Lowdtown Q&A: Logos and Packaging

Questions:

Hi Ray!

I was just looking through some online articles and stumbled on your site. I’m also a young entrepreneur and I’m looking to start up a sneaker accessory brand for sneakerheads! There’s so much stuff to consider when starting a brand, so I absolutely appreciate the tips that you wrote on your blog. And I think it’s so important to reach out to fellow startups. The dream of success!

Amazing job with everything! I think the main thing that’ll be a big cost for me is the design part (I’m not a designer, unfortunately! Haha) and of course the inventory part. Since you were a student at parsons, do you know how much it is to get like logos and packaging designed?

Thanks! Your graphics are amazing — if ever I make any money, I promise to buy a t-shirt.

Answers:

Hey Ting,

Sorry it took so long for me to respond, I’m actually still a student at Parsons and I’ve had finals for the past couple weeks. Logos range in price, depending on who you hire. And obviously, as with everything else, hiring a professional designer is really crucial. I’m sure you can pay a crappy myspace teenager online for a $100 logo, but if you’re looking to get a professional logo, I’d say it would range from around $400-1000. But considering your logo is the most important thing in your brand that needs to make an impression on everyone, you really shouldn’t be frugal about it.

My version of a $50 logo:

I’m not really sure how much packaging design costs, being that I’ve never made any custom packages. I’m also not sure if you’re asking how much graphics to go on pre-made packaging is or if you’re asking how much it costs to get the packaging itself custom designed. The latter is obviously much more expensive, but that’s about all I can say. If you simply want to get designs printed onto pre-made packaging, I probably wouldn’t expect to pay more than $250.

Hope that helps!

Lowdtown Q&A: How to break even

Questions:

Hello Ray,

My name is Justin. I have pondered starting a clothing line. I’ve been doing extensive research because, well, if I do start one I’ll be running off a shoestring budget. Anyhow, I’ll cut to the chase and ask the questions I’ve been wondering about.

Do you make your own shirts, or do you outsource this?

If you do outsource it (I understand the process of outsourcing) does the company making the shirts put the label and hang tag on for you, or do you do this?

If you do not outsource, do you print them up yourself with a DTG printer or screen printer, and then sew on your label, and put your hang tag on yourself? And where do you get your products from? I have researched many, and a lot of smaller operations recommend American Apparel.

I have many more questions, but I’ll leave just one more. I imagine you are a busy person, just as I am.

What kind of numbers do you have rolling in, and are you making a big enough profit to expand your line?

My start up costs would be different from yours, but it helps to have some general ideas, that way I can figure out my break even point.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks,

Justin

Answers:

Hey Justin, thanks for the questions.

I’m assuming you’re asking if I print my own shirts rather than make them, but no, I don’t print my own shirts. I wish I could, but I’m still a student, and it would be too much labor for it to be worth it.

The company I outsource puts in the labels for me, but I put on the hang tags myself, because that’s pretty simple.

I can’t share my numbers, because that’s personal, but I make enough to be able to run Lowdtown only off of the money it makes. Mind you, I don’t really use any of the money I make from Lowdtown for personal things, so I pretty much put 100% of the profit back into Lowdtown.

And I don’t think knowing my numbers will help you figure out your point for breaking even. You figure out how to break even, by figuring the cost of your blanks plus the print and any additional embellishments (labels, hang tags, etc). That would be your raw cost of the t-shirt. Then you figure out your retail price, and subtract your raw price per t-shirt. By figuring out how much money you’d be making off each shirt, you can see how many shirts it would take to break even. Of course there would be a lot of other factors, but that’s the barebones way I use to figure it out.

Good luck!

Lowdtown Q&A: Type Logos vs Graphic Logos

Questions:

I would like to start by off thanking you for answering questions for up and coming clothing lines. I’ve learned some things from you and I deeply appreciate it. Your help can definitely make a clothing line dream come true. Most clothing lines feel as though, you are their competition, so why help?

Someday I plan to do a collab with you, or hire you as a potential designer? I love your brand and I plan to follow in your same footsteps.

I have a few questions:

#1 My clothing line does not consist of a symbol logo. It consists of just a word logo. Other brands, such as The Hundreds and Kid Robot rely deeply on their symbol logo. Do you think there is competition between word logos vs. symbol logo brands? I think there’s pros and cons for each logo. I think symbol logos get played out fast, but a symbol logo is more bold than a word logo. In my opinion, word logos last longer because they have a more traditional look, but don’t get as noticed. I understand there are many brands out there that have both a word logo and a symbol logo. My plan is to just stick with the traditional word logo. Later on down the line, I may create a symbol logo, but the chances are very slim.

How can my word logo compete with the symbol logo brands?

Should I switch the design of my word logo with different types of typography and fonts for different articles of clothing? I feel like my word logo will get played out fast if I use the same design for inside tags, hang tags, and t-shirt designs.

#2 In the beginning stages of starting my clothing line, I plan to do most of the tasks myself. The only employee I will have is a designer when starting. When I’m ready to expand my business, I plan to hire others for the brand. What type of positions am I looking to fill when expanding the business? Are you a one man company or do you have others on your team?

Answers:

1. I think your problem is that you’re limiting the powers of the type logo. It sounds to me like your type logo is just plain type with very little editing. What I would suggest is to add your own flair to the type that represents your company. There are extremely powerful and memorable type logos that do simple modifications to make you double take.

Personally, I’ve always liked the versatility of having both a type and graphic logo. Look at Lowdtown for instance, I have 3 logos that I transition between. I have the main type logo which I use on a variety of labels and business cards. I consider my type logo to be the most professional, so that is the purpose that I’ve given it. I also have the mouthcan logo and the lowdmouth logo. Both of these are obviously very graphic and are used more for brand recognition, because I feel like they are pretty memorable. Graphic logos establish the mood of your brand, in my opinion. And you mentioned kidrobot with their graphic logo. I agree that they use the kidrobot robot symbol the most, but they also have the simple type logo too. Each logo has a purpose and it adds versatility to your branding. However, don’t go crazy and have like 10 different logos, because that would create brand confusion rather than brand recognition.

Open your mind to several ideas and variations. When I came up with my logo, I had to go through several dozen iterations til I came up with ideas that I liked. Try just sketching out as many logos as you can, and I’m sure you’ll be able to find a gem in there be it type or graphic.

2. Yes, I am a one-man operation, but let me tell you, it’s not easy! It’s funny you mention that because I’m currently trying to find some employees to help out as well, but since I’m so attached to Lowdtown it’s difficult to find another person that I can trust it to. Since I’m the main designer, I’m not really searching for another designer, but probably the most important thing that I’m looking for is someone who understands the business side of things. Getting an accountant would probably be the most helpful, because I’m completely clueless when it comes to sorting my own taxes and figuring out how to efficiently use my money. I wish I had more time for marketing as well. If I had someone who can handle that side of the operation of promoting the brand and finding wholesalers, that would be extremely useful.

Thanks for the questions, I hope this helped!

Lowdtown Q&A: How to set-up artwork for print

Question:

Hi Ray. First off let me tell you how rad your clothing line is – really awesome! I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but I do have a question and I figured you would be able to help through your experience.

What I’m real confused about is the printing method. I’m just about to have a real small launch and I don’t do ANY designs. I’ve hired an artist to do my designs, but if I’m not mistaken he has to do them a certain way for it to be able to be printed. So my first question is, What exactly are the guidelines I need to give to my artist.

My second question is once I get the artwork, What are the steps I have to take with my printer? Do I have to buy the brand of shirts I want myself and tell them the colors to print the shirts on? And should I go with a local printer or have it done online?

Thanks Ray for the info,
Jenny K. The Up-and-Comer : )

Answer:

Hey, glad you like my brand. Here is my advice; it probably varies from printer to printer, but from the 3-4 printers I’ve worked with in the past, this is the method I’ve used that usually works.

First of all, it depends if you’re working in Photoshop (raster) or Illustrator (vector). Vector’s are scalable to any size, so in the case of vector images, all you really have to do is specify the color and the size of the print on the shirt. I’ve learned that it’s always a good idea to show a mock-up image of a t-shirt so that the printer has a pretty good idea of how large the print should be.

In the case that it’s a raster image (ie. done in Photoshop), you would need to have the file of at least the size of your print (ie. 16″ x 24″ or whatever) and have it at 300dpi. The dpi is very important because if you don’t have it at 300, it’ll most likely come out blurry. 300dpi is usually for print and 72dpi is usually for web, so if you receive a file at 72dpi, tell your artist that it’s wrong!

If you have an experienced artist, he or she should probably separate the colors for you, but if it’s not separated, your printer should be able to handle it. In terms of colors, the best way to get the most accurate colors is by using a pantone color book. A pantone color book is a special book that most, if not all printers use that have the same exact color swatches. That way, even if the design’s colors may look different from monitor to monitor, if you have it properly labelled with the pantone number, there should be no mess ups.

It also varies from printer to printer if you need to buy the blank shirts or not, but I personally like buying the shirts myself. That way, you can buy samples to see which blank is the best for your brand. Also, some printers tend to mark up the price of the blank to get a cut of profit off of that, so you should be careful about that.

Local versus outsourcing is always a debate as well. I currently work with a local printer and I love it, because I get to see samples and stuff in person, and it cuts out the shipping cost as well. However, I’m pretty fortunate that I have a great printer nearby, but there may not be good local printers in your area. In the case of that, outsourcing to well accredited places would be ideal.

Hope that helps, thanks for your questions.

Lowdtown Q&A: Plan of Action

Question:

So, i’ve got my first capsule-collection of tees made. 3graphics,3 styles. i did the photoshoot on Oahu (i love how it turned out) have two features on blogs, but i have yet to launch. here was my plan, in order:
nice hangtags, (my tees are retailing at $65)
biz cards
website – simple, clean with a link to an online store page like bigcartel or etsy
lookbook – might print these myself and do like 20 books for buyers/editors
(will also do a digital version to submit to blogs)
so, i live in Hawaii and was planning a trip to L.A. armed with my tees, lookbooks, a big smile and was going to try and make some appts. w/buyers for my ideal shops…..
good plan? bad plan? any suggestions?
could post a link to the blog postings so you get a feel if you want.
mahalos!

Answer:

Sounds like you’re off to a good start. However, I’d like to make a comment about your order of operations. You’re saying that you want nice hangtags and business cards before you have a website up and running? Sounds a little backwards to me. As I said in another post, your website is your most essential tool when you’re first starting off, so that should be a priority over all else.

Also, you said that your tees retail at $65. To me, that sounds pretty steep, but obviously I don’t know your market, and it sounds like you’re going for a higher-end t-shirt line. That’s all fair game, but be sure that your shirts are actually selling before you make any big moves. Two features on blogs are good, but you need a lot more buzz to be able to sell these in stores if they really are that good.

Going to LA sounds like a huge step if you’re really just going there on a whim. Try not to rush anything, you don’t have to be an overnight success. Though, if you really want to do that, find out which stores you’re planning on going to and definitely make appointments. Tell them before hand that you want to stop by and drop off a lookbook and show off your tees, because it’ll all be pointless if they’re not interested when you get to LA. Personally, I would wait longer, because a lookbook with only 3 designs doesn’t really sound all that impressive to me. Besides, it might not even be necessary to go see the store in person. I’ve sold to several stores in which I literally got the deal through email and shipped them my stuff. Take it at your own pace, and don’t rush things!

I hope that helps, good luck!

-Ray

You can email me at: ray@lowdtown.com if you have any more specific questions.

Lowdtown Q&A: Brand Consistency

Preface

I’ve been emailing with a guy who is interested in purchasing one of my t-shirt designs, and he asked me if I thought the design would be appropriate for his brand. Even though I like being paid, I honestly didn’t think that the design fit too well with his brand aesthetic, so I gave him some advice.

Question

Thanks Ray,

Dont worry I like the constructive critisism it keeps me on my toes and working hard…

I do like variety in my clothes.
when I decided on a look I took out all the shirts I had in my closet and drawers and asked myself what they had in common..
wierd colors and strong artistic feel with positive imagery was the main theme, breaking character occasionaly.
I like being able to go from a cartoonish tee to a full color image and going back and forth from day to day.
Although I know I need to keep my customers expecting a certain look Im still trying to learn how to tred that line.

I do know I want to stay away from monsters and gory stuff. Also want to stay away from high sexually charged images and obscene stuff. Other than that anything that has an artsy intelligent feel or in some way relates to my life in NYC Im open to. I dont know maybe Im being too broad what do u think?

I had 3 other tee shirt designs that I didnt feel confident puting on the site.. and right now Im shopping around for some and reworking other ideas of my own.
I want to have another 6 designs for sale before I really start promoting my stuff.

Im still leaning towards purchasing your design. Either way though even if I dont maybe we could work together on something else… do you do commissioned work as well?

again I want to thank you for all the feedback.

Answer:

I know exactly what you mean. You can either be safe by keeping your brand extremely consistent, or you can take a risk by trying to broaden the style of your designs. It’s best to have a combination of both, and try to use designs that are interesting and unique but still tie in with your brand.

I feel like you might have a little confusion with what you want exactly. Before you start pumping out more designs, I feel like you should be very certain what your brand represents. Try to come up with a mission statement, and determine what you want your brand to accomplish, and stick to that theme. For example, with my brand, I wanted to create an alternate world called Lowdtown, where all these characters co-exist, so even though I use a lot of shirts with pretty heavy branding, I try to stick to that theme. And even if all the shirts don’t necessarily have Lowdtown characters, I try to make it so the styles still work together harmoniously.

So you said, “Other than that anything that has an artsy intelligent feel or in some way relates to my life in NYC Im open to.” I feel like that may be a bit broad, because “artsy intelligent feel” is quite ambiguous and many designs can have an artsy intelligent feel. You should try to narrow the scope of your brand, so that it is more unique and appealing than the run of the mill artsy and intelligent brands.

Now look at the design that you’re interested in buying, does it fit your mission statement? If it does, then by all means, you’re welcome to buy it. If not, I would love to do some commission work for you, if you give me a clear idea of what you want.

Hope that helps,
Ray

If you have more specific questions shoot me an email at: ray@lowdtown.com.

Lowdtown Q&A: Considering Starting Over

Questions:

Hey Ray,

My name is ——– I was just on the Emptees forum and I am just dropping by.

As I posted earlier I am looking to ‘start over’ with my brand. The reason for this is I feel, and I know that it is not substantial enough as a brand. And it is not 100% how I want it.

I know exactly what I want, but when I started I figured I could get some stuff printed sell them and be able to expand through my profit. Well… it hasn’t been as easy as that. And finance is a big issue especially when you have high expectations.

I think I have done well so far. I have got some guys on TV wearing my stuff, and a few artists supporting the brand. A lot of people want to see more, but I haven’t got much to show which is hindering progression.

So my aim is to lay low for a while, save up some finance and invest it into my brand to turn it into what I really want. I am looking to get about £1500 to get me re started. I am not in a rush but at the same time I want to keep the customers that I acquired. And still keep the buzz about my brand going.

What do you think the best options would be in regards to this. Also I have some stock that I want to get rid of as it is obviously money tied up. How do you think I can get rid of this and make some money back to invest back into my brand?

Would be great to hear back from you

Answers:

Hey, thanks for the email.

Personally, when I look at your brand, I feel like you’re trying to find your niche and style. Your branding is not bad, it just needs some obvious diversification. Right now, you only have one design, your logo I’m assuming, and you’re printing it in different colorways. Your fans probably want you to print new designs.

You said that your brand is not 100% how you want it, and that you know exactly what you want. Well, that makes your job much easier if you already know what you need to do. First of all, I would write out a clear and concise list of what you want to do with your brand. For example, you can plan a launch of maybe 3 new t-shirt designs or something. After you make that list, you can do further planning by looking into what kind of money you would need to get them printed. By doing so, you would at least have a goal to look forward to. At that point you’ll realize that once you make however much money you can take the next step forward.

It seems like you already have a fanbase, considering you have people wearing your stuff on TV, so I’m not sure if you need to completely start over. One of the greatest misconceptions for me when I started Lowdtown was that I thought all my fans would transfer over from RAWR! Clothing. I had quite the following for RAWR! and I was disappointed when my sales and figures didn’t quite match up for Lowdtown. If you have a loyal following, you might want to reconsider. In my case, I knew I needed to turn a new leaf, because I simply did not like the direction I was going with RAWR! Even though it’s an uphill climb for Lowdtown, I’m still way more satisfied having this new brand. So you really have to weigh your pro’s and con’s.

As for getting rid of your current stock, I’ll give you a few pointers. The thing about starting new, and just trying to liquidate your current stock is that it cheapens your brand. You don’t want people thinking you’re in turmoil, and just doing this out of desperation. Perhaps you can add some excitement as people have said on the emptees forum, by offering people a free logo shirt when you buy one or two of the new shirts. That way, you can renew interest in your old t-shirts while making sales for your new shirts.

Luckily for me, when I was closing shop for RAWR! Clothing, it was Christmas season, so I was able to sell everything at a discount for the Christmas sale. It was pretty much the most sales I’ve ever made in a month, and I made enough money to pretty much fund the launch of Lowdtown.

In any case, you really need to get your brand on its own two feet again. So the best bet would be to start planning a new launch of shirts or whatever to keep people excited about your brand. You don’t have to rush anything. Try to see if you can make up some of the money off your current stock, and use it as fuel for maybe a winter season release.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

-Ray

If you have more specific questions shoot me an email at: ray@lowdtown.com.

Lowdtown Q&A: Beginner Tips for Starting a Clothing Company

Question:

Who is your t-shirt manufacturer? Do you make them in house or outsource them to get a tag and design printed on them? I don’t plan to make my own shirts. I would much rather buy a base t-shirt (a thicker, more quality t-shirt…and I want a variety of colors) from a t-shirt manufacturer and have them print my design on it. Do you buy your base t-shirts one place and have the design printed on them elsewhere…or what (and what companies) would you suggest?

Answer:

Ok, so a lot of these are pretty basic questions. Really, it doesn’t take a lot of research to find these answers, but I suppose I can help you out. For t-shirt manufacturers, there’s numerous companies that produce imprintables. I’d say that there’s very few indie t-shirt designers such as myself who produce their own t-shirts. It’s most cost efficient to print onto blank shirts. A few popular t-shirt brands are American Apparel, Tultex, Gildan, Anvil, Fruit of the Loom. To buy the shirt, you usually have to set up a wholesale account with the company to get the wholesale discount.

With my current printer, I buy the blank t-shirts, and give it to my printer for them to print on. This is most cost effective in my opinion because often times the printer can jack up the price of the blanks because it cuts out a middle man.

Question:

Do you have a designer and who would you suggest for getting your ideas on paper? I am not good at drawing, but I have them all in my head! Also, what form do t-shirt manufacturers take the design; does it have to be on a computer program or what?

Answer:

Obviously, a lot of companies work with designers. Luckily, I happen to be a designer, so I often design for my own clothing company. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t collaborate with other artists. It’s good to diversify your brands style to cater to other groups. If you’re not good at drawing, I would suggest you hire a designer and give the designer specific details of what you want the t-shirt design to look like. Just be prepared to pay a good amount of money for a professional design. If you want to be serious about your clothing brand, you have to have a good amount of starting capital.

Screenprinters usually require you to give them the design file as a hi-res raster file or as a vector format. So in other words, it’s a good idea to have a hi-res photoshop file or have the design as an illustrator file if you want the design to print well. If you end up using a file that isn’t prepared for t-shirt printing, it’ll end up looking like crap, and no one will want to buy it.

Question:

I have not owned one of your shirts, but I like the fit of brands like Famous, DC and Nixon t-shirts (so basically a thicker, standard fit t-shirt). So what is the t-shirt company that makes the thicker, more quality base t-shirt for printing (not Hanes or Gilden)? And secondly, what is the best way to get your design on a shirt…is silk screen printing the choice of the companies styles I like?

Answer:

Yea, I don’t think I can be that helpful with this question. The brands you mentioned use a thicker stock shirt than I do. I use shirts that have fashion fits, so they’re usually a bit thinner and slimmer. If you’re looking for a thicker shirt, I suggest you set up accounts with a few companies and get samples.

Screenprinting is definitely the way to go if you want to print on shirts. Of course, there’s many types of inks and processes to use. You can read more specific printing processes here: link

Question:

So RAWR Clothing is a LLC…do you suggest that for most small t-shirt businesses? Did you register your LLC, got your tax ID (is a sales and use permit needed too…I’m from Nebraska??), register your trademark, and then you made some shirts and began to advertise and sell them…or what order did you go in or would you suggest?

Answer:

I’m not really too savvy on all the legal business, so I recommend you talk to an accountant or search online. I needed a lot of help too when I first started off. This is a very essential part that you can’t cut corners on, so I recommend you do your research. Either way, since you’re selling something, regardless of if you’re a sole proprietor or LLC, you need to pay sales tax, so be sure you’re all set up before you start selling shirts.

Question:

I am kinda scared about doing this, but no risk no reward I guess…but a main factor is that this shirt may only sell to people from Nebraska…but hopefully my designs will be so cool they will sell other places. So you say eCommerce is the best bet…di you try going to a retail store you could imagine your shirts selling at…or do they not take cold approach t-shirts at most shops and retail stores? I thought maybe consignment shops too…I keep hearing marketing before I even register my biz is crucial…but I also want to protect myself…so any tips on marketing?

Answer:

If you’re scared about starting your clothing company, there’s no reason for you to rush things. If you end up hastily starting something as big as a clothing brand, you might end up faltering a lot on the way. That’s what I did with RAWR! Clothing, so I had to learn my lesson the hard way. So I would really do as much research as possible. If you don’t properly prepare, you might end up regretting it later.

I have my shirts in a few stores, but it really depends on your market too. If you’re going to approach a store just be sure that your brand’s image fits in well with the store. But starting off, I’d definitely recommend getting your store online.

I’ve written an article on marketing that might be able to help you out: link. Just try to create some buzz. Word of mouth is always the best kind of marketing.

-Ray

If you have more specific questions shoot me an email at: ray@lowdtown.com.

Lowdtown Q&A: Beginner Printing Advice

Question:

Ray,

Your Q&A section on the Lowdtown blog is very helpful — I created my logo and went to a local screen print shop in my town to run a sample on a t-shirt. The problem I came across was that my logo was too small and when printed on the t-shirt it was stretched. What ended up happening was my design was to small. I leave you with these questions; what design software do you use? what size do you create your image when designing your graphics on your computer? what printing method do you prefer? I’m adobe photoshop savvy but I heard of other methods of graphic design.

Thanks

Answer:

I use either photoshop or illustrator for mostly all my designs. If you want the nicest quality print, I’d recommend getting your logo in a vector format. That way, it could infinitely stretch without any loss of image quality.

When I’m designing t-shirt designs, I usually set up files that are 16×20″, which is usually pretty standard screen sizes. Also, if you’re using photoshop, be sure that your resolution is at 300dpi. You’ll lose a lot of quality if you’re using 72dpi, because 72dpi is exclusively for monitors and digital displays as opposed to print.

For printing methods, I prefer silkscreening, because that’s pretty much the most standard way of printing for t-shirts. It’s cost effective, and the quality is usually pretty good depending on your printer.

There’s obviously other programs your can use for designing, but photoshop and illustrator are probably the most universal.

-Ray

If you have more specific questions shoot me an email at: ray@lowdtown.com.

Lowdtown Q&A: Do I need a logo starting off?

Question:

do you need a logo for a clothing line to start off?

Answer:

In a word, I’d say yes. In terms of branding, a logo is maybe one of the most important symbols/tools/representations of your brand. But the thing is, you have to have a good logo that you feel actually represents your brand well. If you have a shitty logo, people will think you have a shitty brand, and you probably do, because you don’t care enough to have a good logo.

It is extremely difficult to leave a memorable impression on someone without a logo. It doesn’t have to be anything that blows every other logo out of the water. As long as it’s professional, creative, and memorable, you have yourself a good logo. Also, people say that simpler is better (read: nike, apple, etc.)

If you don’t have any design experience, I would recommend hiring a professional graphic designer to make you a logo. A logo is not a thing you can cheap out on. Much like a website, the logo is really important for making an impression on a person. Also, it’s really difficult to change your logo after people start recognizing your brand for it, so it’s a good idea to have a well-thought out logo right off the bat rather than rebranding over and over.

I’ve written a blog entry about coming up with a good logo, so I think it’ll be a useful read: http://blog.lowdtown.com/?p=52

Hope that helps!

-Ray

If you have more specific questions shoot me an email at: ray@lowdtown.com.