The relative ease of starting up a t-shirt label, in comparison with even just 5 short years ago, is creating a highly competitive and cut-throat fashion niche that many start-up companies will never crack. Hello Elbow examines the reasons behind the global inundation of t-shirt labels, the associated impacts on the industry, and most importantly what this means to you, the tee conniessuer.

Introduction

It’s pretty safe to say, tshirts are an enormous part of 21st centry culture. A quick search on Google for the keyword “t shirt” (and its variations) gleaned 262.1 million results. To put things into perspective, a search of “Britney”, arguably the world’s most talented* musician, yielded 133 million results. To some it may come as a surprise, but t-shirts are more popular than the most iconic musician of the modern era.
*”Talented” of course refers to Britney’s fine ability to bombard the tabloids week after week with outlandish exploits totally unrelated to a flailing career in commercial music
It makes sense that t-shirts are popular. They are everyone’s best friend. When you examine their popularity futher, the he humble t-shirt has a unique ability to become adaptable to every social situation and cultural icon.

How many t-shirts have you seen with Britney’s name plastered across them (whether it is in support, or defaming the “musician” is irrelevant). There’s thousands of Britney tees out there.

And how many songs has Britney dedicated to t-shirts. Zilch. Although I must admit, that first time I saw the Hit Me Baby One More Time film-clip at the ripe age of 16 plays a strong part in the person I have become today.

T-shirts are an evolving and integral part of our culture, perhaps more-so than any other pop-icon of the twentieth century. But why is this booming industry starting to bulge at it’s 100% ringspun cotton seams?

I Love Britney White T-Shirt
Price: $18.99

Community Based Tshirt Labels

Many t-shirt traditionalists and critics are beginning to resist one of the internet’s most imitated online business models. That is, the ingenious proposition referred to as community-based product design.
In essence, community based product design is defined as an array of user-generated designs which are voted on by a highly engaged community. Those designs which receive positive enforcement from the majority of the voting community are then manufactured and available for sale to all. Want to see it in action? Threadless.com sets the benchmark and his evolved to become one of the most innovative and highly regarded online businesses in the world of web 2.0.

The problem is, in the t-shirt world, the roaring success of Threadless.com has been the catalyst for many a copy-cat. Considering Threadless has 528 tshirts currently available for sale in its men range alone (not to mention all the limited edition releases, decommissioned designs, ladies wear, children’s clothes, and variations on the types of shirts), this company alone has had a huge impact on the tshirt industry itself. For those of you who need to see some real numbers before your exposed forearm is twisted (I assume if you’re reading this, you’re donning a tshirt right now), consider this:

• Threadless sold $16 million worth of tees in 2006,
• In a one day sale a little while back, Threadless sold 35,000 tees

So yes, Threadless is kind of a big deal. Herein the problem lies.

Youngsters see the likes of Threadless.com, and fresh out of school, and with a bit of web design knowledge up their short sleeves, decided that if Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart can do it, anyone can. So they set to work copying the Threadless business model. Some took the time to add their own little touches of flair…others were too lazy. Here’s just a few:
And look out world, suddenly there are not enough hangers to hang all this fresh new American Apparel* on.
*To accommodate the huge demand for quality blank garments ready for printing, American Apparel has established itself as the industry leader of 100% cotton sweatshop free blank tees.
Suddenly, a tshirt market that was predominantly promoted through retail outlets has been flooded by online alternatives that are even more attuned and appealing to their potential wearers.

Print on Demand Services
If you’ve done your research on the Y Gen, you’ll be hugely familiar with the increasing trend of personalization. Furthermore, gone are the days where things were built to last. Possessions are no longer long-term. They’re high-churn, upgradeable or disposable, and considered grossly uncool if they date more than 2 years. Unless of course, they’re vintage. But there’s a 20 year waiting period for that. Thank god for ebay.

Print on Demand services were conceived to support this very trend of personalization. The new generation has an intrinsic inkling to be different from everyone else. To stand out from the crowd.
Print on Demand, or POD, allows any little restless Joe to design their very own products in a timely and cost efficient manner. Want a new t-shirt to wear to an upcoming music festival? In luminescent pink, with fluro yellow text, proclaiming your love for Britney’s new hairstyle? Jump on to Cafepress or Spreadshirt and you’ll have the tee in your mailbox in a matter of days, probably for less than you could buy the materials from your local discount store.

POD has provided all and sundry with the ability to produce one-off or limited print run tshirts on peanuts. We’re talking no-frills peanuts too.

Some are even using POD services to start up their own tshirt labels, to test the waters without the need to invest any capital in the business. Can you believe that $0 will get you your very own online store, complete with inventory control, invoicing and fulfillment services and even friendly customer service agents to field queries and complaints?

Hell, back when I was a kid it took 10 year’s wages before you were even allowed to think about starting a business. Bloody kids these days have it so easy…

Curiousity killed that cat, but it shouldn’t hurt you. Try out Cafepress!

Design your own tshirts with Spreadshirt!

Of course, the result of “having it easy”, is an influx in the number of tees hitting mailboxes across the world.

So what does all this mean to you, the innocent tshirt wearing bystander?

Put simply. Choice. And that is never a bad thing.

Anyone who’s studied economics will understand the relationship between supply and demand. When supply increases, choice also follows a similar trend. Due to this saturation of the market, consumer demand for specific brands decreases (due to the massive range of choice), thus t-shirt labels must bring down prices to entice their customers to purchase their tees instead of their competitors’.

Furthemore, due to the progressions in tshirt manufacturing technology and while some labels clambered to get ahead of their competitors, a greater awareness and focus has been placed upon t-shirt quality. Sweatshop free, hand made, 100% ringspun cotton, pre-shrunk, organic, cholesterol and disease-free are all regular . Hang on…maybe a couple of those aspects are still up to the individual wearing them. We can’t rely on the humble tee to save our lives quite just yet!

What does all this mean for you?

This is good. Reeeeeeeeal good. In fact, it means that right now, yes NOW, is the optimal time to go and buy yourself a whole wardrobe of new t-shirts. There’s more choice than ever before, quality has reached a steady benchmark never experienced in previous eras, and prices are the fairest they will ever be due to the laws of economics. It’s obviously in your best interests to go and fill your wardrobes with brand-spankin new threads before the rest of the world cottons on!

Well that’s my excuse anyway.

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Every single month of the year (even the 13th month that most of you wouldn’t know about yet, Plombember, due to be released by the World Counsel at the close of 2009) we give away free tshirts.

But I hear you asking “Free for me? How can it be? The strings attached I do not see.”

And rightly so. But let me assure you, there are no strings attached!

We just like to give, it makes us feel good. Plus to be honest, we already have enough tees to clothe the Swedish Army (and those guys need to wear at least 3 tees each to ward off the cold). All you have to do is Subscribe to Hello Elbow, and provide your address details so that we know where to mail your prize when you win, and you’re automatically in the draw for every single month. For ever! Including Plombember 2024!

Curious to know what you could win? Have a peek what’s in this month’s Hello Elbow goodie bag now…..

Go on, rip open the bag and see what’s inside!

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Remo General Store remo.com.au

Sydney-born Remo General Store is a pioneer for the country’s modern t-shirt movement. Back when we were bopping along to MC Hammer, Remo was humbly hand-picking items one by one to adorn the store’s online shelves. It’s a refreshing to see a group with such genuine and wholesome values – over nearly 20 years of evolution the customer base has formed an online community of extremely loyal followers. Much of this has to do with the increasing array of intriguing household items on offer, only overshadowed by the catalogue of timeless tees, many conceived well before the fad-hungry masses clambered aboard the tee industry. Visit Remo once, and you’ll find yourself going back time and time again.

Full Bleed dobi.nu/fullbleed

Rob Dobi saw the artistic potential of silhouetting the human form long before iPods stole the show. For anyone who has tinkered in graphic design the simplicity of Rob’s artwork, which forms the basis of the online t-shirt label known as Full Bleed, is irritatingly effective. Through the use of thoughtful imagery, tactful placement and bold colouring, Rob manages to adds depth and dimension to an otherwise plain range of American Apparel t-shirts. Whether you’re keen to purchase a bold new tee to get your friends talking, or just want to admire some provocative modern art, the Full Bleed range will appease your visual senses.

Lost at E Minor lostateminor.com

Anyone who’s humored the thought of being the next lead guitarist for AC/DC, and then thrown it in the too hard basket after five minutes of fruitless strumming, will appreciate the irony of Lost At E Minor. E minor is the guitar world’s easy chord, though with many creative souls having an attention span shorter than a goldfish with Alzheimers, Lost At E Minor is aptly named to characterize the majority of its avid readers. The site is stacked daily with a huge range of articles covering the latest in independent fashion, art, music and other creative delights. Subscribe to the newsletter and your A.D.D. will be cured for life.

Stereo Panda stereopanda.com

Ok, who gave Hello Kitty one too many red cordials? Stereo Panda has the charm of Japanese manga mashed with hyperactive colour schemes and lightly sprinkled with a touch of consumer-branding mockery. This effervescent clothing label has a knack of adapting their own signature panda bear into stereotypical corporate-style logos, such as the badges of fast food takeaway joints, motor cars and sporting teams. 80’s fluoro rules supreme in the Stereo Panda range of mens and ladies tees, sweaters and accessories. Be sure to slap on your sunnies before visiting, this site is ultra-bright!

The Cool Hunter thecoolhunter.com

The Cool Hunter – one could mistake the name of this site for yet another two dollar blog clogging the web. However, the intention is not accidental. The Cool Hunter embraces all that is kitsch about our modern world, exploring the latest in every imaginable facet of progressive design. If you want the coolest of the cool when it comes to interior design, retail concepts, consumer trends, online innovation, art, clothing, attitudes and ideas, The Cool Hunter is leading the chase.

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