sounds like an excellent idea..

unfortunately although I do produce a lot of printed material for work it is mostly boring financial and management reports – I do usually make good use of colour and other design elements to make them less boring – and have a fair knowledge or print and design processes (both from flyer design and normal work) so I’ll try to make some positive suggestions..

you will find those who do branded merchandise will print on all manner of stuff, so you could easily get hoodies/mugs/mouse mats/t-shirts/lighters etc and will accept both PC and Mac files electronically (they probably all use the same sort of japanese kit, AFAIK some of it is made by Roland!).

work out your designs, then approach at least 3 suppliers for quotes. Quiz them about all the usual stuff like lead/delivery times, shipping costs (who pays?), check out availability of customer support, also the “socially concious” stuff – do they treat their staff well and look after the environment?

I’m sure you would not want to be selling hoodies at your party that were made by some apprentice who had been forced to work through their weekend to make your delivery date because the business was already booked solid but too greedy to admit this! OTOH you do not want people who are too “laid back” and will lunch out a job when you need merchandise before an event.

The printing industry and art uses some well nasty chemicals, which should only be used (and containers etc) disposed of in appropriate manner. I have however noticed an increasing trend to make flyers and whole magazines etc with eco-friendly material (both paper and inks); the ones I have seen are as good as those produced by any other process.

If you do use a local supplier then perhaps arrange a visit – that way you may also find people there who are also helpful and would understand your project more

you will particularly want to find someone there with both techie and art skills to deal with inevitable problems caused by graphics file formats, colour matching, which are the sort of things that invariably manifest themselves just hours before production deadlines!

as for selling the stuff, the usual thoughts about stock/cash control apply.

this may sound harsh but unfortunately there is a bit of a “blagging / shoplifting / theft ” culture amongst a minority of people on the rave scene – some may be warped enough to think its OK to nick from you as you are “making money” 🙁 – don’t bring out too much stock and keep excess inventory under lock and key!

😀 Hello,

My boyf’s just told me about your posting re designs for t-shirts and stuff, my ears pricked up and I thought I’d find out a bit more. What’s the night, what music is it etc?

Cool,

I’ll get on the case, this sounds right up my street and I beleive my boyfriend is doing some photography for the ratpack night, I know I’m a bit biased but his club photos are wicked!

:p