Free T-Shirts

The other day I was wearing a t-shirt with a company’s name on it. Normally I don’t like it when companies use my torso for their marketing, but this was a relatively unknown company, and I liked their shirt better than the rest of the crap in my closet. In fact, I would have paid, oh, $5 for that shirt.

I’m not alone. If you walk to the park on a warm day, a lot of men are wearing free t-shirts with company names on them. And it’s not because these men can’t afford other shirts. It’s because the company branded shirts are different, and they are comfortable. And the high tech, sometimes unknown names make you feel like you’re on the inside track of something.

This got me thinking about creating a business that sells nothing but company branded t-shirts over the Internet. The shirts would be dirt cheap because the companies would be sponsoring them. The customer’s cost would be something nominal above the shipping costs, and you would buy a minimum of a dozen at a time, with different company names, for maybe $5 per shirt. That’s twelve shirts for maybe $70. You could give away half of them and still be happy with your price.

Corporations wouldn’t need to provide the physical shirts, just the design in digital form. Companies such as Café Press already let you match a design with your choice of shirt.

Would you pay $5 for a shirt with a cool company logo on it?

Comments

[T-shirt Printing]

We print t shirts for this kind of thing all the time. T shirt printing is great promotional tool for companies...walking billboard.

[timothy]

i would like to advertise for money

[Rachel]

Good experience !! After reading it people will really get inspired to create a business to sell the branded T shirts.

[Twinkie]

Yeah!! many people like to wear t shirts with company names but some people don't.

[Smash]

College going guys always love to wear t shirts..

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[US Freestuff]

Thanks for info

[Giselle]

An inspiring article !! College students always feel comfortable with the funny t shirts...So now a days many people are trying to settle their business in t shirts..

[Nisar Ahmed]

no comments.

[Gashitha Perera]

I live in srilanka our country is very poor and there are lots in need.is there a way we can get free tshirts

[Verne]

only if it was by Nike, the ticks would make up for the ones I didn't get in school.

[wolfram]

Anybody remember Bill Watersons Calvin and Hobbes form August, 27th 1992? Calvin states:
"I wish my shirt had a logo or product on it. A good shirt turns the wearer into a walking corporate billboard! It says to the world, 'My identity is so wrapped up in what I buy that I paid the company to advertise its products!'" Hobbes asks: "You'd admit that" and Clavin answers "Oh sure. endorsing products is the american way to express individuality."

[Lawless]

I might wear 'the T-shirt' if it portrayed the company accurately..for example:

ME, trapped in THIS CUBICLE
at Google

or NOT one of the LUCKY BASTARDS
at Google

DIDN'T I BUST YOU WITH CRACK?
at The Police Station

you get the picture.

Otherwise, I should be paid to advertise not the other way around.

[Geoffrey "Badger" Gould]

I generally only buy t-shirts with logos promoting say a movie or book I really like. Often when one attends a science fiction or comic book convention, often free t-shirt are given away to promote some upcoming movie or such. Sometimes I get free t-shirts promoting films I've not even seen (or sometimes would even want to see). But free is free is free and if it fits it keeps off at least some of the wind chill...

[Doug]

This is an awful lot like professional golfers. They make a lot of money and get free shirts with their sponsors' names on them.
Then, ordinary induhviduals buy the same types of shirts, (yes, with the sponsors' names on them) for $70 or more.
$5 seems like a bargain!

[bob noman]

why i pay $5 for a cool t-shirt
actually,,,,,,,,
when i will wear a shirt with a company logo in my city...all the duds will impressed by that shirt....& when i will tell them it is fre of cost.the will feel impressive prsonality to me......

[iamexluxtroxl]

I don't wear branded shirts. I don't care if they advertise places I have been or hope to be, colleges I have attended, products that I use or hope to use, political or religious bents, or whatever, and I am arguably a high end consumer. It has always amazed me that people will PAY to wear these shirts, when in fact they should be PAID to wear them.

[kevin]

Scott-
Why would you care about a reader who doesn't think your writing is worth one click?

I do think it's worth one click, but my office's internet filter doesn't allow blogs, but I can backdoor it through my reader. So I can't access your content when I do the majority of my websurfing. Your net loss? Probably nothing. And now I'm catching up on your posts on Saturday at home.

Just one reason why at least the change to partial posts on your feed sucks for me. Thanks for the free stuff, in any form!

[Zach]

Hell no I wouldn't pay $5 for an ad shirt. If they were giving them away and they were an alright company then I'd be like "cool" but otherwise I wouldn't touch those with a stick.

[Jewels]

Nyah-ha-hah, my punk friend takes the free shirts and slashes the logos or cuts them out entirely. And wears them proudly. You go Mickey!

Seriously, how do you feel about companies that make so much profit they're giving away shirts by the bushel? When someone asks me if I want a cellphonecom t-shirt or ripoffratecredit card t-shirt, I politely say "No thank you, I already own several T shirts.

[Mark]

Paying for FREE T-shirts? Thats almost like paying for FREE blog posts. Do I detect a trend here?

[Mason]

I would, if it was a good assortment of beefy quality, AND the logos were cool. I was thinking small, unknown companies would be best but if the logo was cool enough and it wasn't embarrassing (like panty liners or something)then i would.
i would pay more for the same shirt with nothing on it

[joyce]

probably, if the company sounded cool and unknown enough.

[himanshu]

i wear company t-shirt cause its free............nothing beats free.

[fred]

i have one or two and they were given to me free. nothing cool about them.

[Mightyyouth]

You know... the best thing that work out in selling something is Label the thing as $20 and put a 75% reduction sale....

Wanna try this... It will workout...

[pay attention]

I tend not to wear company logo tee shirts. As a Marine vet, I wear a lot of USMC tee shirts, many designed to offend certain segments of the population. Looking through my t-shirt drawer, the only commercial logo tees I have are for the Lewis R. French, a very cool 1971 Maine windjammer we've sailed on four times, and Garcia's Kitchen, a great store-front Mexican restaurant in Albuquerque I found when escaping a meeting in a sterile hotel. I’m happy to advertise them, because both were great experiences, in very different ways. So, of course, was the Marines.

But logos for large companies? Probably not if you gave them away.

Dilbert tees? Certainly yes at $5.

[What Would Deep Throat Do?]

George, no one gives a shit about 'Mr. Splashy Pants". Now if you want to catch their interest, do a post on "Mr. Chuckle Trousers".

[Johan Hjelm]

If you can get people to wear a (fake) company T-shirt, why not try to make them wear other (fake) clothing? Nurses dresses and (fake) police uniforms already sell well on the Internet (with or without the handcuffs). In secondhand stores old army uniform jackets are hot items. Janitors overalls may not be as sexy, but why not _create_ company uniforms and then sell them on the Internet? This would be a wonderful distinguishing item for the companies, and lots of free advertising. And just imagine how much customers you would get if people thought that hot babe in the lycra suit was actually working at your company.

Maybe the business is to hire models and make them walk around town in sexy (fake) company uniforms. I can easily imagine the Staceys Café dresses - leather miniskirt is just for starters. Not on Scott, though. Or maybe, if you wanted that kind of customers.

//Johan

[Taxi guy]

A T-SHIRT FOR $5?
SURE!

(On purchases of $500 or more. Must be 18 or over. Product not exactly as shown. Offer ends 12/06/07. Add $34.95 shipping & handling plus 5% sales tax. Logo extra. Other fees may apply. Side effects may include vomiting, nausea and diahrrea. Offer only valid in California.)

[cm]

I was one of those people who thought they would never wear stuff with their employer's logo on it - but I have to admit slowly and surely, branded items have crept into all aspects of my desk, wardrobe, home, and even my car!! It's insidious because you really can't turn dow a free, useful item, right?

[Iain]

Sorry, what? People pay £20+ (that's what, $45?) for t shirts with cool company logos on... Why aim so low?

[tech guy]

I think I paid $18 for a Dilbert branded shirt.

[Bruce Harrison]

Only if it was my own company's logo, because now I have to pay about $25 for each one. And I have to buy them for our users' group meetings each May. So I'd be glad to pay $5 for one you could provide. The remaining $20 I'd be willing to deduct from the cost of all the Stacey's lunches and dinners you owe me for my advice over the years which you have yet to pay.

[Nat]

First of all, THANK YOU for creating the unique Dilbert brand of humour! Provides hours of not-so-mindless entertainment and some of the best laughs ever!

Scott, would you please put me in touch with all the people like John here (no last name) who refuse to wear company-logo T-shirts unless they are getting paid to wear them?

Believe it or not, there IS a company (not sure how many of them are out there besides this one, if any) that does pay you for wearing their T-shirts and shirts.

Feel free to share my email address with them. You are welcome to contact me as well, should you want to find out more.

Thank you.

BTW, your business acumen and general sensibilities are admirable. I'm positive you will achieve unprecedented success in some venture you haven't yet even thought of today.

Nat

[George]

Or you could support the hijacking of internet polls:
http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2007/12/greenpeace-tick.html

And buy a Mr. Splashy Pants shirt instead:
http://www.cafepress.com/greenpeace/4092640?

Oh, and you could vote for Mr. Splashy Pants while you're at it:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/whaling/great-whale-trail/gwt-vote

[Borjan]

No.

[Urglepuzz]

If you can get a Tommy Hilfiger logo, I'd wear one, just so I can tell people that wear $60 Tommy Hilfiger shirts that mine cost me $5. Actually, I still wouldn't wear it. So never mind.

[The Chief]

Would I pay $5 for a shirt with a cool company logo on it ?

No.

However I would pay you $5 to start writing humor, comic boy.

[Quantum_Flux]

Sexual reproduction has been one of the greatest survival mechanisms in the 4.5 billion years of biological evolution on this planet, or on any planet for that matter. Within the last 3 billion years, intelligent life has evolved to the point where it can see the fallacy in such a driving mechanism (i.e. brains are more important for survival than sexual brawn). This is why, I assume, that porn addiction is so hard to shake. I also suspect that christianity, in terms of the intellect, may have its place in modern society as a massive social project in changing our natural tendencies or addictions.

(I converted to christianity to cure my pavlovian behavioral problems [associate god-> good, satan->bad], and then to atheism for freeing my rational mind to think strait)

I had expected to see a secular solution to my problem on American Atheists when I wrote down "Porn Addiction" and the search only came up with religious solutions. No me, being an optimist, I hope that there is a cure for these problems (they seem to be prevalent in society) in either the form of subconscious musical tones and/or in chemical treatment.... after all, this is how I suspect that churches brainwash people during communion time to think like they do.... [they say to 1)think about your "sins" 2) ask god for repentance 3) all while listening to brainwashing music and drinking symbolic wine/eating symbolic bread.]

Anyhow, I think we can learn a lot about curing social ailments by observing the various religious institutions, as irrational as those folks may be, and incorporating this into secular brain science.

What do you think?

[Kevin Hill]

I'm unsubscribing now because you switched to partial posts. Note the backlash here: http://scobleizer.com/2006/02/22/blog-herald-doesnt-understand-why-full-text-feeds-work/

[Why would I care about losing a reader who thinks my writing isn't worth one click? -- Scott]

[Canadian Cousin]

Kind of defeats the meaning of Free T-shirt doesn't it?

[Johannes Maepa]

stupid idea

[Tyler]

I'm too much of a typical consumer for that.

I'd rather pay $20-$25 and wear a nice Volcom shirt.

[John]

All my logo tshirts are internal-only ones from Google (for example, when they'd open a new office, they'd create a special one of a kind design) that my wife gave me when she worked there. They are all high quality and have cool designs that you've probably never seen. I have never seen another person with these, so they are a bit rare.

Now, company internal-only ones might be more interesting to buy. Just about every company I have worked for created internal-only shirts, some were quite cool since they really didn't play up the corp logo so much.

[Gary Beeton]

I only wear company-branded clothing when a) the company pays me to be a walking billboard for them, or b) I'm painting the fence. So far a) hasn't presented itself to me.

[GLK]

I think your idea has potential. For my business the T-shirt fabric would have to be a good weight, offer colors besides white and gray, and have interesting/obscure/clever logos. The problem with making money on the front-end via corporate sponsorship is that unless you assume risk and buy tons of shirts up-front, the companies are going to want to base their pricing/sponsorship on projected sales. That might be tricky, but if you're savvy you can woo them via the old, "This is a brand new idea and you will be maximizing your exposure (read, getting the best value) by getting in on the ground floor" routine.

[Grant]

WalMart sells T-Shirts that have fake logos for "local" businesses; a local guitar shop, motorcycle shop, etc. And the logos are pre-faded, to look like it's an old shirt you just happen to have lying around...

[Dave1-20-2009]

Man I hope you didn't design any life-critical equipment in your engineering days...
"$5 per shirt. That’s twelve shirts for maybe $70"

[Just Me]

Company T-shirts (and ones from Walkathons, clean-up-the-riverbanks days, whatever, are only fit for cutting up into paint rags and strips for staking tomatoes.

I can always use more paint rags and tomato tie-ups, so if you have some for free, send them over.

They're great for polishing the car too.

I think there may be a profitable sideline in charging big $$ to the families and friends of your customers, to ban their credit cards from your site. Sort of fashion intervention marketing.

Now, underpants with hated brand names printed across the butt - there's a possibility.

[Jill]

No way!

[Eva]

Do all these people actually wear T-shirts?? I mean, at a certain age I think you should stop wearing T-shirts and start using shirts... maybe that's just me...

[Shawn Dream]

I agree with everyone who said most of the magic is getting it for FREE. That doesn't mean the idea is valueless, just that you would want to try and reshuffle the money flow.

I think the best idea would be a convention with some sort of draw (you could do a Dilbert themed one), and let people scan their ticket stubs to get merch. Sell booths to companies on the grounds that they have to offer free merch one to a ticket, and let the free market handle it from there.

You get paid by companies, companies get ad booths and to distribute their merch, and people get free stuff (although they paid to get in to the convention), and they can choose which stuff they want to wear.

Logistics of carrying the loot in and out would reduce the influence of people trying to resell massive quantities, and you could help companies by lining up scanners that would report if a ticket had been used before at their booth. (Although that part might not matter as much - if someone REALLY wants multiple shirts from one company they probably have a good home in mind for them). You could also help small companies line up merch makers.

Might be useful for your publicity/marketing team.

[Kurt]

Yes

[Arby]

With me it’s an issue of good corporate governance. If the logo is from a large corporation that is doing good for its stockholders, the community and the country’s economy fine. If they are greedy sleaze bags with an overpaid, underperforming CEOs that rip off its stake holders and pollute the planet I pass. Just because they are big doesn’t mean they are good.

There are lots of other causes, companies, groups and institutions that do much for the country and the people that should have their name displayed and promoted.

Hey, we are talking almost free underwear here so maybe it doesn’t matter that much but just a thought behind the entity being showcased might be relevant. Not a funny post but neither is exploiting foreign workers to peddle cheaper goods at discount stores here.

[Jose]

Are you kidding? My wife and I still have 65+ vendor tees from our time working in computer sales in 1998.

Somewhat cynical thought - set up a clearinghouse for companies to submit their designs. They then pay to make and ship x-hundred tshirts to homeless and womens' shelters. Tax writeoff + charity + advertising.

[simon]

I know your leaving off the controversial stuff Scott, but this is too good to ignore

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2222623,00.html

[Rack]

No. Also I wouldn't subsidise someone's shirt if it came as part of a 12-pack.

[Alex]

Yes. But of course I'd be very specific about what companies.
I'll think of some examples, because that's my idea of fun. I'd like a BBC logo, or some beer brands (la Vieille Salme, most Trappists, Guinness - wait, I used to have a Guinness shirt. More than $5, I can tell you), Benson & Hedges, Lucky Strike, ...
Wait, maybe I'm confusing companies with their brands, here. I'd like shirts with most of my favorite alcohol, tobacco and firearms products on 'em, but not necessarily the faceless multinational conglomerate behind them.

[Fábio]

Well, isn't it what we do when wearing brand cloathes?

[Hacker Kitty]

I'd pay a ridiculous amount for a t-shirt with the "Blue Sun" logo on it... Does it count if the evil corporation you want to advertise is fictional?

[Simon]

The vision and ability to sell twelve $5 shirts for $70 is what separates rich men from the rest of us.

[E]

My theory is that men actually wear these t-shirts with company logo's on them because they're free, and because they get given to them randomly (as opposed to having to go out shopping for them). So no, I doubt you'd make a killing trying to sell them.

[Klaus Kaan]

no ... NO!

But don't mind me. I'm a loon that doesn't even watch television anymore.

[Jeet]

Some of my friends at fingerprints.in are doing it too :-)

[Greg Wischnewsky]

Nope, I wouldn't.
I abhor Marketing as such by principle. The only occasion when i wear branded T-Shirts is when I wear them under a shirt or a pullover. Should I have to advertise for a company, no matter which, this company would have to pay me, not the other way around.

Cheers.

[Roland]

You're right. At my last (IT) job, the free T-shirts we got from suppliers were usually better quality, better fitting and more comfortable than the unbranded T-shirts I owned for leisure use. And the branding was often pretty cool, too.

Since leaving that company, I have started to wear the branded shirts at home instead of my own t-shirts...

[Cristen]

Rewboss: you're describing a different transaction, i.e. a long-term guaranteed sponsorship deal, and sadly for you, that's worth a good million dollars or so with any high-profile figure.

As for the business idea, I don't know about the US, but it wouldn't work here in England due to the fact that we have stores such as Primark selling comfortable, nicely designed T-shirts for a few pounds a pop, without company branding.

[ArunS]

i hv got a feeling that companies wud then insist on making t-shirts for nice-bodied ppl ONLY.

If i had a company, i wud like 2 put my logo on bikinis & not t-shrist

[paulipe]

No I wouldn't. I wear company t-shirts when MY company gives them to me, or if a family member happens to have one and is in the marketing department or so. I'd hate to have someone ask me about the company and to actually say I bought it off the net. There is a pride in the symbolism of a company t-shirt. You are endorsing it after all.

[What Would Deep Throat Do?]

Why? Whenever I see people walking around with their Nike logo'd crap I have to wonder what happened to their own identity and why they don't use it instead.

Also, I think corporate marketers must get a real chuckle whenever they sell clothing with their logo on it. I mean, good grief, idiots are paying THEM to advertise their product.

[Silvox]

The brand could be a value add/marketing/promises from the supply side towards customers, it really depands if the cool logo shirt meet my demands for it could be that I need that shirt or I want that shirt depends on my usage or application. Goods mix tools, hmmm nice.

[Raj]

yes I would. In fact it would be nice to have a dilbert T shirt! (are they already in the market?)

[Kes]

If I could browse through them and choose ones that I found cool - yes. But I wouldn't want to buy 12 at a time. And I'd need a skinny fit S. And you don't ship to Germany anyway :-(

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[Randolf]

$5 for a shit - now in real money - the euro, that’s about 0.10 euro cents - ya that’s a good deal.

But unless you are:
A. Professional sports person, sponsored by said company.
B. Actually working for the company.

Then a complete cheapskate.

Now having said all that I would wear a Dilbert shirt if it were really, really funny – but I guess I’m never going to get the opportunity am I?

[jerry w.]

Inverse logic time,

Sell companies on the idea of paying you not to produce t-shirts with some

embarrassing logos or names, i.e. a t-shirt with two big breast covering circles

with the copyrighted logo for "Lifesavers" on it. No investment in material

labor or shipping, nothing to do but count the money.

http://boskolives.wordpress.com/

[Jared]

I would proudly wear a Dilberito shirt!

[Navin Harish]

Check this :http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2007/7/harley_belt_01.html and this :http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2007/7/24x7.html.

[tubaguy]

Here's my take as band director who moves a fair bit of band shirts.

What everyone seems to have missed is that the free t-shirts are more comfortable than ones you buy. There's a good reason for this - all t-shirts are not created equal. There is a variety of blends from about 50-50 (cotton-poly) to all cotton. There are also varying thicknesses of fabric. Generally speaking, the more cotton in the blend the more expensive. Heavier fabric is also more expensive.

People selling shirts for a profit are going to use the least expensive shirt that the market will bear. People giving shirts away will use the best shirt they can afford so more people will wear it.

You can buy blank comfortable shirts from screen printers, but it's a big hassle. It's much less hassle to buy them from local thrift stores. They usually cost about $3. We use them for pajamas.

[Matthew Kovich]

Pinky and The Brain once used Free T-Shirts to convince the entire population of the Earth to move to the new planet they built out of papier machier directly adjacent to the real Earth. They named it Chia Earth.

It worked, because the drive to acquire free t-shirts is apparently the primary human drive. Or something.

I'm so tired, Scott. Save me.

[jeremiah johnson]

I work with people who buy T-shirts each and every week for $25 each, 5-6 at a time. EACH WEEK.

There *is* a market for this.

[WCE]

I'm figuring it's only a matter of time before companies pay people to get their logos tattooed on them.

Sooner or later, some people will be covered like NASCAR cars, collecting maybe $5/month from each company. I know people who'd figure that would be a sweet deal.

[D. Mented]

Come to think of it, I did wear a free company tee shirt once, but I modified it.
It was handed out by the factory I worked for, so I made a slit in the back, and put glossy red fabric paint all around the edges of the slit and dripping down, with a small hole and dot of paint in the front just above my heart so it would look like I'd been stabbed in the back - all the way through.
They made me put my jacket back on.
D. Mented

[D. Mented]

A friend and I were walking in New York city one day in the early 80's. As we passed the Metropolitan Musem of Art (where there's a big expanse of sidewalk/plaza between the building and the street) we noticed a man with a cart, selling, as his sign proclaimed:
"signatures of an authentic American artist; $10.00
signed: $15.00"
We laughed.
He actually left his cart and came over to shake our hands; it seems he'd been there for weeks, selling his signatures as fast as he could paint them, but we were the first to get the joke.
He said the idea came to him looking at all the people with logo and signature tee-shirts - he is an artist, and he was selling paintings at the time, and he thought "If all those guys can make money off their signatures, why can't I?"
He took a small blank canvas, and a big brush, and painted his signature (to give the buyers credit, it's actually a bold, energetic signature- nothing like a doctor's scribble) and people bought them until he ran out of canvases, and some of them asked him to sign them - so he did, for $5.00 extra.
I still get a smile thinking of him, and I hope he's still out there supporting his art hobby with his signature business.
For me to pay to wear somebody's logo, it would have to be an extremely cool looking logo, and I'm picky. Normally, I wouldn't wear a company logo if you paid me.
D. Mented
P.S. I'm okay with a reduction of the "dance monkey dance" posts, but could we maybe go up from "G" rated to "PG"? (even a few man-humps-dead-goat stories for variety)

[football]

i would suggest that you set your rss configuration as the "full text can be retrieved". now we RSSer can only see very little part of the text.

[olie]

(Forgive me if it's been done -- too busy to read through the comments, right now...)

Better idea: MAKE UP "cool company logos" -- just have a random generator that goes between regular polyhedra, atomic electron-rings, double helixes and spheres with horizontal stripes -- all in either primary colors or some bizarre mis-matched colors (purple & teal, etc.) Then generate names from dot-com sounding sylables: DynaMatrix, HyperWanscape, etc.

[Kevin Kunreuther]

I'd offer your idea to Google

[Kevin Kunreuther]

[Would you pay $5 for a shirt with a cool company logo on it?]

Does that $5 include S/H?
If Yes it does, then Yes I Will.

Actually in the off-season on Padre Island, TX the tee business is 5 shirts for $10, any logo, and design - they're all crap, but the shirts are very comfortable and one size - XXL - who cares?

[p-a]

Personally.. company branded shirt?
nah.. and I can't see any of my friends have one either.

But good luck with that Scott.

P-A
http://devrouze.blogspot.com/
(blog not in english)

[Johnny Ouais]

5$ shirt with cool logos are all made by Elbonian children. For that reason only, I wouldn't never buy one or happily accept a free one.

I would pay 100$ for a plain white shirt made by a fucking corporate president without logo except spills of his own blood.

[John Doe]

If you pay me $70, I'll wear a couple of your ratty marketing undershirts.

Besides, your odea has already been done: http://www.imsolame.com/suckers/rags/order.jsp

[Erik]

Why not? I'd pay $5 for a shirt with no name on it, so if the name is cool, or even unknown, then that's just a bonus for me!

[Rahul]

This idea is already implemented. In the software city of Bangalore in India, you can find roadside hawkers selling fake souveniers like coffee mugs, bags, key-chains etc with logos of software majors on it. These are exact replica of what these companies dole out to their employees for free.

[Matt]

Your target sucker market are bicycle riders. I went to buy a new jersey the other day and found I could buy a plain jersey for about $50 or a jersey covered in company names for about $100. I chose not to pay double for the privelage of advertising a heap of companies, but I would estimate that 90% of the riders that wear the full lycra getup have branded versions, not plain.

[jai]

I refuse to pay for clothing that sports advertising of any kind. I figure that, if a company wants to advertize on me, it can give me the product for free. Or, better yet, pay me.

[Ron Hardin]

The shirt would have to be white on white. Otherwise you can't throw all the laundry in the same load at once.

[Bismo]

Actually just yesterday at work I was wearing my free Dogbert POLO shirt, given away some years ago through the DNRC newsletter! It usually gets great comments, so was clearly a good marketing move. Ironic, but thank you again for it!

[rrk]

yeah, I would. In fact, I know a web organization called Sustainable Lafayette that my dad designed the logo for. You can order t-shirts online, I believe. The design's pretty cool.

[John Elliot]

No. Would you send me USD5 for answering your questions?

[IGC]

Having quality T-shirts with the company of my choice for only 5 bucks per unit? I'm in!

[Freeway]

I would!

I'd say at least half of all the shirts I own have a company logo, brand name, or campus club name on them. And being a student, it's not out of place at all to wear something like that around campus. They're really nice, and they're not always free (the clubs ask that you pay something like $5 to $10 for your shirt... and if you want one that actually says UCLA on it, you pay $20 or more). And they're comfortable. So yea, I'd definitely pay $5 a shirt to have a greater variety of stuff to wear from day to day.

[Wilerson]

I'd pay $5 for a Dilbert T-Shirt. :)

[davo]

yep, I'd pay $5 a shirt.
especially if it were a tobacco, alcohol or firearms manufacturer.

[Bill Tkach]

I think your too late. You can probably go to any of those t-shirt press on places, and make a shirt with some companies logo on it.
Better yet, you can get one with a logo you actually like.

And those companies already charge for t-shirts with their logos; ever been to a Levi's store, or the swoosh(Nike)? They charge an arm and most of a leg for their clothes, especially for that little symbol.

I'm sure, if you want to promote your Anti-Glare screen cleaner company, Staticide, or your Microsan hand sanitizer t-shirts, you can probably give them away. But no one is going to buy them.

I have one shirt, that's for Barracuda Spam firewalls. On the back, in gargantuan block letters, it says, EAT SPAM! And then the companies name. I'd wear it, if it weren't for the companies name. People can probably figure out I'm a geek without announcing it in massive, white on black lettering.

[Will Von Wizzlepig]

I don't buy any clothing with pictures, words, or brands printed on the front, and hesitantly buy things where the brand is very visible.

[your name] does not go *here*.

[Drone74B]

I do it a different way. I'm a graphic designer, and I make my own silk screens. I then design ficticious company logos and/or strange designs to place on them. People often ask where I got a particular shirt. When I tell them it's a one-of-a-kind, they're usually disappointed, but occasionally someone asks me to make one for them (so they can be one of only two people who have it). I don't really make any money from doing it, but it's fun, and it does actually save me from paying retail price for edgy designs.

[Peter Paul]

Yeah sure, if the company's are vintage...
vintage rock shirts or vintage company shirts.. what is the different?
*thinking of an atari $5 shirt*

[Sam Davis]

In order to get a company-branded shirt free you either have to win it or be on the inside of some industry or know someone who is. This is a great business idea, since $5 sounds pretty cheap to me, particularly if I can get company names I always wanted as opposed to ones that came free but I didn't want.

[Jeremy Thomson]

I've always wanted a corporate T-Shirt from defunct companies. Always wanted a "WANG" t-shirt :-). The old DIGITAL and Commodore logos were cool too. Not just old computer firms I'd like some aero companies. It'd bee soo cool to be seen in a Sopwith or Supermarine T-Shirt (or Curtis, North American, Hughes, Douglas, McDonnell).

[Bill Harting]

Scott,

How about a little bit more for t-shirts with made up but plausible sounding companies and logos? Then, you could feel really cool about everyone looking at you wondering why they have never heard of Planck Technologies and shoudl they call their broker or if their is a website. Get some graphic design students to whip up some logos cheap.

[Felix]

I would, but depends on the brand, and if I support it.
That means no big brands, but struggling brands, or niche brands.
One thing that I try to get is for everywhere I go, try to get a T Shirt from the local Universities.

[abraham]

Dear Scott.

I was going through dormant tabs I'd opened in Firefox and left there for when I had more free time to browse when I came across the tab opened to your blog. I visited from antiwar.com when you had that Columbia University/Ahmedinejad imbroglio that pissed off the denser readers here.

Scott, I really like your writing. I like your strip even more (haven't followed it in years though, since I haven't received the paper in that long and don't believe in reading comics online...I'm weird like that).

When you're not being a war mongering vegetarian, you actually have good things to say. I hereby bequeath unto you the wisdom to be funny but realize that foreign intervention is dumb.

Trading with other countries and serving as a positive role model for the rest of the world to emulate: good. Invading other countries for fun and profit: not good.

Read this as an affirmation every morning when you wake up (you can let it slide on Saturdays) and you'll be OK.

[XX EE]

I'll take a Bosko Lives tee shirt, too, while I'm at it.
:)

[XX EE]

I would NOT wear a tee shirt from Nike or any clothing manufacturer even if they gave it to me for free and paid me to wear it.

I have worn freebie tee shirts I received at volunteer events ... and I still felt like an ad whore.

I would, however, pay $5 for a Dilbert or Dilbert Blog tee.

I would gladly pay $10 for one of the cool ThinkGeek or Computer Gear tee shirts ... if they had them in my size (100 lb female).

I did pay I-forget-what for a "Kansas Museum of Science" tee shirt from Bobby Henderson's CafePress site; a goodly chunk of the proceeds benefit organizations like the Union of Concerned Scientists. It was money well spent for Bobby's stick figure cavemen and dinosaur artwork.

But I would pay at least $15 for a RITA MAE tee shirt. Better get started designing, Rita Mae! Your fans are waiting!
:)

[r_gosal]

short answer yes, long answer just see "Andrew | December 05, 2007 at 10:36 AM "

[M_B]

14, not 12.

[James]

Why would I pay money for something that companies should be paying me money to wear?

[azw88]

Scott, I am surprised that you aren't charging companies for you to wear their logos when you travel to speaking gigs.... You'd make a double-killing with every engagement. You collect your speakers fees, and collect $$ for wearing a tie with company logo on it, oh say, Dell.... It would be even better if you wore a Dell tie while speaking at a HP function...

[Adam Williams]

yes

[rita mae]

CFS '93 sez:

[Nike (from yesterday's comments) I have wondered the same thing. There always seems to be one in every comment community that thinks it's all about them. I think maybe she's just very lonely.]

And, I say:

Who is SHE? Let me know, I will be her friend. No one should be lonely. So, CFS '93, you've been to *every comment community* and know there is one like that everywhere? Wow! You're an important person. Maybe this "SHE" just gets on your last nerve ending? Maybe you could ignore her? Maybe she doesn't give a shit what you think and reads the post because she enjoys it, and responds because she enjoys it. What a novel idea. A post where there can be give and take and people don't judge each other. Hmmmmmmmm. If I was Scott, I would get tired of all this BS and cut my blog short. Oops. Maybeeeeeeeeeeeee

Rita Mae

[Millbert]

Yes I would, IF:

1. It was 3XL in a nice thick 100% cotton (gotta hide the man-boobs, don'tcha know?).

2. It was technology/electronics related. No auto parts, no cigarettes, no Budweiser.

3. It was Free Shipping.

[Avi]

5$? Of course!

I'd love to wear Hershey's, or Nestle, or Coke or delicious things like that.

[Susan]

Yes I would provided it was an ethical, interesting, funky company. (I can't believe I just agreed to be a billboard, but there's something about the funky, obscure brands that work for me.)

[Xica]

Scott, my gift to you

http://pheebo.com

[Lord Shark]

CFS '93 - always a twat in every community too. Buy a car, it might ease your bile.

[Catbert]

Interesting. I was thinking about this scenario just the other day as I was getting ready to flush $70. And I thought to myself ... self, if you could only find a crap load of T-shirts to blow this wad on. For something like $5/each I could get 12 (with $10 mysteriously vanishing)

Since most corporate T-shirts come in the free range, I don't think you could get more than $2 or $3, especially if they all had to be the same kind.

[Radek]

No

[Candice]

I avoid logos unless it's something I believe in, and want to associate with. Why would I want to pay 5$ to advertise someone else's business unless I stood to benefit somehow from giving them free ad space? Not to mention how ugly a lot of the stuff tends to be.

I am also glad you found a female to stalk who's more your age. He's all yours, Rita. ;)

[Grizzly Adams]

Some people will even pay $35 to get a book about t-shirts with a corporate logo on it. So the $5 thing might work.

http://www.amazon.com/Apple-T-Shirts-Yearbook-History-Computer/dp/0966139348

[Alex K.]

I would pay 5 dollars for an Initech shirt for sure.

[Drew]

If the company also had a bitchin' graphic, like a logo in blue flames, or some kind of flying creature crushing some kind of car, then yes. yes I would pay $5 and wear it with gusto.

[Mike Michaelson]

Scott,

URL worked for me (from Denver, 12:32 MST). Are you being blocked? Does your ISP not let you go where ever you want? Maybe you need a different ISP... ;)

Posted by: Diana W | December 05, 2007 at 10:37 AM
"I forgot to mention what a weird coincidence regarding the timing of this blog. Last night I had dinner with a cousin I hadn't seen in 30 years. Guess what he does? He owns his own t-shirt business! See his stuff at http://www.wildcotton.com/

[URL doesn't work. -- Scott]"

[Mike]

Make it $4, and I'm in.

[Imran]

Sure I would.

My shirt would say, "I really like to hear scotts ideas about copy write and Iraq war"

:)

[CDriK]

That's a nice idea.

The defect IMHO is that it may cost you more than 5$ a shirt if you don't sell a big quantity.

I might buy a Google one, a Blizzard one and one from my own company (every 3 years).

[Taxi guy]

Oooookaaaaay, when are the "Buy My Book" t-shirts coming out?

[Mike]

No, I wouldn't pay anything for a vendor T-shirt .. I already get more than I need as it is.

(T-Shirts are less than $25 and as such, are legal gifts for a government cog like me .. even when it's from a company with whom we're doing millions of dollars in business).

[Oz]

N0 - not even for free. Looks like you let your inner nerd escape on this one!

[Jeremy Miles]

I've got a Geek Squad t-shirt, which I got for free. Whenever I wear it, people ask if I work for Geek Squad. So I don't wear it any more. (Although when I was out cycling once, someone asked me if it was the name for a gang of cyclists.)

However, I've got a couple of Guinness t-shirts (which I paid for) which I rather like, and do wear.

[Mr. Wampus]

Actually your marketing campaign should be "Free T-Shirts!" I think you could actually make a prfit by giving away the t-shirts for free and just charge the ubiquitous "Shipping and Handling" charge of about $5.95 each. Bulk t-shirts of good quality are literally only about $2.00 each. You could vaccum wrap the shirts and mail them in a flat USPS mailer for under $3.00. Then, as you said, you could collect perhaps $1 each maybe $2 from your corporate sponsors every time someone buys a shirt with their logo on it. I think you could make it work. I think you would turn a small profit if people bought one shirt at a time and make larger profits if people bought multiple shirts.

This is a win for the corporations because they get nearly free advertising, they don't have to order 1,000's of shirts, they get to pay as they go. If they have a slow selling design, they can easliy change without having to worry about what to do with excess inventory.

Like Amazon you can rank the designs by popularity (more free publicity for the companies) which could instill a bit of friendly competition among companies. If you get more sophisticated, you could even do some marketing analysis around brand recognition, etc based on who is ordering what.

I like it. Also, freeteeshirt.com appears to be available as a domain name.

Go for it.

[Shan]

No, I wouldn't. I could just as easily get the T-shirts for free from the companies themselves.

[Peter Payne]

Just FYI, Cafe Press is a lame company that makes really awful products using heat transfer techniques. The best T-shirt printing method is a heat-treated silkscreening. For example, our "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend" T-shirt

http://www.jlist.com/SEARCH/shirt-gf1

[karl]

I wouldn't buy from such a site and I doubt many other people would either.

[indo]

I donno about you, but i'm off first thing tomorrow morning to register me a company!!! :-)

[rewboss]

Great -- Scott, if you send me $5, I'll send you a T-shirt with my logo on it, as long as you promise to wear it at Dilbert conventions, Mardi Gras parades, airports, restaurants and in front of any TV camera within a half-mile radius of wherever you happen to be.

[Michael]

As a couple posters have mentioned, Valleyschwag tried something like this a couple years ago. They eventually shut it down but another company called Startup Schwag has picked up the idea.
http://startupschwag.com/

They sell company t-shirts for a monthly subscription of $15. I'd be curious to know how successful Startup Schwag is.

[car free since '93]

Nike,
(from yesterday's comments) I have wondered the same thing. There always seems to be one in every comment community that thinks it's all about them. I think maybe she's just very lonely.

On the tshirt issue: pay to wear an advertisement? No!

CFS '93

[Joey]

I'm a fan of corporate logo T-shirts. Real companies, not clothing companies. Billabong, etc, I'm not paying $10 extra for a mediocre shirt just to advertise for you. Real companies though, those shirts are often free, and usually don't look half bad. And it's hard for me to dislike any company that gives out good swag like that. Pens and postcards? No. But a t-shirt, I can use.

It's partly the fact that they're free that I like them, so I can't be sure I'd be willing to pay for them, but since they would theoretically be very cheap, the principle remains, so maybe.

And I don't consider wearing those kinds of shirts to be whoring at all. If I wore a Dorito shirt, I'd be a whore. If I wore a quicksilver shirt, I'd be degrading my own humanity. But when I wear my Omniture shirt, I'm not exactly making their stock jump.

[loki]

i can see the business model but personally; i've got free tshirts out the wazoo already(most of them so awful they're good for joggin and winter), and a good designer t is... well a designer shirt.

so no. we don't want no stinkin' tshirts.

[dirvish]

Valley Schwag was doing this. Now these guys are at it: http://www.startupschwag.com/

[Florin]

Duh!

[Matt]

I was extremely disappointed to click the title of this blog and not receive a free "Dilbert" shirt. I was hoping you'd do some sort of social engineering experiment to see how many of your readers would actually send you a postcard.

Maybe I still will.....

[Jan]

Valleyschwag used to do something similar, but with all kinds of freebies, not just T-shirts. http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/05/04/get-web-20-schwag-from-valleyschwag/

Your service sounds more interesting. Clothing is more useful than random schwag.

[Patrick Havens]

I would buy them... Hell I own TECHCRUNCH (wearing it now) Redit and a few WordPress shirts. As well as ServerBeach and other random places. I like the question in peoples eyes looking at them.

[Diana W]

I forgot to mention what a weird coincidence regarding the timing of this blog. Last night I had dinner with a cousin I hadn't seen in 30 years. Guess what he does? He owns his own t-shirt business! See his stuff at http://www.wildcotton.com/

[URL doesn't work. -- Scott]

[Andrew]

I love free shirts with logos or not.

I don't know if I would pay for a shirt with a logo on it.

[TomB]

My thinking on this goes something like this:

If I can pay X for a good quality cotton T-shirt with no logo at a local Mark's Work Wearhouse and a company can ship me a similar quality T-shirt with a reasonably discreet, but visible logo, for a cost Y (including shipping), what should Y be?

Well, if I get to choose the T-shirts from a list of available sponsors (this could also serve as an interesting bit of sellable market data for the sponsors, to know which are more popular - who has better brand recognition, who has sucker logos, etc), and the T-shirt quality is up to snuff and I can pick colour of the underlying shirt, then I would say the relationship of Y to X should be Y = X - $5.

So if I would pay $15 for a nice T-shirt locally, in a colour of my choice, you'd have to be able to ship me a logo'd T-shirt in a colour of my choice, letting me select the company logos I will wear (could be rules don't let me select any dupes and minimum order is 6, 10 or 12 shirts to make it good for sellers), then I should be able to get them shipped to me for $10 each.

To do this, I imagine a company would end up having to sponsor $7.50 worth of costs.

You might also want to establish a website where you could select your shirt colour, format (M vs. F cuts for instance), and acceptable logos. For best marketing penetration, you might want to tailor logo selections by region - some national logos available all over, others available only by region to insure people in that region are touting the names of companies who want to get out there. Link the shirt logo images to corporate websites or product pages so you can go and see what new companies you've never heard of do - this might also translate to non-T shirt sales or at least people being able to identify a bit about the company whose shirt they are wearing.

Send a blurb (few paragraphs, www pages) on a printout in with each box of shirts. This helps catch people who just picked logos they liked the look of. I think once they buy the shirt, they'll be curious enough to read a paragraph on each product or company.

Anyone who thinks companies should sponsor the entire cost of the shirt isn't thinking clearly - some of the companies may be startups with limited budgets and just how much value do you think your meatspace advertisement returns? If a company foots $5-10 worth of costs, I still think you're getting a good deal. If you can make that enough to cover shipping plus allow the end consumer to get a comfy, good quality T-shirt at slightly less than the market rate, then the operation should be a winner.

Those that won't buy T-shirts wouldn't be buying them locally either. So you are just talking to non-consumers.

Get support from IBM, EFF, etc and some logos for TV shows like BSG, Lost, 24, etc. and I think you've got a winner of an operation going.

[Diana W]

Only under the following conditions -
1. I actually like the shirt, including the material, color and logo
2. I can get just 1 - I don't need a dozen
3. I'm not going to pay an additional $8.95 in shipping and handling

[rita mae]

WERNMAN --

I read your Corin 1:27-29 and I will raise you a
Prov 15:2--"The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness."

There's an answer for everything in the Bible. Remember, God didn't write the Bible. Men did. What if they got it wrong? BWAHAHAHHAHAHA

Rita Mae (I read the Bible off and on -- looking for loop holes. I'm old and don't feel too well.)

[12Points]

I just saw this blog and found it to be very interesting...I own a small t-shirt company called 12 Points Graphics & Apparel. We will turn 4 years old on February 2nd, 2008. I'd be more than willing to use this concept as an experiment and see if it works as a viable marketing medium. If you want a $5.00 t-shirt with my logo on it to wear...email me. steve@12pointsgraphics.com

[MadMonk]

With my looks, companies should be paying me to NOT wear their logos. Hey...that might work...
*Begins writing up a proposal for Coke*

[Jenni]

I have tons of free logoed shirts from work and from my neighbor, but if they were *cool* logos, I'd buy.

Actually, you can buy lots of logoed shirts (t-shirt & polo) at thrift stores for a couple of bucks a piece. Some are a buck. They're in good condition, and some are even brand new. The only problem is you have to go thru quite a bit of dreck to find the good stuff. But boy, sometimes you can find something *really* good.

And there's also the whole "pride" thing involved in going into thrifts. The first time I went, I cringed and was afraid everyone was looking at me, thinking I was poor. Got over it.

[Alan]

I might buy a t-shirt for $5. It had better be a cool logo. I personally feel they should be paying me to do their advertising for them or at least give me the shirt for free.

I have lots of free t-shirts from volunteering. I dig hiking trails, clean up rivers and donate blood. I have more t-shirts than I need.

The shirts I would mostly likely consider buying would be t-shirts displaying logos of bands that I like: Southern Culture on the Skids or Cake.

[Tim Clark]

I often wear t-shirts with company logos on them, typically if I got them for free, or like the design of the logo. What confuses me is people who wear t-shirts bearing the logo of the clothing company that sold them the shirt at a price much higher than they would pay for an equivalent shirt with no logo. What's up with that?

[rockbert]

Companies wouldn't do this. Logo T-shirts are not free advertising if ugly people wear them.

[Mark Thorson]

Not a chance. The only
T-shirt I'd consider wearing
is one of my FIJA T-shirts,
and then only as a measure to
be rejected for jury service.

http://www.fija.org/

[Chuck Eames]

Nope. No way. I've got 3-4 boxes of free T-shirts and can't find the time to give them all away. Plus, who wants a free T-shirt with advertizing on it? Yeah, I have a very few that are cool and give that leading edge kind of statement. But, I get so many free T-shirt opportunities, I'd never go looking to buy a T-shirt. Maybe if they marketed to the teen/20s crowd that hasten had the chance to accumulate 500 T-shirts, it might work.

[Lymonhead]

Probably.

[jenl1625]

$5 for a T-shirt? Definitely.
$5 each for a dozen at a time - not likely. I just don't wear that many T-shirts. At work, even on dress-down days, T-shirts are only okay without logos . . . . (Unless I could split that dozen among multiple sizes, and actually be ordering 3 for me and others for friends.)

Now, if the option was something more like a polo shirt, and the branding was subtle, maybe - I'd have to see it.

[BS]

Hi Scott,

Personally, yes, I would pay 5 bucks for a shirt. that's a great deal. However I have to say that after being in the internet marketing and selling business for a number of years now (NO not eBay, but a real internet store) I can tell you without a doubt that no matter how cheap your price is or even if it is outright FREE, some asshole will always find something to bitch about or try to weasel you down with the request of a better discount. You can't please anyone in the internet marketing business.

Yes, I wouldn't be here without customers, but they still SUCK.