[SmileAndFollow]

The list of available designs:

Aloneinlove
Aloveforlife
Blossom
Branchingout
Cityscape
Downthedrain
Floodlight
Lookdeeper
Matty
Meandthemoon
Minolting
Montysdaisy
Mrs.Roboto
Ohmyabutterfly
Overandover
Patchadams
Pinkscape
Playsun
Refreshment
Revolution
Rise
Rootsinprogress
Safetyfirst
Sketchaset
Smogset
Teddy
Throughthecracks
Throwaway
Tiredofturning
Wantingsomecompany
Wesssss
Whatsabovethebluesky?
Whitehot

Im not sure if this is where I would put this. It is more of a buisness question and idea thread, but the buisness would be clothing... Me and Chelsea are looking to start a small time t-shirt company using photos and ideas we have. The point of the clothing would be to point out the beauty in every aspect of life. We would not be blatantly christian, but the clothing would make people see that everything can be beautiful and in this we hope that they can see God in this. They would have to look for Him and be Searching, but we would like to supply some kind of answer. I dont believe that we should deny our faith or take a step back from it to make this clothing marketable to the general public, but that we shouldnt slap cliche christian phrases and bible verses on our shirts. When they take a closer look into the company and its founding views I hope they will be able to see that we are based on God and his principles and that our product is gloryfying His name. Now for the question...

Does anyone know how to actually start a company? Because I dont know all the specifics. All the copyright laws and all that jazz... If anyone knows a good site explaining it or wants to explain it please feel free to do so.

Also I will post our designs here to get feedback on wether or not they are actually marketable. Any feedback, good or bad is welcome.

[SmileAndFollow]

One idea...

[SmileAndFollow]

Another and then Im off to bed...

[PontiusPirate]

and here are some more

[Mr.Zachcore]

ooo fancy. I like the overpass.

[SmileAndFollow]

Thanks Zach. Chelsea is better than me at everything. Here are other designs and repeats of the first ones but smaller... And seriously... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[PontiusPirate]

no I'm not...geez.
and thanks zach. I'm glad you like the overpass.
Joel is much better though, as you must see by the camera one.

[SmileAndFollow]

Weve made a few shirts with the iron on stuff and given them to some of the kids in the youth group here and they seem to like them. When I say "we" I mean Chelsea... I love that woman... Im still looking for a way to get some funding to get an order screen printed so we can go to some shows and sell them. Since no one here has any ideas Im just going to try whatever comes along.

[H.M. Murdock]

On raising money for screenprinting...
It'll take a while, and a little bit of budgeting, but you can get enough money for an initial profit. What you need to do is budget your income to where you have a bit out of every paycheck that will go to an account made specifically for Lifted. This will eventually become large enough for you to make a large number of screenprinted shirts (I want one, haha), which you can then sell for a reasonable profit. The profit will then go into the aforementioned account for the next batch, along with any leftover money you might have from the initial printing investment. Then just build up from there. If you want to talk more about this with me, I will be open anytime next week for AIM, or drop me a PM, and I would be happy to discuss it or help you out with it as much as I can.

I wouldn't know about copyrights, though. My knowledge of copyright laws doesn't extend past the education I got on that in a Constitutional Law course a while back, so I can't help you out there.

[Just a Name]

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info

See if you like this place.
They offer to put your stuff on everything...
EVERYTHING...mugs, hoodies, shirts, aprons, mouspads...
Yeah, the only problem there is every item is white...
I think I saw a black hoodie on there once, but I'm not sure how to get other colors.
But if that's not a problem...then this is the place for you!

Oh, and I also wanted to mention that me and my husband (Zak) are doing something similarly unusual (in ways to deliver the gospel.)
We were going to start up a coffee shop...but we don't want it to be blatantly Christian...we want it to be a place with a similar atmosphere to Cosi's (not sure if you have those where you come from) but Christian...but not offensive or cheesy so we can get the secular crowd in.

We're looking for Christian artists and photographers so we can hang some of their works in our shop (when it opens in 2007) and you guys have merchandise too that would be awesome to sell there!
So I'll keep in touch...right now it's just all good ideas and bad ideas and money plans and market reasearch...blaghblaghblagh...
But anyways, just to let give you a heads up...and encouragement!
I also have a friend who's a copy writer (I think that's her official title)
I'll ask her if I can hand her email out and you can ask her about laws and junk.

Hugs, have a great weekend!

[SmileAndFollow]

Originally Posted by Just a Name

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info

See if you like this place.
They offer to put your stuff on everything...
EVERYTHING...mugs, hoodies, shirts, aprons, mouspads...
Yeah, the only problem there is every item is white...
I think I saw a black hoodie on there once, but I'm not sure how to get other colors.
But if that's not a problem...then this is the place for you!

Oh, and I also wanted to mention that me and my husband (Zak) are doing something similarly unusual (in ways to deliver the gospel.)
We were going to start up a coffee shop...but we don't want it to be blatantly Christian...we want it to be a place with a similar atmosphere to Cosi's (not sure if you have those where you come from) but Christian...but not offensive or cheesy so we can get the secular crowd in.

We're looking for Christian artists and photographers so we can hang some of their works in our shop (when it opens in 2007) and you guys have merchandise too that would be awesome to sell there!
So I'll keep in touch...right now it's just all good ideas and bad ideas and money plans and market reasearch...blaghblaghblagh...
But anyways, just to let give you a heads up...and encouragement!
I also have a friend who's a copy writer (I think that's her official title)
I'll ask her if I can hand her email out and you can ask her about laws and junk.

Hugs, have a great weekend!

Thanks alot! Maybe by that time we will be doing shows and stuff with our band that has yet to be formed... It sounds like a great idea though. I was thinking of doing something along those lines as well. Further down the road of course. So many ideas, so little time. Definetly see if you can get that info about the copyrighter person. That would be very helpful. And let us know if you want to use any of our designs or photography for your cafe.

[Emi-chan]

Wow, those shirts are so cool! I have the "Hide Your Heart Away" one as my desktop background now, haha.

[PontiusPirate]

you guys are stinking awesome!
drea: ditto to what Joel said....wow. heeeeeeeeeeee

Wow, those shirts are so cool! I have the "Hide Your Heart Away" one as my desktop background now, haha.

heeeeeeee I'm so happy! I'm glad you like em emi-chan

(see baby, I told you yours were better )

here's more:

[H.M. Murdock]

Cafepress is good at a glance, but they actually own your stuff, not you. When you go through them, they can sell your designs and such to anyone they please without having to refer to you. In essence, when you go through Cafepress, you are getting a corporate copyright, and not a private copyright, meaning that the organization you sell your items through has the rights to your ideas, and not you yourself. I'll try and find the exact information on it, and I will look for other stores with the same services, but minus the dirty catches, if you like.

[PontiusPirate]

thanks dude! That'd be great