OPEwear.com prints sweats, mugs, and shirts for special events requests. So far, the most popular custom t-shirt request is for GTGs (Get Togethers).
A couple of months ago I was approached by @Mastermind on OPEforum to design a tee shirt for his Chainsaw GTG. T-Shirts and mugs were printed, after he approved of the design, one at a time for about 100 people who bought them. The chainsaw gtg t-shirts were sold here in our store, and on the forum to attendees and non attendees of Randy's get together in Tennessee this past weekend (Dec. 3, 2016).
He asked, and we went through several iterations of the design before one was decided upon. At Mastermind's request, OPEwear also became the facilitator of the entire money collection and delivery for these chainsaw GTG t-shirts. This saved him from only having one color, keeping track of all the orders, combining them into a mass shirt purchase, printing, and then collecting the money, and shipping the shirts to the right folks. There's a lot involved in a special event t-shirt venture.
Why Print 1 Chainsaw GTG T-Shirt at a Time?
We printed and shipped the shirts and mugs as they got ordered and paid. The reason it's best to print shirts for a chainsaw GTG one at a time, is that the color and size choices vary too much to enable pre-ordering and then having the organizer of the event trying to sell 'em (and collect) at the event. We decided to enable attendees and non attendees purchase whatever color they wanted in whatever size they needed. Buying 8 colors times 6 or 7 different sizes would have been way too many shirts to buy in advance and hope to sell for a special event.
Even collecting pre-orders and combining them into a mass shirt purchase eliminates the possibility of having multiple colors, and you'd still be responsible for collecting the money, and shipping the shirts to the right folks. It's a lot of work, and time is money.
Instead, we offered the color choices and the full size range of XS through 4XL and then collected money through the forum one at a time with each order from those who planned to attend. Ordering was cut off at a certain date before the event so that printing and shipping would have time to take place, and the customer would have their shirt handed to them at the event. These custom chainsaw gtg t-shirts were delivered as ordered and paid, straight to the event organizer's address. That way they were on hand on the day of the special event for handing out.
Making a variety of colors available and two sided printing does make custom event shirts more expensive though.
Those that could not attend the event, were able to buy their shirts right here on OPEwear.com so that they'd have a keep sake shirt.
Two of the special event mugs got broken in shipping to the event organizer, so we replaced them as soon as we were notified, and even the replacements arrived ahead of time for event day.
What Goes On At a Chainsaw GTG?
A lot of fun people gather for chainsaw stuff and camaraderie.
Meet a lot of great people in person whom you've chatted with rather impersonally on a forum.
Trees get cut thinly into "cookies" for practice and for showing off saws and craftsmanship.
Sawyers race chainsaws at the GTG.
Some "cookies" get eaten.
Some get burned to cook or keep you warm at party time.
