Teespring does some really cool work with non-profits, launching kickstarter-esque campaigns for them (at no cost) and giving a cut of the proceeds to that organization. A few friends of mine who run an education non-profit in Philly (http://www.12plus.org/) did it a few months ago [1] and it really helped them out a lot. Coupled with this blog post, TeeSpring seems like good people.
I ran a store last year selling shirts (http://rubythreads.com/) and I managed inventory and shipped out of my garage. Any profit made on the shirts was spent on logistics. Its a rough business and I'm trying to appeal to a very specific audience. I was planning on building a new storefront and moving to a kickstarter-model for future designs, but Teespring has been totally turnkey for me so far.
Hi from Teespring! This is awesome - if anyone has any questions we're always happy to talk, I'll keep an eye on this thread and you can also reach us by email at walker (at) teespring (dot) com.
Wonder what tips there are around getting a campaign right (ie guessing simplicity and fun are key factors...but what about colour of the t-shirt etc?)
Also, would be nice to get some analytics about how many visit your campaign page Vs people who add to cart but don't buy etc.. (or did I miss that?)
[also this is my first post on Hacker news! followed for ages, but kind of looking forward to adding more]
We only use high quality screen printing, no digital printing or DTG printing here.
The great thing about using a crowdfunding model for apparel is you don't have to compromise of quality or price - you can have the best of both worlds.
Absolutely, we're currently doing mugs for TWiT (www.teespring.com/twitmugs) and our plan is to branch out to other items - we just want to make sure we can deliver an amazing experience in each product category before we expand to the next.
If you shoot me an email at walker (at) teespring (dot) com I'd be happy to work with you to setup a poster campaign.
[1] http://teespring.com/12plus