branded differently.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

gorilladuck said:


> I'm still a newbie, but I'm not sure that "themes" and "branding" are the ALWAYS the same thing.


Agreed. Having a theme makes it easier to brand, but it's not the only way to do it.

On the flipside, even a "theme" can be somewhat openly interpreted. For example: Johnny Cupcakes has an obvious and very specific theme. Compare that with, say, T-shirt Hell. We talk about being in different genres and markets, but when you do it with that much commitment it's pretty much a theme.

Different unifying ideas:

Life's Good : Life is pleasant
T-shirt Hell: These t-shirts will send you to hell
Johnny Cupcakes : Cupcakes

So on the spectrum, T-shirt Hell is not as easy to communicate as Johnny Cupcakes, but it's easier than say Busted Tees where the unifying idea is "Haha... funny" or "Yesterday's SNL jokes on today's t-shirts!"

I think sometimes it's hard to draw the line between what's a theme, and what's just the genre or type of shirts you sell. I guess cohesiveness plays a big part - but cohesiveness and branding are also closely linked.

So it's a soup really.

The one consistent thing is that the more thought you put into what you're selling, the easier it is to then present it to a customer in a way that will entice them to purchase.


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## ConstableD (Jan 12, 2009)

Well I'm new to this too and I'm going with a very rough theme at the design stage, I'm going with six Ts and the theme is more for me to see how far I can push the boundries, with artistic intent of course, to make a range that is unified but also open to customer interpretation. After this I plan to introduce new shirts that will start a whole new theme, which will have it's own artistic stylings attached to it, so maybe I'll want to do slogans as my current range has little or no text, and pick a theme to base it on. That said, however my brand is kind of dark so whatever new ranges there are I'm sure they'll all fit with that initial idea.


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