Show HN: Helvetitee: Custom tee. No bullshit. (Our four-day startup) | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Helvetitee: Custom tee. No bullshit. (Our four-day startup)

helvetitee.com

38 pointstomcavill59 comments

So £25 (fairly expensive) for a t-shirt based on a fairly dead meme that is available in one colour and can have no other details? Apple fans are going to love it.

In all serious, I'd be tempted if this was sub ten quid but for £25 you can get so so so much more for your money, and if you're willing to pay that for a white t-shirt with a word on it you have far too much money.

Fair point. We'll come up with a better price as everyone seems to agree it's too high.

How did you come up with the current price?

We wanted to ensure we could post anywhere in the world and not lose money or have to charge extra. I think at this price orders will be slow though, so we've slashed it to $25 to see what happens. Should still make a profit unless the order is in very far-flung lands.

I really dig the simplicity of the process. I love that the entire top of the homepage not only shows exactly what you offer, but it is, essentially, your entire user-facing product. The price point is a little high compared to normal custom t-shirt offerings, but if you're offering higher quality shirts and a better user experience, then that isn't a bad thing.

A couple of suggestions:

1. The person/model used for the primary image/ordering system looks miserable. "Look, you can get your own custom shirt, but it isn't going to make you happy" doesn't exactly seem like the message you're trying to send here! A smile would go a really long way. Also, the cropping around the hair makes it look a little less professional. I'm not a designer, and I'm sure it is difficult to get something like that perfect, but I think it is worth the effort given how prominent the photo is.

2. The photos of the t-shirts themselves make the t-shirts look like they're low quality (specifically, really thin). I'm not a huge fan of white shirts in general, but I definitely don't want any t-shirt that I can actively see through. Sure, your "gallery" model may be attractive, but it doesn't look very professional (nor does it speak highly of your shirts) if you can see her bra through the product.

3. I feel like the "About, delivery & more" link should really link to the "About" section. I was a little confused when it jumped down the page and I was just staring at some random "suggestions" which, in my case, were not interesting. There's nothing wrong with the suggestions, I just don't think they should be more prominent than "About".

4. I'm on a 27" thunderbolt display, and the marketing material in your bottom tabs is taking up less than half of the bottom of my screen when I am scrolled down as far as I can go. That's not the worst thing in the world, but I would rather scroll down than just change the bottom 40% of my screen when I click "tabs".

5. I'd want more information about the product, the company, and possibly you before I order anything. If you're trying to sell quality, then a full page talking about how damn awesome your shirts are would go a long way to converting me to a customer. And after you sold me on the product itself, I still wouldn't feel safe ordering anything from an unestablished company with no business address, almost no information about the people behind it, and no contact means other than email/twitter.

All in all though, it is cool to see what you can accomplish in only four days. Best of luck.

Thanks for the really comprehensive feedback.

I actually agree with every point you raise. We've got a great deal to improve upon but like you say at the end, it has only been a quick project thus far.

I hope you'll take a look back (or follow one of us on twitter - @tomcavill / @helvetitee / @ccharlesworth) so you can see the site improve over the next few weeks.

Thanks again for taking the time to comment.

I think the site is pretty awesome but I had the same exact feeling about the price. If you're interested, I don't mind helping out with that.

We have an API that you can use to maximize profit over time. You send us order information, we build a pricing model, then you make calls out to the model to either update it with a new order or get a price.

For more info (we actually use tshirts as an example): https://ventata.com/Ecommerce/Home && https://github.com/Ventata/API

Send me an email and I'll give you an API key.

(Don't go through my normal site, you'll have to pay that way)

I like that you included photos of the printed t-shirts, also I like that you're using a printer with no web presence so we can't go straight to the supplier, hah.

A cute idea that might help people to spread their shirts: If someone creates a shirt (let's say I'm miley cyrus and I make one for my fans, "I <3 @mileycyrus") and it gets x (5?) sales they get a free copy of the t-shirt. That would give users an incentive to share their creation with their Facebook friends and Twitter followers.

The way you described the t-shirts makes them sound quite appealing so I figure I'll order one, no idea what to put on it though... :( maybe "I just wanted a t-shirt".

oh also I assume "handmade in London" refers to the business; but with t-shirts it would read as if you're saying the t-shirts are handmade in London, which isn't true.

That's a great idea, and something close to what we're thinking a few versions down the line. The free shirt after 5 purchases is very clever, and probably a better model than standard affiliate stuff.

I've changed the footer based on hearing this suggestion a couple of times :)

There are literally dozens of "make your own t-shirt" offerings online, most with a wider array of shirt colors and the ability to include your own graphics in addition to text, at a price comparable or cheaper than you are offering (cafepress.com, inktastic.com, etc). I've used these services myself and found them easy, not at all "cumbersome" as you state on helvetitee.com.

What value does your offering have in comparison to your competition?

We view our simplicity as a benefit. Sure SpreadShirt and their ilk offer thousands of options, but when you just want a message printed clearly on a tshirt, we provide a solution that you can take advantage of in seconds. It's very easy to make a pig's ear of your shirt with those other services. With Helvetitee, it's actually hard to make something ugly.

Your point on the pricing is fair, it's something we'll have to monitor and find out what people are comfortable with.

Thanks for the feedback.

Can't help but call out that the homepage uses a image ripped off America Apparel (http://store.americanapparel.net/bb401.html?cid=198-313&...) and they sell Gildan shirts. Still, more of a side project than I've ever done.

Guilty. We took a few shortcuts to get it done in our timeframe (4 days). We will of course be replacing this ASAP (we were originally going to use AA hence this image).

Just wanted to get the first version out there and pick up feedback.

Sorry, couldn't help myself ;) I really like how straightforward the UI/ordering process is. Very impressive for only 4 days work.

I like it. One comment though, I thought the "Type to edit your text" is a textbox. It's because I clicked somewhere in the website and the cursor focus is not in the shirt. :)

I second that! I thought it was a text box too,

Same here. Maybe you can have the text mirror the text on the tshirt and have both editable?

Yeah that could be made clearer. Thanks. Glad to hear you liked the rest.

Changed the helper text, hopefully this fixes.

That might do the trick.

This is a fail:

No XXL sizes in a store for hackers?!?

Nice design, though!

Haha, we will react to demand on that front.

Thanks re: design. Nice to hear.

Nice. Very nice. The simplicity is extremely appealing. I'm going to jump on the "price too high" bandwagon as well. Unless you really need that price to cover costs and make any profit at all, I'm going to suggest that you can make more money selling them for just a little less.

You're sitting right at that point where a slight ease in price is going to result in a significant increase in quantity sold. Unless your production capacity is constrained or you're already very near your break-even point on cost/price, charge less and sell more.

Thanks. You're right. We've changed the price down to $25 based on so much feedback suggesting it.

For ~$40(USD) I want a much higher quality shirt than Gildan. That seems ridiculously over priced. With a quick Google search "Gildan's 100% cotton, ringspun, pre-shrunk sofstyle tshirts" (what the about page says you use), the shirts cost less than $3.00(USD) to buy in bulk.

Suggestion: Why not lower your profit margin a little bit (you have to be making at least $30+ USD on each order right now) to make it more affordable? I just imagine this could probably go much more viral at a more affordable price.

All the feedback so far indicates our pricing is too high. That'll definitely be the first thing we'll fix.

Thanks for all the feedback so far. We've changed the price to $25 (formerly £25) as almost everyone said the price was too (damn) high. Margins will be cut significantly, but it was definitely too high before, and we'll still make a small profit with the new price.

We're probably going to put it up to $30 after the opening two weeks, so consider this an 'early adopter' discount...

Here's a humble suggestion for fellow HNers: http://helevetitee.com/tee/Founder

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YOU ARE BRITISH; DON'T PRICE IN DOLLARS.

We'll intro geo-based pricing asap :)

I know the GP wasn't very well reasoned, but it really frustrates me that British startups think it is ok it's OK to price in dollars. You are alienating your home market and Europe in order to sell to another. Tackle your home market first; if people in the US really want your product, they can put up with fluctuating prices and crappy exchange rates for once.

I was really hoping this was going to be a way to get a t-shirt that has the perfect cut and fit, which is difficult to do. I'd pay real money for a site that guided me on how to get accurate measurements of all the key areas which then enabled them to create perfect, custom-fit basic t-shirts in a wide variety of colors and styles. Heck.. even just white crew-necks.

I think this site is going after a good initial target market: hackers. Making it dead fucking simple is a nice touch

BUT 25 British Pounds for a tshirt basically makes you ridiculously expensive to any American. Why would I pay $40 for a t-shirt ever? It doesn't matter how "hacker cool" it is :)

If you localized, you would significantly improve your prospects in the US.

My input: more colours, and a better cut t-shirt. No one I know wears plain white round-neck cotton t-shirts.

How about something like this: http://images.asos.com/inv/media/9/3/6/7/2477639/greymarl/im...

Taken from here: http://www.asos.com/ASOS/ASOS-V-Neck-T-Shirt/Prod/pgeproduct...

If they can sell them for 6 quid, surely you could pick up something similar for just a few pounds.

Yeah I like v-necks too. It's definitely something we'll consider, but it has to balance with not having too many options (simplicity being the by-word for this project).

I like the concept, but the photos make it look like the fabric is "less than stellar." Can you provide a hardy/hearty fabric that doesn't show the skin beneath the models? I created a rather expensive t-shirt here in Chicago and the fabric was pathetic....I felt sorry for my friend who was the recipient, even though my "logo" was clever. No one wants a t-shirt that shows the underlying chest hair or nipples of the people.

I know the fabric does appear a little thin in the photos, but honestly, they're really high quality tees. We consulted with our printer and they assured us they are the best available at a reasonable price point. I think the see-throughness is exacerbated by the harsh flash from the camera. In reality they are a good weight and made from high quality cotton.

Liked it! Although the image of the model is horribly cut out, especially on the left of his head. Its the very first thing I saw and it screams "amateurish" at me. Not that the site as a whole is amateurish, just that bit! Also the photo looks washed out and a bit fuzzy. His expression is a bit bored and/or confrontational too.

Accept that. It looks a damn sight better on a light background, but we changed it to dark gray hours before launch. The image will be replaced shortly so I'll sort out my cutting skills then ;)

Congrats to you guys. Loving the dead simple process and clean UI design. I will definitely put in an order for the support of hacker's spirit.

Btw, how do you plan to do marketing on this? (Besides posting it on Hacker News - which probably brought you a ton of traffic already)

Thanks, very kind.

We're going to try and utilise the fact you can 'create' a tshirt with just a link, i.e. http://helvetitee.com/tee/foo-bar. It's so quick to react to trends and happenings, or suggest a tee to someone based on their actions, that we feel the product can benefit from virality and p2p sharing. Plus a healthy mix of the usual Google ads etc.

That's an excellent idea. Love the simplicity.

I don't see any value in this as a product. $25 for a shirt is incredibly expensive, especially printing is limited to text in one typeface on one side of one type of shirt. It's pricey and limited. I just don't see why I would want to use it.

Random feedback: I tried removing the "type to edit your text" text and enter my text there.

Your model looks very negative in expression. Also you have some left-over glow around the head.

Dynamic volume/quantity pricing would be cool.

Tees are light enough that whether I order 1 or 3 any increase in weight (and thus shipping costs) will be nominal.

Definitely on the roadmap

The domain name needs some serious improvement. I think I'd need flashcards to remember how to spell it or even try to google it.

The site name implies Helvetica, but uses Arial in the examples. Anybody who knows the difference will never come back.

We are using Helvetica Neue with Helvetica as a fall-back, and a Helvetica clone (Nimbus sans) after those two in the font stack. You'd have to have some funny configuration not to see Helvetica. What's your setup?

On a Windows box, Helvetica is aliased to Arial as true Helvetica is not installed.

Didn't realise that. Looking for ways to ensure that doesn't happen. Do you have any ideas?

Yeah. It's a tough one. We might change the name if we can find the right domain.

Good effort for making a bootstrap site not too bootstrappy. Also, how many people pronounce it Helv-Titty?

Ha. Maybe too many. We're not closed to the idea of changing the name if we think of a good one. Suggestions?

Thanks re: bootstrap.

Unless you've found others with similarly structured names, I would imagine that the word "Helvetica" is trademarked and thus a possible dealbreaker on the name anyway.

shirts.io

That's very cool. I wonder if .io domains are too geek-centric, though?

It's very memorable.

It would be cool if they included Cooper Black for those of us who grew up in the 70s and 80s.

It looks like they've already dropped the price from $45 to $25. Huge difference…

$40 for a shirt with a word on it? That's bullshit.

I can have a custom Gildan shirt for $16:

http://www.customizedgirl.com/category/menstops.htm

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