The End of a 1,400-Year-Old Business

Posted on April 25th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: General Business.

What entrepreneurs starting family businesses can learn from the demise of Japanese temple builder Kongo Gumi

The world’s oldest continuously operating family business ended its impressive run last year. Japanese temple builder Kongo Gumi, in operation under the founders’ descendants since 578, succumbed to excess debt and an unfavorable business climate in 2006.

How do you make a family business last for 14 centuries? Kongo Gumi’s case suggests that it’s a good idea to operate in a stable industry. Few industries could be less flighty than Buddhist temple construction. The belief system has survived for thousands of years and has many millions of adherents. With this firm foundation, Kongo had survived some tumultuous times, notably the 19th century Meiji restoration when it lost government subsidies and began building commercial buildings for the first time. But temple construction had until recently been a reliable mainstay, contributing 80% of Kongo Gumi’s $67.6 million in 2004 revenues.

Can you imagine? The article continues on the website.
From BusinessWeek.

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Photoshop “Real Steel” Tutorial

Posted on April 20th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Design.

So I was making a graphic that I wanted to feature a steel fridge in, and came across this tutorial. It’s a great step by step tutorial so I thought I’d share it.


Link.
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T-shirt PODs - 10 Points about Bountee

Posted on April 13th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Print on Demand.


It seems like there’s another new Custom / Print on Demand t-shirt service opening up every other month now. Newcomer, Bountee joins the list of shops looking to profit off of DTG (Direct to Garment) Printing.

It’s a little tricky to get to their details without making an account or watching their movie but for those who want the quick version here’s the nitty gritty I gleaned from various pages on their site, blog and video:

1. You can set your own prices by typing in a percent markup when you design your shirt.
2. Bountee seems to be aiming at having a brick and mortar presence some day… they say that they will strive to give the designer a commission mark up in that situation that is the same for what they have set for online purchases.
3. They only accept SVG files.
4. Payment to designers is currently via PayPal only.
5. You can *not* submit a design you have already submitted elsewhere or is already available elsewhere.* SEE UPDATE NOTE BELOW
6. Their product designer is pretty nice, shirt print area is large and designs can be placed very close to the bottom hem (though not on the shoulders or sleeves).
7. Upload of images is done one at a time and there are no bulk tools at all.
9. You can use their own tool to make text only designs.
10. They are in Beta.

Note on item number 2: this is both good and bad. It’s good because a designer may find another venue that their shirts can be sold in, with possibly no extra work on their part. It’s bad because on other sites you can use your online store as a testing ground for designs and if something “catches” you can make your own deals with brick and mortar stores and make a bigger commission on each shirt than you would by using your POD service of choice. With some negotiation you can easily make more per shirt than you would by having your shirt sold online.

Note on 5: This was written in their with language specifically mentioning voting sites (Treadless is an example of a voting site) and their desire to not “steal” designs away from those sites. However, I believe it also means that you can not submit a design you have up on CafePress. And once you submit a design to Bountee you can not then sell it using any other service, not even your own. I noticed; however, that you had the option to make your shirts “Limited Editions” at Bountee by specifying how many to sell. UPDATE: I re-read the Terms and I now think that you CAN have a design up on CafePress AND this site… however you can NOT have it up on Threadless or other sites which prohibit you having it elsewhere available.


All in all, I think Bountee is a good entry into the POD market but it will have to prove itself as a good starting point for t-shirt entrepreneurs who are looking to build their own brand.

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Calculating Your Hourly Wage

Posted on April 13th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: General Business.

When I first started my shop I remember wondering how much I made per hour doing this crazy thing. For those who might wonder the same thing here’s a fast way to figure it out if you know what you made for a full year.

To find your hourly rate, divide by two and drop the thousand. So $50,000/year becomes approximately $25/hour.

This is based on a general 40-hour workweek and doesn’t include taxes, but it’s a good general back-of-the-napkin trick.

Of course you will have to adjust to reflect your own working hours.
Thanks to Ramit for the calculation!

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