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ExploreRunning Tee Hunter means I am exposed to a LOT of tshirts of all styles and types and one area which can be awesome or horrendous is funny/retro/slogun tshirts. So when I had the opportunity to interview Bill Kingston, owner of Crazy Dog Tshirts and chance to find out exactly what it takes to be a real player in this sub-genre of t-shirts, I was ampt to speak with him.
Crazy Dog Tshirts
Crazy Dog says:
“With a classic collection from the most popular movies, television shows and music of the eighties and nineties, our vintage t-shirts bring back fond memories of horrible movies, television shows and music. Our eclectic blend of t-shirt designs keeps you outfitted in the best, and sometimes worst, of popular culture.”
I cannot agree more, there really is a massive collection of all kinds of tshirts referencing movies, popular culture and everything in between. Awesome. Now! On with the interview…
TH: What is your background and how did it lead you into designing and selling your own tshirts?
BK: Crazy Dog T-shirts all started as a project back in College. I graduated in 2005 From Ithaca College with a degree in business administration with a minor in marketing and ecommerece. Crazy Dog was created by myself as an end of the year project. Having only one parameter you needed to create a site that sells something. Starting with only 6 designs Crazy Dog T-shirts was born.
TH: What has been the highest and lowest point of running your company? One time when you were high on life and success and the other where you maybe felt like throwing in the towel…?
BK: The highest points for me in the business was watching my company grow from my basement to our 3rd location in a retail and commercial location in Rochester, NY. Now we have 4 employees and are still in our major growth stage. It was really exciting watching our keywords on google creep up there on to the front page. As orders were steadily growing. It is a great feeling to see what you created grow as well as being your own boss. I really feel that I am doing exactly what I want to do and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Christmas time is the most exciting times with orders 5-8 times of what occurs regularly. 18 hour days aren’t unusual but I couldn’t do it if I did not love it.
TH: …and the lows?
BK: There have been several low points. I didn’t have a framework to follow when I started this so lots of decisions I had to make without being informed. In particular advertising options. I have spent lots of money on certain areas which did not pay off at all. All of it was a learning experience. One of the worst experiences was becoming involved with a blogging and SEO building company. Not being in a formal contract I had continued with them for several months. Without seeing improvement I told them I was discontinuing their service. Upon mentioning this I was told lawyers would get involved unless I paid them an additional months fees. Not a fun situation at all. However, we were able to resolve it. Another major hard time was when we restructured the website. Several rankings on google dropped as did sales. It was right during the January-February months of the recession. Sales were poor and times were tough. It was a struggle to keep everything running. However, we were able to turn it around with lots of hard work. There have been several people which I trusted that did not pan out. However, in the end it allows me to judge people better and feel out with who I really want to work with.
Crazy Dog Tshirts
TH: It is not easy to make a decent funny/slogan tshirt. Really hard in fact! What do you think the key to a successful tshirt design of this style is? Is there a formula?
BK: We are asked a lot how do you come up with your funny ideas. Sometimes we will brain storm and our entire crew will throw out ideas every month. However, in general our best ideas come from watching tv or surfing the net. Then just randomly a funny t-shirt idea will pop into your head. Several ideas come from our customers. We offer a t-shirt design contest from time to time. Our current contest offers the winner $500 and free t-shirts with smaller prizes for second, third and forth. We get several great ideas from our customers which we can incorporate into the site.
TH: What inspires your designs and slogans?
BK: Some of the best designs I come up with are after 1AM. I have some great ideas late at night. Don’t know if it is the lack of sleep or if it is my creativity suddenly sparks real late. I just get in a creative mode that allows me to think of several funny ideas. For a design to be successful you really have to get lucky. Some shirts take off and others just fizzle out. Sometimes we think designs are going to blow up and are really funny to us. Then when we put them on the site they don’t sell well. So we end up discounting those and selling them off. However, every once in awhile a new idea you have really takes off. That is a great feeling when you find that hilarious tee that the public loves!
TH: Where do you think other brands and individuals go wrong when designing these type of tshirts?
BK: Other companies when they design their tees they can lack originality and especially quality. We silk screen our shirts on super soft tees. Other companies offer heat pressed tees which ends up wasting a customers money. We want you to be happy with your shirt and keep coming back for more. Sometimes people have a great design idea then without the proper graphic artist it just isn’t appealing. You have to find that exact image that is in your head that works best with the color shirt.
Lots of our designs are inspired by movies, friends and jokes we’ve heard. Will Ferrel is the walking talking t-shirt man. Everything he says is funny and gets put on a t-shirt. We like more obscure references as well. From movies like Aliens to Starship Troopers.
TH: What is your personal favourite tshirt you have designed and why?
BK: My favorite t-shirt is our Amish Gone Wild tshirt. I love the concept and we had a hilarious video created which tells a story and incorporates the tee in the end. We have a few other tees I love which we’ve been incorporating youtube videos with but this one takes the cake in my mind.
TH: What is your personal favourite slogan, ever to be seen on a shirt and why?
BK: My favorite slogan I’ve seen on a t-shirt is our I love to read t-shirt. The idea came to me of all places on the John. You can see why when you see the t-shirt! I wasn’t sure how it would do but thought we’d offer it up. Right away it started selling quickly. I guess there are a lot of bath room readers out there!
TH: Why do you think, whilst graphic tshirts look cool, that people still have such a love of funny/slogan tshirts?
BK: Funny slogans let you express yourself and give people a smile. Graphic t-shirts look great but can’t tell a story or give you a smile. Our tees are made to give you a laugh and make you look good while doing it!
Visit Crazy Dog Tshirts now!
