Design Tshirts Store Graniph

Design Tshirts Store Graniph is a t-shirt store that was established in 2001 and expanded rapidly throughout Japan and into a few other countries such as Australia and Singapore. They have a great selection of ever changing shirts, one of which we ordered. While I often go into the store in Joinus near Yokohama Station we decided to see what their online shopping experience is like. We used the main website rather than the keitai (mobile phone) site but I just noticed now that their site is bilingual. That said, a lot of the Japanese site is in English. Just check it out.

The t-shirt we ordered was one that impressed us while we were at the store. It is called Paint People and you can check the images below to see why. It is a simple but clever one color design. They didn’t have ladies sizes so my main squeeze chose size SS. The size is suitable but the fit is just not her type. I imagine she will give it to someone, which is a pity because I really like this shirt.

We ordered it in the evening and, as hard to believe as it may be, it arrived the next afternoon. They don’t need logistics lessons. That’s for sure. It was also the first time that a t-shirt arrived in a box. It arrived in while cardboard box with the Design Tshirts Store Graniph red logo covering half of it. It wasn’t easy to open because of the glue but what it was open there was another piece of car framing the t-shirt which was also inserted in a clear plastic bag. Very cool.

If you like these shirts but don’t live close to a store, you are in luck, as they ship internationally. They also accept t-shirt submissions and have had two major design competitions. I will tell you more about the t-shirt submissions in a later post. I will have to put my translators hat on. I don’t think they will have another major t-shirt design competition untill next year though. You can see the most recent winners on their site.

New Cafepress Packaging

Quality control is an important issue at PODs and Cafepress is no exception. There have been countless tales of wrong/missing orders and such like but I think one of the things that rankled shopkeepers the most is knowing from personal experience that their shirts and stickers and things are sometimes haphazardly stuffed into a bag and sent out. To be fair though, all the items I received from Cafepress were in good condition and folded fairly neatly.

Cafepress has decided to address some of these quality issues which can be seen in the recent upgrading of the way they send the receipts and  now they have also upgraded the way they pack the shirts. It is the result of shopkeeper feedback and the recently implemented Cafepress Voice. To all who say otherwise, here is evidence that Cafepress does indeed listen to the shopkeepers. “Starting this week, all apparel in orders will be rolled and wrapped in a recycled paper band, held together with a sticker.” From their announcement it seems there will be more improvements to come.

I have to admit though, that when I received the notification of the new packaging I had expected something more like the new Zazzle.com packaging that was introduced recently. Cafepress items come in a white plastic bag with the trademark green and black logo while Zazzle items come in a very sleek futuristic package. They say it is “technomatic, electrostatic, and polyethylene-omatic” but I say that it is awesom-atic.