Tee-Shirt Preparation
Number of People: 2 minimum; more can help on island. One person to handle order taking, the other (local - near Portsmouth) to pick up and sort.
Budget: $0 - T-Shirts is a self funding event - In 2017 the expenses to purchase T-shirts and mugs/glasses was just under $1500, and income was just over $1500
Chairs should work with a graphic artist, or Steve (at Black Sheep T shirt company) around the beginning of the year to finalize a design. In the last 7 years or so, T-shirts and pint glasses were ordered with the logo on them. Some years, Hoodies are also options. Some years coffee mugs are also ordered. You can order other things if you want. The cost to the conferee has to cover the cost of the shirt plus the overall cost of 1. screen set up 2. color changes and 3. different sizes. For example, downsizing the adult graphic to fit kids clothing results in additional fees and effectively splits the shirts into 2 smaller orders. In general, about $4 has to be added to the cost of the shirt to cover these costs.
In the past, the graphic from the front of the adult shirt has been used as the sole graphic for the kids shirts.
It is enticing to see all the colors that are offered, but try and have some restraint so your order person doesn't go nuts dealing with 5 colors x 6 sizes x 3 styles, etc etc.
The 'drop dead' deadline for ordering should be 2 weeks before the start of the conference. You also have to factor in 1. people that forget to order until the last minute and 2. the 4th of July.
It may seem like you are sending out too many emails saying 'order your shirts!!!!' but most of the time people say we should've had more.
Ask people to pay on island and pay via check. This makes record keeping much easier.
The order taker should keep a copy of all individual orders, and also keep an excel spreadsheet to put the overall total in.
People can pre-order pint glasses (or coffee mugs), but it is good to order some extra that can be sold at social hour/morning coffee to those who didn't pre-order them. The glasses/mugs are one size fits all and they tend sell on-island as well as by preorder. Ask Sue Barry how many "extras" she has been ordering (and selling) beyond pre-ordered glasses and mugs. T-shirts, because of sizing and color choice, don't really sell well without a pre-order.
The chairs can order special items just for themselves, and for auction items. These could be bags, special coats, etc.
Generally there are people that forget to order/ don't order and they want to order on island. If the qty is big enough, a second order can usually be submitted but it won't be available until after island and people will have to pay shipping costs.
Try to get a computer whiz to create a web page that will create an order sheet and email it to the conferee and the order taker - it will make everyones lives much easier!
2013 notes: the glasses/mugs had a 3 week lead time. We originally had 2 colors of mugs but went with one as we needed 12 minimum of one color. The glasses and mugs EACH had a $50 set up charge, so figure that into your pricing. We used drop box for ordering - there was a link from the t shirt page of this web site to the order form. It seemed to work well. Art work was added to the order form page so people could see colors, etc. Steve at Black Sheep gave us a size dimension that worked well on both kids and adult shirts so we used the same graphic for both. Possible ideas for future: Take year off of glass art and make a larger (and cheaper) order that could be carried over from year to year.
Below is the previous version of the job description:
This is a job which was begun in 2003 by Sally and Rodney Lowe and brought to fruition by the hard work of Sue Barry.
Much of this job takes place before arriving on Star. You should coordinate with the chairs as to what their wishes are in regard to tee shirts. Work with them to develop a logo that is ready for silk-screen printing. Depending on the design capabilities of the chairs you may have to do more (or less) design work yourself. It is important that you have a good working relationship with the shirt maker.
Remind the Chairs to advertise the T-shirts to the conferees via the All Star II website and via a mass emailing. Prepare to receive email orders from conferees sufficiently early so that you may place your order with the T-shirt company.
On island you will distribute the shirts and collect payment; for accounting purposes, it is suggested that all payments be by check. The placing of a second order while on Star is an option. Speak with Sue Barry for some good advice on how to manage the distribution of shirts on Star and difficulties created by a 2nd order from on Star.
The T-shirt company used for 2004 - 2007 is the Black Sheep Design Company in Portsmouth, NH where Steve Blasko has proved to be very helpful and creative when it comes to finalizing a design that works well on shirts. When choosing color(s) it is important to select what is available to both youth and adults.
Steve Blasko
Black Sheep Design Company
85 Daniel Street
Portsmouth, NH 03801
(603) 431-6801
www.blacksheepdesigncompany.com
The Chairs would like to receive their shirts prior to arriving on Star in order to wear them while greeting shoalers on the dock on Saturday.
You may wish to have a few extra shirts on hand for those who forgot or decided later that they want a shirt.
Sue Barry's timeline follows:
December: Conference Chairs select T-shirt coordinators and discuss logo design ideas.
Mid-February: Conference Chairs and T-shirt coordinators finalize logo design and shirt and ink colors. Chairs may decide to use this logo as their conference logo.
March: Conference Chairs work with Webmaster to include T-shirt designs and ordering information on the conference website and in letters to conferees.
March-June 1: Orders taken and processed by T-shirt coordinators (email is best)
May: Email reminder sent to conferees
June: T-shirt order is placed
July: T-shirt order summary and payments are given to conference treasurer.
History of T-shirts
2003
The first all conference T-shirt was designed by Sally Russell and Rodney Lowe. Shirts were available in three colors: daisy, indigo and gray. The logo was a small rendition of the Chapel and path at night. The conference name and year were included in the design. More than 150 shirts were sold. Sue Barry coordinated the ordering and sales with Steve and Mark Blasko of Shirtmasters in Concord, NH.
2004
Tim and Irene Flint with the assistance from Steve Blasko, Black Sheep Design Company of Portsmouth, NH, created a large 4th of July design of the Summer House with fireworks. Red, white, and blue shirts were available. More than 170 shirts were sold. Sue Barry and Sally Russell coordinated the orders with Black Sheep Design Company.
2005
Bonnie Sylvester and Jonas Gavelis designed a T-shirt logo. It was a large star with the Chapel, Vaughn and Parsonage within the outline. Available colors were black and white. More than 100 shirts were sold. The same logo was used on 23 canvas bags as a fundraiser for the Ginny Levine Fund. Sue Barry and Ellen Eberhart coordinated the orders with Steve Blasko of the Black Sheep Design Company in Portsmouth, NH.
2006
Sara and John Lutterbie utilized a “50 year” design created by Ivan Hurtzler. A small Chapel design on the front of the shirt was created by Irene Derosier. The shirts were sapphire blue with god leaf print More than 75 shirts were sold. Sue Barry and Suzie Binzel coordinated the orders with Steve Blasko of the Black Sheep Design Company in Portsmouth, NH.
2007/8
Kelsey Fenn designed the shirt for 2007, beautiful gull with the phrase “We will come back!’, which was cleverly redone for 2008 with the number 7 crossed out, and the number 8 added.
2009
Daniel and Bill Cryer designed the shirt, celebrating the concept of hope conveyed in the Obama campaign. The shirt was produced by Star Collections, a company created by the Emmons family, conferees from LOAS 2 who donate the proceeds to the Star Island Corporation.
2013
Suzy Binzel and Amy Russian designed the shirt, with the chapel and '2013' on front, and the chapel/bushes, 'all star 2' and 'star island' on the back. There were approx 80 shirts/hoodies, etc, sold, 48 glasses and 24 mugs.
Last edited by Kathy West - June 2018