In the fall of 2006, a group of friends found themselves in need of custom-printed t-shirts for their high school tennis club. They planned to hold a giveaway in the spring to celebrate a full year of lightning-fast serves and quick lunges — and what better to give away than custom made t-shirts with their logo? Their requirements seemed simple: the t-shirts should be high quality, attractive looking, and affordable. But there was an obstacle: the last requirement – affordability – could not be met. The price of the t-shirts greatly exceeded the club’s budget.
Raymond, the club’s founder, couldn’t believe that a t-shirt could be so expensive. He conducted some research and discovered something incredible: t-shirt printing companies, even the online ones, operated with mark-ups in the range of 50 to 60 percent! Raymond realized that, at these prices, there was no way he could afford shirts for the tennis club.
An Alternate Solution
Just before giving up on the shirts, Raymond came up with a seemingly absurd idea: if no one wanted to offer a fair price, he thought, perhaps he could offer one. Still in high school, he had no business experience, very little money, and no concept of where to start. But the idea of reasonably priced shirts stuck with him. Raymond gathered up the $2000 he had saved in his lifetime, and with it, ooShirts was started.
Raymond’s plans were modest: he would print shirts and sell them to other clubs at his high school, relying on the “wow” factor of his company’s low pricing to spread the word. But just months after its formation, word of ooShirts’ honest pricing spread beyond just his high school. As orders from farther and farther away places started coming in, Raymond realized that ooShirts could be more than a high school side project: it could become a real business.
Since its meager beginnings, ooShirts has more than doubled in size every year of its existence. We now have production facilities on both coasts of the United States, thousands of unique products in our catalog, and the capacity to print millions of shirts per year. But most importantly, even as the size of the company has changed, our company values have not. The reason we’ve had the privilege of growing so quickly was our dedication to giving our customers what they want — high quality, affordable custom t-shirts
Our Principles
We have one guiding principle: we value good business. What does “good” mean to us? Simply put, we think a business should provide a service that adds value to other peoples’ lives. A good business should benefit the customer: you.
1. We get it right the first time.
We take your deadlines very seriously.
We know you might have a play to publicize or fundraisers to promote. Our very first customers were busy high school clubs—we fully understand that receiving custom-printed orders on time is non-negotiable. In fact, you can return your order for a full refund if your order arrives past its expected delivery date (see Our Guarantee for more details).
Attention to detail.
Once you’ve sent us your design, our graphic artists ensure your design appears at its very best. We’ll keep a careful eye out for potential printing errors and strive to improve the print quality of your shirts.
Quality printing.
We’re detail-oriented and committed to giving you exactly what you designed. If you discover that your shirts have been poorly printed, we’ll reprint your order (see Our Guarantee for more details). But throughout our six years in business, we’ve been committed to ensuring errors are few and far between.
2. We value frequent and open communication.
Transparency.
We want you to know what we’re doing. If you call us at any time, we’ll have information about your order ready for you. If we spot a misaligned letter or other potential printing errors that require adjustments to your design, we’ll send you a design proof before printing. And if you have a question about how your design will look when printed, we’ll give you honest, constructive feedback.
Communication at every step of the way.
Even though the printing process is complex, we want to keep you informed every step of the way. For each order, you’ll receive notifications for: confirmation of the order, order approval, potential order concerns (if any), artwork proof and verification, and delivery confirmation.
3. We strive to keep it simple
No unnecessary mark-ups.
We offer the lowest prices available. To ensure our affordability, we conduct regular surveys of our competitors both on- and offline. We’re dedicated to spending our time and financial resources on what matters most: attractive t-shirts at attractive prices.
A simple, yet powerful design experience.
We provide the tools necessary to customize your shirt. With our online design lab, you’re able to add fonts, insert clipart, upload your own image, and if you’re not completely satisfied, you’re even able to completely redesign your shirt. We make continual improvements to our design lab to create the perfect design experience.