Tee shirts on spec?
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- ********
Clothing company asked me if I'd be interested in doing some tees for them.
I trust them, and know of the guy through a friend, but still feels funny sending ideas w/o payment.
is there any legal action if somehow they use something in a year without paying or giving credit?
- moldero0
send them only low res watermarked previews
- ********0
Still its ideas.
- NONEIS0
Do NOT do this – even for a friend. Better yet, don't ever work for friends, it's a good way to end the friendship!
- ********0
Personal experience?
- personal experience here, DON'T DO IT!silentpost
- +1jaylarson
- boat0
Dooooo it. How good are your ideas anyway?
- jtb260
Don't do spec work.
- spot130
Don't, but if you do, at least have them sign a non-disclosure agreement.
- Horp0
Don't do it. I spent a lot of time doing tee graphics for companies and always made them pay to play because they were quite blasé about showing and telling how they saw something from another graphics supplier and ripped it off. It pretty much isn't even considered wrong in the clothing industry as they generally rip everything off from samples they found somewhere else anyway.
- I gave up doing tee graphics in fact because every client would hand me an A&F catalogue with post-its and say "we want all these".Horp
- all of these prints but with our logo in them".Horp
- Wow. You just scared me from joining that industryGlitterati_Duane
- +1 on the main post.e-pill
- Miguex0
It's up to you, but it's pretty standard to only get paid for selected t-shirts, this is what major companies like Vans/ Billabong/ Quiksilver, etc do.
and VERY rarely, pay royalties.
most you'll get is around $300 bucks per selected graphic, independently of them using it on shirts, hats or other garments
- MSTRPLN0
"we would like you to come up with 7 designs, but we will only pick and pay for the 2 that we like best"
- horton0
Mig is right about the big-brand industry standard approx ~300-400$ per tee. More for smaller/boutique labels.
But doesn't mean you have to bust your ass for nothing. Give them a bulk price - maybe $2500 - for say 10-20 rough concepts, of which they can pick maybe 5 which you agree to finish for print. It can work as a win for everyone. Keep your concepts generic so they can be recycled.
I observed a couple well-known apparel designers work it this way, and have done the same since.
- not a bad idea sir. tshirts have always been trickysofakingbanned
- dewilde0
its always worked out fine for me. usually 350 to 500 per shirt they pick out. Now that i have a relationship with most of the companies, they tell me their direction and i stick pretty close to that. And i have a kill fee set up, so if they dont roll with it i get at least a percentage.
i guess my advice is to not to spent a ton of time on them. so if they dont get picked its not a huge loss. the company stealing your idea is just a risk you take. it has never happened to me but i guess theres always the possibility. i just do them cuz they are fun and they pay decent. crank out a copule of those babies in an hour and you have got a pretty good hourly rate.