Nash, TN NashvilleForce T-shirts?

I just had an idea last night about making our own NashvilleForce.com T-shirts. I thought that would be real cool and also be great for all those from our Fanforce chapter who are attending Celebration 2 in Indy to wear. I'm going to look into prices in the area and also copyright infringement stuff. We may have to leave any STAR WARS logos and characters off the T-shirts as most places will not reproduce copyrighted images, logos and such. We'll have to see. I figure by starting the planning process now we can have them ready before the convention. Perhaps we may have to move up the date that we talk to the theaters in order to make sure that the shirts will be ready by the end of April. I'll see what the typical turnaround time is.

I was thinking about the style where our logo would be displayed on the upper left of the front of the shirt as:

NASHVILLE
FORCE.COM
Middle Tennessee's
source for the Force

We could use the same text style as is on the main page of the website. I broke Nashville and Force in order to make the text bigger and bolder. I would probably be more cost effective to choose one color T-shirt and one color print, such as a black T-shirt with say blue or yellow print. As far as the back goes, we'll have to see if we are allowed to use any STAR WARS images. We could also use the flyer for the back image. My idea for the back image is:

IT'S THE BIGGEST
MOVIE EVENT OF
THE YEAR!
The picture will be silhouettes of many of the STAR WARS characters against a white movie screen (like Masterpiece theater) with the STAR WARS- EPISODE II- ATTACK OF THE CLONES logo on it (I'm trying to keep it simple and readable). Some of the characters will be animated like Vader doing the "I sqoosh your head" vice grip. Some of the Jedi will hold up lightsabers. Underneath it will say the Date of May 16, 2002 and also the Theater where we are going to see the movie and perhaps a cool catch phrase. I'm going to also see if perhaps we can get the Silver Anniversary logo patches and then we can have them sewn on the sleeves.


What do you all think about this? Is this a good idea? Anybody have any other ideas on the shirts?

 

k kanos, I think this rocks! Don't forget though. Our official name is Nashville After Darth. I would like to think that would go somewhere on the shirt. Anyhoot, I'm game.. I'm buyin'...

Let me know if you need my help.

 

That's no problem. I'll use:

NASHVILLE
AFTER DARTH

then. Perhaps I'll put the website address on the back. The name gives me an idea for a logo also which would set it off. O.K. my creative juices are flowing . I'll get back with you guys next week.

 

Well I will be wearing my Jedi costume to both Celebration II and the premiere of Episode II.
As far as merchandise, that's kind of a legally grey area. Awhile back, The Fighting 501st Legion, which BTW is in tight with LFL and WotC, opened a store and sold mugs and clothing, etc. Basically Steve Sansweet and LFL ripped them a new one and they dropped the store. They were lucky in that LFL didnt just can the 501st, but LFL couldn't afford that kind of negative publicity.
Before we start selling shirts we need to talk to a lawyer and see if this is legal. Even if the odds are in our favor, a Cease and Desist letter would probably all we could take since it's unlikely that we could afford to fight a legal battle with LFL, even if we did win.

 

Well, then we don't legally sell them then. We find a place that can make them for us and give them the template. If they agree to do it, then it's on their hands. Once they agree, we each go in and get it done for ourselves. Therefore, WE don't sell them. THEY do. I dunno.

Now, the more difficult part of the matter would be to find someone who will do it. But if they do, most places keep your template on hand for quite a while. So, that's the good side.

Besides, we are talking about a group of what... 10 people max?

 

Hey k kanos, I just found a site that lets you design your own shirts with custom logos.

Tell me what you think:

99dogs

 

It looks interesting Elan Rai, but I am going to try the shops locally first. As far as legality goes, we will not use the name STAR WARS on the shirts, Attack of the Clones or any other name that is licensed by Lucasfilm. I have been working on an idea for the logo and will run it past you all once I have it refined a little bit more sometime this week. It does include a silhouette of Darth Vader's head, but we can get around that if need be by creating the image ourselves in either an ironed on image or by using an air brush stencil. Don't worry, I will make sure that it looks professionally done if we have to go that route. As far as the back is concerned, I have an idea that I know will fly. I think you are all going to love it . It has to do with Episode II, but also ties in with Nashville. As far as selling T-shirts go. We can NOT make a profit on these. That's the point of Lucasfilm cracking down on the 501st. You can draw or paint all the STAR WARS pictures you want, but you can't sell them. That's the point of having a license from Lucasfilm to reproduce STAR WARS merchandise. These are for Nashville After Darth members only. People who want a shirt wll pay for the cost to make the shirt. That's all. We can offer them in the member's only part of our website and make the point that the price is for the cost to make the shirt and that no profit is being made on these. Once we approve a design, I will talk to the shirt makers and find out whether or not there will be a problem. If so, I can modify the design, sign a waiver (if that is an option) or let them reproduce the parts that they deem not to be copyright infringement and I'll do the rest.

Once I get an approved design by you all and the shirt makers, I'll get it priced out and we'll find out how much money and turnaround time we're talking.

 

Sweet!! Can't wait to see what you've done. We need to lock down a time to meet soon too. I'll start a thread soon about it. Later on.

 

After playing around with the design for a week, here is the design for the left lapel of the front of the T-shirts. (I'm still working on the concept for the back design)

[image=http://www.scottjohnstonart.com/sys-tmpl/nss-folder/scrapbook/NADprelim3.jpg]

Now, there is one catch. I've talked to a CG artist here in the office and she says that there is no way a T-shirt company will print that design due to copyright infringement of the image of Darth. However, there is an alternative, which I'm testing out. I bought some computer printout iron on transfer sheets and am going to test them out. If they work, I think it may be our best solution to getting shirts and it will also keep the cost. I found good quality 100% cotton black shirts at Target for $8.65 including tax. The transfer sheets are $19 for a Ten pack (plus shipping as it's cheaper to order them direct on-line). I can get three front lapel designs on a sheet and estimate it will take an entire sheet for the back. That's approximately 7 shirts per 10 pack. I did the math and it will run under $15. Even if a T-shirt maker were to agree to do these, I doubt that we could get them with front and back designs so cheaply.

Well, tell me all what you think of the design. I can still modify it if need be. I'll let you know how the iron on transfers work out.

 

Man, that kicks some major boo-tay!! Hey, did you use Photoshop for that or did you draw by hand? Awesome, Scott!

 

Thanks . I'm glad you like it. I hope everyone else does too.

I did a preliminary sketch and scanned it in. I traced over the scan in photoshop and rendered everything on photoshop as well. All the text was done in photoshop too. I sent Hama a preliminary Friday with no shading, highlights or text effects. When I found the computer transfer sheets, I decided to go ahead and spruce up the design as shown. I made it so each color element was on a different layer so I could easily go back and change each element if need be. The back is going to take me a little longer (like a few weeks in what spare time I have), but will be worth it I think. I'll post a link to the sketch at the end of the week so you all can tell me what you think before I spend a lot of time rendering it.

As far as the iron on transfers go, they worked out great! I did a test shirt last night and even washed it and ran it throught the dryer. No problems whatsoever. They do say in the instructions to wash the shirts inside out and not to use detergent with bleach alternative. They also say to dry them on low heat. I bought a golf shirt at Target for 12 bucks and transfered a design to it as well. It looks as good as the print out. I also made the little Silver Anniversary logo coins and put them at the base of each sleeve. I brought it to work this morning to show a few of my co-workers and they thought I had the shirt professionally done. I'll bring one to our meeting in February, so everyone can see it before placing an order.

 

OK. I am PUMPED!! I am going to go ahead and post our meeting for Friday, February 1st then. How is 7pm sound? Later? Earlier? Cozymels OK? Somewhere else?

Do you think we'll have enough room to discuss all this at Cozy's? Is there somewhere we can go after we eat maybe?

 

I like it!

 

that is an awesome design!!

can we get in trouble for *wearing* darth? or is it as long as it's not done in mass and sold?

just curious...

 

If we have it on, no big deal. If someone worked for LucasFilm and asked us where we bought it, you could say.. "Don't recall..."

 

Though I can't be at the meeting, I still would like a fanforce t-shirt. I love the ideal

 

Or you could just say "a friend gave it to me."

No problem PA55. Once I get a total approved design (including the back), which we can hopefully nail down by the meeting on FEB 1, we can take orders for shirts. I'll bring both a T-shirt & a golf shirt to the meeting. How does a $6 deposit on T-shirts and a $8 deposit on golf shirts sound? That way, I can confirm the price and go ahead and get the shirts at Target, before they run out.

Or, if you wish, buy your own T-shirt or golf shirt and bring it to our meeting at Cozymels. Note: The design is meant to be on a black or extremely dark blue shirt, as the background and border is black in order to blend in. According to the iron on instructions the transfers may not adhere well on extremely thick clothing such as sweatshirts or high textured shirts.

Please make sure to give me your preferred shirt size when you give me your deposit if you wish for me to get the shirts. The T-shirts will be black and the Golf shirts are a very dark blue, or if I can find some inexpensive black ones. Right now, at the prices I found at Target, the cost of the Nashville After Darth T-shirts will be about $13 and the Golf shirts about $17. We can discuss all this at the meeting on FEB 1.

 

I'm away for awhile and everyone gets delusions of grandeur...LOL
First of all...k kanos, the shirts kick major bootaaaaay!! I like the idea of black shirts...Darth would be proud.
Second, so far...Feb. 1st looks good for me...so far. With my job, I never know what might come up. But I make this solemn oath to you now...(puts hand on VHS copy of Empire Strikes Back)...I will try my darndest to be there. However, someone will need to email me or PM me the directions to Cozymels.

 

Steja - Take your preferred method to I-40 (I recommend Hwy 22, through Martin); when you reach I-440, hang right going south or east -- I can't remember if you head toward Knoxville or Huntsville; when you reach I-65, go south towards Huntsville. It's Exit 69, go left (east) and it'll be on the other side of the bridge!

That was clear as mud.

Edit: Recommendation stands unless you live as well as work in Dyersburg ... just get on the Interstate in Jackson, then.

 

Thanks, Vee, for the directions. I do live in Dyersburg now, but at least now I know what exit to take. Thanks again. By the way, how's the higher education going?

 

I-440 runs east/west, so it would be towards Knoxville.

 

I went to Target last night to pick up a DVD. I walked by the black T-shirts and low and behold, they were marked down to $5, XXL to $7 and Golf shirts to $10! That brings the regular sized T- shirt prices down to $9 and golf-shirts down to $15 with design transfers. I couldn't resist and picked up 5:

1 small
1 medium
1 Large
2 XL

I figured we would at least have that many request for shirts. They of course shrunk a little, being 100% cotton, after I ran them through the washer & dryer. They run about average size. The small is pretty small though and would probably be a petite woman's size. Unfortunatley, these prices are only good through Saturday. Besides, there weren't a whole lot of these either. If you definitely want a shirt, let me know by noon on Friday what size, so that if I need to get more I can at these prices. I might even have the shirts ready by our February 1st meeting (crosses fingers) . Don't worry about a deposit, you can pay for them then. And please only let me know if you are really serious about getting a shirt. I don't want to be stuck with a bunch of them .

I'm hoping to finish my preliminary sketch for the back of the T-shirts by tomorrow. You can all let me know what you think, and if it's cool with you guys, I'll start CGing the sketch into the computer for the final transfers sometime next week.

By the way, I played around with the color of the text a little for the front design, so that it looks like a sunset. I also added the reflection of the skyline in Vader's eye and lightened the edges of the shadow (it was coming out blue with a dark line around it). Let me know which design you like better; the first or this one.

[image=http://www.scottjohnstonart.com/sys-tmpl/nss-folder/scrapbook/NAD115.jpg]

 

This is just a reminder. I've gotten a few orders in from people, but I know that there are more of you out there that want shirts. Please let me know how many shirts, what type (T-shirt or golf shirt) and what size by TODAY. As I'm going to pick up the shirts tomorrow. No deposit is required, but if you wait until next week. Prices will go up, as I can get them on sale right now.

T-shirts will be $9, XXL $11.50, regular
sized golf shirts $15, XXL $17. Again, we are not making any money on these. LIMIT TWO PLEASE . You can pay for the T-shirts at the meeting on FEB 1, or we can arrange to get it to you.

Please E-mail me if you are serious in purchasing one and what your
shirt-size is. I might even have them ready for the February 1st (keeps fingers crossed). scojoart@hotmail.com.

I will be posting the preliminary sketch for the back of the shirts sometime today.

 

Here it is- the preliminary design for the back of the T-shirts :

[image=http://www.scottjohnstonart.com/sys-tmpl/nss-folder/scrapbook/NADbackPRE.jpg]

I thought this design really kind of sang Nashville. As we are called "Music City". What better way to incorporate that with STAR WARS than to have a Clone band of musicians. Yes, those are the same instruments from the cantina band. I'm going to render the clones on top of the sketch in photoshop so they look ultra-realistic. I think its going to look really cool, but quite possibly time consuming. The text, fonts, and colors might change. Well actually, the whole design might change if you guys don't like it. I thought this design should go on the back of the T-shirts only, as to have it on a golf shirt might be too much. It will pretty much cover the whole back, but I'll definitely try to keep it up towards the top. Nothing bothers me more than when you have a cool T-shirt design and half of it is hidden by pants (if you tuck your shirt in that is).

Well, what do you guys think. Is it a winner ? Should I keep going?

As far as the shirts go, I will definitely have the golf shirts ready by the February 1st meeting. The T-shirts might take a little longer, but should definitely be finished by the end of February.

 

LOVE it! that's cool....i especially like the Music City USA part...