The point of the last post was supposed to be a discussion on T-ins my new name for t-shirt tie-ins like the Boing Boing/Imaginary Foundation link up from pt. 1. Theres nothing revolutionary here, I’ve just been thinking about this over the past few days because of the popularity of the Threadless Loves contests. I’ve talked about “stickyness” and “community” a lot in my recent posts. There are just so many new t-shirt startups which seems to have no unique selling points, or be doing anything different to help them take a slice of the market away from the established players. In the future I think the T-in will become more and more popular as a way of marketing your site.
There are very few obstacles left in setting up a t-shirt store, when you think about the services offered by Merchline or Spreadshirt. The nets full of talented designers, Spreadshirt will provide the infrastructure and distribution. Really the only piece still missing from the puzzle is marketing, how do you attract customers? For me the best way to generate loyal business is to have a clear brand and values, and build a community of like-minded customers around that. This is the tricky bit, T-ins can help by offering a sort of rent-a-community – instant sales and hopefully long-term customers. Sites like Boing Boing get a slice of the $ and a chance to extend the power of their brand offline.
