Welcom Back Kid

Seattle Mariner fans have not had much to cheer about the last few seasons. And honestly, we're not sure if we're going to have much to cheer about this year. But those of us who grew up in the era of The Kid are cheering to see Ken Griffey Jr. back in a Seattle Mariner uniform. So to celebrate we're making a couple short runs of Griffey t-shirts to welcome Junior back home.
We've got one finished and we've put up a special website where you can buy one. You can check it out here: welcomebackkid.com

Twitter

Interested in following what we're working on, our thoughts, random musings, funny t-shirt sayings we come across? Then hook up with our brand new Twitter feed here:

http://twitter.com/mytshirtcity

'Tis the Season

Custom made t-shirts, jackets, hoodies and sweatshirts are great for holiday parties and gifts. They make great employee gifts as well as a special gift for a grandparent, new parent or a first Christmas. This time of year we often get the question, "Will my items arrive in time?" The answer is usually yes but if you want to make double sure put the date you need your item to arrive by in the special instructions box when you check out. If we can't meet your date we will let you know but 99% of the time we can get it to you in time.

And remember, we offer quantity discounts. The discounts are applied at checkout. Also, you are welcome to contact us for a custom quote. Simply email us the artwork, the type of item you want it to go on, the decoration type (print or embroidery), and the quantity. Send your request to orders@mytshirtcity.com, we'll typically have your quote back in a couple hours.

So to help inspire you and get you in the creative mood we've created a couple of fun items. If you are attending an Ugly Christmas Sweater party, why not make your own?

Or how about a custom onesie for that firs Christmas?
Or maybe you just aren't in the spirit at all this year and you want everyone to know it!
Whatever you mood or desire, you can create it at MyTshirtCity.com

To customize or purchase any of these designs you can click the link below.

Click here for the Christmas designs.

School Logo'd Items

Well it has been quite a summer. MyTshirtCity grew faster than we ever expected and for that we are extremely grateful. It seems we've struck a cord in providing something none of the other design your own shirt sites are: embroidery. Which is why in this post, which is the first one in quite a while, I want to focus on embroidery. Specifically, how easy it is to create a whole line of embroidered products for your school (or club, event, party or business). Below are a series of pictures showing a set we put together for a customer.

The picture below shows the range of items we did for this particular school. It includes 2 different T-shirts, a polo shirt, a crew neck sweatshirt, a pullover hoodie, a fleece vest and a jacket. All embroidered with the school logo on the left chest.
Here is a close up of the embroidered mascot. This particular one is available as one of our stock embroidery files in the design tool.



We also did a couple hats: a bini and a typical structured flex-fit cap.
All of these items can be found in our catalog. If you would like to have your specific organizations logo embroidered we can do that! Depending on the logo there may be a small setup fee but most of the time we can set up your logo for free. Then we upload it to your account so any time you log in your logo is available to you and only you. You can then choose your item, add your logo, see how it will look on a variety of items before you ever make a purchase. If you have questions about this please don't hesitate to contact us.

We're going to continue with a series of user created items to demonstrate the variety of what can be produced on MyTshirtCity.com.

Apron Design Idea - I Cook For My Honey

There are all sorts of fun things you can create on MyTshirtCity.com! Just playing around with the design tool and the tons of stock embroidery and print designs will surely get your creative juices flowing. And did I mention it's fun. I can't decide what's more fun though - designing the items or getting the finished product. Actually, for us the most fun is seeing the excited smiles when someone sees their finished creation for the first time. Like the beautiful Trina when she got her new apron. She designed it using our stock honey pot and fonts to make this one of a kind masterpiece!
If you have an idea for a design but can't find what you are looking for on MyTshirtCity.com, send us a note, we'd love to help you out. Or if you've created a masterpiece, be sure to send us a picture with you in it so we can share it the rest of the MyTshirtCity community.

A Look Behind the Scenes

Have you ever wondered how your t-shirts, hats or fleece blankets are decorated? Well here is your chance to get an inside look at where your mytshirtcity.com orders are produced.

All orders are produced in the Minus Zero Media production facility. Minus Zero Media is the parent company of MyTshirtCity.com. Here we employ many different decoration methods from screen printing, direct to garment digital printing, to embroidery and heat transfer. Below are a few pictures of some of our equipment:

First stop is the embroidery machines. We use the Amaya XT embroidery machines because of their flexibility and superior design and functionality.

Next in line is the screen print press. We employ a Hopkins manual, six color, six station, all heads down. In this configuration we can achieve amazing prints at automatic press speeds. This press gives us the flexibility to do short runs of just a few shirts to runs of many thousand.

Moving on we come to one of our most prized pieces of equipment - the MelcoJet direct to garment printer. This little gem allows us to do full color prints on both light and dark garments. And the best part of it is there is no setup required. It functions much like your standard inkjet printer: load a design, place the garment on the pallet and press print.
The tour wouldn't be complete without sharing the finished product. Here we have a couple MyTshirtCity.com orders that were just completed and are ready to ship out.


We hope you enjoyed this little tour. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us. Otherwise, why don't you get on over to MyTshirtCity.com and make something nice for yourself!

The Trend

It is no secret that a lot of apparel decoration has been sent overseas. The trend in the US is toward smaller and smaller customized runs. The problem has been that small runs are just too costly. In order for the decorator (screen print or embroidery company) to make any money they had to charge large setup fees. This was just to cover the cost of the time it took to not only quote pricing on various products but also the hours it takes to set up the artwork and then the job itself. And here, once again, the internet comes to the rescue...

At mytshirtcity.com you now have the ability to design your own apparel for business or personal. The pricing is plain to see as you add artwork to your chosen article of clothing. Many "Design Your Own T-shirt" sites have been around for a while but most are limited in their clothing selection and decoration options. At mytshirtcity.com you have complete flexibility. Currently there are over 150 items to choose from. You can also choose print or embroidery. And for those of you familiar with screen printing pricing and how you are typically charged per color, that is no longer the case. With new direct to garment printing technology we are no longer concerned with the number of colors. And because all the product and pricing information is available online, the labor to produce a job is minimal so we are free from huge setup costs.

It is an exciting time in the industry. Now anyone can be a clothing designer. Everyone can be unique and every company can afford to brand themselves!