Georgia Fiero Club Forum
General Discussion and Announcements => General Discussion => Topic started by: GTRS Fiero on February 24, 2018, 04:17:57 pm
-
I was looking at the 35th T-shirts. The nice artwork is on the BACK. Not to disparage anyone's efforts, but I'm curious about this. I've previously observed this phenomenon. Being that I'm not equipped with eyes in the back of my head, I am unable to see the image while I'm wearing the shirt.
One Fiero event T-shirt I'd previously purchased had 5 or so small wrenches on the front, and all the cool artwork on the rear. I am a person who buys T-shirts for the images. At one time, I had more than 300 shirts that I hadn't worn. I've only purchased 9 T-shirts for myself in the last 18 years. When I choose a shirt, it's because I like the picture I see on the shirt as the shirt lays folded in the drawer. If the picture was on the back, I wouldn't get to see the picture, and wojld have to unfold the shirt to determine if I liked the picture that day or not.
If someone asks you about the artwork on your shirt, you can both view the item being discussed; similarly, if you are discussing a particular subject, you can point to items on your shirt to illustrate. If people like the images on your shirt, they can look you in the eye, give you a thumbs-up, or whatever; if they don't like it, they probably give you a special gesture behind your back, while you remain oblivious.
When the artwork is on the back, you often must have someone read off the year for you. This seems awkward.
When wearing a white shirt with the srtwork on the rear, I feel as if I'm wearing an undershirt. Worse, these T-shirts are often made using low-quality shirts that are uncomfortable, poorly made, and don't last long. Perhaps such shirts are intended to be single-use. It would seem that, if I like the artwork, I'd want it on the front where I can see it.
Cheap shirts have the additional issue of leaving stains on fabric, such as chairs and car seats. Also, there seems to be more wear on the rear of the shirt, leaving worn spots in the artwork. Not the case with the 35th shirt, but the artwork often extends to the bottom of the shirt, and there seems to be a propensity for making the shirts long. Too long. I end up sitting on the artwork. For those with an ample girth, this is probably a perk, but the rest of us almost need to cut off the bottom of the shirt.
My question is, what is the reasoning behind putting the artwork on the back of the shirt?
Keep in mind that a jacket is different.
-
When I was co-owner of a T-shirt printing and sales company, we always printed the image on the front if the buyer requested it. Shirts that only promoted an event or a product or music album were printed on the front. If they had large type for the sponsor, for example high school band competition event logo would on the front with the high school band name on the back.
In our case, I followed the lead of the previous clubs that sponsored RFTH. The event logo was always on the back, as far as I can determine. I put the club logo or as of late, the Fiero logo on the front. Swapping places would require a larger Fiero logo on the back, increasing the cost. I try to keep the price of the shirts under $25 for standard adult sizes. Sometimes, depending upon the brands available, they have risen a little above that.
I have shirts from the very first one I did for RFTH. I often wear them underneath a polo shirt, so it's not like they're just sitting in a drawer. The printing method my chosen printers have used, with the exception of year before last, is a sublimation dye process. The image is inkjet printed onto a release sheet. When heat is applied, that ink turns to a gas and embeds itself into the fabric as opposed to bonding to the surface. That makes it pretty much fade resistant, and gives it a soft feel as if it were just the cloth against your body.
Once we offered the club logo on the left front, the forum username and person's real name on the right front and right sleeve, but that added considerably to the cost and didn't sell very well.
-
I figured you would have an insight on this.
-
I suppose i could special order with the image on the front. I don't think they would charge extra since it's the same process and amount of work. I always try to get the Fiero logo and the club logo on the shirt so others can assign some recognition.