Originally posted on <a href="http://www.tshirtfashion.blogspot.com">tshirtfashion.blogspot.com</a> Special thanks to Reese Imhof at <a href="http://www.410bc.com">410 BC</a> for this interview and the rest of the 410 BC team <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3536/3813476688_ef523b579d.jpg"> 1. Let’s start off with the basics, how and when and why did you start 410 BC? 410 BC is almost 2 years old and this is the basic story behind how we started. About three and a half years ago, I got into diy/screen printing with my friends. I was just designing tees and screen printing them by hand – very simple stuff. I wasn’t too great at it at first, but I kept practicing and got better. I started doing this because I’d always want a specific tee that I couldn’t find. I had all these ideas in my head for designs that I could never get anywhere. I just wasn’t happy with a lot of the selections at big name brands and stores. When I did find something that I liked it was usually too expensive, being a college student you have to learn to scrimp and save (at least I did). Also, I’ve always been into conscious consumerism and I’m very picky about which companies I support, I just don’t want to spend my money on a company I don’t respect and I hate buying things that everyone else has. Sometimes I’d get a tee and then see five different people at school wearing the same thing as me. All of these reasons prompted me to start making my own designs. Then a few of my friends got into it too. People found out about what we were doing and liked our designs, so they asked us to make them tees. Eventually we started getting random e-mails and requests from strangers who heard about us or saw a tee somewhere and wanted one. It was really unexpected and at that point we realized we could make a business out of this. It has always been fun since day one. Being able to make designs with your friends and meet and network with other artists and commission designs and give back to the art community is the best, I could spend my whole life doing this and be very happy. We’ve always been an artist collective and the thought of being an artist collective/business seemed so awesome because we knew we’d be able to do even more. At the end of August in 2007 was when we decided to become a full-fledged business and we created 410bc.com, which went live in September 2007. Ever since then we’ve been growing and pushing to expand and improve every way we can. 2. I read somewhere that you guys started out screen printing everything by hand in your college dorm room. Did you find it difficult to make the transition from completely diy to an actual professional company and brand? Not really, it came pretty naturally. Of course we’ve faced a lot of obstacles since establishing ourselves as a business, pretty much the obstacles that most small businesses face. In terms of just transitioning it was a fairly slow process, but a very natural change. Becoming a business just seemed like the next step and it always felt right and has been so rewarding. I’ve always felt very comfortable with this and although I know this isn’t the same for everyone at 410 BC, personally I love the business side of things. I do most of the business side and it’s probably my favorite work, which is saying a lot because I also really love the art/creative side. Ever since I was a kid I’ve been into business and entrepreneurship although I didn’t recognize it as such. When I was in elementary school I used to go door to door on my block selling my old toys and other things I made. Then when I got into middle school, I made my own magazine and Xeroxed copies at the library and sold it to kids in school/my parents (my parents bought about 20 copies each, haha). 3. What were some obstacles you’ve faced as a business? What was the hardest part of starting up? Finances, haha. Never having enough money. We’re all college students and none of us come from money, so that’s been really difficult. Every business needs money to start up, that’s just the way it goes. That old saying “you need to spend money to make money” is true. In the beginning most companies don’t even break even for a few years. Most small businesses fail because they can’t make ends meet. We literally had hardly any startup money, the only money I had was a tiny bit of savings from my summer job. Even though I’m young, I’ve been self-sufficient since graduating high school. I pay all my own bills, bought my own car, etc, so saving for the business was tough on top of bills. That goes for the rest of 410 BC as well; we all have a lot of personal expenses, mostly related to the high costs of college. Everything we make from 410 BC goes back into the company. We haven’t taken out any business loans yet or anything like that, so for now it’s just recycling our profit. We want to expand the business more, but that is going to take time and a lot more money. There are just so many expenses. The amount we’ve spent on accountants and lawyers alone this year makes my head hurt. 4. How do you manage running this business while being in college full time? Did you ever just want to drop out and focus entirely on the business? What would you tell someone who is trying to decide between being a college student or opening their own business? I’m going to be completely honest, yes, it has been extremely difficult being in college full time and doing this. There have been too many sleepless nights staying up to work on 410 BC while studying for an exam or writing a 20 page paper. I missed out on the typical college experience for sure. I had to give up a large part of my social life to keep my grades up and run 410 BC at the same time. Sure I’ve made close friends at school, but I never drink and hardly ever go to parties because I’m just way too busy. I always have 410 BC stuff to do on the weekends and I always have to turn down friends or be the one who has to leave things early. There were times when doing the business and school felt like too much, they are both so time consuming. I had thought seriously about giving one up. I kept at it and I have never regretted my decision. I am lucky enough that I have other people helping out so much with the company, some other students run businesses without any help at all. But again, everyone else at 410 BC is in the same boat as me. Nicole (Nicole Giambalvo = one of 410 BC’s co-founders) probably has it the toughest right now because she is applying to law school, taking the LSATs and doing 410 BC. She does so much, I don’t even know how she does it, she really amazes/inspires me. She is a Philosophy major at Mount Holyoke College, so 20 page papers are nothing for her, she gets crazy long papers all the time. A typical day at school last year she was updating the 410 BC site/blog, responding to e-mails, working on design stuff, working on marketing, student teaching a philosophy course at a school in Springfield, taking classes, doing school work (keeping up a 3.7 GPA!) and all the other things she does like volunteering and working in Mount Holyoke’s art department. She is probably going to be really embarrassed that I told you all this because she is super modest, but seriously all that work makes Harvard Law look like a walk in the park. I am really happy that I stayed in school and did not drop out. You never know where life is going to take you and if you are lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to college, you should take it because a college degree is so important. My experience at college has been amazing. Especially with networking, I have been able to meet and network with so many people and learn so much about business. And although it will be tough work, if you are dedicated and have passion, you can definitely run a business and do college at the same time. 5. Your website design has always intrigued me. It’s very clean and unique, one of my favorite site designs. Tell me a little more about that and how the actual site evolved. We have Luis Lucas (www.lalucas.com) to thank for that. Luis does a lot of work with ALIFE and Married to the Mob, which is how we first got in contact with him, when we found out about the awesome site design he did for MOB. He has been so great to work with. When we met him he was such a genuinely nice guy, so enthusiastic and made us feel so comfortable. He was really excited about the project and our brand, he gave so much feedback and industry tips and thought it was cool that we were so young and doing this. Sometimes people will patronize you when you’re young and breaking into the industry and Luis was just the opposite of this. He is truly gifted, a design genius and I cannot say enough good things about him. Working with him has truly been an honor and a privilege. Our re-design is still pretty new, before that we had gone through a bunch of different site designs. One by Elena Gallen, another person we have worked with a lot and love (www.elenagallen.com). The rest were all done by us using adobe dreamweaver, we probably went through about 6 different designs in total. 6. Have you guys ever gotten really bad feedback? What did you do? Of course, anyone who puts their stuff out there for the world to see will get some negative feedback! If it’s constructive criticism and you can use it, then it’s great. I actually really like getting constructive criticism because it’s helpful. If it’s something that is just malicious or negative for the sake of being negative and doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, well you just shrug it off. You learn to not pay attention to certain things and you develop thick skin. I remember in some community or blog someone once said they hated, no “loathed”, 410 BC. I was a little bummed at first, not going to lie, but then I just realized how silly that sounded. Who has that much hatred in them that they actually spend time and energy on “loathing” some clothing brand that has no effect on them? It didn’t make sense to me. We’re just doing our thing, trying to do a good thing and giving back to our community any way we can. I mean you might not like our stuff, you might never buy it or wear it, but what is there to hate really? It’s not like we’re using sweatshop labor or killing people in the process of our tee shirt making, haha. There will always be people who never have anything good to say, there will always be people walking around with a lot of hate towards everything and everyone and you just have to accept it and you can’t let it get to you. Most of the time people will just say they hate something because they’re mad they didn’t come up with it first. Also, it’s always good to look at the ratio of people saying they like your stuff versus people saying they hate your stuff. If you’ve got tons of people saying they love your stuff and only one or two people saying they hate it, then you don’t have anything to worry about. 7. You guys have been coming out with more and more skate decks. What prompted that decision and how have the decks been doing sales wise? We started producing skate decks because a lot of our art has been influenced by skate culture and a few of us skate, so it just made sense for us to make decks. A lot of our customers and friends skate as well so we were constantly being asked to make decks. We always wanted to eventually do decks since day one, but we couldn’t afford it for a while. The first run we only released two decks. Those did really well and we made enough money from those sales to release an artist series of 3 decks. Then after that we did another very limited artist series deck. This line we have released 5 skate decks and they have all been selling well so far. People seem to really like the artwork on these, which is awesome. We do sponsor skaters and reach out to the skate community. We’ve sponsored skate competitions at local skate parks and we’ve gone to parks and had giveaways, so I think all that has helped us to get out there so people know we make boards. Our decks are very high quality and also sweatshop free/made in the US and they hold up for a long time, so that’s another reason people like our boards. 8. What are some other clothing brands you like? Obey, Ben Sherman, Cheap Monday, Obesity and Speed, Supreme and Mishka are a few of my personal favorites. We really like a bunch of the other indie tee brands out there as well. We’ve got so much respect for other brands doing their thing. Any brand that can get themselves out there and bring something unique to the industry is good by us. Got a lot of respect for Electric Zombie, Snakes and Suits, Seibei, Pyknic, Paper Root, Linty Fresh, all those guys and many more are doing awesome things. I’m actually wearing an EZ tee right now haha. 9. I was impressed by the cut and sew you guys came out with for this line, very strong pieces. I especially love the 410 BC varsity jacket. You usually don’t see such a young brand doing cut and sew. How did you make that happen? Are you planning to do more cut and sew in the future? Thanks! We were honestly planning this for a while. We just saved and saved for a long time to be able to afford it. It got a bit frustrating at times because it took so long to get everything together. We saved money that we made from previous lines and cut down on a bunch of costs in order to do the jackets, those were especially expensive. We’ve already made almost everything back from the jackets though, we’ve been selling those a lot. We were actually really surprised at how quickly people started buying those. We were a bit worried that people might not like them or might not want to spend money on them and then we’d be out the costs, but luckily that’s not the case. You can expect to see a lot more cut and sew pieces from us in the future. I don’t want to give away too much, but right now we’re working on some Oxford button down shirts and more sweaters, to be released in the winter in time for the holidays. We also have 410 BC books coming out with the winter line. They are commemorative books for our two-year anniversary. They’re hardcover, “coffee table” style. We’re really happy with how they came out and hopefully other people will like them. 10. What are your plans for the (near) future? After graduating this year, we’re going to get a new office space and hire 1 or 2 new full time employees and hopefully a few part-timers as well. We’ve also been looking at retail space. We definitely do want to open up a flagship store as soon as possible. That’s been a dream of ours for a long time and we’re going to do everything we can to make it happen. Whether or not it happens depends a lot upon things that are out of our control though. Hopefully our customers will continue to support us and make this dream a reality. Whether or not the economy improves soon will also be a factor. We definitely are not going to give up on this though, so at some point it will happen! 11. What do you think of all the new brands popping up? Do you think the market is over saturated? How many of these brands will actually end up being successful? Do you think there are too many brands doing the same thing? I think there are too many brands doing the same thing, yes, particularly young brands. I’ve noticed a lot of brands that are just starting up and they take ideas from more established successful brands. Now I’m not just talking about inspiration because in my opinion, that is totally fine and a natural part of the creative process. What I’m talking about is straight up copying of ideas and not brining anything new in terms of concept or execution. For a brand to be successful they must bring something new to the market. I admire unique and original ideas even if the design or product isn’t my style or aesthetic, I can appreciate it. Now I’m not saying that there aren’t any new brands that are unique, there certainly are many! But a lot definitely need to be more creative and make a conscious effort to do something different. You may sell tees and you may make money in the beginning by doing something that’s already been done many times before, but you won’t make it in the long run. You can’t build a memorable brand when you’re basing things off another brand. This can often be a really big issue and I don’t think there are enough open discussions and debates about it. There have been times that I’ve looked at sites of certain brands and their entire line is identical to something that another brand did six months ago. I want to make it clear though that I’m not even talking about brands that have similar styles or themes, rather I’m referring to an established and unique brand versus a brand that has yet to find it’s own niche, so instead directly copies designs from other brands. 12. I’ve read that 410 BC donates money to different charity organizations and gives back to the community in various ways. Can you tell us about some of the ways your company has given back? Why is this important to your brand? We’ve supported various non-profit organizations in different ways. Sometimes we’ll just release a specific tee and donate a percentage of the proceeds. Other times we are more hands on. For example we raised a lot of money for a local non-profit organization called Hands Up For Kidz (a group that supports children and families in underserved communities who are impacted by HIV/AIDS and alcoholism/substance abuse). Hands Up For Kidz had a fashion show recently where 410 BC was a main sponsor. The fashion show raised enough money to send 50 needy children from addicted families to a therapeutic summer camp environment with no expense to the family. That was through tickets to the fashion show and a raffle. That was definitely one of our big charitable contributions as of late. This is important to our brand because we promote ethical consumerism and a lot of our customers, especially ones who have followed us since the beginning, have always known us for that. We’ve been planning to do an entire line of shirts soon that all go to specific causes. I know Nicole wants to do something with the Guide Dog Foundation as well since she volunteered there over the summer. 13. What do you think are some necessary components to creating a successful clothing brand? Creativity, passion, a unique vision, a business plan or some knowledge of business management (I don’t mean you need to go out and get an MBA, but having an understanding of how you plan to run your business and make it successful is important. While some people have a natural inclination or talent with entrepreneurship, it’s still good to do some reading and research), patience. You also need to be a bit of a risk taker, especially in the beginning when you are starting your brand and investing your own money in it. It’s a risk all entrepreneurs take, but the thought of losing a lot of money is really scary to most people, which is why they don’t start their own business even if they have a great idea. Specifically in terms of a clothing brand, it’s definitely necessary to take professional product shots (photography is so important, especially if you’re web based, but so many young brands overlook this), creating quality products (you won’t get customers to come back to you if they buy a tee from you and then after getting it in the mail they find that the fit, cut or print are bad), going the extra mile with packaging and presentation so that customers are really surprised and excited the day they get your package in the mail. Although I don’t think it’s necessary, having a blog has been very beneficial for us. We update the blog regularly and we have various people who work for/with 410 BC blogging on a number of subjects. We get e-mails regularly from our blog readers, so it’s been a great tool for us to stay connected to our customers. 14. What advice would you give to a new brand or someone who wants to start their own clothing line? It’s so imperative to have something that will make your brand stand out, to offer something to customers that they can’t get from somewhere else. You need to really ask yourself “what is going to make my brand unique?” and think, “why will people want to buy something from my brand?” Then go from there. Having some sort of a business plan is important, even if it’s not a traditional business plan. It can be very helpful to just write your ideas out. I got a journal and forced myself to use it and that has been so helpful with generating and remembering ideas I have for 410 BC. 15. There have been a number of well known bands and musicians seen sporting 410 BC such as Tegan and Sara, M.I.A., Hayley Williams of Paramore, Beirut, etc. How important has this type of publicity been for your business? Do you think it is necessary for a brand to have popular bands wear their clothes if they want to be successful? I’m not sure if it’s necessary, but it definitely helps. We’re just grateful that some of the bands and artists we admire like our stuff. We were sort of in awe when we found out about all these bands wearing 410 BC, we would get messages from customers and people started sending us photos, most of the time we had no idea and it was just a huge shock. In running 410 BC we’ve been able to meet different bands and musicians, interview them for our blog, work out sponsorships and it’s just been so awesome, we’ve been really lucky. 2009-09-28T19:52:54-04:00 Q & A with one of the 410 BC owners. Good resource for start up clothing brands.

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1351 Interview with Reese Imhof of 410 BC

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2009-11-21T23:06:43-05:00

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<h3>Bands, you need to print t-shirts and other unique merch items if you're going to make it in today's music business.</h3> It isn't about album sales anymore, kids. Simply put, the music business has changed. The days of bands going gold and platinum with their album sales are soon going to be nothing but a memory. With the invention of the internet, digital music, and the ease of ripping music from CD's and sharing it online, album sales for bands and artists are down significantly. <h3>What can you do?</h3> It is too difficult to track and discourage people from sharing your music with others for free. Fighting it is futile, so why not take heed to the new business plan for the music industry -- give the music away for free, and make your money selling merch! I am in no way defending the theft of music here, but offering a plausible and realistic solution to face the rampant online exploitation of music sharing. Don't get me wrong, you should still sell your music on a CD. There will always be people who want to support you who will buy anything you put out. However, there are far more people who don't really care about your band's well being and hard work enough to go out and buy the album. Besides, sharing your music for free online could be a good thing. Think about it. The more people who hear your music, the more likely they are to become a fan of your band. If you're offering some of your music for free, the odds of people hearing your music increases. If they really like you, they're going to want to buy the CD so they have the album artwork, and all of the nostalgia that goes with it. With more ears listening belonging to more bodies, if your band doesn't suck, you're going to gain some regular listeners, some real fans, and probably a stalker or two. <h3>So let's say you have the ears and the hearts of a few people.</h3> The natural reaction for people when they have an affinity towards something is to broadcast their pleasure in whatever it is that is making them happy -- in this case, your band. This is where many bands miss a step. Don't let the fact that you have fans willing to invest money and time into your band pass you up! By making shirts to sell, you're giving them something while earning some much needed dough to fund your (potential) career. You can get started for just over $100 and bankroll your band into a merch-making machine! First off, if $100 sounds like a lot of dough for your band, you're wrong. You've got how many dudes in your band? A $25 contribution from each of four band members is nothing. Anyway, I am going to show you how to turn that 100 bones into double, or maybe even triple. The ideal way for your band to get shirts done is to find a screen printing company that will do 24 shirts 1-Color shirts for around $4-5 each. A lot of companies have a price point that is pretty close to that, so it shouldn't be difficult to find. At most, you're looking at $125-140 with setup and taxes. I would recommend printing a white design on black shirts. It is a tried and true standard. <h3>If you're in need of a design</h3> For your first run of shirts, I would recommend trying to do one yourself, or finding a friend who is willing to do one for you. This way, you don't have to pay a bunch of money hiring a designer to do your shirt design for you. The design isn't really important, you're going to sell out of your first 24 shirts even if your artwork sucks. Why? Because you have at least 24 friends, family members, and fans who are going to want the first shirt your band makes. Hiring a designer to do something really cool for you isn't super important on the first run. Take this design to your printer, and get your shirts done! Normal turn around time for printers can be a couple weeks, so plan ahead if you have a show coming up. <h3>While you're waiting for your shirts to come in...</h3> Book some shows. Even if you're playing at a house party, you're still getting people to watch you play, which is important. Sell your shirts! Don't feel weird about it, you're promoting your band and getting your name out there. Bring a few shirts with you in your car wherever you go, just in case someone mentions seeing one and wants to buy one. You'd be surprised at how often this happens. Conveniently saying, "Oh, I have some in my car right now -- want one?", will get you some sales. If you sell your shirts for $10 each, you'll end up with $240. If you sell them for $15 each, you'll end up with $360. That's a decent chunk of change! Re-invest in doing some more shirts, and possibly getting a proper design done by a professional designer. Print more shirts, sell them, and repeat. Keep making music and playing shows so you can sell your shirts. Doing this will put you on the right track to successful band funding. You will be able to buy gas and go on tour, possibly buy new equipment and a van and trailer. You might even have enough to get out of your shitty town for months at a time! Get on the right track and get some shirts done! It is paramount to the success of your band in todays music industry. The author, Jimmy Breen (aka Jimmy Heartcore) lives in Tampa, FL and runs a design blog at www.wakedesignsleep.com 2009-09-26T22:32:21-04:00 Article for bands to break into merchandising. Originally posted on wakedesignsleep.com

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1331 Print Shirts or Die! : A simple formula for getting out of your shitty town.

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2009-11-22T03:17:05-05:00

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If you like this interview please visit <a href="http://www.complexfashion.com/blog">Complex Fashion</a> <img class="alignnone" src="http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo76/talktomrwilliams/wallpaper.jpg" alt="" width="440" height="250" /> Simply Complicated is not just any other company. Each design they produce has a message tied into it. Grant Tucker and Monray Penny were inspired to create a clothing line because of the serious lack of any kind of thought or purpose behind the designs in the clothing industry now. We sat down with Grant Tucker 1/2 of Simply Complicated Apparel or better known as SCapparel for a interview How did you come up with the name SCapparel? SC actually stands for Simply Complicated, we really only go by SC because some people can't say our real name without completely screwing it up. Who are the owners/creators of SCapparel ? SC is owned by Grant Tucker and Monray Penny. What are each of your roles in the company? Grant handles all of the design side of the company and some business accounts. Ray is in charge of all sales in the company as well as finding new and creative ways to market the line. <img class="alignnone" src="http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo76/talktomrwilliams/300-6.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" /> What inspired you guys to start a clothing line ? The fact that most "streetwear" in the market today has a serious lack of any kind of thought or purpose behind it. With SC, we try to put as much possible symbolism and meaning into every aspect of the company. No matter what design you look at or even our website for that matter, every small detail is completely thought out and has an overall purpose. How has the clothing line been doing ? We debuted Simply Complicated with 4 solid tees and ended up snatching up 2 premier Houston accounts right off the bat. At the H-town Sneaker Summit on August 2nd we will be releasing 7 new tees as well as selling 3 of our old designs for a lower price. It should be fun considering the average turnout at this event is 1500+ people from all over Texas and parts of Louisiana. Are you guys just sticking to shirts or will you expand ? We have a nice surprise for the Winter, that's all I am saying on that matter right now. :) <img class="alignnone" src="http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo76/talktomrwilliams/300-2-1.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" /> What type of people are your target market ? Even our target market in itself is Simply Complicated, the type of designs that we release can be seen in stores from Urban Outfitters to Commonwealth. It's the kind of aesthetic that I feel more brands should adopt. If you work so hard on your products, there is absolutely no reason that you should segment the consumer base. I want people of all walks of life to enjoy SC, just as any company should. This being said...a certain, but very small degree of segmentation should be taken into account to ensure the growth of the brand. What is the best seller out of your collection ? Global View is by far our best seller, the black version sold out within 2 weeks of release and the reprint on Purple went just as fast. The design in itself is very complex. The astronaut is comprised of several nebulae and starfields. Most people don't notice this upon first glance of the design but the more you stare at this shirt, the more you fall in love with it. Period. Do you have any sales going on ? We ran a special for preorders but that is over now. <img class="alignnone" src="http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo76/talktomrwilliams/300-1-1.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" /> What sets you guys apart from other brands ? The amount of detail, thought, and symbolism that goes into each and every tee definitely sets us apart from the crowd. I don't think I have ever seen another brand out there that is doing anything like what we are doing. What do you have planned for the future of the company ? If I told you that, I might have to kill you. Do you have any advice to give aspiring clothing designers ? Put your heart into everything you do and learn to take criticism. If you don't strive to be the best and use every resource to your advantage..ethically of course; you have no reason doing what you are doing. Grant <img class="alignnone" src="http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo76/talktomrwilliams/300-3-1.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" /> Connect With SCapparel <a href="http://www.scapparel.net/" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone" src="http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo76/talktomrwilliams/Untitled-1.gif" alt="" width="100" height="100" /></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Simply-Complicated-Apparel/94241326680?ref=ts" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone" src="http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo76/talktomrwilliams/sidebar1-facebook.png" alt="" width="130" height="56" /></a> <a href="http://www.myspace.com/scapparel" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone" src="http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo76/talktomrwilliams/sidebar1-myspace.png" alt="" width="130" height="56" /></a> <a href="http://twitter.com/scapparel" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone" src="http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo76/talktomrwilliams/sidebar1-twitter.png" alt="" width="130" height="56" /></a> 2009-08-29T20:38:10-04:00 We sat down with Grant Tucker 1/2 of Simply Complicated Apparel or better known as SCapparel

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1121 Simply Complicated | SCapparel Interview

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2009-11-22T03:29:01-05:00

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2009-07-17T13:36:40-04:00

Website dedicated to showcasing up and coming talents

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851 The Freshstock.com

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2009-11-21T00:59:12-05:00

http://www.thefreshstock.com/category/apparel/

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The Importance of Taking Professional Looking Pictures of your Clothing Line By Adam Hendle <a href="http://www.iamthetrend.com">www.iamthetrend.com</a> <a href="http://www.watchteev.com">watchteev.com</a> So the moment has come, either through word of month, a blog post or even possibly an ad you placed. A customer is on your site and is browsing your clothing line to see what you have to offer. After a few minutes your potential customer exits your page but with nothing in their shopping cart. What went wrong; your designs are great, prices are spot on and heck you are even giving free shipping! How and why did they not buy anything? Have you ever really sat down to think to yourself about the challenges that you are facing by selling online? In the rest of this article I am going to discuss the number one thing that turns me off while shopping online as well as give some tips to hopefully help you increase your sales! As humans we love to stimulate and use our 5 senses; whether it is going to a sporting event, going out to eat or simply going shopping we are enthralled and drawn by things that stimulate all of our senses. The average shopping mall is a perfect example of a sensory overload of sites, sounds, tastes, smells, products and experiences that we love to interact with. The problem is we simply can not experience this online. So what’s the point? The point is when you go shopping at a mall looking for your next killer T-shirt, accessory or pair of pants you can actually interact with what you are buying! You can try on a shirt to see how it fits, stare in the mirror to see how it looks on you and of course show it to your friends react to see how they react to it. When you are shopping online you are obviously at a disadvantage. You can no longer touch the product to see how it feels or try it on to see how it’s going to fit and often times you no one around giving you their opinion on what they think. Yes I know this is extremely obvious, but this is where I see a lot of companies missing the point, by not addressing and trying to overcome these barriers. To me, the number one way to hurdle most of these obstacles is simple. TAKE QUALITY PICTURES!!! So you may be saying to yourself, "well, I have already sunk all my money into getting these shirts designed and printed, I don’t have a professional camera or light equipment and I can't afford to hire a photographer to take pro pictures. what am I to do?" Well take a deep breath, that’s what I am here for! Many people automatically assume that if they do not have an SLR or access to a photographer they are sunk. Do not give up so easily! With cameras on the market today, a simple point and shoot camera can do wonders! So here is the plan! <h3>1. BE CREATIVE!</h3> Yes there is nothing wrong with taking a few pictures in front of a solid color backdrop but come on people lets sell these designs! Tell me how long would you look through a flyer or catalog of people just sitting in front of a white wall? That’s what I thought! Take action shots, unusual shots, shots of you destroying your shirt anything to make a customer feel something about that shirt! Open up a catalog for a clothing company or store you admire and take some notes. Or better yet, cruise on over to a clothing company that you admires web page and see what they are doing. There are a lot of great references out there, so get out and look! <h3>2. SHOW EFFORT!</h3> So what if you don’t have a professional light setup, make an effort to do the best you can with what you have! We film Iamthetrend TV using $10 floor lamps but you'd never know! If you put effort and a bit of thought into making the best of your surroundings I guarantee your final product will turn out better than expected. Nothing works better than trial and error, so if you don’t at first succeed try and try again; I promise you’ll get a better result! <h3>3. GET EXCITED!</h3> Remember that feeling when your box of newly pressed shirts arrived at your doorstep? You need to convey that feeling to your customers. By taking exciting pictures, or pictures that your customer can see themselves being a part of, you are creating a buyer experience and increasing your chance of a sale. To me this is the most important part. Think about it, why do you think brands sponsor bands? Customers are influenced by what they deem to be cool, or something that they want to be a part of. No one wants to be a part of what seems to be a shirt in a white padded room! Create an experience through your pictures; paint a story that is going to sell and entice buyers. <h3>4. DITCH THE MOCKUPS!</h3> I have not and will never buy from a Photoshop mock up. No I am not talking about well done mockups that you see on sites such as <a href="http://www.emptees.com">emptees.com</a> I’m talking about companies that literally paste their design onto a one-dimensional flat colored pseudo t-shirt cutout. Doing this style of mockup makes me think that you either do not have the products that you are selling or do not care enough to put together a proper representation of your product. Either way, its not the 90’s and there are a ton of photorealistic mockups available. The best site that I have seen for them is <a href="http://www.gomedia.us">gomedia.us</a> you can also watch tutorials of how to use those mockups on <a href="http://www.watchteev.com">www.watchteev.com</a> So there you have it, stop making excuses! <h3>5. TAKE CLEAR PICTURES</h3> This probably seems like a no-brainer common sense tip, but there are way too many companies that do not take clear pictures from multiple angles of their products. If you have a graphic that wraps around the side of your shirt make sure to take a picture that properly conveys that placement. Remember your customer can not pick up your shirt so you need to your best to help them visualize your product. In closing, take pride in your photos and try and represent your products in the best and most professional way that you and your budget can put together! Remember you are just not selling shirts you are trying to create and experience for your customer. Experiences will keep your customers coming back for more and telling their friends! I’ll leave you with what I think are some of the best promo pictures and photorealistic mockups out there and remember to find more examples and find photographers check out <a href="http://www.iamthetrend.com">www.iamthetrend.com</a> guide to indie clothing, art, bands, products, articles and more. As well as <a href="http://www.watchteev.com">watchteev.com</a> for videos of all things T-Shirt and apparel related! <h3>Some Examples</h3> <img src="http://www.fight-design.com/iamthetrend/articlepic1.jpg" /> Sometimes when you have a very busy shirt it's best to leave the background simple. Remember to take pictures that work, sometimes less is more! <img src="http://www.fight-design.com/iamthetrend/articlepic2.jpg" />Johnny Cupcakes does an incredible job of playing off what he is portraying on his shirts and creating a cohesive brand image. If your brand centers around something specific such as animals, use that in your pictures to help convey your message. <img src="http://www.fight-design.com/iamthetrend/article3.jpg" /> Kill Brand always does a great job of portraying a specific mood or action in their photos. Again its nothing crazy but it is effective and thought-out. 2009-05-28T16:16:10-04:00 An article on the importance of taking quality pictures

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501 The Importance of Taking Professional Looking Pictures of your Clothing Line

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Article on how to properly package your Tee shirts and come off professional!

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461 Packaging Your Tees: The Do’s

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2009-11-22T01:14:32-05:00

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303 Infinitee Rock Band T-shirts & Tie Dyes

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279 Get the exposure you need on thefreshstock.com

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More often than not, one idea gives birth to many more. Launching a new shirt, a new site, or anything that you claim as your own personal venture is likely to have that same affect. But more often than not, the many ideas that are thought up require resources that you don't have at present, money not yet earned, and goals yet to be achieved. I speak from personal experience when I say that there is nothing that causes more frustration than having a plethora of amazing ideas that you know will succeed, and no way to fulfill them. So, that being said, hopefully I can cover some points in this article that may lend some helpful advice to you designers with lines that want them to be the "next best thing". <h3> Plan for success, prepare to fail.</h3> More often than not, most companies will fail. In fact, most fail before they succeed. So with that point in mind, make a business plan that wont be crushed by the first failed attempt. By planning for success and preparing to fail, you essentially create a nice cushion for your company that ensures that your whole world wont come crashing down because you put all your hopes and dreams into a shirt that didn't sell as well as you thought it would. Make sure that you never risk more than your company can afford to lose. Play it smart, and you will weather the storms of that failed product and go onto make a best seller. <h3>Keep a notebook of Ideas, and set target dates for their implementation.</h3> One thing i did not do for my own business at first was keep a notebook of Ideas that I had. Everything was random. I would be at a diner with some friends, and think, "You know, this idea would make a cool necklace for my brand to carry." Then i would go home to design this grand idea I had, and I could not for the life of me remember what it was exactly. Now, that may just be youthful Alzheimer's, but it stands to reason that if I carry a small moleskin, or even just wrote it down on a napkin, that the idea could be preserved, and I would have it for a later date. So dont underestimate your brains willingness to forget something super important to you, and keep notes of your ideas. <h3> Understand that you wont be able to do everything at first</h3> This seems simple, but it is a hard pill to swallow when you want to do an idea bad enough. Just started your tee company, but now you want to get into denim's and other apparel? Well my friend, unless you have a bankroll, and investor, or a well established side job selling crack, that is gonna be tough to get off the ground. So understanding that, just bide your time, pay attention to the running of your business at present, and when you have the means, and it is no longer listed under the "Pipe Dreams" category of your notebook, go for it! All good things come to those that wait. So to, patience will be your roadway to success. <h3> Don't worry about what competitors are doing</h3> Its easy to look at your competition and think, "He is doing it, so why can't I?", but remember to take in various factors about this rival like, how long they have been in business, how many sales they generate, how many contacts they have made, and who else they know in the industry. When you stop to think about that, you will feel much better about your competitors and what they are capable of in comparison with your own situation. Johnny Cupcakes didn't start off making Snowtubes, he made shirts and sold them out of the back of his car. Now, he sells whatever the hell he wants to sell, but he had to earn his keep and wait for his business to reach that point. You can reach that same point in your business, just keep your head in the game, focus on what your company is doing, and everything will work out fine. Hopefully some of these were helpful, and I appreciate any comments, or other suggestions for this article, so have fun, run your business, break rules, Quest, <a href="http://theelegantscoundrel.com">The Elegant Scoundrel</a> 2009-02-08T21:06:15-05:00 An article highlighting some key points to pacing your business so that you come out on top.

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254 Pace your business for Success

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The mission of 10tees is to find out the best t-shirts around and sort them into themed collections.

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213 10tees

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$3 Off any purchase from Threadless.com

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185 A New Threadless Coupon Code

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2008-11-27T10:28:13-05:00

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2008-11-26T16:13:19-05:00

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178 FREE Vector Pack 1: Characters

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145 TEEstrict Free Downloads

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