Cafepress and Zazzle?

[RTK]

Has anyone seen a t-shirt from one of these places? What is the quality like? You see dye-sub produced shirts in the stores, but I'm not sure if the "real" commercially produced shirts have been done with better materials etc. than these on-line shirts? I know the garment quality varies, but how about the printing process itself?

I'm pondering one of these places to make a couple of shirts for some friends of mine, and perhaps even as a test to see if people would be interested in certain shirt designs. However, if the quality is crap, I wouldn't have the heart to let people order any.

The shirts are over-priced, so you can't really make any worthwhile amounts with it, but it would be a free way to see if random visitors are interested in the designs in the first place.

Having a top-notch quality - in shirt and screeen-printing workmanship - done locally is not all that expensive. The minimum orders are stil around 50 shirts... which is quite a few to give away if no one is interested...

[mags]

Hi Risto

Have never used either myself but I do recall Cafe Press were mentioned at About.com

Thread in About

Oops! Am thinking that link will not get you to the particular thread, if you search for "shirt" (from 3 months ago) you will get the thread.

[AntonyF]

I sold some on my website from Cafe Press, and various visitors bought them. I never had any complaints.

[AlexL]

CafePress' mugs are useless. They are certainly NOT dishwasher-safe. Don't start me on that one. [Actually, that's all I have to say on the matter!!]

The shirt was OK - in fact I have 2, though that was sort-of by accident and sort-of due to the Mount Pleasant Sorting Office keeping the package for so long that it was considered "Lost". (Read online news for the problems facing the Royal Mail at the moment).

Back to the shirt.

They are both Haynes Beefy-T which is a good shirt, though one of them has a slightly badly formed neck hole. The print is OK - mine is of Dilbert, and is almost all Black and transparent (with a red Dilbert logo). The whole graphic is printed - by that I mean the transparent part is printed too which makes it a little odd.

The graphic has not come off with machine washing.

If I tell you that I wear it as a night-shirt, does that tell you anything about what I think of it?!!?

And yes, I agree with you, Risto - CafePress are overpriced.

AlexL

[raynerj]

Hi Risto,

Have you given any thought to the T-shirt printers for large events? For instance, the Sturgis Rally in my neck of the woods moves lots of "official" rally T-Shirts. They have to do decent work or else they would have 500,000 angry bikers to answer to.

I can find out who does these shirts, and get you a price quote if you would like... http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[OklaEd]

Hi Risto,
Have purchased several items from Cafe Press ... all good quality. (Although I wasn't aware the coffee cups weren't dishwasher safe http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif) The only problem I see with Cafe Press is the cost. You can get the same thing done locally for quite a bit less and keep the extra profit for yourself. Check with local screen print shops. Many do a variety of things (mouse pads, coffee mugs, etc.) at a reasonable price.

-Ed.

[RTK]

mags, thanks. I have looked around several places, and there are very few real reviews out there. You sort of have to figure it out on your own based on what you read.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Anthony: I never had any complaints.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
--- It still doesn't mean they ended up hating you... http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Alex: They are both Haynes Beefy-T... <snip> The whole graphic is printed <snip> <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
--- It's an ok shirt... The Haynes Beefy-Ts come in different qualities and weights. The one CafePress uses is not used by the screen printer I have talked to, as it's to flimsy. The only use the heavier (more expensive) Haynes shirts.

Yeah, I read about them printing/fusing the whole sheet, no matter how big the graphic is, which I guess saves them 10 seconds per shirt... http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>John: They have to do decent work or else they would have 500,000 angry bikers to answer to.

I can find out who does these shirts, and get you a price quote if you would like...
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
--- Perhaps the bikers are not too particular with the quality of their garments? http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Thanks for the offer to check quotes, but if I'm end up doing this I'm going to a local printer. You can go there and talk to the guys directly, no shipping costs, AND the US/CAN exchange rate also makes it beneficial from a cost point of view.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Ed: The only problem I see with Cafe Press is the cost. You can get the same thing done locally for quite a bit less and keep the extra profit for yourself.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
--- I agree. It's scary what kind of prices they charge when compared to what it costs to have a top-quality garments screen printed by pros.

Due-sub printing equipment is not really that expensive, or complicated to operate. It's a piece of cake to do it yourself - if one has the interest and time. Perhaps most of their cost goes into operating their monster servers they need to make it all work?

Thanks for taking the time everyone! I guess the best/only way to make sure, is to do a test shirt (different colours, gradients etc.)

[AntonyF]

Poor Alex and his mug... it really was very faded for something that was dishwasher safe!

I got him a t-shirt as a leaving present though, so maybe it'll give him another night shirt. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Regarding pricing of Cafe Press, yeah... it is quite substantial. And the cut you make it quite low if you want to keep the cost anywhere near down. But their system is very innovative IMO, and you can have 1 product or 100 of it and that's OK. I think that's pretty neat.

[koobs978]

I have used Zazzle and Cafepress.

Zazzle is waaaaaay better. I used CP for about a year before I found Zazzle and will never go back. The quality is so much better at Zazzle, I highly recommend them. Also, there is no cost at Zazzle, but you have to pay for a premium store on Cafepress in order to access most of their good stuff.

I am a certified Zazzler.