FChat NE polo shirts. Interested?

fyi - i'm waiting to hear back from LLBean about whether they can do something like what ryan has done. he hasn't finalized it yet, but they'll get the basic idea.

doody.

 

Sorry I haven't gotten it done yet - my mother just returned from her honeymoon and it's been a madhouse around here. Between that and INS I've had a plate full of worries.

I'll try and get it done in the next day or two.

 

LLBean finally got back to me this evening, with profuse apologies for the lengthy delay in responding.

they CAN do the design. it WILL cost us a buttload. until we get a final design and commit to them that we want to do this they won't exactly know what it'll cost. they said it's VERY complicated. their guess, which they caveated with "it may be more, it may be less" was about $200 in setup fees and $11 per item for the embroidery.

the net net, on a $19 ea. Double-L Polo, with some volume discounting, would be about $38 a pop if we can get orders for 24 shirts. 18 would be about $47 a pop. 36 would be about $35 a pop.

those numbers include (i) the shirts, (ii) embroidery on each, (iii) the setup charge, (iv) shipping from LL Bean to the distribution point, and (v) a free shirt for ryan for doing the design work and a free shirt for our esteemed host rob for not suing us for violating his trademark .

so i guess we'd tack on another $3 or so per shirt for packing and shipping to each of us.

i like this design, and i'm sure ryan will make it even more bang-up once he does a final version. the guys in the tri-state section have a nice design, but it's rather simple. ryan's design has a lot of panache about it, IMHO.

we'd get a proof copy of the design embroidered on a material similar to what we planned to order (eg: polos) to make sure it was kosher.

i've done corporate stuff with LLBean before. the shirts are good quality, but definitely not "amazing" quality. the stuff that FCA produces are serious heavy-duty polos (and they charge like it). the last batch of stuff i did with LL Bean was in mid-2000 (if memory serves) and those polos are in decent shape still. if i've gotten four years out of them thus far, i can get at least another two. so they're not junk quality by any means. they're just not the hottest stuff on the block (but for $19 each....).

i'm willing to deal with the logistics and front the money. i know where most of you live .

here's the problem though - as i go through this thread, it seems like 18 might be a hard number to hit - never mind 36 or so. i've started a separate thread to try to gauge actual interest. if we can only get 18 at $50 a pop or so all-in, maybe we should consider backing the design down. for comparison, something like the tri-state guys are doing would run us something like $38 each for 18 units (all-in) down to $30 each for 36 units - so this more complicated design is a good $12 per shirt or so - real delta.

if anyone has additional tweaking suggestions on the design, please post them in this thread for ryan.

if you think you might be interested in something other than a polo (tote bag, oxford, baseball cap, etc.) please discuss that here. there is a SIX unit minimum for the embroidery. so if you want a baseball cap, we need to order minimum six units. i think the $200 set up fee is overall - so that's not per shirt -vs- hat. but the application fee of $11ish per item will apply to any item. obviously the setup fee would get amortized across all the items ordered - not just the shirts. and to repeat, these are just estimates from LLBean so far given the complexity - it could be a bit more - it could be a bit less.

doody.

 

ryan - what about a black border instead of that gray? here's a rasterbation of it.

doody.

 

absolutely. no argument whatsoever.

doody.

 

Personally I don't really mind about the price - I'd go for the Higher Quality provider - I of course have no way of judging this. Doody/Birdman - so how do we decide here? It seems that the Doody LL bean thing started in the first place because there were doubts about the other embroider's ability to deliver...

I say the two of you should make the decision together somehow based on your experiences with the two companies.

 

she's saying she can do these things for WELL less than half the price of LL Bean?

you've done stuff with her before? what's the quality of the shirts and work?

doody.

 

Big question has to be quality. I have Ralph Lauren polo's that are 20 years old and have held up great while I have much newer ones that are already looking like crap and you can easily see the difference in quality. Would rather pay more if quality is better

 

There's some interesting brandable material on that site...

Fchat Thong anyone?
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apparently dan needs some work to do .

jonathan - if you're happy with her them i'm cool with her. no need to overpay - that's for sure. i've used LL Bean before on semi-complicated stuff and it came out great - but i can't claim their shirt quality is outrageous - it isn't - it's solid stuff, but not great.

question: will she run an embroidery sample first like LL Bean will? just to make sure the embroidery looks good? i assume so, just wanted to check.

on pricing, remember that i included shipping from the provider to whoever is distributing them PLUS two free shirts for rob and ryan, so the apples to apples is 23-24 - still tons cheaper that what LL Bean quoted me.

question: are there minimums? i mean, if dan really needs an fchat thong (dan - do you usually wear thongs?) can we do one item here one item there or are there minimums like with LL Bean? some of the baseball hats look nice. fleece. etc.

that catalog has an INSANE volume of product in it - including polo shirts. egads. what's the difference (cost, quality, etc.) in the incredible breadth of selection? how on earth do we decide? i'm going to go dig through my polos and get some brand names to see if they're on their list. the FCA polos are very heavyweight and seem to be incredibly high quality ("outer creek" rings a bell - on the corporatechoice list!).

doody.

 

Broder bros. is the largest wholesaler of these items with good service. A lot of manufacturer's of these items are primarily t-shirt makers trying to go upscale like gildan, jerzees etc. Take it from someone with a little experience from the past about this, order a blank from a couple of companies - Izod from the website birdman posted, also outer banks and the best i have seen is labeled the "earth collection". Nice cotton pique tough wearing yet comfortable. Also stitch count is what makes a nice embroidered design. That too can be sampled. Pick the shirt, compare samples then order. Blank shirts can be had quite cheaply. I have the wholesale price lists somewhere. Then in the end everyone will be proud to wear their shirt.
T

 

Just remembered, the digitizing of the design is the crucial step and requires experience. That gets put onto a disk and can then be read by any of these stitch machines. In other words, birdmans connection could digitize it and bean stitch it or the other way around. But the skill is in digitizing the design and that involves the count and would determine if the final product looked good ie had some 3d feel.
T

 

Just my $.02 . . . I've ordered stuff from LL Bean before, and from private embroidery product companies too. Quality IMHO is very comparable. LL Bean has a very limited selection of products on which to embroider, but quality is generally good. With small companies, you can select the product provider - pick a good shirt maker, and I think we'll be fine, especially if it's only $25 per.

Put me down for one too.

vty,

--Dennis (already in Montreal!!!)

 

deb sounds like the shiznit!!!!

still have to check my polos re: brands.

any word from the ryan-meister on design finalization?

doody.