Shirtlog

An interview about running your online shop and designing shirts.
A few weeks ago I started mailing with Filip from Allmightys an European contest based online shirt shop and we decided that I would be cool to do an interview together. I asked him questions on how they started, some tips and tricks about designing and how to run an online shop. Q and A after the click

Q: Why did you decide to create a shop and sell shirts

Both Kon and I have been shirt lovers for a very long time. We discovered Threadless back in 2001 and have been regular customers for years. Living in Europe, we found it difficult to feed our obsession as the cost of shipping was so high and also with the customs charges dramatically increasing the cost of each tee. We love design and we have been thinking about creating our own shop for a very long time. Finally, in 2006 we made a decision to have a go. We think there are a lot of people in Europe who would love to have a “local” online store and that’s what we have done. We launched in January 2007 and its been fantastic ever since. We love every minute of it and things are getting better all the time.

Q: Have you designed shirts yourself, and can you tell anything about the design process. (Or if you didn’t probably you know a lot about designers, so perhaps you can give some tips and tricks on how to start on a shirt design)

Oh yes!… few times. The first competition we had both Kon and I designed a few. They will be up for show in the next few days with our Design Forum feature up. Off course, they are pretty simple compared to the wonderful designs we get nowadays. I personally still love my “Dragon” but not sure if we will ever print it . We will definitely do more in the future.
We have been working on new pages on the site that are for people new to T-Shirt design. They are not yet complete as we are still consulting with our designers. (We like to get feedback from our designers on all things we do) As soon as they have made comments, we’ll go live with these pages.
In principle, we have divided the design guide into these categories: 1. Theme, 2. Process, 3. Colour, 4. Gradients, 5. Detail, 6. Size of the design, 7. Positioning.
Off course, this is only our view and we are sure many designers have different approaches. We think artists new to t-shirt design will appreciate info like this.

Here is a little “Process” extract:
Start with sketching by hand, avoid working on computers right away. Computers can be slow and our creative process is a lot faster. Sketch up something by hand on translucent paper, sketch again, sketch over, until you are happy with it. Always keep your sketches and trust your instincts. Those first sketches, although may look bad can be great inspiration later on. Once you are happy with your design, scan you sketch, import it into illustrator, trace it, colour it in, thicken up outlines, etc..

More work in progress here

Q: How do you run your shop, are you only promoting and keeping the site online or do you also print the and ship the shirts yourself. How much time does it take each week?

It is mainly Kon and I that run the shop whilst Dimi looks after the finances. You may already know but I live in London and Kon and Dimi are in Berlin where Allmightys is based. I am involved mainly with the online side of things whilst Kon looks after the merchandise, postage, ordering, etc.
We have partnered with a number of printers. Depending on the printing load we may use more than one. At the moment we are using Printworks and Imprenta, best in Berlin and we have been pretty happy with them. We are always looking for new printers, techniques, sourcing, etc.. This is just the beginning and we are learning as we go.
For Kon Allmightys is pretty much a full time job. For me, with my architectural practice running at the same time, Allmightys is part time but it so desperately wants to be full time. This means, late nights, long weekends, early mornings, etc. Approximately, we each work on Allmightys about 40hrs a week.

Q: Why have you decided to offer commissions to designers rather than one off prizes like other sites do?
We believe in a partnering principle. It goes beyond just taking a design, giving money to the designer and off you go. If we sell more tees, designers earn more money. Designers submit design and that design is earning them money as long as its in our shop. In addition, if the design is doing really well, our cost to print it is less so we can afford to raise commissions. Commissions start with up to ?2.00 per shirt and if it does well it can go up to ?4.00 per shirt. That’s a lot of commission money for the designers if their shirts are selling by 1000s.
We also keep designers up to date on how their shirts are selling. Every 3 months we send them a “Allmightys Designer Report” where we tell them how many shirts we’ve sold, how many times its been viewed online, how much they’ve earned this quarter, etc. We believe this is a great principle and the best deal out there.

Q: I assume that many readers of my blog are interested in selling their shirts online too, can you share any tips ‘n tricks on that?

Do it your way. There are many t-shirt sites out there and there are many tips you can pick up. Do not copy, learn from your mistakes and make your own community. Do not take things for granted, e.g. this is the way to do it because Threadless does it this way. Do it your way, if it doesn’t work, do it another way. Always be positive and know that your community will be beside you and they’ll understand and support you. Respect your designers, award them, consult them, without them you wouldn’t have the shop or the site.

Thanks to Filip from Allmightys! Comments and more questions are always welcome of course