There is a group of people out there who share the collective aim of developing the ‘perfect t-shirt‘. They have now developed a great looking website (luxuryredefined.co.uk) and, being t-shirt related, it sits in my bookmarks in the t-shirt websites category (it is a BIG category!). I do though find it’s presence there a slight irritant and hence the reason for this post. I have to get these feelings of my chest, to explain why that simple link always catches my eye and gnaws at me.
The aim of Better Thinking, the company behind the project, as I understand it, is to develop a t-shirt that is great to wear and is environmentally/socially responsible too. The project started in October 2005 and the t-shirt will be available online and from John Smedley stockists from Spring 2008 in men’s, women’s and children’s versions.
To quote from the press release (PDF):
The Luxury Redefined t-shirt is made in Derbyshire from organic, undyed, unbleached, fair trade, extra-long staple Peruvian cotton with an exceptionally low water footprint. Attention has also been paid to minimising waste, energy and packaging.
Clearly this t-shirt is being pitched at the retail market, rather than the promotional one that Indigo Clothing resides in, and looking at the prices of some of the other John Smedley t-shirts, I don’t expect this to be cheap range! All very commendable and maybe it is too early to comment having yet to see the t-shirt and the price list but I have an issue with yet another company peddling this ’story’ for some of the reasons outlined below:
Continue reading ‘Luxury Redefined’
If choosing screen printing as a customisation option on t-shirts, or other promotional clothing, here are some key money saving tips to keep the price per item down:
- Print with less colours - a one colour print costs much less than a 4 colour one!
- Print on just one side rather than both sides.
- Order more items - in this industry, there are volume based price breaks on both garments and printing.
- Give yourself time - very rushed orders sometimes incur an ‘express’ surcharge. Give yourself at least 7 days when placing an order.
- When ordering in bulk (500+ pcs) we can normally do an additional discount on white garments - contact us for more details.
- Have your artwork in the correct format - otherwise we may have to charge to redraw it.
For embroidery, similar points apply though it is not the number of colours that is the issue but the size of the design as embroidery is charged per 1000 stitches.
The first five thousand people to use the coupon code ‘spring08‘ during the Threadless Spring Cleaning sale will receive $5 off their order on top of the already discounted sale price.
Matt recently returned from his travels in Australia and Japan and he popped into the office to show show us a ‘t-shirt-in-a tube’ he bought from a fancy t-shirt vending machine store in Tokyo. The shop is a concept store by well know brand UNIQLO UT and as a retail idea, it is pretty fun. The Japanese do seem to have an obsession with vending machines but I reckon this idea would also go down well in a trendy store in the West End of London.
Whilst Indigo don’t sell t-shirts in tubes or vending machines you can check out the range of tees we can customise in our t-shirt catalogue!
The countdown is on, 2 days until the American brand Banana Republic opens its first ever European flagship store. The store is opening on the 20th March on one of London’s most prestigious shopping streets - 224 Regent Street, London. Gap Inc. describes this part of the group: ‘Banana Republic is an accessible luxury brand, offering high-quality apparel and accessories collections for men and women.’There will no doubt be queues, so I have decided to investigate what exciting surprises to expect in store…
In my opinion, my initial perception of the garment designs are that they are very conservative! The clothing designs reflect the age group they are aimed at, this would appear to be for the middle aged. The designs are extremely smart, simplistic and clean cut which would appeal to professionals.The garments are relatively reasonably priced and there is a variety of different styles available. The styles could be described as a mixture between Zara and French Connection because of their sophistication.
I predict that this shift dress could be a good seller. It incorporates chic sophistication with bold floral. Floral prints are extremely popular on the catwalk at the moment and the empire - cut waist is a particularly flattering design. Monotones are especially ‘hot’ at the moment, black and white is a must. This dress can also be dressed up or dressed down.
I expect with reasonable prices and sophisticated styles Banana Republic is a brand to watch!
According to Vogue, one of this season’s most fashionable colours is lilac (sugary shades). Alberta Ferretti explains the appeal of lilac, ‘Lilac is a romantic colour. It is sophisticated but also populist; it lets you dare without being loud, you can be noticed without being glaring.‘ Lilac personally reminds me of childhood!
Here at Indigo, Gildan has provided us with 8 exciting new colours to add to their already large range of shades. These include a sugary lilac colour ‘Orchid’ and another Gildan colour, also key for this season, is ‘Kiwi‘. Kiwi is an extremely fresh and organic colour.
Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Colour Institute commented on this seasons colours,”Stabilizing neutrals combined with pops of brighter colours to create unique, distinctive looks are the basis for a great spring and summer wardrobe.”
So think sugary colours and you’ll be ‘in’ this season!
My name is Antoinette and I’m a multi-media textiles student from Loughborough University. I’m here with the team at Indigo on a work-shadow placement for the day, to find out how the company works! My task is to write the blog for today, so here goes!!
The supermodel Agyness Deyn is the latest supermodel to be splashed across the headlines and glossy magazines. Henry Holland fashion designer of the brand ‘House of Holland’ and Agyness’s best friend has already collaborated with her to model his famous slogan T-shirts (Jo wrote a blog about this previously). This is a partnership to watch, Holland confirmed a new range of jewellery is to be released, he said, ‘We’re going to launch a line of jewellery together. You can expect a bit of House of Holland and a bit of Aggy too.’
Agyness has recently replaced Kate Moss for top position in Tatler magazine annual best dressed list. This could be a controversial award seeing as she sports a loud punk style, she describes her style, ‘When I started, I was very boyish- punkish. Now I think I’ve gone a bit lady punk.‘(style.com, Sept 2007) However, rightly or wrongly awarded the top spot for this award, you do have to admire her individuality when it comes to fashion! It takes a lot of confidence to turn up to the 2008 Elle Style awards dressed in Punk!
After telling you about the LSE t-shirt competition, we have found another one, this time to promote Firefox 3, the new browser from Mozilla, the makers of the open source rival browser to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Top prize wins:
- Worldwide recognition for designing the official Firefox 3 T-Shirt featured in the Mozilla Store.
- A free Firefox 3 T-Shirt to show off your winning design.
- $250 gift voucher to Amazon.com.
Not the most enticing prize perhaps but to be fair the recognition could be worth a lot?
London School of Economics (LSE), where our very own Ed Mitala (Indigo accounts guru) studies, has a t-shirt design competition and the winning design wins a £100 and gets to see their design sold in the Union shop. I assume the competition is only open to LSE students but this is a great idea and makes for more interesting merchandise in uni shops compared to the traditional hoodie, with college crest, which is often the default offering on most campuses.
A pat on the back for Opal in the customer service team email inbox!
—–Original Message—–
Sent: 06 March 2008 15:31
To: Opal Witney
Subject: New Client Reply - [INDIGO !32923]: Some queries
Thanks so much, Opal. I’ll look forward to receiving the swatches/colour charts, and then we can make a firm decision and place our order next week.
You really are so very efficient and I do appreciate it. Some companies are terrible about replying to e mails, or dealing with queries effectively.
I’m so impressed by your promptness and helpfulness. I’d like to send you a copy of the first book in the series to say thank you - where shall I send it? Could you remind me of your company’s address and I’ll send it c/o there. We have a fan base growing in Australia, although the series isn’t yet available there. So it’ll be great to have another Aussie Stonewylder!
Kit Berry (Stonewylde)
