On Sun, Apr 30, 2017 at 01:53:49PM +0200, Daniel Pocock wrote: > > Hi all, > > On several occasions people have asked me about Debian t-shirts and the > polo shirts when I'm going to an event or after seeing a video where I > am wearing the polo shirt. > > At some events there are opportunities to mass-produce things in > collaboration with the event team, lowering costs and avoiding the cost > of shipping into the event. For example, the FOSSASIA team produced a > lot of roll-up banners and three Debian banners were included in the > batch. Similar deals can lower the cost of t-shirt production, > especially when the event takes place in a location where costs are lower. >
I'd seriously suggest you chat to Steve, Phil Hands and others who've been involved in this over the years. It's not quite a no-win scenario but it's probably not far off. Get good quality polo shirts, for example, that will lst for a few years - and someone will wear the same shirt for a long time, to multiple events or whatever - but you can't then sell them another shirt quickly. With the numbers of shirts you can reasonably sell in five years or so, it rapidly becomes a large outlay of cash up front for a small, delayed return. Debian tartan, even more so - high production cost and will wear for many years - but still desirable :) > A few people have expressed concern about the production of t-shirts though: > > - production cost and difficulty of transporting in luggage, both > relatively high compared to the cost of stickers and some other merchandise > > - lack of volunteers willing to handle and dispatch inventory (this was > raised by debian.ch after trying to retail some online) > Debian.ch did one very cool piece of merchandise - customised Victorinox knives with Debian logo. Fantastic, useful - and potentially illegal to carry but a lovely thing. I think it took a huge time to organise the logistics although the cost wasn't huge since the manufacturers do this regularly and the retooling isn't massive the overhead was high. > Personally, I feel that clothing makes a particularly strong impression > as people only wear one t-shirt at a time and if they choose to wear a > Debian t-shirt, that is a strong endorsement of the Debian project. > Conversely, if there is an absence of Debian t-shirts in the community > (or if Debian was to produce too many shirts that all look the same) > people wear other things. > > I also feel that the relative effort for a developer to organize a batch > of 100 is not much more than the effort of producing 10 or 20. > See above :( > This brings me to a few questions: > > - how do people view the distribution of merchandise, is the primary > goal fundraising or is it about brand exposure? > Debian isn't "a brand" per se - and look back years in the mailing list about logos, copyrights etc. - maybe the DPL may have a different view? > - would it be reasonable for 1% - 2% of Debian's reserves to be tied up > in slow moving inventory items like t-shirts that take up to a year to > fully turnover? As the reserves are mostly kept in cash Debian probably > loses at least that much to inflation each year anyway. > Some of SPI's revenues - as the umbrella body that handles finances - come from providing tax/admin/donation handling for other projects. They can best handle cash - handling physical inventory / accounting for it / exchange rates / writing down storage costs might be too much. > - what is the best strategy for production and distribution? Would it > be cheaper and less effort for volunteers if 10,000 shirts were simply > produced in China and divided up between every developer willing to > distribute them within their local community at their own pace and > without formal inventory controls? Or is it better to produce small > batches when the opportunity arises? 10,000 shirts might be the project sales for thirty years if you're unlucky :( > > - what should be produced? In low quantities we get very standard > t-shirts. In higher quantities we may have more choices of fabrics, > more distinctive styles and printing techniques that last longer. We > could even produce some rolls of Debian fabric for people to have > tailor-made shirts, table cloth, curtains, etc. > > - what aspects of production are people willing to volunteer for? For > example, some people have volunteered to create t-shirt designs and > other people have volunteered for Debian booths at events. What other > tasks do people need to volunteer for, e.g. keeping inventory, and are > there volunteers? > > - has anybody looked at any strategies to completely outsource > merchandising or to do such things jointly with other groups to get > economies of scale? For example, at some events the Debian t-shirts can > be retailed on a table run by the local community without developers > needing to be at a booth, all we may need to do is bring the stock and > take it away again later. > It might also be worth talking to, for example, Randall Monroe of xkcd - who is making an income off merchandise to find out just what's involved. About the only thing I think we're missing a trick on is female sizing and cut as distinct from unisex/male predominant sizing. Given the demographics of the Debian (and Linux)) community, this is either everyday sexism or just the norm :( > Regards, > > Daniel Andy Cater > >
