# High Level T-Shirt & Expense Breakdown



## Honest Dre (Feb 5, 2008)

Hello all...

new to the site... I've been lurking for awhile... great info... and feedback is found throughout the site... 

I would like to post my high-level approach for my venture... and garner any feedback as possible...

couple points of interest... 

first-run / launch breakdown for women t-shirts... suggestions?
are the t-shirt and screen print estimate too low?
are there any high level costs / expenses i've overlooked?
lastly... anything you see wrong PLEASE speak up...
thanks...

honest dre'


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· T-Shirt Size & Design:

o Men – Small (2), Medium (4), Large (6), X-Large (6)
§ Total – 18
o Womens - Small (X), Medium (X), Large (X), X-Large (X)
§ Total – 18
o 7 Styles for launch
§ Total Shirts – 252
§ Different Color Shirt per Style; Black, White, Red, Yellow, Orange, Green & Light Blue

· Expenses:

o Website Design & Build - $1000
o T-Shirts – $900 roughly (252 shirts x $3.50 estimate) 
o Screen Print - $775 roughly (252 shirts x $3.00 estimate)
o Establishing LLC - $250
o Designs - $350 estimate
o Business Cards, Stickers, Minor Marketing Materials - $250 
o Shelving, Bags, Office Supplies - $250
o Photographer - $150
o *Rough* Total Start-Up Cost - $3,925

· Per Shirt Expense:

o Cost per shirt – $10 roughly 
§ avg./shirt; $3.50 (t-shirt) + $3.00 (print) + $1.67 (design) + $1.50 (shipping & misc. costs) = $9.67 per shirt
o Minimum net per shirt - $8.00
o Minimum price per shirt - $18.00


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## GameFaceChicago (Oct 2, 2007)

looks very similar to my initial estimate, however, I think you need to bump up the cost of the Website Design. Don't forget that the site will be ecommerce which will increase the price. I would also recommend learning to screenprint your own stuff. From my experience, most screenprinters are use to dealing with orders from teams, schools, and clubs...mostly 1 or 2 colors. If you learn to screenprint yourself and find a space to rent for cheap, I think you can really learn a lot more about the business and save a significant amount of cash. Youtube is a great tool to get info. on screenprinting yourself.

Good Luck


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## Unik Ink (Nov 21, 2006)

Man, I'm glad I'm not on the retail end of the business.


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## Honest Dre (Feb 5, 2008)

Chi-Town... (i just can't call a cat Sweetness... unless they're the reincarnation of Walter or my girl... scratch that... only if they are the reincarnation of Walter...) lol...

thanks for the feedback... the website cost will prolly rise... but it's a qoute from my friend who's done other work for me... he's included the ecommerce component... only thing i would add to the cart is google checkout...

as far as screenprinting... not sure if i'm up for that... due to commitments with other ventures... i'm looking to focus on what i can control and maximize both time and energy...

thanks for the feedback ten-fold...


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## Honest Dre (Feb 5, 2008)

oh yea...

Chi-Town... any suggestions on Women's quantities?


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## tim3560 (Jan 7, 2007)

How many colors are in your designs? What brand are your shirts? How many designs are you getting for $350? If you find someone to design and build a good e-commerce site for $1,000 everyone on here would like to know.


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## GameFaceChicago (Oct 2, 2007)

Honest Dre said:


> oh yea...
> 
> Chi-Town... any suggestions on Women's quantities?


 
I know screenprinting seems a little over the top, but the best advantage to
actually printing youself is that you can effectively stock Men's/Women's shirts in
all types of colors without the need to order a specific quanity from a screenprinting company. That would be my suggestion, and if things work out and your shirts sell well, then you can always contract a printing company for large quanities of 100+.

Ya...I guess Swetness should go as it sounds like I'm a little light in the loafers.


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## Honest Dre (Feb 5, 2008)

tim3560 said:


> How many colors are in your designs? What brand are your shirts? How many designs are you getting for $350? If you find someone to design and build a good e-commerce site for $1,000 everyone on here would like to know.


3 of the designs have 2 colors...

2 of the designs have 3 colors...

the remaining 2 are TBD... in the 3-4 range...

american apparel is the goal... if they are "crazytalk" with the prices... i have a local distributor i'll start with...

fortunately, i'm the beta site for the ecommerce site... once it's up... i'll share the link (webdeveloper) with you all...


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## Honest Dre (Feb 5, 2008)

GameFaceChicago said:


> I know screenprinting seems a little over the top, but the best advantage to
> actually printing youself is that you can effectively stock Men's/Women's shirts in
> all types of colors without the need to order a specific quanity from a screenprinting company. That would be my suggestion, and if things work out and your shirts sell well, then you can always contract a printing company for large quanities of 100+.
> 
> Ya...I guess Swetness should go as it sounds like I'm a little light in the loafers.


advice heeded...

what's the initial invest both time and money revolving screen printing... i've never been one to be closed-minded...


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## tim3560 (Jan 7, 2007)

Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is you've found one of the cheapest photographers and graphic designers in the business. So you are having someone else design the website and you're building the ecommerce side if I'm understanding you right, so the $1,000 is more realistic. More good news is that you can find a cheaper screen printer, as I can get the 3-4 colors done on about a 24-36 quantity for less than $3.00 each.
Bad news is that although there may be a different provider that I'm not aware of, the best deal that I've personally found on AA is about $3.90 per shirt at TSC apparel.


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## Honest Dre (Feb 5, 2008)

tim3560 said:


> Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is you've found one of the cheapest photographers and graphic designers in the business. So you are having someone else design the website and you're building the ecommerce side if I'm understanding you right, so the $1,000 is more realistic. More good news is that you can find a cheaper screen printer, as I can get the 3-4 colors done on about a 24-36 quantity for less than $3.00 each.
> Bad news is that although there may be a different provider that I'm not aware of, the best deal that I've personally found on AA is about $3.90 per shirt at TSC apparel.


good to hear... 

thanks for the input... i'll adjust my figures for the AA tee's to $4...

any tips on what sizes sell more often in women's tees?


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## GameFaceChicago (Oct 2, 2007)

once you register you business with the dept. of revenue, just use your "Resale #" to setup an account with American Apparel. Once your account is approved, then you can buy direct from American Apparel.


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## perrolocodesigns (Oct 24, 2006)

> More good news is that you can find a cheaper screen printer, as I can get the 3-4 colors done on about a 24-36 quantity for less than $3.00 each.


Hey Tim,

Does that price include screen charges? I'm in your area and would be interested in learning more about your supplier.

Thanks,

Ken


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## Honest Dre (Feb 5, 2008)

GameFaceChicago said:


> once you register you business with the dept. of revenue, just use your "Resale #" to setup an account with American Apparel. Once your account is approved, then you can buy direct from American Apparel.


this was the aim... 

do you know on avg. their prices...

(i know this is a question with a moving target...)

thanks...

also...

i've settled on this breakdown for my women's tees...

X-Small (4), Small (5), Medium (3), Large (2), X-Large (2)

yay or nay?


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## tim3560 (Jan 7, 2007)

GameFaceChicago said:


> once you register you business with the dept. of revenue, just use your "Resale #" to setup an account with American Apparel. Once your account is approved, then you can buy direct from American Apparel.


Have you ever purchased directly from AA? I haven't personally so I'm curious what their prices would be.


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## tim3560 (Jan 7, 2007)

perrolocodesigns said:


> Hey Tim,
> 
> Does that price include screen charges? I'm in your area and would be interested in learning more about your supplier.
> 
> ...


On quantities of 60 or higher, he doesn't charge setup(screen) charges. His set ups are pretty low comparitively. For a 4 color setup, he only charges $29, one time.


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## Comin'OutSwingin (Oct 28, 2005)

Actually, i get better pricing and faster turn-around time purchasing from TSC.

That includes them sewing my labels in.


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## tim3560 (Jan 7, 2007)

Honest Dre said:


> this was the aim...
> 
> do you know on avg. their prices...
> 
> ...


That would depend on your target market. If your target is young teen girls, then this would be fine. In my neck of the woods, I wouldn't even bother getting the XS. If I were doing shirts for a church or fundraiser, I'd probably knock out the smalls too. I know that that isn't your goal, but with my personal experience, I would probably go 5 small, 5 med, 3 large, 3 XL.


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## tim3560 (Jan 7, 2007)

Comin'OutSwingin said:


> Actually, i get better pricing and faster turn-around time purchasing from TSC.
> 
> That includes them sewing my labels in.


 What's the minimum for lables? How much do they charge for that?


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## Comin'OutSwingin (Oct 28, 2005)

Dre, your plan isn't bad, but I do see some money to be saved on the website, that's if you're looking to save some money.

You say your friend is doing the site, and doing the e-commerce side.

Is that a custom cart?

If so, I can see the price. But my opinion is that a custom cart really isn't needed for those of us selling t-shirts.

I'm a BIG fan of cubecart. It does LOTS of things, and is free. If you need a little more functionality version 4 is $150. Also, there are TONS of mods you can get if you absolutely need it to do certain things.

The great part about it is that it can be customized to look anyway you want it to look. I don't think that's stressed enough when people talk about getting a site done. You can make it look exactly the way you want it to look, with really, no limitations.

Another great thing about it, is that you can get people to do that for you, for MUCH less than $1,000. I know you said your friend can do it for you for $1,000. But, friends are friends, and business is business.

You can a cart to look the way you want it to look, and with most if not all the functionality you could want and need, for less than half of what you're paying.

I love my friends, but I'm not in the habit of spending business money on things if I don't need to.


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## Honest Dre (Feb 5, 2008)

tim3560 said:


> That would depend on your target market. If your target is young teen girls, then this would be fine. In my neck of the woods, I wouldn't even bother getting the XS. If I were doing shirts for a church or fundraiser, I'd probably knock out the smalls too. I know that that isn't your goal, but with my personal experience, I would probably go 5 small, 5 med, 3 large, 3 XL.


thanks...

i was a little concern with the XS... but i asked a friend... she said... she gets Small in womens... but her friend gets XS...

now, i think about it... the friend of a friend is certainly not in the majority frame-wise...

the target market is college to early career demographic... 18 to 28...

i'm going to use your starting point... (my error, i had two leftover for my goal of 18...)

so... 

_X-Small (2), Small (5), Medium (5), Large (3), X-Large (3)_

thanks again...


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