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if you were buying from me, what would you prefer?

727 Views 14 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  lupineperriwinkle
hi, I am starting an advocacy clothing business and have been researching clothing. I am not going to be able to afford a huge initial inventory and just wanted to get some feedback. From what I have seen of the advocacy clothes around, a lot of them don't offer a huge range of styles and most of them have simple styles. I was thinking that there is a need for some more stylie clothes for moms and regular stuff for babes and kids.
I am going to use sweatshop-free stuff for sure. What I am wondering is, would you rather have an organic t, a stlyie t, or what? Would you want to wear your advocacy on a nice shirt or would you prefer a regular t?
Also, from what I saw of the prices, I may have to charge close to 30$ for a long-sleeve advocacy shirt. Would you pay that for a nice sweatshop-free shirt advertising breastfeeding, cloth diapering, home-birth, etc?
Thanks for your input.
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i would prefer something styled over something like a plain tee. i love the cream and brown version this http://www.americanapparelstore.com/4377.html , and i love all of these (except the pink colors) http://www.americanapparelstore.com/m304.html. i like my advocacy to be funky and slick. same for my dd.
hope that helps a little.

oh, and i would totally pay that much.
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you know what i'd really like? i can't wear those tiny fitted t's. I'm not a skinny woman and i am rather big chested and i love to wear vneck tshirts. They're just more flattering on me. So i'd love a vneck style advocacy shirt for me.

for the kids, i like the shorts rompers better then plain t's and i really like tank rompers since we're in arizona and its hot.
Quote:

Originally Posted by *Erin*
i would prefer something styled over something like a plain tee. i love the cream and brown version this http://www.americanapparelstore.com/4377.html , and i love all of these (except the pink colors) http://www.americanapparelstore.com/m304.html. i like my advocacy to be funky and slick. same for my dd.
hope that helps a little.

oh, and i would totally pay that much.

I agree!

I would like to see cloth diapered in a simple big font on a organic tshirt for ds. (NO ONESIES) I hate it when the tshirt has too much writing and you need to sit and read the darn thing.
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I'd like something other than white. I'd like v-neck. It would be really cool to get an actually nursing shirt with an advocacy logo on it.
Wow, thanks for responding. I have been thinking simmilar stuff. I wish there were actual nursing shirts with advocacy, just haven't actually found a sourse for wholesale nursing wear. Will keep looking though.
I understand the thing about not being able to read what a little shirt says and will definitely keep that in mind for the little shirts.
I am going to be using the american apparel line for sure and will probably expand choices as I grow. (hopefully I will be growing!)
I was actually thinking that what I may have to do is this: Give people unlimited color and style options, order what they are looking for( americanapparel ships same day if ordered before 3 california time), print it and then send it. This would make a bit of time between ordering and receiving but would be like ordering a custom dipe, you get exactly what you want.
The only problem with this is that I wouldn't be getting to buy the shirts at wholesale but my husband says that in the beginning it is more about figuring out what people want then making money. Once I see what sells well, then I can start ordering in larger quantities. I guess there are actually several down-sides to this such as being stressed to print and what if I am out-of-town, etc. I guess it all depends on how much $ I can gather for start-up.
So, what do you think about a 7(ish) day lag-time on orders? Maybe even more because of shipping.
I will figure it out with your help, just trying to look at all options.
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How about a nursing shirt that says "Don't you dare ask me to go sit in the bathroom" emblazoned just above the breast area under the neck line?

Ok, I'm sitting hear drikin a royal cosmo
...It's been a rough weekend!
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i used to do the same exact thing you are describing, and american apparel will still sell to you in small quantities, they just have price breaks.. one tee will cost like 5 as opposed to 2-3.
i ended up closing up shop cause it seemed more people came to look and say, "oh isn't that cute?" and then not buy, LOL! btw, i offered a complete 2 wk turnaround.
I don't know but I would order a few of the American Apperal adult shirts before settling on them, I have heard that they fall apart rather easily. (not the childrens shirts though) I think they have nice looking stuff but just that the adult shirts are cruddy.
I would love to hear more about the quality of the adults shirts if anyone has experience.

I'd also like to hear more from marisa about her experience. In some ways I just want a great fun hobby that supports what I believe in and I would like to earn a little money too.

I also thought of buying some different shirts and making them with certain slogans and just posting only what I have. I have seen that with diaper stores where they just have a huge page with a bunch of pictures of what is there. Those stores usually frustrate me somewhat though because I like to know that I can just say, I need a small in this color and this material and not have to always check back.
We'll see how it all goes. I appreciate all the feedback greatly!
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Quote:
I was actually thinking that what I may have to do is this: Give people unlimited color and style options, order what they are looking for( americanapparel ships same day if ordered before 3 california time), print it and then send it. This would make a bit of time between ordering and receiving but would be like ordering a custom dipe, you get exactly what you want.
I like this idea A LOT! I prefer to wear long-sleeved shirts and it is *so difficult* to find cute advocacy shirts that aren't tiny tees. I would definately consider the $30 price tag, as long as the designs were aesthetically pleasing.

I have had an American Apparel raglan sleeved classic girl tee---it came to me used, but was in very good condition and not faded at all. I kept it for 4 or 5 washes, until I just couldn't stand how tight the medium was on me (and I'm pretty petite! About 120 lbs). I did think that their fabric was a bit thinner than most shirts, and a recent trip to one of their stores while in Montreal confirmed that. However, IME their stuff holds up well. And, let me tell you, their baby stuff is WAY cuter IRL! If hadn't spent my 'trip allowance' (lol) at the Bummis store, I would have come home with a suitcase full of their colorful baby raglans
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Hi, me again!
As far as the shirt quality, I have found that it varies greatly. They are a great company and I wish I could only have stellar reviews for their products, but I can't. All my tees that I wear from them have either ripped in the armpits or the collar. My son was pulling my shirt out to look at my "nurnies" (LOL) and the collar ripped right off. The serging and hem have also come loose on my baby rib shirt. The baby shirts however, I have never have any problems with their quality. And the organic baby shirts are great, IMO.
Now about the business side, in my experience, printing to order didn't work well. It sounded nice in theory, but running the heater, setting up a screen, etc etc just for one measly shirt did get old. I did it to avoid the expense of overhead, and you can never predict what people are going to want. I originally intended to sell cuter tees and more fitted styles than the unisex style. But nobody ever ordered those!! I sold mainly 1X-2X. I opened my store before the influx of advocacy shirts on the market. But now, so many people offer them. Now this is just my experience. Maybe others are seeing huge profits from advocacy sales. I made most of my money wholesaling them to other WAHMs, I'm guessing people would rather purchase from where they are already buying their diapers.
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I think I am getting closer to figuring this all out. I did become a wholesaler for some nursing shirts over the weekend and am going to pick like two styles from them to focus on. I am also looking at dharmatrading.com for rompers and such. Then I found a place that wholesales americanapparel kids ts for a price way less than I could get with the amount I can afford to buy direct from them at wholesale. So that will lower the cost significantly.
I have way too many ideas for the slogans and am going to try to focus on the better ones. My mind works in slogans so I am constantly getting new ones.
I will look into wholesaling to diaper shops as well.
I have seen some great advocacy stores lately and Ihope they are doing well.
Also, I live in Taos, NM. We have the famous birth center and tons of breastfeeding, cloth diapering, co-sleeping mamas here.
Thanks for the info regarding your business marisa. I guess it would be a huge pain to pull out all the suppies every time an order was made. That is certainly not the way I am going to do it.
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I went to a conference for embroidery and got a huge sampler pack of shirts and hats. One company line I liked was Bella. They are "modern" styles but do run small. Very soft! Look for NES clothing on the net and see if they are having a show in the area. They are kind of an umbrella for some of the companies mentioned above. I had a lady from NES who walked me to all of the vendors and pointed things out to look for. She knew I was *thinking* of staring an embroidery business and knew also that I wouldn't be ordering large quantities. You will be amazed at the mark-up on clothes though! e-mail me if you want more info.
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