Group Buy - Tartan Cycling Wear

[ForresterModern]

Cavscout you have done your homework. This is looking very good with a minimum order of 10 jerseys, then whatever else we want. All those special add ins for no extra charge are fantastic and a rarity in the businiess.

One thing we might want to consider would be some sponsorship by xmarks and/or some of the xmarks sponsors----maybe $50-100 to have their logo added onto the shoulders or pocket panel of the back of the jerseys, or even more for the major sponsorship of the front and back panel logos, plus the sidepanels and collar (and the U-shaped panel of the shorts/bibs)---which could seriously offset some of our setup costs, and they would be there forever, in future orders as well as the current ones. If the sponsors listed their web addresses in their logo adverts we as kilt wearers and "tartan riders" could also plug them when we get asked about our attire, especially if you wear a kilt before or after a ride like I do sometimes.

If xmarks was the major sponsor we could post their logo and url on the jersey side panels, neck collar, as well as the front and back of the jersey---we could be the xmarks team. All the sponsorships would offset the cost of the setup but remain permanent parts of the design as long as we continue ordering the same designs. If xmarks/Steve were willing to do that, Team Xmarksthescot.com could come into existence across the country and the world, but I think it would only be proper to use the xmarks tartan as the background pattern, which I believe Steve owns the rights to anyway. What do you think Steve?

The sponsorship costs would only be to offset the setup fees, and I think we each would probably be willing to pony up the actual cost for the items we want after the setup fees are covered. Makes it more affordable for those folks who may want to buy the attire and thereby increases the likelihood we get more folks to buy, thereby spreading the word about xmarks and the other sponsors even further, while simultaneously bringing the overall costs for items down as our order size goes up. Win, win, win in my book.

Other thoughts?

jeff

[cavscout]

I like "Tartan Riders", it's got a ring to it.

I'm not opposed to having advertisements but I'm more interested in just having a riding outfit that has a good looking tartan on it. Bringing advertisers and sponsors into the picture may complicate that.

Bringing in advertisers raises the level of complexity because someone would need to ensure the tartan artwork and the advertising work well together and determine values for each logo placement and size as well. The little logo on the collar shouldn't cost the same as the large one on the chest. Even putting all the logos only on the back the same size, now the tartan may be muttled. These are all issues that can be resolved, but with how much effort? Now, if a company came in and said, "You can design the outfit and we'll pay for everything, you just need to ride X miles per week"...all bets are off

To be honest with you, my preference is to keep this a generic group buy, "share the cost" arrangement where folks could get something that's just not on the market anywhere. It allows us to retain full design control and we can move at our pace. Just to reiterate, I'm not opposed to doing adds or sponsors, it's just not a level of effort I was prepared to get into.

[BruceBC]

this sounds of interest!

[way2fractious]

I like "Tartan Riders", it's got a ring to it.

...I'm more interested in just having a riding outfit that has a good looking tartan on it.

Deja Vu! I took Cavscout's position last night in an identical discussion at my cycling club's meeting.

BTW, sign me up for a tartan jersey and shorts (my first bibs, if that is all that is offered.)

I was tempted to experiment with two other options a while back. An Ebay listing had some stretch Lycra in Royal Stewart and my thought was to sew large panels down the side of the legs of some regular shorts.

The other option was to return to cycling's original wool shorts, obviously made from wool tartan but with updated pads, and a snug-fitting wool jersey with matching tartan panels.

w2f

[cavscout]

Oooooooo, a wool tartan cycling jersey. How cool that would be.

Well, there's the "2 more" we needed plus I think there could be a few more who've been sniffing around that would interested if we develop this thing well. We might could even pull off the minimum qty in jerseys and then use the CS-5 plan for bibs. By the way, if you haven't actually said your interested in an item, you aren't in the head count so chime in to be counted.

[ForresterModern]

I wrote to the sales email address to inquire about the use of a tartan pattern and how best to get that to them in a way they can use to transfer the pattern on to the jerseys and shorts in the printable areas. Also told them we would probably want to leave some blank spaces to be filled in with a group name when that is chosen, should we choose to be the "Tartan Riders" or Xmarksthescot.com or some other name. I thought the best way to get them the pattern of tartan we would want to reproduce would be to get them a sizable swatch, like a yard square of actual tartan, to make sure they have enough sett repeats to work off of. Then they can do the color transfers to the individual pieces that will make up the jersey and shorts.

Will wait to hear back from them and let you know what their thoughts are.

[cavscout]

For comparison, I emailed them last week and never received a response. I finally called them yesterday and the guy seemed to be searching his Outlook to find an email with the word tartan in it. He was helpful and knowledgeable but I got the feeling if you aren't ready to place the order (deposit) he needed to move things along.

I'm playing with GIMP to try and figure out a way to manipulate a tartan mock up with a jersey template to rough out some general design ideas.

[cavscout]

Forgive the blurry pic but here are a couple of simple mock-ups to start the design ball rolling. The tartan is Holyrood...



Maybe instead of white the non-tartan areas are some other color from the tartan.

I still like the idea of the tartan fading out into some solid color either from the top down or the bottom up or top corner to lower opposite corner. I haven't figured out how to represent that yet Imagine the orange squares are the tartan area and the tartan dissolves into the solid color area.

[chasem]

I think, with Holyrood and the first example, I'm thinking the base blue color up top, fading to tartan for the bottom

[ForresterModern]

I like what you have done Cav, especially with the idea of blending the tartan into a solid region where a team logo could be set.

I did get an email response from the sales guy at the website (2 actually) and he says they can work with the tartan as a pattern if we get them a big enough swatch to work from that insures they have at least a couple repeats of the sett. He also sent info on how to set up an account, credit card approval form, order form, and request for sizing samples. I am at work and have not had a chance to go through all the attachments yet but will this weekend. Will be back in touch.

I started the Tartan Riders social group----seemed like a fun idea and a way to maybe centralize interest in the tartan cyclewear concept and potential order.

jeff