Projects Do you fellas like art on the front or back of a t-shirt?

large on back. small on the front ....

 

What @porkshop said. Although in some cases it’s buyer preference.

 

X3 ^^^^

 

Hello,

This is the best shirt from your design and print catalog. It is sold out if we wanted to have another one or two. The quality is outstanding. The artwork is immaculate and the small in script in front tells what is coming. The art on the back is professional quality and intriguing to those that have seen it, when I wear it weekly.

Jnaki
As posted earlier:

"Also, I purchased the XL Cutaway Shirt and have worn it almost weekly. But, just the other day, my wife, who is a specific critic of clothes we both wear these days, mentioned with a smile... "That Jalopy T-shirt is a great looking shirt. It is one of my favorite ones. " So, with a comment like that one, I wanted to purchase a couple more of the XL size ones. But, they, too are sold out."

If the popular t-shirts sell out fast, wouldn't it be better to reprint up another batch of those sold out shirts? Then this time if the sell out again, you figured out the great salesmanship technique. If not, then donate them to one of the many car shows and breakfast runs in the area.

Small logo on left chest... large artwork on the middle of the back...
Black or darkest grey like the Cutaway Shirt color. They look the best in all applications.

 

Large back, small front for me as well.

 

This ^^^^

 

I like them on the front so if someone comments on it you can look down and see what shirt you are wearing.

 

Ganahl told me, us Californians like it printed on the back, you Oregonians like the printing on the front, so it will be visible through your gapped open jacket !

 

Back in the fifties, 99% of t-shirts were blank and lots of them were white! Now back to regular programming.

 

Please consider pockets ....

 

Finally, the controversial topic, that I can honestly comment on, because I have a ton of experience in this area.

A bit of qualifying history first.
I did the annual T-Shirt designs, for the annual E.A.A. gathering at Oshkosh Wisconsin, out on Lake Winnebago at the seaplane base, for 26 years.





I sold thousands of shirts during that time.
Trust me on this, aircraft enthusiast's are just as passionate about their planes as the Hot Rod crowd is about their cars, and the same goes for the element of how T-shirts are done.

I can totally relate to @Ryan and his problem of trying to make every body happy, its almost an impossible thing to accomplish.

Since it was my money going into the annual shirt design and since I was the artist, and the vendor, I had total control over the finished product.

I always stuck with the highest quality, 100% cotton preshrunk white shirts, and I spared no expense on the printing of the shirts as well. For 26 years, I never changed my price from $15.00 each for the shirts.

Every year, there were complaints about the white shirt, customers would whine that the shirts get dirty quickly, my standard reply was, be sure to turn them inside out when you wash them, the shirt will last longer, and I would remind them, that colored shirts automatically raise the price of the shirt, because they cost more for me, as a vendor to buy.

Since I was the only T-Shirt for sale at the annual Oshkosh Sea plane base gathering, I never had to worry about sales, and I had many repeat customers, year after year.

When I first started out doing the shirts, I would print different art on the front and back, and for a couple of seasons, I sold them for $15.00, but I could not do that and still make a profit, so I opted to just do the fronts, with big art as you see in the picture posted.

In the second picture, you see two of my designs on a light brown shirt, but the design is printed in just black ink, so that element, of just one color of ink, offset the extra cost of the colored shirt, the price was still at $15.00.

It was important to me, to keep the price at an affordable $15.00.

Yearly, I would get the same questions,

1. Why no pockets, I need a pocket.
Answer, they cost more, and I wont raise my price to the customer.

2. Why always on white ?
Answer, because colored shirts cost more to buy, and I wont raise my price to the customer.

3. Why did you stop doing double sided shirts?
Answer, They cost more to print that way, and I wont raise my price to the customer.

4. Will you ever print your art on a black shirt?
Answer, as you can see in the first picture, one year I did print the annual shirt on a black shirt, and my regular customers complained that black was just too hot to wear, in the humid high heat, during the fly-in at Oshkosh, which is a summer event. The shirt sold well, but I never did another design on black shirts.

5. Why is the artwork always on the front ?
Answer, because I am from the P.N.W. and most of the time where I am from, people wear a jacket with the front unzipped, that way you can see the design, if the shirt is just printed on the back, you can't see it.

6. Why don't you print the annual design with a small design on the left front, and the same design or something similar on the back?
Answer, as the artist, I prefer to not have a ton of wasted space on the front of the shirt, and as to printing the back with a larger design, it drives the cost up and I will not raise my price to the customer.

Etc, etc, etc,

I totally get the distinction between the East Coast customer and the West Coast customer, and all of the customers Nation wide.

As an artist and as a vendor, you do the best you can, while keeping the quality high on the product, and watching the cost's of production and shipping.

I was very fortunate that I never had to sweat the mortgage payment, depending solely on the sales of my artwork and T-Shirt sales, I had a good paying Union day job, so in that realm, I was my own subsidy.
It was important to me to keep the quality high as to the artwork, and to keep the price consistent from year to year, for that annual gathering, and to keep the customers coming back year to year, to buy the annual dated T-Shirt.

26 years was a great long run.
Been there, did that, got the shirts to prove it.

There are no right or wrong answers to the question that @Ryan has asked of all of us here on the H.A.M.B.

Prices have risen sharply over the years, and its not as cheap as it was, say 15 to 20 years ago, everything has gone up, cost of the blank item, printing, or embroidery, packaging and shipping, all of the facets of producing high quality merchandise, has inherent cost's that really make it hard to please the deserving, loyal customer & public.

For me, I prefer the design / artwork to be on the front, as large as possible, and I never bitch or complain if the final product is on a white or black shirt.

If I like the design and the quality of the garment, then I will pay the price.
Everybody else's results may vary !
IMHO !
Thanks from Dennis.
Let the flaming begin !

 

I'm with porkchop, LG on back, small on front.
Bot NOT black! (Sorry moriarty)
I'm not a fan especially when it's 100 degrees!

 

Man- those red shirts with "Jalopy Journal" on the back in the HOP UP font you had were awesome. I need some new ones.

 

I'm in the art on the front club, and, while you didn't ask I'm a fan of medium to dark colors (green, grey, dark blue).

 

If I like the artwork it doesn't matter, I'll buy it regardless.

 

Even though you didn't ask, I am also in the black shirt camp with small art on front and larger on back. However, if I were to pick only one side for artwork, it would likely be front.

 

Used to be, J.C.Penny T-shirts were good quality & lasted - a long time... Don't know who actually made them, nor where to find the old quality anymore. But they were my favorite for self-applied iron-on's, & usually white, too. With or w/o a design, actually preferred white. A-boner is correct, same thing for most of the 60's n 70's too. Other than Roth-type shirts, or speedshop/business advertising versions.
As for the front vs back, I prefer the front, only due to wearing flannel shirts/jackets for ~8 mo out of the year, & also are rather hot from a car seat w/emblems on back. & when you're in the car, no-one can see the back design. Difference is in the weather the wearer uses it in.
I'll buy either way, if I like the shirt. Brian Kolhmann has it figured out - same theme & slightly different related art on front -&- back. .
Pockets on T-shirts suck, as they hold nothing worth putting in there. & I like black T-shirts, wear them in Minn hot/humid summers, just don't like it when they fade out - color gets real strange.
Marcus...

 

My personal preference is on the front .
You don’t need an extra decal that way,,,,,,if you don’t have any pockets.
The small artwork on front really only looks right if it has pocket to match .

And,,,,,,I’m okay with most colors,,,,but the black usually works best,,,to guard against stains .
Lighter colors look good,,,,,,but they stain in the neck and sleeve area easily .
My greasy hands and dirty environment eventually rub off on my clothes .

And my Red neck always ruins the collar,,,,I’m just a renegade I guess,,,,lol .

Tommy

 

I'm with @porkshop on this one!

 

Put me as Large on the back and Small on the front... of a White pocket-tee.
But the main reason that the artwork should be on the back, is that my face won't ruin the artwork, like it would if it was on the front!

 

Amazing how passionate some of us are about our t-shirts.

 

I was a shirt printer/artist years ago. Pretty much gave it up because of cut-throat pricing by competitors. Work my ass off and go broke at the same time.
Most of my clients were circle track racers. They liked big art on the front. That way, when they worked on the car, if the shirt got some stain or something in the middle of the design, it was virtually hidden.
Personally, I like big art on the front for my "workin' shirts" and big art on the back, small left chest for my "Sunday Go To Meetin" shirts.
Once they get a stain or something, they become workin' shirts.