T-Shirts

The relevant information here should be incorporated into Purchasing Policy, if the Collective agrees Ali 21:05, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Ordering Policy

We order from vendors who use sweatshop free labor only. Please ask Elizabeth for more details. Also see these links:

• Unite here: http://unitehere.org/
• Sweat Free Communittees: http://www.sweatfree.org/shopping
• http://www.irtfcleveland.org/1_2_3_Buy%20SweatFree.pdf

Preferred Vendor

Right now, we use Windjammer, Inc (Bangor, PA). They are a UNITE members. They ship accurate orders quickly. And they are price competitive.

Screening

We currently use Hand Silk Screen. They are googleable and near Free Geek. Contact is Clark Nickels. We could use Windjammers in-house screening, but are not currently. For normal t-shirt orders, you can use the spreadsheet locatedhere.

Do Not Order From These Vendors

• No Sweat: http://nosweatapparel.com/

Previous attempts to use this vendor were disastrous. And they are expensive. See previous versions of this page for more detail.

Other Vendors (No ordering experience)

• Lifewear: http://www.Lifewear.net

• Union made/in USA-no style catalog
• ~$5.35/shirt

These guys are cool. US based union, web-published benefits and wages, all materials sourced from US (!). Their catalogue: http://www.unionshirtsupply.com)

• Justice Clothing: http://www.justiceclothing.com

• PDS: http://www.pcusa.org/sweatfree/shirts.htm

Note!!! Website says prices have been raised to $8/shirt

• North Country Fair Trade: http://00674e0.netsolhost.com/products.htm

• Maggie's: http://www.organicclothes.com

• Organic & Fair Trade garments made in worker owned coop in Nicaragua
• EXPENSIVE $7.50/shirt

Logo Considerations

• Some logos look better than others, which may impact how often someone is likely to wear a t-shirt. That said, using our sticker logo fits more within a broader strategy of strengthening brand recognition.

• Location on Free Geek's internal application server in /usr/local/outreach/logos/logo_fg/use_this_one.eps

• Most recently we did our logo in plain form on t-shirts, about 6-inches across [hand silk screen]. They turned out very nice. We used grey on white for the logo on black and ash colored tees. The black looked great, the grey should probably be black on white (like the shirts for 4-5 years ago). Clark from hand silk screen is calling union shirt supply, and I'll come up with an spreadsheet-style order for so that we can streamline ordering of this product.

T-Shirt Contest

Free Geek had a t-shirt contest (insert link of Owens Walz graphics on our application server). We made one mistake that added months to the production of the shirts: In the future it is very important that submitted entries are 3 or fewer colors or it will either cost too much to screen or not be screenable at all.

T-shirts for staff and volunteers

All t-shirt disbursements/sales should occur through the database. As of right now, staff members are allowed two free Free Geek t-shirts/year. T-shirts for staff should be input through the disbursement interface as Staff Adoption. Staff requests for t-shirts should not interfere with the operation of the store and can also be input by Collective members or Front Desk staff.

If the t-shirt is procured for a volunteer for something other than their Volunteer Milestone (which is now being handled with gift certificates and not direct t-shirt disbursements), the staff member responsible for making that decision must notify their immediate supervisor via email about the reason for disbursing the shirt (within a reasonable amount of time after/before the disbursement). These should be entered into the system as disbursements for Vol Appreciation Gifts.