September 2014 News - back to News Flash

Proposed Project: Print on Demand Mission Materials
 

One of our members recently created a T-shirt design for the Mission on a site called CustomInk. Here is the final version: Mission T-shirt. Although this project did not progress beyond creating the design, it got us thinking: Is there such a thing as "T-Shirt on Demand," etc.?

In other words, just like we now have THOTH on Print on Demand technology (each book is only printed at the moment the customer orders it; the only inventory kept is the digital book file), are there similar services where we could submit Mission designs for T-shirts, cups, pens, etc. and the company would then do the rest in getting these items to customers (in return for most of the income, but that is fine with us)? If so, we could start developing a wide array of attractive Mission items without needing a steep initial investment, a large inventory, staff to collect payments and mail packages, etc.!

We searched the web and were pleasantly surprised to find that such companies do seem to exist! They will take your designs and print them on anything you want. They also only do it when the order comes in, so there is no inventory and no upfront cost to you. We think this would be an excellent way to start designing great-looking materials for the Mission and advertising them for sale, etc.

Yes, we know: There will not be much demand for such items at this time. However, we hope the demand will increase as the Mission expands! Also, if your designs look great, even people who are not in the Mission might be attracted to and buy them. Furthermore, this is a great way to advertise and spread the Mission, especially if your designs appear in many products and are made available to many people, etc. Finally, again, if there is no initial inventory cost, there is no financial reason not to do it even if only a few people ever purchase it.

So we have a proposed project called: Print on Demand Mission Materials. If anyone is interested to start and become a manager for this, let us know!