Custom Merchandise
If you want custom shirts, stickers, mugs, or other items, you've come to the right place!
Many organizations like to have custom t-shirts or other items, both to unify the group and to advertise. [In business marketing, this is called branding.] Some groups make money from selling their merchandise. If you want to explore custom merchandise for your group, let me help you.
I can design art for your merchandise, or I can work with your existing logo. I can set up an online shop where people can buy items, or can choose their items for you to pay for. There are many ways to work this, and I know most of them. Below is a bit of a lesson on how custom merchandise works in the Internet age, or you can just contact me and I'll do the work for you.
Groups that can benefit from having custom merchandise include:
| Schools | Sports teams |
| Business associations | Clubs |
| Musicians, artists, craftspeople | Museums |
| Advocacy groups | Political campaigns |
A screenshot of my Steampunk Emporium shop at Printfection. Can you see the different products?
POD? Printfection? Zazzle?
You may not be familiar with the concept of Print on Demand, also known as POD. Print on Demand uses state of the art digital printing equipment to produce full color high quality images on a wide variety of products. The images are all handled digitally, so you don't have to understand printing concepts such as color separations, silk screening or registration.
For the small organization, one big advantage of POD is that each item is individually processed. There are no set-up charges, no minimum orders. Each order, whether for one polo shirt or 1,000 buttons, is processed the same way. You don't have to order more than you need, or keep anything in inventory.
I work primarily with two POD firms. Both have been in business since the POD concept began, produce high quality work, and have excellent shopkeeper and customer service..
Zazzle is known for its enormous variety of products. They print on over 40 styles of shirts alone, and have a huge selection of promotional materials, housewares, office products, and tech accessories. They sell primarily to individual consumers.
Printfection has a smaller choice of merchandise, but still have the products most groups want: shirts, coffee mugs, and top-quality totes. Their advantage is that they focus on organizations and businesses, and have more options for setting up a shop and making it fit your image.
I have worked with both Printfection and Zazzle for over 6 years. I can advise you on what products to choose, design your products and set up your shop. Get in touch with me so we can talk about your needs.
This is the Cartesian Bear shop at Zazzle. These designs for Pi Day are very popular.
Links to My Shops
If you want to look at some custom merchandise shops, here are links to three of my shops. I have also designed shops for:
- MIT Kodenkan (jujitsu club)
- Banbury Cross Morris Dance
- Knit Suite Mobile Apps for Knitters
Cartesian Bear at Printfection, for high quality shirts, tote bags and a few other items.
Cartesian Bear at Zazzle, for a wide variety of items, including paper products, iPhone and iPad cases, neckties, household items, and more shirts.
Cartesian Bear's Steampunk Emporium at Zazzle, for steampunk-inspired designs, including airships and zeppelin pirates.
I had lots of fun building these shops, and still have fun adding new designs. You can see some of my designs here. I'd love to help you design your shop.
Why Cartesian Bear?
In 2006 I had an idea for a shirt graphic for a friend. After I finished the image, I printed an iron-on transfer, and was very unhappy with the print quality. I still got lots of compliments for the design, soI looked at producing this and other graphics for sale. When I found out about online print on demand companies, Cartesian Bear began.
Cartesian Bear graphics are aimed at three overlapping markets:
- the gifted education community
- science fiction fans
- scientists, mathematicians, engineers and other geeky types
The name is derived from a running joke I had with an engineer friend: polar coordinates — polar bears; cartesian cordinates — cartesian bears?
