A lot has happened behind-the-scenes over the last month or so. We thought we’d give you guys an update on everything…State of the Room style.
• Our t-shirt experiment has been great so far! Thanks to everyone who grabbed one.
• We’ve released 3 tees as of today, and we’ve used 3 different manufacturers for each. They’ve all offered great quality.
• With this most recent Clink branded tee we’ve finally landed on a manufacturer that will produce all our tees into the future. The quality is great, the tees are organic, and the manufacturer is licensed by Major and Minor League Baseball. This means we’ll now offer tees featuring designs of our teams from around the country (along side your designs!) and they’ll all have the same markings, cut, fit, etc.
• We’d love to hear what you think of these new Clink tees. How do they fit? How is the sizing? Would anyone want a XXXL?
For the Chupacbras and the Pollos Terrible, we collaborated with Elm Company to produce the hats. The response has been incredible and Elm Company has made a great hat. All the bells and whistles that we’ve added made the hats iconic and fun.
However, there have been some things that have not worked for you guys…
• We haven’t been able to offer size 8s.
• The fit has confused some (in comparison with the New Era fit). After all, New Era’s fit is the one that everyone has become accustom to.
• All of our other hat offerings (Official-Onfield and the Editions) are made by New Era and using a different manufacturer is confusing, since we’re the guys that design official-onfield hats for Major and Minor League Baseball. This feedback has been the loudest.
All that being said, Elm Company is a great manufacturer. If you guys are thinking of starting your own brand we highly recommend them.
From here on out, New Era will be producing all our hats starting with Kevin’s Taco Bulls, and continuing onto Josh’s Wallbats, Bill’s Chicklets, and on and on. We’re glad to be working with New Era, they make an incredible product, and it’ll be fun to see what they do with the designs.
Partnering with New Era means a few things are changing with the collaborations:
• The best news is everyone’s hat will be ordered and produced twice as fast as before! We plan on having all the hats ordered in the next few months. This includes all 16 designs from both the Skate Shop League and Rejects League.
• We will initially start each design out with 72 hats instead of 144. This means that instead of a $250 royalty for the first order, you’ll be receiving an initial $125 royalty. This also means that you’ll receive 5 hats instead of the original 10.
• If your hat sells like dynamite, then of course we’ll reorder in a new colorway. And you’ll receive another $125 royalty and an additional 5 hats – just like you’d receive your 5% net retail sales royalty on any product that features your design.
• New Era’s lower 72 piece minimum for these designs means we can get products available in the online store faster. As we grow, we’ll increase the numbers of the initial orders. But for now, 72 initial pieces will keep the gears grinding as quickly as possible. This means more sell-outs, more collaborations, and more designers!
• Our goal is to drop a product every Monday by mid-next year. We’re on track to accomplish that. And the lower 72 piece initial order allows us to do that.
• We’ll be able to offer size 8s! Jason and I hate to have left those size-8ers out of the last 2 drops. Kills us. But we’re back with size 8s on the drops from here on out. Even a custom ordered size 8 1/2!
• The collaboration hats are going to look a little different as well. Crossed pencil-C logo on the back, green under-visor, and the trademark pencil over the ear on all collaboration hats.
• And of course we will be offering the quality and fit that New Era has become famous for.
If you guys have any questions, please ask them in the comments and we’ll respond in tomorrow’s post. Get it, get it!
