When Custom Logos began in 1989 the business was comprised of one manual screenprinting machine and a homemade dryer. In fact, screenprinting accounted for over 90% of our revenues for the first 10 years we were in business. Being new to the business back in the early years we always were amazed at the volume of t-shirts printed and often wondered where they all went. As the years went on we automated and today screenprinting, with annual revenues of over $2 million still represents 20% of our business. We still sometimes wonder where all the t-shirts go and applaud the ingenuity of people such as the young man cited in the article below for their continued contribution to the industry.
Original article can be found here.
The rush for merchandise celebrating the killing of Osama Bin Laden has seen one young entrepreneur make $120,000 in less than two days.
Maurice Harary, 23, set up his T-shirt website Osamadeadtees.com as soon as he heard that the former Al Qaeda leader had been shot by U.S. Navy Seals on Sunday night.
The New Yorker raced home to his apartment to work on building the website on Sunday night and it was ready to go live at 3.30am on Monday morning.
By Tuesday evening he had already sold more than 10,000 items at $12 a time.
T-shirts bearing slogans including ‘Obama killed Osama’, ‘Osama’s back – not!’ and ‘Just dead it’ have been flying off his virtual shelves.
Given the haste with which it was set-up, the website has a basic design.
But Mr Harary has already expanded to selling stickers and posters revelling in Bin Laden’s death.
‘Celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden,’ Mr Harary wrote on his website.
Buy an official Osama’s Dead T-shirt here. Now you can show your American pride by supporting our cause.’
The celebration of the killing has sparked a market for memorabilia marking the death of the world’s most wanted man.
The website Zazzle, which lets customers submit designs for items such as t-shirts and buttons, said it has handled thousands of orders this week for merchandise related to Osama Bin Laden’s death.
Marketing Director Mike Karns said Zazzle has fielded tens of thousands of submissions for designs, including one that was submitted Sunday almost an hour before President Obama’s officially announcement.
‘It’s been boiling up for 10 years and this is the moment where people can finally express this sentiment,’ Mr Karns said.
Popular items include a keychain saying ‘Osama Bin Killed’ with crosshairs over a caricature of Bin Laden and T-shirts thanking the U.S. Navy Seals unit that killed him.
Street vendors from New York to Chicago and Washington have also been selling Osama merchandise.
Online auction site eBay has seen a spike in Bin Laden items. Hundreds of Monday’s newspapers were offered with headlines declaring the Al Qaeda leader’s death.
But the moves to cash in on the killing have been criticised by some.
Reverend Chloe Breyer, executive director of the Interfaith Center of New York, said Bin Laden’s death shouldn’t be something that’s celebrated or commercialised.
‘It’s one thing to give thanks after somebody who caused so much harm in the world will no longer be able to. It’s another thing to celebrate it,’ she said. ‘I don’t think that’s appropriate.’
