Thursday, January 14, 2010

Got the Hoodies & T-shirts printed

We decided to try a variety of printing suppliers when having the clothing printed to see which one offered the best quality, value for money etc. Barry tried Vistaprint; an online printing supplier (http://www.vistaprint.co.uk), and Michael tried two local suppliers in Greenwich; Arti Promotions (http://www.artipromotions.com/) and ABO Printing & Designs (http://abops.co.uk/). For all suppliers we sent/used a jpg version of our design. Our thoughts on each supplier are as follows:

Vistaprint
These were the cheapest of all the printers however, due to being based in the US probably took the longest to deliver. Their website allows you to design your own t-shirts either using your own images/test or template designs that you already have. They also provide customized printing onto other items e.g. mugs, pens etc which might be of use in the future. The quality of the t-shirts, as expected, is pretty poor (almost being transparent!) however the printing itself wasn't bad, though they still only use transfers.

Arti Promotions
Very professional service. The quality of their clothing was much better than the others and they use screen printing which means that image background can be transparent i.e. it is not just a square transfer ironed on to the clothing. The price was the highest of all suppliers (single t-shirt = £19, hoodie = £25) though it should be kept in mind that these were printed on black clothing (the others were printed on white), in 3 colours and on both sides of the clothing which bumps up the price. We will be using them again (definitely for the hoodies).

ABO Printing & Designs
Not the best! We requested that they print on 1 white and 1 black t-shirt. They just used an A4 transfer and were 3 days late. The black t-shirt design was slightly mangled, looked really bad and I refused to accept it. The white t-shirt front image was off centre and placed at an angle. The shop clerk had the nerve to say "If you wear it then you can't notice it as much". I accepted the white t-shirt (will do as bedtime clothing!) and cancelled the black t-shirt at a cost of £15.

Now we just have to wait to see if any of our very generous, highly fashionable family/friends want to buy one =) ...

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Accommodation & T-shirt Design. Check.

We have finally booked the accommodation! At least now we know we won't be sleeping under the stars. Was a bit more expensive than we had initially anticipated but we are very happy that it is all done now.

Also we have almost finalised the design of what we want printed on the t-shirts/hoodies(see below). We intend to wear these whilst doing the Coast to Coast to help promote awareness of 'the cause'.





Available in all reputable department stores :)