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The Inside Skinny on Threadless’ New Prices
I chatted with Ross from Threadless today to better understand what’s going on with the new prices. Here’s a relatively cleaned, slightly paraphrased version of our transcript:
LT: I’m trying to get a feel for the plastisol/chino
LT: is $17 the new baseline combo?
LT: or is there some cheaper thing, like if it were a 1-color/chino?
LT: that would bring it back to $15
Ross: 1 color chino/plast is $15
LT: what’s the deal with “chino”?
Ross: it’s an additive to the ink
LT: ah
Ross: on lighter shirts we can use less “ink”
Ross: so it is not as thick
LT: so the chino additive goes over the base color’s dye, or as part of it?
Ross: seems more like it’s part of the shirt
LT: that’s what i was thinking
Ross: the chino goes into the actual ink
Ross: discharge and waterbased actually seem like they are dyed into the shirt
Ross: esp. after a wash
LT: so the practical difference in a 4 color, regular process plastisol is just that you’re using closer to AA quality material, which is why it’s “up” to $17 for those now?
LT: i guess i’m trying to identify what’s changing for people used to paying $15 for most the designs
LT: (read: guys)
Ross: think of the shirt as a painters canvas
Ross: now they are geting a much higher quality canvas
LT: ahh
LT: if all my shirts feel like the selects feel, i’ll be happy
Ross: so I guess what you said was right
LT: are you using up your stock of AA/FOTL and then bringing their prices up to $17?
Ross: yep, $15 for 1-colors though
LT: right.
LT: are the new shirts in the thriftee hopper, too?
Ross: yep
LT: what’s gonna happen with sales?
LT: $5 off or some such?
Ross: ha yeah… not sure if I can say
Ross: but you might be on to something with that
LT: do you think artists will shift what they’re using for print methods now that there’s a “cost penalty” to the end user?
Ross: we’ll just have to wait and see
LT: yeah
Ross: I’m sure it’ll be on there mind if they are contemplating adding one extra color
LT: yeah
LT: well thanks for letting me bug ya about that
Ross: no prob
Read their full announcement here or get shopping.
Tags: pricing changes, shirts, t shirts, threadless
helo said,
February 18, 2008 @ 5:27 pm
Thanks for interviewing Ross, disillusioned.
Very informative
Calibrated said,
August 29, 2008 @ 8:27 am
Just to set the record correctly, Chino is NOT an ink additive, its an ink BASE.
While you can add Chino to virtually any plastisol ink to achieve a softer feel, thats not what the product is designed to do. Chino BASE is a product thats designed to be colored with concentrated pigments called “Color Boosters”. With the correct formula you can make any PMS (Pantone) color and the ink will exhibit a super soft feel like waterbase inks do. I commonly see people confuse ink BASES with ink ADDITIVES, and this is frequent with Chino Inks. As a dealer for this item, and thousands of other screen printing supplies this is a frequent topic of discussion with my customers about the use of ink modifiers.