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Show HN: Shirtloop (shirtloop.com)

5 points by AnthonyJoseph ↗ HN
Hey, this is a very basic MVP, tech-wise but the underlying business infrastructure runs deep. I have the relationships, my grand picture is to build a portal etc, where independent printers can bid on jobs, text alerts etc, but for now, I am doing things the old fashioned way, via email and phone calls. What are your guys' thoughts?

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[dead] AnthonyJoseph
This is a very basic MVP, tech-wise but the underlying business infrastructure runs deep. I have the relationships, and my grand picture is to build a portal etc, where independent printers can bid on jobs, get text alerts etc, but for now, I am doing things the old fashioned way, via email and phone calls. I also want to help brands launch, and let them "outsource" the printing process. I have a successful brand (recently had a fab.com sale etc), and one of the toughest parts, was getting ahold of the damn screen printers, along with a host of other ins and outs that I hope to help people with, so they can focus on sales and marketing.

What are your guys' thoughts?

fruchtose
I like this idea, although I am not a graphic tee designer, so I cannot comment on its viability. I think the site look and feel could definitely be improved, though. Bootstrap is a great way to get the site started, but the site feels sparse, both in information and layout. Which printers are bidding? What shirt sizes can the bidder expect? What is the expected turnaround time? Has anyone seen a success story with the service?

The website needs a lot more content and information, and it would also be nice for customers to know who is behind the site. A sales email address and an 888 phone number seem a little impersonal when so few details are revealed about how the service works--especially since it doesn't look like users register for accounts to keep track of bids?

AnthonyJoseph
At this point, its all pretty personal. There are only two of us on the team, and the 888 number actually gets directed straight to my cell. I hear what you are saying though, the plan is to build it out, but I wanted to get in front of customers right away, and figured this was a good compromise. I thought about things as a "fancy" landing page.
tehwebguy
This is very cool. How many printers have signed up?
AnthonyJoseph
We haven't formalized "sign up" per se with the printers, we have relationships with with a bunch though, the site says 100s, its not quite there just yet, but hope to be in the next couple of weeks.
tehwebguy
I'm interested in throwing my print company into the mix! kevinkhandjian at gmail if you get a minute
joshstrange
I just forwarded this info out to my fraternity, good luck!
outdooricon
After reading the site and clicking the sign up button, it appears that this is for a "one run" job of x shirts. What if I am interested in on demand printing... any plans to support that (for example, printing as I get orders, which could only be a couple shirts at a time)?

Also, I'm concerned about quality of print, with the unknown of who these printers are, how do i know that it's a good quality print? Is there a guarantee?

AnthonyJoseph
You can do an "on demand" submission at any time, typically though, it is not cost effective. 99% of our work is done via screen printers, which is a time consuming process, some will bid a small number like that, some won't. Everything is guaranteed, if you are not happy with the print quality, we refund 100% of the purchase. Quality tees are a catch-22, in that on demand (1 or 2 at a time) is not cost effective, but how do you know the design will sell, etc, so there is risk involved. If you have an specific questions about selling your own designs (I assume that's why you were asking), let me know. Eventually I would like to have printers save screens, or keep a rotation that I can send out to allow small ecommerce sites to do 1-2 at a time, as orders come in, but Im not there just yet.