I originally wrote a fairly lengthy critique of the store, the clothing, the designs, and offered a potential roadmap for how you could improve various aspects because im a huge fan of niche...
Exemplary
I originally wrote a fairly lengthy critique of the store, the clothing, the designs, and offered a potential roadmap for how you could improve various aspects because im a huge fan of niche clothing brands and have massive respect for anyone passionate enough to attempt to enter that marketplace. Its a real labour of love type of thing.
You couldnt even be bothered to write your own copy/explain why the verse you chose means anything to you. Its clearly ai! Em dashes, segmented explanations of the query, and the pointless meandering in one shirt description. How dare you claim this is a creative outlet? You have made nothing original here.
And this is exactly the case for why ai does not "empower" people to realize their creative ambitions, its just a tool for the lazy to be able to quickly pivot to new scams.
I initially clicked the link because I love indie clothing brands, saw the subject matter and immediately clicked off because I don't love the Christian messages at all, and was surprised to see...
I initially clicked the link because I love indie clothing brands, saw the subject matter and immediately clicked off because I don't love the Christian messages at all, and was surprised to see so many comments. After reading this one I went back thinking "it can't be thatttt bad" but omg it's actually AI writing.
Assuming good faith, I'd probably tell OP that they need to find their own voice and actually write why these things mean anything to you. I love buying indie clothing brand stuff because they actually have something to say rather than slap things on cheap tee shirts and call it a day (seeing the blurb about the shirt being slightly see through makes me think that it's not any quality blanks either, and at those prices is unacceptable imo)
This is both kinda slimy and obviously not what OP is going for, despite how it may look. I personally really am starting to hate the "its easy money and they deserve it so why not" justification...
This is both kinda slimy and obviously not what OP is going for, despite how it may look.
I personally really am starting to hate the "its easy money and they deserve it so why not" justification when it comes to all forms of grifting. If you want to grift, go ahead and grift and own it, just stop trying to justify it with some weird moral arguments. Because you could make those exact same arguments about a lot of groups of vulnerable people and they probably wouldn't fly.
I don't know OP personally or have any interactions with them on the site, but from how other users are engaging with them I assumed they have been a genuine member of the community for a long...
I don't know OP personally or have any interactions with them on the site, but from how other users are engaging with them I assumed they have been a genuine member of the community for a long time. I wanted to extend them the benefit of the doubt, even though at face value I definitely agree with your assessment. It doesn't look like they put a ton of effort in, but I didn't want to assume maliciousness when there may be a perfectly reasonable alternative if you catch my drift.
I have a similar distaste for the stuff OP has said in this thread and agree with the LLM stuff being lazy at best, but I think calling it a grift might be taking it a little too far. Assuming...
I have a similar distaste for the stuff OP has said in this thread and agree with the LLM stuff being lazy at best, but I think calling it a grift might be taking it a little too far. Assuming that when someone buys an item on this site they get the item they ordered, I wouldn't call this a grift. You could argue that the ideas about Christianity that some of the shirts represent are a grift, but I don't think that needs to be directly laid at OP's apparel venture's feet.
Doesnt everyone do this now though? I read an article posted on here just a few weeks ago about how the people who used to write all these descriptions are out if work because of ai
Doesnt everyone do this now though? I read an article posted on here just a few weeks ago about how the people who used to write all these descriptions are out if work because of ai
This was pitched as a passion project/creative outlet. If theres no passion in the website design, shirt design, fabric choice, religious/personal significance, or copy.... where is the passion?
This was pitched as a passion project/creative outlet. If theres no passion in the website design, shirt design, fabric choice, religious/personal significance, or copy.... where is the passion?
There's a really large gap between the general Tildes users who can recognize AI text as AI, who have strong opinions about it, and the general public who has maybe used AI as a search engine once...
There's a really large gap between the general Tildes users who can recognize AI text as AI, who have strong opinions about it, and the general public who has maybe used AI as a search engine once or twice and never as an actual text generator.
I'm not going to pretend to know what OPs background is, but it's possible this is their first time using AI text generation, they did actually read/understand/approve every single text block that they themselves generated, and they really thought that no one would notice, and if they did, that it would be accepted as the normal way of doing things.
There's an entire mass population out there using AI text generation and they have absolutely no idea where this magic comes from, what human jobs its displacing, and the difference in quality between what it generates and what an actual human typically creates. They don't see a difference. A lot of people actually think that the AI generated text sounds better than anything they could write, and a lot of them are right, cause not everyone spends their free time writing long winded Tildes comments like me
With a big company they can make the excuse that they are saving money by not hiring somebody, but for what I assume is a single person passion project it just shows that they have so little...
With a big company they can make the excuse that they are saving money by not hiring somebody, but for what I assume is a single person passion project it just shows that they have so little passion they can’t even spend 5 minutes to write a description. If the creator cares that little, why should I care and reward them with my money.
I think it's got a certain sad and defensive energy to it. "Not crazy" "Misunderstood" and "Jesus wept" as your keystone statements about the brand strike me as inherently framing your posture as...
I think it's got a certain sad and defensive energy to it. "Not crazy" "Misunderstood" and "Jesus wept" as your keystone statements about the brand strike me as inherently framing your posture as one of fighting a rear action against forces that are both antagonistic towards and ignorant of Christianity. Is that the vibes you feel like your target market will want to be wearing?
https://docs.tildes.net/policies/code-of-conduct#self-promotion And I'd personally say @Ris has been around long enough that this one instance of self-promotion is probably fine. However, if they...
If you have your own site/project/channel/etc. that you'd like to share on Tildes, that's generally fine (in moderation), but it shouldn't be the primary reason that you post on the site. Tildes is a community, not a free advertising platform. Sharing your own content is welcome as long as you're involved in the community, but don't just treat Tildes as a source of an audience.
And I'd personally say @Ris has been around long enough that this one instance of self-promotion is probably fine. However, if they repeatedly post about it, that's a different story. Ultimately the decision is up to @Deimos though.
Yeah this wasn't posted as a way to self promotion. I actually posted specifically only here because of the lower view count it would get compared to other sites. My reason to post it was really...
Yeah this wasn't posted as a way to self promotion. I actually posted specifically only here because of the lower view count it would get compared to other sites. My reason to post it was really just so I could get community feedback from people that dont know me or have any preconceived bias towards me. Not sure how Id be a le to do that without posting about it and sharing a link.
I indeed have gotten some feedback. Some constructive, some just downright incorrect about the process I took and some just insulting.
But thats the point of why I posted. To see what real world people thought in a community I appreciated over the time I've been on here.
Not a professional designer like others here, but I worked with a number of marketing/branding teams on company designs and the like. I want to highlight what @tomf said, find out if the font you...
Not a professional designer like others here, but I worked with a number of marketing/branding teams on company designs and the like. I want to highlight what @tomf said, find out if the font you picked for "misunderstood" has a commercial license. When we worked with anything that wasn't internally created we got express permission from original designers/owners, even when adopting fonts to work with our design elements. There is a lot of legal grey zone here, so just make sure you're allowed to sell any of the fonts or imagery you are using if you haven't created it yourself.
Second thought as someone secular that isn't the target audience: I would say keep with the Christian market if that is what you are going for initially. As someone who is not Christian, I would be irked if I found out something I owned had religious connotation or significance. Kind of like the HEKI brand, I was perturbed when I learned it was actually HE>I. Imagine if you found out your pants were made to support Islam or your hat to support Wicca. It can feel weird if that's not what you're trying to consume or support as a consumer.
Honestly super solid advise. I didn't think of it that way. Mainly because for tbr most part for me I just like a design and buy that design. Bht if there was definitely something way out of...
Honestly super solid advise. I didn't think of it that way. Mainly because for tbr most part for me I just like a design and buy that design. Bht if there was definitely something way out of pocket in my opinion I woukd feel that way.
As for the typeface, it was paid for through a subscription service, so from what I understand it should be okay to use for professional use. But I will double check on thag when I get a chance.
my first thought on seeing the url was that the name immediately made me assume it was Christian-focused stuff. But since that's true, that's probably a good thing! I'm very much not the target...
my first thought on seeing the url was that the name immediately made me assume it was Christian-focused stuff. But since that's true, that's probably a good thing! I'm very much not the target audience in that case, though.
Is there anything more specific you're looking for feedback-wise? My younger sister and her husband are definitely both in the demographic you seem to be aiming for, so if you have specific questions I can show it to them and ask their thoughts.
Thanks for taking a look! That was definitely what I was going for with the name so im glad it came through. And just general feedback and any ideas or opinions on the site or designs. I'll admit...
Thanks for taking a look!
That was definitely what I was going for with the name so im glad it came through.
And just general feedback and any ideas or opinions on the site or designs. I'll admit they are a bit simple but thats kinda kn purposes for now. Also pricing, I dont want to gouge but I also obviously need margins so I try to keep it low, but im also low volume so im trying to find thr happy medium. Also I love the idea with print to order because its less wasteful, but a con is that it takes longer to ship because of it. Any feedback on those topics would definitely be helpful.
I definitely appreciate you taking a look and potentially showing your sister and her husband! It means a lot!
A couple years ago there was a billion-dollar backed "American Christianity" related brand/campaign, He Gets Us wiki -- they used the black shirt white text provocative slogans design as well....
A couple years ago there was a billion-dollar backed "American Christianity" related brand/campaign, He Gets Us wiki -- they used the black shirt white text provocative slogans design as well. Some of theirs, aside from the brand logo, were "Jesus Was a Refugee" and "Radical Forgiveness". They had a campaign where they gave away free shirts and metal water bottles and stickers if you just give them a mailing address, all shipping paid. They didn't seem like they needed money, they bought a Superbowl ad even, but it sounds like they didn't make any money either. It was deemed too woke by the right and the left didn't like their sponsors.
Anyway, good luck, it's a very narrow and very fraught market. Things are extremely political right now as you know and there's no such thing as being just like Christ without being dragged outside the city, scourged, hung up and cursed. Remember, they wanted Barabbas freed and Christ crucified.
On a purely business pov, what are your margins on each item and what is your marketing plan? Will it address the very low barrier of entry and what is your plan for working with / surviving huge players with deep pockets who outright steal your idea?
If you're sincerely wanting to help I honestly don't think this would. If you're just trying to make money off this I don't think it would either.
So I started a small niche clothing brand called Apostle Threads. Its really just an experiment and side project from my 9-5 to help teach me and invest my creative energy into something. Its...
So I started a small niche clothing brand called Apostle Threads. Its really just an experiment and side project from my 9-5 to help teach me and invest my creative energy into something. Its centered around Christianity, but I plan to branch out into not so obviously Christian designs in the near future as well. Its been a lot of fun so far.
Its all made to order because I don't have the money to invest into inventory and it reduces over purchasing. Seems like the best way to start out. Shipping does take a little bit of time though because its literally made when its ordered by my supplier.
I'm sure this is just going to be loss and I probably wont actually sell all that much if anything, but I still think it will be fun and a good learning experience.
What do you all think?
And of course, please feel free to browse and purchase anything you like!
Not my bag as a concept, decidedly non-Christian here. Appreciate the wide variety of sizes. But charging a flat amount for all sizes and not charging a plus size tax would be more equitable. A...
What do you all think?
Not my bag as a concept, decidedly non-Christian here.
Appreciate the wide variety of sizes. But charging a flat amount for all sizes and not charging a plus size tax would be more equitable. A size chart - which maybe I missed - helps a lot since sizes vary pretty widely. (Edit: there are now size charts so idk if that was an edit or they loaded weirdly slow? It may be that it's some products that have it. Either way, standard of having it is good ) Photos of models in a wider variety of body sizes would also help folks know the clothes will look good on them, not just straight sizes.
Idk if those are your models or stock, but the copy/paste different shirts on the same image never looks good IMO and in this case it particularly stands out because it's not accounting for body angle. Especially in the image(s) with two people it's an uncanny valley sort of effect and because your designs are simple it's more obvious.
I don't love the use of crazy here from a mental health lens.
My two cents. I'm not your customer so take or leave as you like. Best of luck
So the models are something I'm trying to work on with shopify and my supplier. Because I dont have stock of most of this yet, all the photos are thier modles and I'm trying to sort different ones...
So the models are something I'm trying to work on with shopify and my supplier. Because I dont have stock of most of this yet, all the photos are thier modles and I'm trying to sort different ones for different things.
As for the pricing, the only reason I dont charge a flat rate is because I get charged differently by my supplier for larger sizes. Which as a 4x guy myself is annoying but I also have to at least make enough money to keep the site up. But I may revisit pricing because I do like the idea of just having a set price regardless.
Buecause I'm a bigger guy having a wide variety of sizes was definitely important to me because of the amount of times I loved a design and wanted it but couldn't get it in my size. Size charts should be listed in both imperial and metric for everything, but I definitely could be missing some on an item or two.
Got it, yeah it's become really common to use that sort of image for models but it is something that stands out to me as a shopper that an item "doesn't exist" IRL yet. I know the suppliers charge...
Got it, yeah it's become really common to use that sort of image for models but it is something that stands out to me as a shopper that an item "doesn't exist" IRL yet.
I know the suppliers charge more, usually it can be addressed by charging a bit more for straight sizes and it evening out. But there's math involved.
I think some of the products have the size chart and others don't. Just encourage that being consistent!
Definitely see that. Hopefully I can start more custom photos as I can afford to pay models for a shoot. For now I'll try to add more diversity so its not the same pose and model repeated. I'm...
Definitely see that. Hopefully I can start more custom photos as I can afford to pay models for a shoot. For now I'll try to add more diversity so its not the same pose and model repeated.
I'm still working on pricing so that may change in the future. I just want to make sure im not gouging and also that Im not losing money of course.
And I'll have to take another look and the skus. I thought I had enabled size charts by default, but must not been. Thanks for point that out!
Businesses account for the additional cost of certain sizes by slightly raising the cost for all of the sizes to “subsidize” for the loss on the more expensive item. That leaves people feeling...
Businesses account for the additional cost of certain sizes by slightly raising the cost for all of the sizes to “subsidize” for the loss on the more expensive item.
That leaves people feeling less ostracized and tbh it probably does more than equal things out- as in you may gain a slight profit.
you should mention the blanks you're using in the description. As a quick criticism from a design point of view, if you're doing anything that is meant to appear hand-written (e.g. the...
you should mention the blanks you're using in the description. As a quick criticism from a design point of view, if you're doing anything that is meant to appear hand-written (e.g. the misunderstood one), actually draw it out. Just looks better and... well, its actual effort beyond typing something and slamming a cross on it.
That was my first design ever haha. I tried multiple times by hand and tried many different styles and fonts as well and I just ended up liking that one the most. Definitely wasn't any lack of...
That was my first design ever haha. I tried multiple times by hand and tried many different styles and fonts as well and I just ended up liking that one the most. Definitely wasn't any lack of effort. Just preference in that case.
Good thoughts on the blanks. Ill start adding them in.
how do you feel christians are misunderstood to the point where it should be on their clothing? I hope you have a commercial license for the typeface :) quick edit: i ask this as a former...
how do you feel christians are misunderstood to the point where it should be on their clothing?
I hope you have a commercial license for the typeface :)
quick edit: i ask this as a former christian who has absolutely no idea what the misunderstanding could be
I feel like as a Christian we are typically misunderstood especially with what we are called to do. For example we are called to love others. People misconstrued that all the time to mean we are...
I feel like as a Christian we are typically misunderstood especially with what we are called to do.
For example we are called to love others. People misconstrued that all the time to mean we are called to just accept what we would consider sin. In reality its not. Sometimes it means showing tough love because when you love someone you dont freely let them do things that would actually have a negative impact on thier lives. Of course you cant control them obviously. Free will exist. But I get told I dont love because my view is different from theirs. But if im honest its because I love them that I even say or do anything to begin with.
Idk if that makes sense. Its just how I've been feeling for a while now and have seen all over.
In the end, I just want to make things that I would want to wear and use. And maybe other will to. Or maybe it will just be a huge waste of time and money in which case I still had fun and learned new things.
Okay sorry I already gave my opinion on the business but I can't let this one go. Abraham pleads for Sodom and the Lord replied "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” Issac keeps giving his...
Sometimes it means showing tough love because when you love someone you dont freely let them do things that would actually have a negative impact on thier lives.
Okay sorry I already gave my opinion on the business but I can't let this one go.
for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:45b)
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)
Abraham pleads for Sodom and the Lord replied "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
Jacob prostrated on the ground behind his full train of presents when Esau, his twin who previously promised to kill him, came to meet him with an army of 400 men.
David time and time again refused to kill Saul who wants him dead. He gave orders not to kill his son Absalom, who dragged his wives to the rooftop to rape for the entire country to see, in open rebellion. Even though he's a murderer, rapist and crap father, he did not practice tough love.
These are my patriarchs, my king and my God. I am a servant to my Master: revenge and judgement are His domain. I was told I do NOT war against flesh and blood, I was told to give away my cloak, feed the poor, welcome the sojourners, turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, and to die for those who hate me and seek my ruin. That is the calling of my discipleship.
I was not going to weigh in on this topic, merely shake my head and forget- but the wording used here is ugly. To equate loving somebody with to "accept what we would consider sin", and to use the...
I was not going to weigh in on this topic, merely shake my head and forget- but the wording used here is ugly.
To equate loving somebody with to "accept what we would consider sin", and to use the "tough love" argument can only call into mind the type of attitude which leads many "Christian" parents to reject and kick-out their own children who are LGBTQ, etc.
To admit that "of course you cannot control them", as if that is what you would do if it were possible, if only to prevent them from "doing things" which would have "a negative impact on their lives" just leans into this attitude. If this is not the direction you are coming from, then I apologise, but every argument you're using in this comment gives me the ick.
I originally wrote a fairly lengthy critique of the store, the clothing, the designs, and offered a potential roadmap for how you could improve various aspects because im a huge fan of niche clothing brands and have massive respect for anyone passionate enough to attempt to enter that marketplace. Its a real labour of love type of thing.
But then i realized that this isnt anything other than a chatgpt prompted site/idea thats likely meant to very lazily grift/capitalize off the rising popularity of religion within youth culture.
You couldnt even be bothered to write your own copy/explain why the verse you chose means anything to you. Its clearly ai! Em dashes, segmented explanations of the query, and the pointless meandering in one shirt description. How dare you claim this is a creative outlet? You have made nothing original here.
And this is exactly the case for why ai does not "empower" people to realize their creative ambitions, its just a tool for the lazy to be able to quickly pivot to new scams.
I initially clicked the link because I love indie clothing brands, saw the subject matter and immediately clicked off because I don't love the Christian messages at all, and was surprised to see so many comments. After reading this one I went back thinking "it can't be thatttt bad" but omg it's actually AI writing.
Assuming good faith, I'd probably tell OP that they need to find their own voice and actually write why these things mean anything to you. I love buying indie clothing brand stuff because they actually have something to say rather than slap things on cheap tee shirts and call it a day (seeing the blurb about the shirt being slightly see through makes me think that it's not any quality blanks either, and at those prices is unacceptable imo)
This is both kinda slimy and obviously not what OP is going for, despite how it may look.
I personally really am starting to hate the "its easy money and they deserve it so why not" justification when it comes to all forms of grifting. If you want to grift, go ahead and grift and own it, just stop trying to justify it with some weird moral arguments. Because you could make those exact same arguments about a lot of groups of vulnerable people and they probably wouldn't fly.
I don't know OP personally or have any interactions with them on the site, but from how other users are engaging with them I assumed they have been a genuine member of the community for a long time. I wanted to extend them the benefit of the doubt, even though at face value I definitely agree with your assessment. It doesn't look like they put a ton of effort in, but I didn't want to assume maliciousness when there may be a perfectly reasonable alternative if you catch my drift.
I have a similar distaste for the stuff OP has said in this thread and agree with the LLM stuff being lazy at best, but I think calling it a grift might be taking it a little too far. Assuming that when someone buys an item on this site they get the item they ordered, I wouldn't call this a grift. You could argue that the ideas about Christianity that some of the shirts represent are a grift, but I don't think that needs to be directly laid at OP's apparel venture's feet.
Doesnt everyone do this now though? I read an article posted on here just a few weeks ago about how the people who used to write all these descriptions are out if work because of ai
This was pitched as a passion project/creative outlet. If theres no passion in the website design, shirt design, fabric choice, religious/personal significance, or copy.... where is the passion?
There's a really large gap between the general Tildes users who can recognize AI text as AI, who have strong opinions about it, and the general public who has maybe used AI as a search engine once or twice and never as an actual text generator.
I'm not going to pretend to know what OPs background is, but it's possible this is their first time using AI text generation, they did actually read/understand/approve every single text block that they themselves generated, and they really thought that no one would notice, and if they did, that it would be accepted as the normal way of doing things.
There's an entire mass population out there using AI text generation and they have absolutely no idea where this magic comes from, what human jobs its displacing, and the difference in quality between what it generates and what an actual human typically creates. They don't see a difference. A lot of people actually think that the AI generated text sounds better than anything they could write, and a lot of them are right, cause not everyone spends their free time writing long winded Tildes comments like me
With a big company they can make the excuse that they are saving money by not hiring somebody, but for what I assume is a single person passion project it just shows that they have so little passion they can’t even spend 5 minutes to write a description. If the creator cares that little, why should I care and reward them with my money.
I think it's got a certain sad and defensive energy to it. "Not crazy" "Misunderstood" and "Jesus wept" as your keystone statements about the brand strike me as inherently framing your posture as one of fighting a rear action against forces that are both antagonistic towards and ignorant of Christianity. Is that the vibes you feel like your target market will want to be wearing?
This feels like a form of self-promo and I don't know what to think about that on Tildes.
https://docs.tildes.net/policies/code-of-conduct#self-promotion
And I'd personally say @Ris has been around long enough that this one instance of self-promotion is probably fine. However, if they repeatedly post about it, that's a different story. Ultimately the decision is up to @Deimos though.
Yeah this wasn't posted as a way to self promotion. I actually posted specifically only here because of the lower view count it would get compared to other sites. My reason to post it was really just so I could get community feedback from people that dont know me or have any preconceived bias towards me. Not sure how Id be a le to do that without posting about it and sharing a link.
I indeed have gotten some feedback. Some constructive, some just downright incorrect about the process I took and some just insulting.
But thats the point of why I posted. To see what real world people thought in a community I appreciated over the time I've been on here.
But this is pure AI slop? Why are you wasting our time with this?
You can always filter out
original contentanduser createdtags here.Not a professional designer like others here, but I worked with a number of marketing/branding teams on company designs and the like. I want to highlight what @tomf said, find out if the font you picked for "misunderstood" has a commercial license. When we worked with anything that wasn't internally created we got express permission from original designers/owners, even when adopting fonts to work with our design elements. There is a lot of legal grey zone here, so just make sure you're allowed to sell any of the fonts or imagery you are using if you haven't created it yourself.
Second thought as someone secular that isn't the target audience: I would say keep with the Christian market if that is what you are going for initially. As someone who is not Christian, I would be irked if I found out something I owned had religious connotation or significance. Kind of like the HEKI brand, I was perturbed when I learned it was actually HE>I. Imagine if you found out your pants were made to support Islam or your hat to support Wicca. It can feel weird if that's not what you're trying to consume or support as a consumer.
that's so lame... also, I think 'heki' in hawaiian means 'jet' as in 'squirt' :)
As someone on Reddit said, it's actually a lower case i, meaning HE would have to be imaginary for the inequality to hold.
that's great. What a terrible name. I find all this sort of thing to be so tacky.
Honestly super solid advise. I didn't think of it that way. Mainly because for tbr most part for me I just like a design and buy that design. Bht if there was definitely something way out of pocket in my opinion I woukd feel that way.
As for the typeface, it was paid for through a subscription service, so from what I understand it should be okay to use for professional use. But I will double check on thag when I get a chance.
my first thought on seeing the url was that the name immediately made me assume it was Christian-focused stuff. But since that's true, that's probably a good thing! I'm very much not the target audience in that case, though.
Is there anything more specific you're looking for feedback-wise? My younger sister and her husband are definitely both in the demographic you seem to be aiming for, so if you have specific questions I can show it to them and ask their thoughts.
Thanks for taking a look!
That was definitely what I was going for with the name so im glad it came through.
And just general feedback and any ideas or opinions on the site or designs. I'll admit they are a bit simple but thats kinda kn purposes for now. Also pricing, I dont want to gouge but I also obviously need margins so I try to keep it low, but im also low volume so im trying to find thr happy medium. Also I love the idea with print to order because its less wasteful, but a con is that it takes longer to ship because of it. Any feedback on those topics would definitely be helpful.
I definitely appreciate you taking a look and potentially showing your sister and her husband! It means a lot!
A couple years ago there was a billion-dollar backed "American Christianity" related brand/campaign, He Gets Us wiki -- they used the black shirt white text provocative slogans design as well. Some of theirs, aside from the brand logo, were "Jesus Was a Refugee" and "Radical Forgiveness". They had a campaign where they gave away free shirts and metal water bottles and stickers if you just give them a mailing address, all shipping paid. They didn't seem like they needed money, they bought a Superbowl ad even, but it sounds like they didn't make any money either. It was deemed too woke by the right and the left didn't like their sponsors.
Anyway, good luck, it's a very narrow and very fraught market. Things are extremely political right now as you know and there's no such thing as being just like Christ without being dragged outside the city, scourged, hung up and cursed. Remember, they wanted Barabbas freed and Christ crucified.
On a purely business pov, what are your margins on each item and what is your marketing plan? Will it address the very low barrier of entry and what is your plan for working with / surviving huge players with deep pockets who outright steal your idea?
If you're sincerely wanting to help I honestly don't think this would. If you're just trying to make money off this I don't think it would either.
So I started a small niche clothing brand called Apostle Threads. Its really just an experiment and side project from my 9-5 to help teach me and invest my creative energy into something. Its centered around Christianity, but I plan to branch out into not so obviously Christian designs in the near future as well. Its been a lot of fun so far.
Its all made to order because I don't have the money to invest into inventory and it reduces over purchasing. Seems like the best way to start out. Shipping does take a little bit of time though because its literally made when its ordered by my supplier.
I'm sure this is just going to be loss and I probably wont actually sell all that much if anything, but I still think it will be fun and a good learning experience.
What do you all think?
And of course, please feel free to browse and purchase anything you like!
Not my bag as a concept, decidedly non-Christian here.
Appreciate the wide variety of sizes. But charging a flat amount for all sizes and not charging a plus size tax would be more equitable. A size chart - which maybe I missed - helps a lot since sizes vary pretty widely. (Edit: there are now size charts so idk if that was an edit or they loaded weirdly slow? It may be that it's some products that have it. Either way, standard of having it is good ) Photos of models in a wider variety of body sizes would also help folks know the clothes will look good on them, not just straight sizes.
Idk if those are your models or stock, but the copy/paste different shirts on the same image never looks good IMO and in this case it particularly stands out because it's not accounting for body angle. Especially in the image(s) with two people it's an uncanny valley sort of effect and because your designs are simple it's more obvious.
I don't love the use of crazy here from a mental health lens.
My two cents. I'm not your customer so take or leave as you like. Best of luck
So the models are something I'm trying to work on with shopify and my supplier. Because I dont have stock of most of this yet, all the photos are thier modles and I'm trying to sort different ones for different things.
As for the pricing, the only reason I dont charge a flat rate is because I get charged differently by my supplier for larger sizes. Which as a 4x guy myself is annoying but I also have to at least make enough money to keep the site up. But I may revisit pricing because I do like the idea of just having a set price regardless.
Buecause I'm a bigger guy having a wide variety of sizes was definitely important to me because of the amount of times I loved a design and wanted it but couldn't get it in my size. Size charts should be listed in both imperial and metric for everything, but I definitely could be missing some on an item or two.
Thanks for the feedback!
Got it, yeah it's become really common to use that sort of image for models but it is something that stands out to me as a shopper that an item "doesn't exist" IRL yet.
I know the suppliers charge more, usually it can be addressed by charging a bit more for straight sizes and it evening out. But there's math involved.
I think some of the products have the size chart and others don't. Just encourage that being consistent!
Definitely see that. Hopefully I can start more custom photos as I can afford to pay models for a shoot. For now I'll try to add more diversity so its not the same pose and model repeated.
I'm still working on pricing so that may change in the future. I just want to make sure im not gouging and also that Im not losing money of course.
And I'll have to take another look and the skus. I thought I had enabled size charts by default, but must not been. Thanks for point that out!
Businesses account for the additional cost of certain sizes by slightly raising the cost for all of the sizes to “subsidize” for the loss on the more expensive item.
That leaves people feeling less ostracized and tbh it probably does more than equal things out- as in you may gain a slight profit.
you should mention the blanks you're using in the description. As a quick criticism from a design point of view, if you're doing anything that is meant to appear hand-written (e.g. the misunderstood one), actually draw it out. Just looks better and... well, its actual effort beyond typing something and slamming a cross on it.
That was my first design ever haha. I tried multiple times by hand and tried many different styles and fonts as well and I just ended up liking that one the most. Definitely wasn't any lack of effort. Just preference in that case.
Good thoughts on the blanks. Ill start adding them in.
how do you feel christians are misunderstood to the point where it should be on their clothing?
I hope you have a commercial license for the typeface :)
quick edit: i ask this as a former christian who has absolutely no idea what the misunderstanding could be
I feel like as a Christian we are typically misunderstood especially with what we are called to do.
For example we are called to love others. People misconstrued that all the time to mean we are called to just accept what we would consider sin. In reality its not. Sometimes it means showing tough love because when you love someone you dont freely let them do things that would actually have a negative impact on thier lives. Of course you cant control them obviously. Free will exist. But I get told I dont love because my view is different from theirs. But if im honest its because I love them that I even say or do anything to begin with.
Idk if that makes sense. Its just how I've been feeling for a while now and have seen all over.
In the end, I just want to make things that I would want to wear and use. And maybe other will to. Or maybe it will just be a huge waste of time and money in which case I still had fun and learned new things.
Okay sorry I already gave my opinion on the business but I can't let this one go.
Abraham pleads for Sodom and the Lord replied "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
Issac keeps giving his dug wells away to his enemies and gave his enemies a feast when they came to apologize.
Jacob prostrated on the ground behind his full train of presents when Esau, his twin who previously promised to kill him, came to meet him with an army of 400 men.
David time and time again refused to kill Saul who wants him dead. He gave orders not to kill his son Absalom, who dragged his wives to the rooftop to rape for the entire country to see, in open rebellion. Even though he's a murderer, rapist and crap father, he did not practice tough love.
These are my patriarchs, my king and my God. I am a servant to my Master: revenge and judgement are His domain. I was told I do NOT war against flesh and blood, I was told to give away my cloak, feed the poor, welcome the sojourners, turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, and to die for those who hate me and seek my ruin. That is the calling of my discipleship.
(Edit typo)
I was not going to weigh in on this topic, merely shake my head and forget- but the wording used here is ugly.
To equate loving somebody with to "accept what we would consider sin", and to use the "tough love" argument can only call into mind the type of attitude which leads many "Christian" parents to reject and kick-out their own children who are LGBTQ, etc.
To admit that "of course you cannot control them", as if that is what you would do if it were possible, if only to prevent them from "doing things" which would have "a negative impact on their lives" just leans into this attitude. If this is not the direction you are coming from, then I apologise, but every argument you're using in this comment gives me the ick.
Unfortunately I understand this type of Christianity quite well.
Best of luck with the plank and all that.
as one who was in your world, ‘tough love’ sounds more like judgement. christians are great at that and there is no misunderstanding there. :)
Are you in your 30s or 40s by any chance
I am not lol.