Friday, December 11, 2009

Custom Tee-Shirts for Groups Made Easy

Putting together a group order of custom t-shirts can be a huge, time-consuming hassle. You’ve got different sizes, styles, and preferences to deal with, plus the prospect of collecting payment from the entire group. It can be a real pain in the neck. Last year for example, my family put together a huge family reunion, and I was put in charge of getting shirts for the entire group—5 siblings and respective spouses and at least 2 dozen kids of various ages. I immediately imagined the worst - youngest cousins tripping over their oversized shirts, or Uncle Tommy squeezing into a shirt that wouldn’t have fit him well even when he was in shape.

After everyone had the chance to submit a t-shirt design idea, we voted for our favorite (landslide victory for our dad’s rendition of the pseudo-family crest) and I started to think about how to get these things printed up. Emails were sent out to the family, requesting all the necessary information for the t-shirt orders. These emails, in typical fashion, were largely ignored by their intended recipients and I was left considering other options.

Following the advice of my web-savvy son, I hopped online to see what I could find out about this custom screen printing business. And, as luck would have it, I stumbled upon some things that would eventually make my task much, much more manageable. The trick, I discovered quite quickly, was to get everything set up design-wise for the family reunion t-shirt, and then let each family member pick their own color style and size to complete the order.

It was literally a 3 step process on my part. I simply had to upload the t-shirt design, fill out and verify a group order form, and then send the information out to all of my family members when it was done. From there, I just sat back and relaxed as my custom screen printing setup did all the work. Within weeks, I had my complete order ready to go and by the time the reunion came around, everybody got exactly what was ordered. Uncle Tommy did still look a bit snug in his t-shirt, but I can’t help it if the man still thinks he’s a large. Besides that, I’d say it was the best looking family photo we’ve taken in years.

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