This thread is to let the Roosts including individual members share ideas for Merch
I asked (and I think others did as well) to create a thread where the merch princes from the various Roosts could share ideas, best of practices, vendors, etc.
I think we’ve all lit up @flanwilder’s mentions the last few weeks, we’ve seen the back order at Western Birch, and signed up for referrals at Stickermule.
Anyone have any other recs?
We were leaning towards Hatstore (Classics Recycled Mesh Navy/White Trucker - Yupoong caps - Hatstoreworld.com) for mesh back since they have Yupoong like @sundaybag uses while using Imperial for visor and performance hats.
using https://www.thestudio.com/ for patches for the NorCal Roost.
I’ve used them in the past (for the Hjonk patches) and their quality, pricing, communication, and shipping timelines were great.
Used stickermule for our stickers and they came back quickly and look great
I might potentially be able to help with ballmarkers, if there’s interest.
The couple caveats would be that I’m not able to do the artwork myself (lack of talent really), the factory I use to make them requires a minimum of 100 per order, and they won’t be magnetic.
On the pro side, anyone who has bought any of my markers will attest that they are great quality, the colors really pop, I’m able to add text on the back so if you wanted your Roost name on there we could do that, and they are fairly inexpensive as far as custom ballmarkers go.
On the pro side for me, they’d be less likely to get me hit with a cease and desist from the Mouse.
So if I send you an image of our logo, already a circle, that it would then be a ball marker that is as high quality as your villains ones?
Absolutely, I use a factory in China that specializes in enamel lapel pins and I just have them not attach any pins to the back.
I already have an account with the factory so I believe I can just forward the payment link to whoever is in charge of handling it for each individual Roost and then have them ship to you.
The only thing we’d need to be careful with is making sure the logo is enamel ready (there has to be metal in between each color otherwise they’d run together) and we’d need at least 100 of each design.
I also have a designer that specializes in designing enamel pins and does all of my artwork, so if your logo isn’t enamel ready he could do it. I’d have to check his prices again to make sure, but he’s been charging $20 per design and I’m not even giving him premade art, I’m just throwing characters at him and he’s coming up with stuff on his own.
I’ve also used the Studio, great customer service and great results. Really loved them back when they had no minimum order size. Ordering 10-20 patches at a time is much easier that 100 but I get why they had to do that with setup time and costs, etc…
What would the cost be for a set of $100?
We can also take this to DMs if we need to but here is basically the process:
My designer will send me the artwork like this
I’ll send that over to the factory and they’ll give me a quote
That’s 100 pieces, $0.80 per piece (which is 6 colors), a $67 mold fee, and then the subtotal. The mold fee is a one time purchase so if I was to order more of these it’d just be the $0.80 per piece.
They’ll produce the metal
Fill it with enamel
Then finally coat it to make the metal black and more resistant (and also add my logo on the back with a laser etching)
So I can’t say for sure what it would cost but that should give you somewhat of an idea.
Damn, now i want a Vegeta ballmark.
I’m guessing you’ll have almost every captain interested so I’ll keep it public. With only 4 colors it will be cheaper than shown? Or do colors not matter?
I’m very interested in getting this going asap
this is dope
Yeah less colors would make it slightly cheaper but if I’m doing my math right, I think each color is about 10 cents? The mold fee is obviously the more expensive part and shipping from China to the US. And it takes about a month for them to produce them and get them shipped out if everything goes right. My last order was 2 months from initial payment to shipping but they claimed they were remodeling the factory which slowed things down. No clue how true that is though.
But if it’s something you’re interested in let me see if I can set up an easier system for everyone to order.
Thanks, I was really excited about my ideas and they really do look/feel great in person, I just don’t have licensing rights so it’s been a little sketch the entire time.
Ready to pull the trigger as soon as you are
I’ve got Vegeta and a Thanos, looking to add more. @Darikashi’s Villains stuff is top notch, I’d buy a few different Roost markers if captains start putting in orders, really high quality.
Let me get through my work day today (damn customers won’t stop breaking stuff) and figure something out this evening, then I’ll let everyone know. I know I’ll need to take a look at everyone’s logos to make sure they’d work, or figure out how to adjust them if they won’t.
Just send them to Mr. Balmer, we’re talking Merch here my man!!
Unelected Merch Prince from the North Star United checking in here on behalf of our esteemed jefe @bignanski. @Darikashi the ball marks look dope, please keep me clued in!