How Soon is Now?
Questions and such about the shirt are fracking up my inbox something fierce, so lets just knock them all out before it goes up...
- Pre-ordering will be up in a day or so. It's waiting on me.
- The Cow will now be in six colors, because I realized after talking with David the other night (Or rather, the next morning, as I had to write myself a note as I was going wonky due to lack of sleep -- just ask him) that this has been awhile in coming, and now that it is I don't want to always be noticing that it looks as though The Cow is wearing a jumpsuit.
We could get by with it, but might as well do the best we can as in 5 years I'm going to care more that people loved their shirt than some extra margin.
- You'll be able to get it internationally. People in Sweden and Norway, stop emailing me about it. :)
- I like the font. Yeah, I could use something more Mac-specific or whatever, but I don't just use Macs, and I like 80s-retro-arcade-vibe. Mmm, Pole Position and Joust.
- Some have asked why it says "The Cow Abides" instead of the name of the site. I had one that had "DrunkenBlog" as an option -- sans the .com -- but decided this is more about supporting the site than advertising for the site. In the end, "The Cow Abides" just makes me smile and captures some of the site even if its not giving it by name. You'll know what the shirt is about, and that's what counts.
- It'll be on a 50/50 Fruit of the Loom "Best". It'll breathe better, won't be too heavy so it can be worn over something long-sleeved better (as I often do), the printing will last longer, and I just prefer them. Cotton is fine and lasts long, but it actually harms the longevity of the print quite a bit and brings little to the table beyond being all-natural. Nothing about tech is natural, so to hell with natural.
- For this round, we're going to be doing a pre-order, because:
- There are setup costs involved for all the colors and such.
- I'd rather not have a bunch of small-sized shirts hanging around -- my background makes me fear inventory.
- It's going to allow me to offer you multiple colors for this initial go-around. I.E., there'll be a selection of colors for this pre-order, because I can just note that when its sent in, but afterwards only the most popular. I'm a big fan of KISS, so I wasn't going to do this originally, but after talking to the people involved and seeing that it's an option, no point in not giving you one more reason to hug your Cow.
- Some of you have asked why I don't just do some cafepress let-you-choose-your-own-color thing to your liking. Due to the process they use, the prints don't last that long, are expensive, and they can't print white or on darker colors. I don't wear white shirts, or light-shade shirts, and while I can't wear my own swag it should be something I would wear. To that end...
- The selection of colors will all be darker shades, even though I know its going to disappoint some of you who emailed about it. Yeah, I could offer a heather or hot pink or canary yellow or puce option, and it would make some people not annoyed, but would also make me a bit of a whore, and not in the good way.
- I don't know if you'll get your shirt by the time of the talk. We have to meet some minimum requirements for the orders, which I'm not too worried about, but if we meet some higher ones it'll make the whole six-color deal much more economical. We're going to try, and the pre-order thing will be up in a few days max, but it would mean the pre-order window would have to be a max of two weeks or so as due to the complexity the order is going to take longer than normal to fulfill.
- It looks like there won't be a line around the print. I could go either way, and it looks like it's shaking out 50/50. If it was overwhelming for the line included, that'd be different, but in something like this its better to err on the side of not including it, as it still looks great. Once you have it you'll forget about the line not being there most of the time, but if its there and you really didn't want it, you'll be reminded you didn't want it every time you see it.
- Orders and fulfillment will be taken through a friend of the site I trust, because the goals of the shirt are:
- Help the site with some expenses its going to have to have to deal with for what I'm trying to pull off in the future.
- Depending on how well it does, help me devote a few more hours per week to the site. I believe in what I'm doing, or I wouldn't be doing it and devoting the time I am to it, but I also know there are so many things I know I could do if I could just find the time.
My eyes are so much bigger than my plate at the moment, so it'd be nice to make the plate a little bigger.
- Get The Cow in the hands of the people who have asked for this for um, forever, yet been very patient about it.
While it cuts into the margin, packaging up a bunch of shirts and heading to the post office to figure out postage to Uruguay or something probably wouldn't help [2]. I know them, trust them, and they'll do well by you.
- The shirt will be $25. It's not as cheap as it could be, and not as expensive as I could probably get away with given the complexity and reasons for having it, but it would be detrimental enough to [3] above that I want to keep it reasonable. If you want to help more and have the wherewithal, just buy more than one. :)
Anyways, thanks for your help in nailing down the shirt whether you're able to pick one up or not. It's been really helpful, and I think the final is better off because of it. While I don't want to sound like a broken record, most of the flotsam readers bail out of here early due to the DrunkenBlog-Crucible-of-Confusion™, leaving me with a big pile of cool. Don't think I'm not aware not every site has their mascot underwater or on the sides of fighter jets or running with the bulls and such.
Posted by drunkenbatmanSeptember 23, 2005, at 10:40 AM
Comments (19)
Posted by: The Limey at September 23, 2005 11:03 AM
Forget the name of the site, shouldn't it be "The Cow Imbibes"?
Posted by: Small Paul at September 23, 2005 11:10 AM
Would I look good in chocolate. Would I look good in chocolate. Shall I play safe with the dark blue? Chocolate. Brown. Hippies. Birkenstocks. Chocolate.
Would I look good in chocolate?
It may be time to find out.
Posted by: KnurdMan at September 23, 2005 11:36 AM
Although The Dude did indeed imbibe (heavily), he officially abided and thusly "The Cow Abides" is much more appropriate a saying for the shirts. But that's just like, my opinion man.
Posted by: brian at September 23, 2005 01:02 PM
db, 50/50 is a deal breaker for me. maybe next time around we can get a 100% option?
Posted by: Jon R. at September 23, 2005 02:31 PM
my background makes me fear inventoryI assume you're talking about the stacks of unsold bibles you've got lying around. :-P
Posted by: jojo at September 23, 2005 03:25 PM
if the shirts work out, what about drunkenboxers?
Posted by: Elijah Sarver at September 23, 2005 04:33 PM
So.. is the Smiths reference intentional? If so, rockin'.
Posted by: drunkenbatman at September 23, 2005 08:02 PM
db, 50/50 is a deal breaker for me. maybe next time around we can get a 100% option?
I'm sorry it's a deal breaker, but the odds of that are so low as to be almost nil.
So.. is the Smiths reference intentional?
All I know is some girls are bigger than others? :)
Posted by: pat at September 23, 2005 10:09 PM
I'd be very careful about promising more content based on selling shirts. There once was a Mac blogger that made such promises, and shipped out "several hundred" shirts.
Over a year later his output has gone *down(!!!)* *over* 20%, and I occasionally read this shit, and think "why did I give this asshole $35? I love to support the mac web. I have an AtAT shirt, and another shirt which looks cool and fits nicely. Soon I will have a cool cow shirt. I don't want to seem unappreciative. I bought his shirt because of what he had written, not what he promised. But he did promise, and he didn't deliver, and nobody's said anything. Now I have. (Phew!)
Just make sure not to raise expectations higher than you can reach.
P.S. Once I had a 50ish english gentleman ask me if I knew what a crack on the hand was for; I answered appropriately.
Posted by: drunkenbatman at September 23, 2005 10:36 PM
I'd be very careful about promising more content based on selling shirts. There once was a Mac blogger that made such promises, and shipped out "several hundred" shirts.
Good thing that's not going on? :) I wouldn't read too much into it, especially what you're reading into it, and will leave it at that as I think you're more reacting to an annoyance you have with someone else and projecting it onto me, which means the image is just a little warped.
I get what you're saying, but that's not really the deal here, although I'm not going to comment on Gruber as it's not my place to do so (Except I envy the margin on his shirt). If you really want to get into it, I don't think most have an idea of what a sinkhole some of what we're doing is, both in terms of time and what comes out of my own pocket.
I'd say to get a shirt because you want to support the site and you dig The Cow. If someone is attaching expectations of any type, especially ones that aren't attached by me, I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment.
Posted by: julian at September 24, 2005 04:18 PM
I'm sorry DB but this shirt reminds me of the mighty mouse. It may look good, but it's expensive (especially if shipping is extra), and not really as good in material terms as the competition (forgetting the priceless nature of the cow). For $25 I'd expect a 100% cotton American Apparel shirt, not a 50/50 fruit of the loom one.
Posted by: drunkenbatman at September 24, 2005 04:36 PM
I'm sorry DB but this shirt reminds me of the mighty mouse.
No worries, to each their own.
It may look good, but it's expensive (especially if shipping is extra), and not really as good in material terms as the competition (forgetting the priceless nature of the cow).
What competition?
For $25 I'd expect a 100% cotton American Apparel shirt, not a 50/50 fruit of the loom one.
If you actually talk to anyone in the industry, they'll tell you:
- When bought in retail, you'll pay more for a 100% cotton or something, but it's primarily marketing. The prices someone in the industry pays are within the range of a dollar, usually less.
- For printed shirts, 100% cotton decreases the life of the print -- you'll see cracking and a diluting of the color earlier, and it's easier to get a better looking print on something that's 50/50.
- They wear better over time, showing less stray threads and mulling -- less of a tendency for a darker color to start picking up a white fuzziness over time.
In this context, about the only thing 100% cotton has going for it (It wouldn't be that much more expensive if at all, and was an option I decided not to use) is that it's 100% natural, and I could care less about 100% natural when I'm typing this on something made of metal and plastic and silicon.
As to your American Apparel deal, if I cared about the nationality or ethnicity of who makes what I use and like, I couldn't use a computer. I'm not discounting what you're saying and listening, and sorry you're not down with the shirt, but in this case we just care about different things.
Posted by: julian at September 24, 2005 05:39 PM
By the competition I meant T-shirts with designs on them in general (the kind of thing you'll find at threadless or defunker), though I guess it's dependant on how you see this. Is it meant to be a donation with a shirt or just a shirt that you're selling?
In terms of lifespan of a shirt, the 100% cotton shirts I have seem to have held up better to repeated washing better than the 50/50 ones in my possession but I guess YMMV.
The idea that 100% cotton shirts are 100% natural is kinda funny to me (unless they're organic), since it takes about 1/3 of a pound of chemicals to make one standard T-shirt (http://www.beneficialts.com/conventional.html), which doesn't strike me as particularly natural. I generally prefer 100% cotton shirts because I find them more comfortable than their 50/50 counterparts and because I think the baby ribbed variety looks just a bit better.
The American Apparel thing was more regarding what the price tended to indicate to me rather than being a big ol' political statement, though I am one to try to pick the more ethically sound option when I can (fairtrade bananas=rocking). It's not about holding a sit-in and protesting against "the man" while eating organic tofu and swapping macrobiotic recipie cards (obviously printed on recycled paper with vegetable based inks). It's simply that I think if you can do something that's ethically better, without it being much more bother, you'd be crazy not to.
Posted by: Swelte at September 24, 2005 05:52 PM
I didn't think the shirt was very expensive, I was expecting $30 to $35... My Daring Fireball T cost $31 and is one color on a Gildan T (100% cotton, and medium quality brand). $25 is what my GF's designer T's cost which are often one colored logos. They are nice nice shirts, but they must make tens of thousands of them and batman's order will be a few hundred (guessing).
If I were DB and going to make a video of this talk available, I would raise the price some for loyal readers who appreciate what you are doing and want to help and lower it later for regular readers.
Posted by: Martin P. at September 24, 2005 06:55 PM
"The shirt will be $25. It's not as cheap as it could be, and not as expensive as I could probably get away with given the complexity and reasons for having it"
That's about right if shipping is sane. I've always been amazed that you are one guy, how you are doing all of this is a mystery and I'm be happy to give a little extra. If shipping and handling is $7.95 or more than $5, that will be a bit much.
Posted by: Sandy at September 25, 2005 04:12 PM
"If you really want to get into it, I don't think most have an idea of what a sinkhole some of what we're doing is, both in terms of time and what comes out of my own pocket."
Many days, I end up throwing an interesting link up due to time constraints. I can't even imagine investing the kind of time you do in some of your interviews and posting - or paying for your bandwidth. (Of course, I'm sure it helps that you're not married with kids.)
And now people want to comparison shop over $25 bucks for a T? As if this is like a 13 hour sale. O.K. Whatever.
"The American Apparel thing was more regarding what the price tended to indicate to me rather than being a big ol' political statement, though I am one to try to pick the more ethically sound option when I can...."
I'm not trying to pick a fight here, but can someone please tell me why it's more "ethically sound" to create jobs in the richest country in the world than it is to create jobs in China, for example?
I understand American Apparel's concern is sweatshop labor, but the truth is that large U.S. retailers inspect the factories overseas that they buy from, everything from the dormitories to the cafeteria, to interviewing workers privately to ensure they're treated well. They can't afford to be Kathy Lee'd in the press. (/end rant)
Sorry to hijack your comments Batdude. Pet peeve from long experience in knowing and loving the Chinese people.
Posted by: Anonymoose at September 25, 2005 05:11 PM
You can find issues with any company. Yes, American Apparel might be a great American t-shirt manufacturer, but the owner is rabidly anti-union and is currently fighting several sexual harassment cases from his own employees.
Posted by: pat at September 26, 2005 01:13 PM
Some people can write long essays filled with insight and pertinent thoughts while drunk. I, on the other hand can't even write a comment and not look like an asshat.
John Gruber contacted me about my comment above. By his calculations his output has gone down about %7. I trust this assertion since it has been some time since I came to my %20 number. I would just like to say that I was wrong in that regard.
While he and I still disagree that he implied that a successful fund raiser would help him free up time to work on the site thus resulting in an increase in content, I feel I owe him a public apology.
First, I am sorry that I called his article shit. I have a great deal of respect for his writing, and while I did not like that particular article I have seen evidence that many did.
Second, I am sorry that I called him an asshole. In his emails he has been very cool, especially considering he was responding to an unprovoked attack.
My point is (and feel free to disagree with me) that perception is everything. The quote:
"Depending on how well it does, help me devote a few more hours per week to the site. I believe in what I'm doing, or I wouldn't be doing it and devoting the time I am to it, but I also know there are so many things I know I could do if I could just find the time."
can be easily read as
"A successful fundraiser will help me spend more time on the site."
More money = more time = more content.
It may not be what was said, but people tend to internalize these things in a way that fits their thinking.
Hopefully that make sense even if you don't agree.
On the topic of shirts: the point isn't to get the shirt, that's a side benefit. The point is to help db pay the bills. If you feel that $25 is too much for you to give, that's fine, but keep in mind you are not buying a shirt. Debating on the value of a free gift is pointless. I'd rather have %100 cotton myself, but I'm flexible.
Thanks for the international orders.