Designers Make Baby Jesus Cry

This past week, I was able to convince 6 designers to make shirt designs for me. This is no small victory, as I am pretty dependent on designers to develop images for me. So far, they have all universally been interested in the "small production runs" idea I had. Others are also interested in the artistic freedom I am giving them in terms of the image. Others still are interested in the possibility of freeing themselves of the business aspect of making and promoting shirts. That's the good news.

The bad news is that it is difficult to work with designers sometimes, and especially difficult to do so across great distances. So much information is conveyed via body language, it almost makes me want to run right out and get web cameras for all of the artists. No specific complaints about the process yet, other than it is taking longer than I would like. I have the ball rolling on a few ideas, but it is still slow going.

Logo update:
Kyle's logo design is getting closer to being finished, though we both took the weekend off. My hope, and dare I say goal, is to finish the logo by the end of this week. I am starting to realize that everything I want to do from a creative standpoint takes about twice as long as I would like it to. Ugh.

Pricing:
One thing I have been struggling with lately is what to charge for my shirts. Here are my considerations. I have priced comparable shirts and they run from $28 at Urban Outfitters to $9 at Gap. Here's the thing: my shirts will be made with American Apparel (AA) t-shirts, which are considerably more expensive. The reason their shirts are more expensive is because they are made in the U.S. and because AA pays their employees living wages. I want to support this type of socially responsible corporation mostly because I want to also be a responsible corporation. Further, I believe my target consumer cares about these types of issues.

However, the downside is that I cannot charge and hope to make a decent profit by selling my shirts at my "ideal" price point. Ideally, I would like to sell the shirts at $18. This would represent a great bargain for the design, quality of shirt and overall uniqueness. It appears as if I will have to charge closer to $22. What are your thoughts about this price? Is it reasonable? I wish I had some sample designs to show you to help make the question easier, but I don't. Sorry. Seriously, I would like your feedback.

Other notable events this past week:
* I set up QuickBooks, so now I can run fancy reports and act like I am in "Upper Management"
* My checks came - with the wrong name on them. Though, I thought "Springhell Jack" was funny, I still had to order new checks.
* I received to Corporate check card in the mail. That's always fun. (It had the right name on it.)
* I visited the silk-screener. They seem like a good group. I look forward to working with them.

I hope you are all doing well. If I haven't spoken to you in a while, at least you know why. (I have been busy.)