** This thread discusses the content article: New Swag **

Must have the hoodie. BTW, has anyone actually every ordered anything from CafePress? What's the quality of their stuff look like?

Their quality is okay... however I am looking at another source for apparel... apparently they are better in printing quality than Cafe Press.

I am going to update the front page article, but... for your amusement, take a look here.

While the page is very simple at the moment and integrated with the site (sort of) it is through a company called Printfection. As I stated, the quality is supposed to be much better than Cafe Press... However, I have a Sweat Shirt from Cafe Press that has held up okay. But, that was purchased a number of years ago.

That all being said... each has selections that the other does not. I am going to keep both operational and let you decide.

New T-Shirt:



I have added this one and the Traditional graphix for purchase. Take a look at the Apparel page for selections.

The really cool part about this page is that I can add any picture to the Que to create new T-Shirt (and mugs, mousepads, etc) at any point. Printfection is certainly a much nicer and user friendly company to be able to do such things... not the case with Cafe Press. Ahh well.

Also, I ordered a shirt from Printfection... a $2 shirt that is a promo thing. I will report on the quality when it comes in.

The quality was okay. Cirion was given the polo to wear to work, and hes kinda hard on clothes, so he only wore it a bit. That and it was on white which stains easily around here.

(any chance of Dark polos meph?)

I NEED THAT SHIRT!!!!!!1

Also on the subject of getting stuff made. Edmund works at Silkworm, a local printing and embroidery place. I'm really wanting a LoHM baseball cap like the Mirkwood one I gave to Shatty. Since it would probably be cheaper in the long run to place a bulk order, would anyone want in on this?

I would suggest we run all of our stuff through work, but then someone has to keep all the stock on hand; that would be a hassle. However, if the artwork is done we can use it to save on art charges and do orders of a dozen shirts or more. We could probably do smaller orders after initial setup, but the first on would need to be at least 12.
We can do darn near anything, though.

That's what I kinda figured. What sort of files would you need for artwork. Between Meph and I, we could get you the stuff you needed so that all you guys would have to do is print/embroider the stuff (I have a background in graphic design for print).

As per stock on hand... considering the amount of previous orders on anything, print on demand would be way to go for now. However, that all being stated, if there is something we want as a group and can get our acts together to order anything, I would be down with that.

All the images I have are in Photoshop or Illustrator format - thus can be changed to any other format at at least 200 dpi for the greatest image clarity.

Also, I got back a test shirt from printfection. While it certainly is NOT screen printed, it is of reasonable quality and of the same quality as Cafe Press. Thus, I expect the image should hold up pretty well. As per dark colors, I have not tested that as of yet.

Honestly, the one thing that would be really, really cool that Silkworm could do is create Manticore embroidered patches to go on uniforms, as it would be more better to use those than all the time spent on making one yourself. While certainly we can continue making our own, how many would prefer it? (looks around, no hands in air... mine resting comfortably in my lap.) So, yeah...

What would the cost run be on something like that?

Honestly, if it's more than $10 a 'core, then I would prefer to make them myself. What do we do when petitioners are promoted and no longer petitioners? Do we make them pay for their own or does the sponsor buy it for them?

And since NO ONE seemed to realize I had asked a specific question, I'll ask it again. Does anyone else want a blue baseball hat with the 'core on it?

Answer: Hat: I'm down for one. (Yes, I want one)

Answer: Stitched Manticore - $10 ... would be a good price range. As to who purchases it. Well, my initial reaction would be that if we could figure out how to get the House to make a bit of money then it would be the House that would pay for them. How 'bout that?

Itch and I have been throwing ideas around, but nothing really all that big right now. I'll let him talk to everyone about what he comes up with.

As for hat, I'll just start a new thread, that way, we can keep track of that in a centralized location.

I'll check on our file format requirements at work. We should be able to use jpgs, but I can't say for certain.

As for the 'core patches, those would probably have to be run as chenille or tackle twill, neither of which comes cheap. It's a great idea, but I'm worried about cost. I can look into it after we get the caps done (see the caps thread) and get some solid price ideas. What are we looking at as an upper limit?

As an aside, we should probably keep technical discussions in this thread and use the other ones for quantity shoutouts. To that end, I'm going to repeat some of the stuff from the cap thread and hope it gets answered here rather than there. More to follow tomorrow...

As far as the Art goes, I generated them using Adobe Illustrator (Vector Format) so, the art department should not have much heart burn as most of the work is pretty much done for them. So, when we are ready to fire on this I will email the files (instead of using the images found here on the site).

As far as price.... probably $10 - $15 would keep people interested. Going beyond that may keep interest down.

Is it possible to provide our own fabric? Buying the twill would be cheaper thru JoAnns (with coupons) or online.