

Show HN: My weekend project, Startup Tees - zpj5005
http://zach-johnston.com/tees/

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seekely
Good looking shirts are all about good fit. None of your models have a shirt
remotely fitted for them. The pictures currently do a disservice for both the
shirt and the model!

Fun idea, though I am not convinced it will go far as a business/way to make
money. I have seen this a couple of times. Sites like
<http://www.startupschwag.com/> had to eventually give it up despite a good
initial publicity buzz and following.

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frankdenbow
Why did they shut down? I couldnt find this info on the site.

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rrival
roddy from StartupSchwag here. It was time for bigger and better things =)

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nickpinkston
I'd much prefer startup-culture Tees - instead of wearing logowearz - some
I've seen:

\- "Launch or STFU"

\- "Lean Startup, no Fat Pitches"

\- "Keep it lean, Founda"

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rrival
zach- I'll give you startuptees.com if you want it... drop me a line,

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tejaswiy
Sorry, but why would I wear a DropBox t-shirt? If I'm an employee there or
something, it might make sense. It also makes sense if you identify yourself
with a particular large company's ethos like Apple / Google, but I just can't
see myself wearing any of these ...

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zacharycohn
Why do people wear band t-shirts? This might not be your thing, but lots of
people will buy/wear shirts to promote or support an organization they like.

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tejaswiy
I don't agree a person wearing a Metallica t-shirt is actually promoting them.
It's more of a case of saying, "Hey world, I'm cool because I like
Metallica!". It's a case of showing off your interests to the world, not an
altruistic promotion of a particular interest.

"I'm cool because I use a relatively obscure software tool to backup my data"
- doesn't sound right.

EDIT1: Also I'd rather have startup quotes presented in an artsy way than just
logos like this - <http://startupquote.com/>

EDIT2: Other cool ideas instead: @adrianwaj and @bomatson

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marknutter
Or how about "I'm cool because I'm ahead of the curve when it comes to
technology", which, by the way, has become quite trendy lately if you haven't
noticed.

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peteforde
I love T-shirts. I don't love branded logo T-shirts, but many folks do. So
best of luck!

My advice is this: your product photography needs to improve by an order of
magnitude. I am trying to give good feedback, not make you feel bad... this is
key and your current photos will hurt your conversion rate.

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hkarthik
If only I could get a Dropbox shirt with my referral code URL printed on it.

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jmjerlecki
This is great and something Dropbox should do. This would make for great PR.
The QR code idea underneath my post would be great on the back. Just a huge QR
code.

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mw63214
after thinking about how to actually make the shirts, how much more per shirt
would it cost(considering each QR code would be unique)?

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zacharycohn
Is this a weekend project, or a larger project? It seems a bit bigger in scope
than something put together in a weekend.

Either way, awesome idea. Acting as a distribution/sales channel for startups
to spread their merch is a great idea. I can't imagine Dropbox wants to spend
a lot of time dealing with selling shirts - outsourcing that to you guys makes
a lot of sense.

Good luck!

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zpj5005
I built the site out this weekend. The past couple weeks we've been receiving
the shirts.

Appreciate the support :)

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marknutter
Why does every side project need to be done in a weekend?

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fourstar
It doesn't. My "side" project took years. I finally finished a couple weeks
ago, but since it was a "side" project, I was never too motivated to finish
it. My motivation was when I got extra time after graduating in May.
<http://www.hipsterorhomeless.com> is that project.

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citricsquid
Please get a domain and a product name, using a folder under your own personal
domain doesn't instil confidence.

(Also I love t-shirts, I have 75 in my cupboard and ~15 currently being
shipped to me, if you have good shirts I'll be purchasing lots :D)

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zpj5005
Appreciate the advice. We just moved to startuptees.com (thanks to Roddy)

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geoffw8
Does she come with the tee's?

(I can't be the only one thinking that!)

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wyclif
Please branch out into stickers! I just had a conversation with a founder
yesterday about where he gets all his startup stickers (by going to events, of
course). But not all of us can do that.

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bomatson
I second these comments, would be great for mobile games or entertainment
focused startups, where a lot of users are loyal fans and would wear the merch
around proudly

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dotBen
I'm not clear how this is better than a given startup using Printfection (or
similar company) to offer print-on-demand tshirts that are fulfilled and
shipped directly to the buyer. Looks like prices on Printfection would be same
or even slightly cheaper than this service.

It would seem that these guys have had to print up a ton of shirts, deal with
inventory, fulfillment, etc. There are companies that will do this for you the
same costs.

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adrianwaj
Allow people to print up their twitter profile - ideally verify they own the
account - Icon and name on front, stats on back!

Organic cotton for bonus points!

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sillycon
I think this is a neat idea. I'm looking forward to seeing more shirts on the
site. I can see why startups would gravitate to this. Why not have someone
else promoting you on their site and then having the shirts distributed to the
public? Small price for a lot of PR.

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alorres
Such a neat and simple site design and the shirts, oh god the shirts. I love
you man <3

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Tichy
Shouldn't the companies in question pay me for carrying around their
advertising?

I wouldn't mind wearing such an "ad shirt" for a company I also like, if I
could get it cheaper than a normal shirt of the same quality.

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dr_
If I were a startup, I'd probably just give away t-shirts for free, maybe just
charge a nominal shipping fee. the person who is wearing it is advertising for
you after all.

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jmjerlecki
Most startups don't have money to shell out free t-shirts. I would gladly pay
for a t-shirt to help out a start up though (similar to what bands do).

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lemonad
Looks great! Would it be possible to provide overseas shipping for a fee in
the future?

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TheHegemon
Pretty sure you're not supposed to use the reddit logo without permission of
the reddit team.

I think this could cause a lot of legal problems, especially if you're not
asking for permission.

Otherwise looks good.

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citricsquid
They're official reddit t-shirts from the reddit store, I assume the startup
has been given them by reddit

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TheHegemon
Then completely dismiss what I said if so.

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desaiguddu
No shipping for India :(

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eknuth
Nice! Are you using spreadshirts to print?

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keke_ta
cool! love it!

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ddemchuk
How do we submit our own startups?

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hforew
send email to Henry at hforew@gmail.com

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johnx123-up
Please have a contact form in site, that will help non-HN users too

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renraw
This is sick!

