April 17, 2005

t-shirts are go!

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The T-shirt site is up and live.

URL: http://www.indigotshirts.com/gapingvoid

The shirts won't be ready to ship until May 3rd, so the site's just in pre-order mode. But we should have photographs of the shirts by the end of the week.

The long delay is due to the gapingvoid collar labels, which take forever to order. But I wanted them in the equation, as opposed to the usual Fruit of the Loom/Hanes ones etc.

Secondly, my other projects got insanely busy in the last few weeks.

Just a lot of little things just kept adding up. Sorry about that.

One more time, here are the basics:

1. The shirts will be limited edition of 4 designs, 200 of each. I won't reprint a design once it's sold out. Once they're gone, they're gone. Nor will I be printing any new designs till one of the existing ones is sold out. So there will never be more than 4 designs i.e. never more than 800 shirts available at any one time.

2. There will be a subscription service. People who want to collect all the designs can sign up for it, and each time a new design is issued, we'll send it to you. The price will automatically be deducted from your credit card as the new designs become available, and you can cancel at any time. This service is limited to 100 subscribers, first come, first serve.

All this is explained on the website, of course.

Again, sorry for any delays, but it's been a really busy time for me.

Hope you like. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

Posted by hugh macleod at April 17, 2005 9:27 PM | TrackBack
Comments

You've probably thought of this already, and it's pretty obvious anyway, but...

The thing you need on your t-shirt site is pictures of you and Thomas wearing Hughcard shirts under English Cut jackets.

In very cool locations, possibly surrounded by beautiful women similarly attired (I leave the question of how similarly as an exercise for the reader; this is, after all, commerce).

Posted by: frosty at April 18, 2005 2:32 AM

Too impatient to wait until tomorrow.

Nice comment on David on that other blog, btw.

Posted by: Jeremy Pepper at April 18, 2005 8:11 AM

I'm pretty sure I ordered 1 x Large "The market for something to believe in is infinite". You could do with a number on the site showing how many of each are in stock, but I suppose that's not how it works. Good luck! :)

Posted by: Thom Lawrence at April 18, 2005 11:16 AM

Thanks for making David's birthday present a no-brainer for the first time in a long time!

Posted by: Sue Parmet at April 18, 2005 12:19 PM

Bought mine! I'll proudly wear my '"I can't take this shit anymore!" he said, mistakenly' T-shirt to the office everyday. Until I get fired.

Posted by: Jeremy Hartley at April 18, 2005 12:52 PM

Thom,

Stock level indicator will be on the site later today.

Posted by: Indigo at April 18, 2005 12:56 PM

Whoops - just subscribed, but it didn't ask me for my size. I kept expecting it too, but it didn't.

I know Hugh is clever, but does how does he know if I'm a lardy or not?

Posted by: Mark at April 18, 2005 1:15 PM

Mark,

You needed to select size before clicking 'add to cart'. Don't worry though, we'll be in touch to find out what size you wanted if you forgot to do that.

We will change the system so it forces you to enter your size.

Thanks for the feedback.

Posted by: Indigo at April 18, 2005 2:29 PM

yeay! so pleased. and such cheap shipping within the uk...well done hugh for setting this up.

Posted by: ardief at April 18, 2005 3:06 PM

$37.50 plus shipping for a t-shirt?? Whoa. Too steep for my blood.

Posted by: barbara at April 18, 2005 3:52 PM

If I sign up for the subscription service does that get me the ones already released, or do I need to order those separately? Cool stuff.

Posted by: Greg at April 18, 2005 6:08 PM

i realize you're trying to increase the value of these t-shirts; but $37.50 is quite ridiculous in my opinion. thats a price i'd expect for a sweatshirt bearing a cartoon, not a lowly tee. and yes, you said yourself you're all about money now-but that doesn't mean you have to sell your soul. i'm disappointed hugh :(

Posted by: sloan yadley at April 18, 2005 7:08 PM

Well, I'm not really "disappointed" by the price... I was kind of expecting it to be on the high side. But I definitely won't be buying a shirt soon either. I would have enjoyed having one of the first run shirts as a little piece of history, but I guess you could say the same thing about a Scots castle, civil war battlefield or the original manuscript of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, too.

Just for the record, I'd probably have been a lot more likely to pick up a $20 cafe press shirt... But I'm a cheap bastard and everyone already knows it. I love you Hugh, but not enough to spend that kind of moolah. You can check that by my ex-girlfriends, if you care to. heh.

I *will* be really interested to see how you do with them though. I'm *not at all* convinced that the craftsmanship or the limited run of the shirt really justifies the price -- I mean, it's still a clever tee shirt, not art. On the other hand, I think that the scarcity *might* drive sales as you hope, at least short term.

You should *totally* post a little inventory ticker on the site to throw the fear into people that if they don't enter their credit card fast enough they'll be SOL.

Good Luck!

Posted by: john t unger at April 18, 2005 7:44 PM

Same here. $25 is one thing, 20 Pounds (for a white tee) is different. But maybe it's just the exchange rate. Isn't everything way more expensive in the UK?

Anyway, too much for me...

Posted by: Ulrich Hobelmann at April 18, 2005 9:01 PM

I have to agree with other comments about the price. I don't care if it's goldspun, it's a T-SHIRT. Which is something I'll wear to a baseball game, not the governor's ball. Too much moola for what it is.

I would be more apt to purchase a $20.00 tee from cafe press also.

Posted by: stacey at April 18, 2005 10:33 PM

Just to clarify:

I don't think $1000 is at all unreasonable for one of the business card originals. My objection isn't so much about the amount of money as it is what I would get for the cash...

I'd probably be more into it if I cared more about impressing people. And if I thought that other bloggers who would be impressed ever even really leave the house much and might actually see me in a spiffy hugh shirt. Heh. I could post a photo of me wearing on my blog I guess.

'cause when it all comes down to it, the other day I got a bunch of cool comments from people I admire and read. Then I realized that it was freakin' Friday Night. I was reading comments, people were writing them, and none of us were out being social in the "real" world. What do we need tee shirts for... are you even wearing any clothes right now?

Posted by: john t unger at April 18, 2005 11:18 PM

As I've said before, I'd love a mug or mousepad or something from cafepress. No way could I justify paying that for a t-shirt.

Posted by: Dawn at April 19, 2005 3:15 AM

Gotta agree on the price. Way too expensive for a t-shirt. Even halved, it's pricey.

Shame. :) Nice shirts. I am confident they will sell out, and I hope their happy owners enjoy them!

Good luck.

Posted by: Perilous at April 19, 2005 5:24 AM

Yeah, I see what you mean.

European Prices + Weak Dollar = Bad Combo.

C'est le guerre.

Posted by: hugh macleod at April 19, 2005 5:53 AM

The "size" chooser has been put in. S, M, L, XL, XXL etc.

Posted by: hugh macleod at April 19, 2005 6:57 AM

"Gapingvoid is the erudite blog of US cartoonist Hugh MacLeod." On http://www.indigoclothing.com/ main page. UK, no?

Posted by: pieman at April 19, 2005 8:17 AM

I live in the UK, but am a US citizen. Long story.

Posted by: hugh macleod at April 19, 2005 9:25 AM

PS: If you sign up to the subscription, you get all designs available at the current time. Right now that means 4 shirts. It may be less than that in future, but it will never be more than that.

Posted by: hugh macleod at April 19, 2005 9:29 AM

To all those complaining about the price: Hey, you're not buying a t-shirt, you are buying art (or you're buying an idea). That always has been a bit more expensive.

Posted by: Markus Pirchner at April 19, 2005 11:37 AM

Oh well, guess it makes up for us in the UK who have to put up with US companies not exactly working to the same exchange rates as everyone else. My boss likes to moan about US companies who, rather than using the exchange rate to work out what the £ price is, seem to just replace the $ with a £ instead. Thus a $200 product somehow becomes £200, instead of about £110 as the exchange rate wokrs out.

£20 for a limited edition t-shirt, not bad as far as I'm concerned. Can easily pay £16 for normal ones in the shops.

Posted by: Adrian Lee at April 19, 2005 2:01 PM

What I want to know is whether they are 'boy cut' or 'girl cut'? I like to show off my girly figure.

(btw...try being in Canada...that's $50 for a t-shirt plus more when you account for shipping... it's high, but definite conversation pieces.)

Posted by: tara e. hunt at April 19, 2005 4:38 PM

Designer T-shirts in New Zealand tend to cost around NZ$50-60 -- at the current exchange rate, that's about US$36-43. So this price sounds consistent with that.

Of course, this is AFTER the shop has paid shipping from wherever the shirts came from...:)

Posted by: Phillip Pearson at April 19, 2005 10:39 PM

made my fucking day

bought 3 of my favorite for me and some friends

Posted by: aaron wall at April 20, 2005 5:21 AM

yeah, small offer, people buy things not because they need them but because it makes them cool... apparently it works
advertising only works because humans are animals, basic instinct

Posted by: Sarah at April 23, 2005 12:50 AM

Dear Sirs,

We are the leading advertising company in Ukraine and due to the vast expand we are 
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SHARTE M LTD
Krasnova str. 17, # 199
03145 Kiev
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t./f. +380 44 5011487
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mailto:zhoga@sharte.com.ua
www.sharte.com.ua

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Posted by: Alexander Zhoga at April 29, 2005 11:10 AM