I had somewhat of a revelation a few weeks ago while I was out shopping. Let me give you some background first. Ever since I began selling t-shirts on Cafepress I’ve been quietly amazed that people actually buy them. I thought they were high priced and sometimes even felt a bit guilty when someone would purchase one of my shirts. Maybe I was out of touch with the t-shirt world, because oddly enough, even though I run a t-shirt business, I don’t really wear t-shirts all that often. (Maybe I should)

I won’t mention any names, but I was shopping at a department store whose target demographic is middle class women between 35 and 55. (I know this because this store is a main competitor of another large department store where I worked for nine years.)

I’m not really obsessed with fashion/brand names at this point in my life. As long as it fits and looks okay and is a good price, then it works for me. I was looking to beef up my spring wardrobe with a few sets of interchangeable pants and shirts. I picked a few t-shirts off the rack and tried them on. Nothing special, just a random swirly abstract screen printed design. I tried it on and it looked ridiculous. The design was crooked, the fabric was thin and see-thru (this was from the women’s section, not juniors) and the shirt didn’t even hang right because of the way it was sewn.

Then I looked at the price. They wanted $20.00 for this shirt! And that was the sale price, the regular price was $30.00. (Though if they are anything like my old employer, the entire store is on sale fifty weeks of the year) There was no way I was paying $20.00 for a mass produced crappy t-shirt that’s not even made right.

It was then that I realized that maybe the print on demand t-shirts are not that expensive after all. The t-shirts in my shop range from $16.00 to $30.00, with the average price proabably $22.00-$24.00. They are unique designs that can’t be found anywhere else (except in my Zazzle and Printfection stores) and though I have not ordered every different type of shirt that Cafepress/Zazzle/Printfection offers, the ones I have ordered were much better quality then the one at the store.

I put the shirts back on the rack and decided that I would order my shirts online. Maybe some from my own shop (good advertising) and from other shopkeepers as well. And I don’t feel guilty anymore when people buy my shirts.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites