Vendor Status

Sup fellas just letting you all know that I taken a break from vendor status...
 
I have been cranking out designs..and seems like not everyone is a seller...no problems with me but I want to go back to the drawing board and try to cater to more folks on here.
 
So I will take a brief break and come up with more designs and would really like your input..
 
What do you folks want to see in a shirt? What would make you folks purchase a shirt?? Colors??
 
I start designing on what I would where and never took the time to ask you folks what your wants and needs are.
 
I know this is a VIP CAR forum and most folks are here to fix up their cars and want parts not so much shirts..
 
 
Not trying to get rich on this site as my money comes in from big orders from local companies and youth sports.
 
I am trying to push the scene and there is nothing sweeter than someone stepping out their VIP car with VIP clothes..
 
I think that is PIMP....but I also understand that folks that would want to do that are folks with their cars already pimped out and nearly done if not done..otherwise folks would rather drop money into parts..
 
So with that said 
 
Spill your gutz...criticism is welcome and don't hold back...are my previous designs cool are they wack, are they just ok....
 
I like to do some market research on this to come up with better designs for you folks..
 
Or is it overwhelming all the shirts now...do you feel bombarded my shirt vendors?????
 
All this info helps me to decided what direction to go..
 
Thanks in advance !!! Remember I am asking for honest responses..do not hold back on account of my feelings..I do not get attached to art work as I know you can not take things to serious when it comes to designs...
 
 
if you do want any of my previous desings...pm me....but I will not be posting any new fs threads for a bit:biggthumpup:
Rich

[QUOTE=zion_97;158100]
 
there is nothing sweeter than someone stepping out their VIP car with VIP clothes..
 
I think that is PIMP....
 
[/QUOTE]

i think itd look nicer steppin out a G ride in a suit, instead of jeans and a $10 shirt. thats just me tho.

good luck. you still got mad skills in other departments.

I guess its just how you look at it...I'm still hood in my blood so some creased jeans some fresh white kicks and a black shirt stepping out the BIP car is yeah boy...
 
or some adidas shorts with nice big VIP shirt and some fresh adidas kicks...woo woo...
 
I am not into suites and VIP cars..If you have a high end paying job and need to wear a suite than a Nice stock luxury car maybe with some nice wheels would be appropriate..
 
I have a Real Estate business and if my clients saw me stepping out of my car all slammed or rode in it with me....shhhh probaly the last time I will see them..
 
I guess it just depends on how you see things and what type of job you gotz...
 
Only time I would roll my car in a suite is to a wedding but not to any type of business function thats what the LX470 is for...
 
Now with my graphics business it really doesn't matter how I am dressed because most folks don't associate what I do with executive dress attire....:shrug:

[COLOR=Yellow]"[/COLOR][COLOR=Yellow]What do you folks want to see in a shirt? What would make you folks purchase a shirt?? Colors??"
[/COLOR] [COLOR=White]
I wanna see some classy ish, like cursive fonts.
Like clean/simple/modern looking designs. 
Something like this
[IMG]http://stevemitchelldesign.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/Semperfi.jpg[/IMG]
or something similar to the Y33 you had w/ the city background.[/COLOR]


[COLOR=Yellow]
"Spill your gutz...criticism is welcome and don't hold back...are my previous designs cool are they wack, are they just ok...."
[COLOR=White] 
Your previous designs, IMHO were kind of unimpressive. I know you can do better rich. But when i saw those designs non of them really popped out, ya dig?


Just my 2[/COLOR][/COLOR]¢'s
[COLOR=Yellow][/COLOR]

imo, you're work suffered from "cranking out designs".
 
the wide 'n' lows are classics and thats what you should build your line upon. at the same time, its a very specific design so multiple orders (from 1 customer) are unlikely, but having your own press plays into this scenario very well.
 
after that it seemed like you went into a scramble trying to force designs. some ideas were ok, some were just bad. you also started adding a lot of extra stuff (slogans, logos, etc.) that really didn't flow with the designs imo.
 
i look at it like this: they're t-shirts. people don't need 20 designs to choose from. it makes it harder to choose from and takes away from the impact of the really good ones. i.e. one awesome shirt *BAM* in your face or looking through 10 ok/bad shirts to find the same 1 awesome shirt.
 
i think your vector car art is where you shined and the ability to do custom one-off designs/colors was a huge plus that should have been emphasized more. keep it simple and keep the line uniform. i.e. logo in 1 place, graphic in another, slogan in another but always the same locations.
 
other than that, wait for great ideas. don't push to make new designs. treat it like a side hustle. you have your main gig and you're gettin money so theres no need to press on shirts. even then you have a solid core of wide 'n' lows, so fresh designs shouldbe well thought out and few and far between.
 
i had most of my designs thought up long before i even moved on printing shirts, i have a couple more on standby then i might not even make anything for a while. i also give though to when i release them. i could have dropped 5-6 designs at once but spacing them out helps sales i believe. with the fitment/stance i got a good reception, but with the low sign it was even better because people were buying both at the same time. with the fetish i was shipping 3 packs (discounts helped a lot).
 
summary: quality over quantity, focus on your strong points, and attack with a plan.
 
*edit - hope this helped ad you take it the right way. i'm not going to tell you what to design since we were/are, after all, in competition.:mk_smiley1:

Damn, you got crushed by the saturation of at least 3 vendors shooting out shirts like crazy all at once...

Also, wouldn't make more sense to stay a vendor and be asking this rather than to just quit being a vendor to ask this while other vendors are watching you make this thread, and following suit as well when people say what they want, others are already doing and cranking out shirts again while you can't sell until you become a vendor again? That's just bad business handling mate.  Not saying that it'll happen, but just me thinks that would be the wisest thing to do if I were another vendor, to be churning out designs that people are asking for, not just ones that you think people will like. Spice it up a bit too, Most I see are boring, except for that 'drive low' shirt, that was original. I know you didn't make that one but you get the point right? 

I think the real problem is, you guys are all selling SHIRTS. At 25 dollars a pop, I would consider these to be a premium shirt. I don't prefer to buy 25 dollar screenprinted tee's. I know business tatics are to keep as much profit coming in for as long as possible, but I do know that you also need to eat some losses, and build up your clients for a while before charging a higher price.

I've only purchased one shirt, and that was for the site. To me, a screen printed tee with a 'basic' design is not worth 25 bucks, now if it were 15 bucks, i'd be more likely to buy it. 25 bucks will get me 2 shirts easily from some online websites, from known companies, such as DC/Volcom/Analog, etc etc, where these shirts retail in stores for an easy 25-30 dollars per shirt. 

What I'm saying is, either expand into some crazy polo's/collared shirts, some sweaters, jackets, shit like that. Umbrellas, banners, nobori (sp) flags, build up some interest in all this stuff and then once you get that hype up then push some out, not just saturate the market with different kinds of the same tee's...

you cant really compare mass produced shirts that are made for pennies to small run independent companies. they make more of of a shirt for 10-15 than we do off a shirt for 25. factor in $5 of our $25 is shipping/paypal fees.
 
you also can't compare general fashion to specialized vip apparel. the market is so niche that you have to keep designs basic for mass appeal. how many of the >100 really active members are going to buy shirts? out of them how many are going to dress the same? the numbers get smaller and smaller as you filter people out.
 
i totally agree on the accesories, and i do have plans for that.
 
sorry if this went a little ot.

[SIZE=2][COLOR=darkorange][B]BOostie , BlackonBlack and Caoboy[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]
[B][SIZE=2][/SIZE][/B] 
[SIZE=2][COLOR=silver]You  guys have great points and are appreaicated. I am  not taking any offense to any of what is said. THis is market research for me..[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][/SIZE] 
[SIZE=2][COLOR=#c0c0c0]BlackonBlack. YEs I do agree that I pushed to many designs. I was trying to give a variety but slowly realized that it seems like I was overwhelming the community with just ideas at the top of my head rather than sticking to what was working best. Gotta practive what I preach sometimes right..hehehehe Thanks for your advice!!!![/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][/SIZE] 
[SIZE=2][COLOR=#c0c0c0]Caoboy,,thanks as welll...Prices plays a bigge factor in what people will  buy you are right..and to most folks I am sure they look at these shirts as "WTF $30 SHIRTS" shit NOPE...I want to cut down the price moving forward BUT I do not want to do it in a away where it will step on others feet. One thing I will explain is this..I am using very nice shirts. I just purchsed some more shirts of different brands that I have used in the past and it seems like the Haynes Beefy T's are softer and overall nicer..The GIldans Ultra Cotton are just about the same both are 6.1 oz shirts..For XXL and plus sizes those shirts are nearly $8 each. Then We have $4.80 to ship priority and then the Vinyl material + design time it all adds up..I think it is important for consumers/customers to know that We are talking about CUstom shirts and its unfair to compare to mass produced shirts that are beeing made in sweatshops. Those shirts are probably made for under $3  and then sold for $20-$30 look at those companies profit margin...WOW...THe other thing is that when someone can email me and say hey can you make this design and do this and that and then have the shirt within 2-3 days I think is awsome customer support something that you can not get most places...BUT I still here what your saying I am listining to you mayng and will try to take it to my business strategies..[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][/SIZE] 
[SIZE=2][COLOR=#c0c0c0]Boostie[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][/SIZE] 
[SIZE=2][COLOR=#c0c0c0]Its all good bro dont even sweat it..Its hard to get 10 winners..so I tried to do as many as possible becuase each month we have to pay fees and to sit around and waite for 1 or 2 shirts here and their was fustrating so I cranked out lots of designs that I think like you said were not impressive...[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][/SIZE] 
[SIZE=2][COLOR=#c0c0c0]The ones I really liked were the wide n lows,, 3/4 angles and the very last one that said VIP's Most Wanted if you saw it..THe others were just trying to get more out there...[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][/SIZE] 
[SIZE=2][COLOR=#c0c0c0]I have learned alot from this and will come back hard...I promiss[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][/SIZE] 
[SIZE=2][COLOR=#c0c0c0]Thanks once again fellas..!!![/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][/SIZE] 
[SIZE=2][COLOR=#c0c0c0]Rich[/COLOR][/SIZE]

4.80 to ship priority? Is this flat rate? I think you could cut the costs a little by shipping with the cheapest flat rate boxes around. I mean it's a shirt, it's not that big of a deal to get it in 2-3 days max, but that's just me. Just something else to cut costs maybe. You could even ship it in one of those flat rate bubble envelopes.....

hmm...what about if you and blackonblack went into business together? LOL just a thought, just a though, but don't think that would work out as you guys are too far away from each other. 

Keep doing what you all do, maybe pop up with some really good designs every few months or so, sell them, and then crank out some more in a few more months. You are right, this is too niche of a group right now to be able to sell t-shirts daily.

lx470!!!! u motherfucker!!!

what year? =)

thats my ultimate SUV, or the GX. fuck escalades and domestics

[quote=vzuptnguyen;159135]lx470!!!! u motherfucker!!!
 
what year? =)
 
thats my ultimate SUV, or the GX. fuck escalades and domestics[/quote]
 
Look Behind my Q....
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/fenderwork.jpg[/IMG]
 
Its a really a nice ride and came with factory air and mark levingston sound,nav folding mirrors and much much more -----the works...After driving one of these around its hard to compare to other SUV's they just dont ride as smooth...We were actually looking into a new 2008 Danali or a 2008 Chevy Suburban LTZ for the room but honestly it feels like down grading..even though ours is a older model 2002 we got it almost three years ago only had 30k miles when we bought it..and now has 60k IT was a certified preowned and has all the maintance records..
 
I like the new LX570's those are hot but still not big to bad they dont make a LX570XL:shrug:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Now for the real pics...
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/lx.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/lx2.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/lx4.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/lx6.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/lx9.jpg[/IMG]