Do any of you guys make your own shirts or get them made?

Grave_Addiction

Grave_Addiction

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I've come to the conclusion that clothes at stores mostly suck. So now I think I'm just going to start getting my own shirts made.

I talked to a local screen printing shop and they told me they can't screen print single shirts and that it has to be 20 or more, but they have a thing called CAT printing or something like that. She told me they hold up pretty well and that they are like vinyl prints that are pretty sturdy.

Anyway, I was wondering if any of you guys have had any experience with CAT printing shirts and how they hold up.

Here's the shirt I plan on getting today.

aimforthehead_sml.jpg
 
Printing your own shirts is excellent. The only problems are that it can run into some serious cash, and people may just not "get it". Otherwise, it's a great way to get T-shirts. My problem is that most people around here want me to order in bundles of 20 or so. There's no real cheap alternative for me.
 
I've had bundles of shirts screen-printed for various reasons (a band I used to be in, a charity run I help organize, various HS clubs back in the day, etc).. but I've never had any experience with CAT printing.. so I guess I'm not much help here :)
 
Reality's Fringe said:
Printing your own shirts is excellent. The only problems are that it can run into some serious cash, and people may just not "get it". Otherwise, it's a great way to get T-shirts. My problem is that most people around here want me to order in bundles of 20 or so. There's no real cheap alternative for me.
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The lady from the shop didn't tell me how much it would cost, but I'm hoping it's not that much. How much does it usually cost to get one shirt made?

I wonder how profitable it would be to get 20 made and sell the rest on ebay or something.
 
If you happen to find someone who would screen print just one, it WILL cost you at least $20 for it. At least. Usually they want something higher, especially if you want a good color/quality fabric. I don't know about this CAT method though....as for selling shirts, it could work out, but remember those copyright laws!
 
[quote name='Grave_Addiction']
Reality's Fringe]Printing your own shirts is excellent. The only problems are that it can run into some serious cash said:
Again, I'm not alot of help here.. but decent quality (Hanes) T-shirts and a few colors usually ran around $12 a piece when bought in lots of 100+. Alot of times you can save money by purchasing the shirts yourself and just paying them for the printing.
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Reality's Fringe]If you happen to find someone who would screen print just one said:
True, but this is a fan-designed image, so I don't think there would be a problem with it, would it?

$20 is kinda pricey, but I'd rather spend $20-$25 on a shirt that I know I'm going to love than spend $15-$18 on a shirt that looks okay.
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I have never done any custom t-shirts, but a relative of mine does one of a kind t-shirts for himself only with his own artwork on them through cafepress. From a glance they look to be 9-17 bucks depending on the quality of shirt you pick. I know he created his own cafepress store(not sure if there is an up-front cost to doing that or not), with that you can also sell your t-shirt designs to other people. He doesn't try to make any profit of it(I don't think he's sold more than one or 2 to other people anyway), but you can sell the stuff you make through cafepress at whatever markup you like if you want to try and make it a profitable venture.
 
[quote name='Cornfedwb']

Again, I'm not alot of help here.. but decent quality (Hanes) T-shirts and a few colors usually ran around $12 a piece when bought in lots of 100+. Alot of times you can save money by purchasing the shirts yourself and just paying them for the printing.[/quote]

A lot of the places I know won't guarantee the work if you bring your own shirts in. Just a little caveat.
 
[quote name='nilpunk']I have never done any custom t-shirts, but a relative of mine does one of a kind t-shirts for himself only with his own artwork on them through cafepress. From a glance they look to be 9-17 bucks depending on the quality of shirt you pick. I know he created his own cafepress store(not sure if there is an up-front cost to doing that or not), with that you can also sell your t-shirt designs to other people. He doesn't try to make any profit of it(I don't think he's sold more than one or 2 to other people anyway), but you can sell the stuff you make through cafepress at whatever markup you like if you want to try and make it a profitable venture.[/quote]

Cafepress is a good way if you only want one or so and don't care about a huge variety. The base price for a T-Shirt is about 18 bucks, so with that and shipping it can be a little pricey. It's good if you want it done quickly and don't really want to leave your house. Also, with cafepress, they monitor the images you use and can suspend your account for using a copyrighted image, even if you're only buying the shirt for yourself at base price. If you have a local place, it's usually a better idea to go with them.
 
if youre artistic (or skilled with an exacto) you can just get a thin peice of plastic (think transparency paper) and print out a picture you want in very high contrast (black and white only) then put the plastic over the paper (tape it down so it dosent move) and cut out all the black parts.

tada! you have a poor mans screen print!

now just get some plain t-shirts and spray paint and youre on youre way to sweet looking shirts. alot of shirts made this way look like thay're from the 70's or 80's so if youre in to vintage clothing its even better.

if you need more info let me know
 
Okay, hahahaha. The lady said it was Cad Cut, not CAT cut, God I'm an idiot.

Also, she said she'd only charge me $15 for it! They just opened up, and I think I'm going to go to them from now on.
 
You can buy a cheap screen printer for around $200 and its easy to cut out the designs. If you're going to do this for any period of time, look into it.. its probably cheaper in the long run.
 
Another thing to do is to talk big. I had a friend that talked his way into a one ear lease of a dedicated server for $1200. Thats only $100 a month. Which is un heard of. He just talked big, like he would need 30 of them.
 
as far as screen printing goes, most places will do it for like 7 bucks a shirt (plus screens). there is a place in lake elsinore (southern california) that told my friend and i it would be 350 for a two screen shirt, and to make 50 of them. plus they would help with some art direction if needed. your best bet though, is to buy shirts wholesale (for anywhere between 2 and 4 bucks each shirt) and then pay like 2 - 3 bucks for the images to be screened on the shirts. thats the cheapest way to go. as far as cad cut, i have never heard of anything called that
 
i made one shirt for myself, I used too skateboard but as i got older i didnt enjoy it so i stopped, I had so much skater apparel that was old and worn out, at least 12 shirts full of logos with holes in them, so I cut all the logos out of those shirts and sowed them onto this plain black tee on had, i still have the shirt I usually wear it while I sleep, it looks good
 
Hey Grave the guy that made that design has put up a larger pic for printing it on your own shirts. I'd go in with you on it if you need 20 people for that design.

Theres also a really good one that some guy in the u.k. is doing but I heard his transfers arent that high a quality, but would love to have a good quality one of it.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32991&item=3840266164&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

As far as I can tell its his own design. I've not seen that logo anywhere else.

If its high quality and you get enough people, ill join your list for it.
:)
 
[quote name='Noodle Pirate!']Hey Grave the guy that made that design has put up a larger pic for printing it on your own shirts. I'd go in with you on it if you need 20 people for that design.

Theres also a really good one that some guy in the u.k. is doing but I heard his transfers arent that high a quality, but would love to have a good quality one of it.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32991&item=3840266164&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

As far as I can tell its his own design. I've not seen that logo anywhere else.

If its high quality and you get enough people, ill join your list for it.
:)[/quote]

Yeah, that was actually the one I used, but I was able to get them to do the one shirt. But the guy who made them kinda messed up on one, so he tried another and goofed again. He offered me both for the single price of $15, so I took em!

Here's what it looks like.

aim.jpg
 
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