Archive for the ‘indie craft experience’ Category

Indie Craft Experience!

Sunday, June 8th, 2008

ICE-ATL

ICE-ATL

ICE-ATL

ICE-ATL

Well, after about 3 months of intense planning and preparation, my first ICE experience is finally over. And I’m happy to say that it totally paid off. Every dollar I spent, every sign I labored over, every cursed trip to Walmart for supplies… it was all totally worth it in the end.

When we first got there in the morning (thanks Michelle, Nico, and Bailey!), at about 8:30, there weren’t too many others there setting up, so it was a little tough to figure out where exactly our space was. Finally I realized that the little orange flags on the ground had numbers on them, and that those numbers marked the corners of where our booths were supposed to go, and subsequently matched our assigned vendor numbers. Oh. Duh.

It too about 10 trips back and forth to the van to get all the stuff unloaded and onto our little 10′x10′ plot, but mercifully we were able to unload it really close to our spot before getting shooed away by the police, who explained that this wasn’t the official unloading area. Oh well!

I was surprised how quickly we set up – although I brought my ENTIRE inventory (over 1,000 shirts and 150 belts) plus three 7-foot shelving units, 2 square tables, the tent, and all sorts of other display equipment, we had it completely set up in about 25 minutes. The lady who was vending next to me seemed surprised that I got it all up so quick. It was then that I realized why the show didn’t start till 11… Nice.

So I sat around, checked out some of the other booths, chatted with the other vendors, and even networked with some folks in the screenprinting business. Everyone was super supportive of LF and seemed to really like my stuff. Several of these vendors even ran over throughout the day to check up on me and make purchases! This was especially cool, though I feel like a bit of a jerk now because I didn’t buy from any of the other booths since I was so focused on my own thing!

When the event finally started at 11, it was surprisingly slow. I guess I’d kind of pictured this huge horde of people throwing cash at the vendors and clambering over the merchandise. Instead, most of the folks seemed to have stumbled on the event accidentally on their Saturday morning city stroll. Ugh. Not good!

Another factor that had me worried was the temperature. It was in the 90′s before noon and the humidity was almost unbearable. I kept wondering to myself why they hadn’t scheduled the event in May, when it would’ve been far more appealing to folks that didn’t want to get a heat stroke. Still, I chatted with the few folks that wandered my way and did my best to stay positive.

My first sale came in around 11:30, and it was a great one to start the day. The guy (should’ve gotten his name!) was super enthusiastic about my stuff and promised to check out the online shop as soon as he got in. He got a kick out of the fact that I was based right here in Georgia, too.

And I guess that’s when things started turning around. Suddenly the traffic started picking up a lot more, and all kinds of people were stopping to look through my belts and tees and asking me which design they should get since they couldn’t choose! And even when they didn’t buy anything, it was awesome to see them smiling as their eyes wandered around the display panels to check out the tees. That was a good feeling, and that was when I knew that it had all been worthwhile.

I think 3:00 was the absolute peak of the day. At times I had a little line forming from the booth, which was just too cool. I had a little jar on the table, too, where people could throw in their email addresses for a chance to win some free stuff. By the end of the day it was packed with entries! I also went through loads of stickers, buttons, and all my postcards. I sold a nice chunk of inventory, too.

At the end of the day, a lot of other vendors had wonderful compliments for me, saying how impressed they were with it being my first show, and how professional and amiable I’d been with customers. It was cool to feel like I’d gotten their respect in that way.

So all in all, it was a fantastic experience. Despite the heat and the absurd traffic that unceasingly plagues the city, people showed up faithfully and supported Linty Fresh. And if you’re one of those people, thank you!

Posted in indie craft experience | 4 Comments »

Getting things ready

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

Tees galore!It’s crazy how much is involved in doing a show. I mean, I had NO idea how much work, effort, and money it’d be, but it really adds up. Not that it isn’t fun, because it’s super exciting to see things coming together, it’s just… endless? The nice thing is that for a lot of this stuff, once it’s done it’s done, and I won’t have to worry about it for future shows. Things like getting the displays to look right, figuring out how to situate everything, getting the signs and the banners printed, and buying all the equipment (tables, chairs, panels, tent, shelves, clothing rack).

And most of the stuff is done (or so I think). I’m pretty happy with how I’ve got my booth setup, for one, which was something I avoided sorting out for awhile. I really had to think back to the shows I’ve been to, and what I did and didn’t like about my shopping experiences. For example, it always bugged me when the booths were cluttered and packed with stuff. I’m not claustrophobic, but seeing so much stuff all at once can be overwhelming to the casual shopper, and if you’ve got stuff strewn on the floor and reaching out from the walls, people won’t feel comfortable maneuvering around it all. Or at least I never do.

So, I’ve made a conscious effort to keep things simple and neat. Each tee will be wrapped around a 13″x13″ cardboard square and attached to a wall panel. That way people can see all the tees up front, without shuffling clumsily through piles of merchandise. (Another peeve of mine) Another benefit to keeping the clutter down is that it’ll provide space for my customers to walk around. I know I tend to shop at shows this way because I’m always scared the vendors will latch on to me and try to sell me something. And that’s something else that I’ll be mindful of being behind the sales desk for once – not being too pushy! People can see you sitting there, so there’s no reason to get in their face. If they have a question, they’ll ask. Be observant, but be quiet.

Another technique that I’ll be using is one that was suggested by David Murray, the guy behind the wonderful creations at Seibei. He recommended having a clothing rack at the edge of the booth (where foot traffic passes) with all my tees on hangers. Reason being, it’s more visible, and people may be less apprehensive browsing when there’s some distance between them and the vendor.

ButtonsSo what’s left? Well, promotional stuff for one. I want to have some LF take-aways for people who want to look me up later online, so I’m planning on doing 1,000 or so buttons with just the LF logo (see pic). I also have 1,000 stickers en route from stickerrobot.com. Unlike the old ones I used to have, these will be on UV-protected vinyl, glossy and die-cut. They’re going to look amazing!

I also need to assemble about 50 button packs. I haven’t made more since they sold out on the site, though I still have them up for sale there since they’re quick enough to produce when orders come through. And hopefully, if time permits, I’ll be able to come up with a 4th button pack. I’m still not sure what of, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out.

The last thing is the signage. Last night I designed the pricing sign and a URL sign (which shows links to my myspace/blog/storefront). Both of these will be displayed on the main table. I also want to have a sign somewhere mentioning the youth-large tees I’ve still got from the first 4 prints back in 2006. Reallllly trying to get rid of these guys, so they’ll be just $5 a piece. I’ll need a similar sign for the long sleeves as well, since they’re easy to miss. And of course I can’t forget the main vinyl banner which will be displayed on the outside of the tent. I have some interesting ideas to give my booth a really unique look, but I have yet to really sit down and design something.

I’ll post with more pictures as things progress…

Oh, and check it out! The interview I did for Rumplo is now on their blog!

Posted in booth, indie craft experience, show | No Comments »

Ramblings

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

I think the real catalyst for getting Linty Fresh out there locally is going to have to be in-person sales. I’m going to be selling at ICE for sure in June, but I don’t think it’d be a bad idea at all to think about doing some smaller shows to. ICE is great but it’s only twice a year, which seems a little hit-and-miss. Either way, local recognition will be a huge step for me, especially if I’m ever going to think about opening a shop… which I am.

I know, I know, it’s a LONG shot from where I’m at now, but it’d be just too awesome to run a little Linty Fresh storefront and maybe even employ some of my friends. I’d have a little gallery section showing off local young Atlanta artists’ work, a “work-in-progress” bulletin board where people could check out my preliminary designs, and of course all kinds of LF goodies from tees and hoodies to skate decks, shoes, snowboards, and art prints. And at that point I might even consider doing collaborations with other guys (I’ve got dozens in mind from Flickr and Emptees alone)

…But on the other hand, the one thing I’ve been ultra stubborn about is doing all the design myself up to this point. Everything. Every piece of packaging, every character, every graphic on the site, every image shown on a product page, and especially every tee. It’s tempting to hire other artists; from a profits standpoint, it makes complete sense. I’d be getting all kinds of new flavors and styles which would certainly bring new customers to the site, all for a couple hundred more than I’m currently spending per print. But I refuse! This probably sounds like megalomania, but I guess what I’m trying to get across is that LF isn’t just there to make me as much money as possible. If it were I’d pick a theme and start hunting for other artists instead of tackling it all myself.

A few sites I frequent have done this. Coincidentally, a few of them started around the time LF did, but their ranges of styles and designs surpassed me ages ago. It can be a little discouraging, to be honest. But what I try to focus on is that fact that LF has always been (and will hopefully always be) more about me as a person and an artist than just a site with cool designs. Not that I’m in any way ragging on those other guys – I keep in contact with a lot of them and buy their stuff, even – it’s just not my gig.

In a way, I almost approach LF as a portfolio or a photo album, a documentation of my progression and development. The cool thing is that this seems to be appreciated and respected by a lot of guys in the industry. And that’s one thing that blows me away in all of this – the support from the competition! I recently found out that I was getting traffic from Seibei, the owner of whom I know and have chatted with a few times. How cool is that? Despite being competitors, he’s totally plugging me on his links page.

Just one of many things that make me love this – it’s just one awesome experience after another.

Posted in business, ideas, indie craft experience, linty fresh, seibei, tshirts | 2 Comments »