Why We Scrapped Our First Shirt Prototype? Product Test! Cheap! Cheap!

We are experimenting with our brand in an effort to offer a few clothing pieces for our customers and supporters. The polo mallets are our primary product but we may have some use for some complementary products such as a sweatshirt (hooded and unhooded), t-shirt, hat, saddle cushions, horse blankets and tote bags. Some of the items we will considering giving and donating away but a few might be listed on our site for customers to purchase.

The back logo we liked
as an option. Its loud but 
it might be something someone 
wants. 

Because we are experimenting with pricing and quality we want to see if we could get at t-shirt in the $20+ range with our logo and colored emblem on the back. They looked ok except the front emblem looked generic when we put the graphics on the shirt. The back turned out great and that is excellent! 

We then went to test it in the wash a few times and found out it was losing its shape. The quality was poor so the fibers distorted under water and heat. We don't want a poor reputation so we kept what worked (the back logo) and pitched the rest. We are now on the path of looking for higher quality shirts that could include either high quality print and/or embroidered logos. 

In order for us to make a reasonable assessment we had to price out some of our options in terms of what a customer would pay. The prices in the graphs are ball park correct as to what they could be offered for with a reasonable profit. They are not specific and therefore don't use them as a guide for anything other then illustration purposes. Take a look at this pricing table for our Escanaba Polo Mallet slimmed down product analysis.

Based on our knowledge of our customer base and the need to maintain quality we are opting for a higher quality t-shirt. These will not be cheap shirts but they will maintain the brand image and likely will appeal to our customer base. We are not trying to be a mass producer or get into the clothing business. However, a few offerings like any other club is just fine.