Custom band t-shirts are very effective promotional items for musicians. It’s a must-have item for any band especially if you’re on tour. You simply can’t NOT have ’em. Custom band t-shirts sells like hotcakes and could be a big source of income for musicians, helping them in their careers. However, the tees have to be exceptional. The printing should be of great quality as well as the tees…and they gotta have really cool t-shirt packaging to boot. That means, you have to find a good company to do your cool band t-shirts.
Well…of course we recommend our t-shirt printing service. We’ve been printing merch and custom band t-shirts for over a decade for bands big and small. We know our stuff. However, if you aren’t in LA or you’re just in a mood to find other t-shirt printing companies, here are 6 tips that may help you find a good and reliable company to have your custom t-shirts printed.
#1: A custom band t-shirt company that has high printing quality.
This is the most important, of course. You should check out the quality of their printing of the t-shirt printing company you’re planning to use. To check their printing quality, you can either contact previous clients and ask them about their experience, look at their portfolio, or you can go to their office/branch and check the shirts they’ve done. But of course, you can only really tell 100% once you’ve placed your order and they make a sample of your design printed on a t-shirt.
#2: A custom band t-shirt company that prioritizes customer service.
This is a must because a company that does not have good customer service and is neglectful of the customers is already a very bad thing. What if you don’t have a design yet and you had them design your shirt and you want to make changes but they can’t be reached? What if you want to know the progress of your order and they don’t reply to you? That would be quite a headache, right? I’m sure that there will be no such thing happening since you are a customer and without you they won’t make money. But what if they have bigger clients? That’ll be hard. So I suggest checking customer service first.
#3: A custom band t-shirt company that has experienced staff.
When you’re looking for a trustworthy company, you have to know if its staff is well-experienced. This is very important because if they aren’t then your t-shirts might turn out like a college DIY shirt. You can’t sell amateur, cheap-looking tees! Check their portfolio. E-mail those clients and ask for real feedback. When you ask them to design your shirts, it would be great to have a well-experienced designer, in this way, the color, the design itself, and every other detail will be a great combination. Also when you order for a t-shirt print it is better to have experienced staff that can give you advice and suggestions on the type of cloth,kind of ink, etc. Look for people who are knowledgable about design, not just human machines. Speaking of machines, when it comes to the actual printing, of course it would be best if the people printing your shirts are experienced in handling the machines and such to ensure a good output.
#4: A custom band t-shirt company with customer rating and reviews.
If they have a website you can easily look up their customer rating. If they do have that’s great! But don’t forget to still read the reviews because you might find problems other customers you would not want to encounter. Although such things may have been fixed already. You can also ask past customers of their service and then you can tell if a t-shirt printing company is reliable or not.
#5: A custom band t-shirt company with a wide range of style options.
This is really not a tip to find a reliable company, but it would be good to consider this when you choose a company. A wide range of style options may suggest their experience in the business. It would also be a benefit for you because you can choose from a wide array of different shirt styles which will be a plus point for your promotion. How many shirts do they offer? How many printing options? Do they offer patches and other more complicated shirt designs?
#6: A custom band t-shirt company that offers rushed printing.
Another tip to find a good company. So this is not really a must, but for some who are on a tight sched this will be helpful. Since it has a fast turnaround you can have your shirts in no time, although it may be very hard to find companies that can do the job for less than a week. And of course, you can’t expect that the printing will be as high quality as you’ve been offered since you’ve asked for a rushed one.
There you have it!
The tips above are very much met by us, Unified Manufacturing, so I hope you check us out and consider working with us. We don’t just have those things mentioned above, we also have an array of things to offer for musicians like you. We offer a 5-15% discount for indies. We can also manufacture CDs, DVDs, vinyl, USB music cards, and other merch items. So what’re you waiting for? Contact us now.
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James Hill is a veteran of the music industry. He first worked at Warner Reprise Records then later joined Interscope/ Geffen Records where he managed producers and songwriters and got his first platinum record for Keyshia Cole’s The Way It Is. He is now helping indie artists with branding and manufacturing through his company Unified Manufacturing, a CD/DVD/vinyl and merch company in LA.
