Quality of HBO Game of Thrones T-Shirts

[Addam]

Can anyone vouch for the quality of the HBO T-Shirts? Now that there is a ton of variety, I am having a hard time resisting. I'm a bit leery, as I recall some people having reservations over the thin material of the shirts.

Are people generally happy with them or should I skip on this purchase?

[LugaJetboyGirl]

Yes, I would like to know this, too. I want one of the new map shirts, but my last GoT tshirt experience was traumatizing.

[Snowy89]

Hmm, I was wondering as well what the background of the Targaryen ones are , they almost soom blue... :thumbsdown:

[Wolfheart]

I've bought the Stark and Baratheon sigil tshirts. I was NOT impressed with the quality. Thin fabric, and the graphic print is also poor quality. Not screen printed, and is already not very bold visual, its faded to begin with. Graphic cracks and fade after 2-3 washes.

[Vuron]

I was going to buy some online this weekend, but almost every review said they were trash. Paper thin, graphics wearing fast, not 100% cotton, and the sizes weren't correct. I'd love to have a few, but I'm not buying them if they're crap.

[boiled leather]

I was going to buy some online this weekend, but almost every review said they were trash. Paper thin, graphics wearing fast, not 100% cotton, and the sizes weren't correct. I'd love to have a few, but I'm not buying them if they're crap.

we bought 2. definitely thin material (but not paper thin) I didn't' notice anything wrong with the sizes or screening. at $25 they might be over priced. I got them on sale at a con at the end of the day, so I've nothing to complain about.

[Yagathai]

I was going to buy some online this weekend, but almost every review said they were trash. Paper thin, graphics wearing fast, not 100% cotton, and the sizes weren't correct. I'd love to have a few, but I'm not buying them if they're crap.

Wash them inside out, gentle/handwash cycle, cold water. And woolite. Woolite ist krieg.

No dryers! Hang/air dry only. If you must, must, must use a dryer, don't. If you do anyway, no heat.

No fabric softener! On material that thin, you shouldn't need it. Anyway, it frays the material and makes the screenprinted ink fall off.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Woolite ist Krieg! (very true words) I've washed my Targ and Greyjoy shirts many times, and the ink has not fallen off. The material is OK -- I've owned better, but I've also owned worse. The sizing can still be a minefield. My t-shirts fit, but I bought the largest size they had, which is about 2 sizes larger than I would normally wear.

Inkjet vs. screenprinting. NEVER assume that a T-shirt is screenprinted these days. Unless it says "screenprinted," it is safe to assume that it will be inkjet. That's just the reality of the marketplace. A pity, yes. I like a well-made screenprint. But sometimes I just want the damned t-shirt, too. :lol: In any case, the Targ printing quality was OK, but not awesome. The Greyjoy shirt is much better. I'm guessing that the red ink chosen for the Targ design is a bit more fickle than some other colors.

[Stego]

I like my Targ shirt. Love it, really.

It is too blueish. Admittedly. The design is great, though.

It is thin. I consider this a huge positive. Thick tshirts make no sense to me. I love the american apparel shirts best, to give you an idea. This is not that thin, nor that form fitting, but it's similar.

[DragonAge93]

Does anyone have the "You Win Or You Die" shirt with Ned on the throne? I'm looking to get it, but reviews said the image looked blurry and faded.

[Dragonstar]

Does anyone have the "You Win Or You Die" shirt with Ned on the throne? I'm looking to get it, but reviews said the image looked blurry and faded.

Love the design and quality - happy with my purchase. If you want this to be your every day T shirt - maybe not. If you want it to be a statement T, they are perfect!

[John Picacio]

I'm considering printing up some t-shirts of my own. Anyone have recommendations for quality t-shirt screenprinters, especially ones that offer good thick cotton material for the shirts themselves?

[Xray the Enforcer]

I'm considering printing up some t-shirts of my own. Anyone have recommendations for quality t-shirt screenprinters, especially ones that offer good thick cotton material for the shirts themselves?

I always try to work local, as you have a better chance of seeing proofs before they're screened and they'll usually have the t-shirts there that you can feel to see if the quality is up to snuff. But if that's not possible, I'd just search around until you find one on the internet that uses Hanes Beefy-Ts, as those are the gold standard for thick cotton tees. American Apparel makes nice quality shirts as well, but they can be cut slim and the lighter colors can be see-through -- I have a light pink t-shirt from them through which one can very clearly see my tattoos. Now, I consider that a bonus, but I think most might be of a different opinion. :)

Another manufacturer to look for is Bella. I have t-shirts from Worldcon 2006 that were printed on Bella shirts and they still look OK. I mean, we're talking 5 years of frequent washing and wearing. Anything that can survive that kind of beating is good in my book.

The last thing to consider is inkjet printing v. screenprinting. Inkjet is cheaper and you can print just about any color. Unfortunately, the prints are simply not as durable as those made the traditional screenprinting way (thickness of the ink put down is part of this). Many of the complaints I'm seeing about the GoT shirts is because they've gone the inkjet route. That said, most people don't give a damn -- if they like the shirt, they'll buy it no matter how it was made. :)

Unless you've moved and not updated your website, here's a place you might try:

http://www.bigstarbr...g.com/index.jsp

[Parris]

I'm considering printing up some t-shirts of my own. Anyone have recommendations for quality t-shirt screenprinters, especially ones that offer good thick cotton material for the shirts themselves?

John -

as suggested, see what you can find locally, a small shop will be more likely to listen to you and let you mess around with the printing and inks and design than a big company will. The small shop might charge you a bit more, but you'll probably like the results when produced to your specs.

Some folks like the American Apparel offerings - I don't. The sizing is inconsistent, the fabric can be paper-thin which causes a lot of issues when printing and they don't have a long life span.

Give me a call sometime when you have 30+ minutes or more to talk to me about some of the issues involved. I've got more than 15 years experience in getting shirts printed, going back to when I did mostly Pagan designs on hand-dyed shirts that were then silkscreened. The company I used for blanks back then is no longer in business - it was a US company that made their shirts in the USA and couldn't compete with the slave-labor wages in 3rd world countries, but damn they made fine shirts. I still regularly wear some of those shirts, that were printed in 1993! Yeah, when I decided to start printing shirts, I made damn sure that my customers would get a product that would last longer than a year or two. In fact, there's folks who have come back to me ten years later saying that the shirt fabric was worn out from constant wear, but the silk-screen design was still as good as the day it was printed.

There's some great shirt blanks available in many sizes, colors and styles, any company you want to hire for printing should have sample blanks on hand or will give you catalogs to peruse. Look at the sites for some of the big companies that offer multiple lines of blanks - like IMPRINTS - some of the pricing and other information is locked down to people/businesses that have accounts, but you can still get a good idea of what's available. Even the sites of companies like Hanes and Jockey will have info you might want to look at just for general ideas of sizes, colors and styles you might want to consider.

Don't know what you're considering printing, but I can see from your gorgeous calendar work that several of those pieces could be done the old fashioned way - by silkscreening with multiple screens.

See, even this note is getting too long, just give me a call and we'lll talk.

Parris

[John Picacio]

Hi, Xray....hi, Parris --

Big thanks for the advice!

Will definitely look at those options you both suggested. Definitely going screen-printing all the way.

I've got in mind a particular shirt that I wanna do for San Diego Comic Con. It's not GRRM / ASoIaF related.

FYI: my feeling on merchandising my Calendar art is this:

George is a friend and was kind enough to invite me to do the 2012 calendar art. Bantam is my client and part of my job is to help them make big profit (and presumably some nice royalty money for George).

Therefore, I'd feel like a weasel if I turned around and immediately started selling prints and shirts of my art for my own personal profit, before or while Bantam has the 2012 Calendar in print. Know what I mean? :) Folks have been asking already, which is great to hear, but first things first, and that's the Calendar itself. Plus I'll wanna run my thoughts by you and/or George, Parris, before I do anything.

This weekend, Norwescon named me as their 2012 Artist Guest of Honor. That show is the first week of April 2012. By that time, I think the 2012 Calendar will have had the vast majority of its sell-through and that's likely when I'd first consider making prints and shirts available of my ASoIaF art.

RIght now though, the more people are buzzing about the 2012 Calendar and buying those up like crazy, the happier I am.

Will keep you both posted on my t-shirt exploration in the meantime. :) Thanks!

[Ser Aardvark]

Wasn't planning on buying one but my wife were in Times Square after leaving a function at NYU and saw the HBO store so we decided to go in. I don't know if these shirts are different than the ones they send out but I don't know what people are complaining about. They're 100% cotton, the graphics look like they'll survive a wash, and they're comfortable. I'm a large and it fit me pretty well. So long as you hang dry the shirts they shouldn't shrink. The price is a bit steep ($25) but most copyright graphic Tees are about that price maybe a little cheaper. Usually i get them for 15-25 at the mall so this is not outrageous.

[Stu Ross]

My only complaint with the products from the store(and of course its understandable why they do this) is that theyve all got the Game of Thrones™ logo on them.

Is it SO wrong to have a Stark T Shirt without the name of the bl**dy show on it?

[Underfoot]

My Targ shirt definitely fits a little weirdly (kind of like a couple of shirts I got at a concert once--wasn't impressed) and is thin. Background is blue, not black, but the design so awesome I don't mind too much.

[Morrigan]

Hmm, I was wondering as well what the background of the Targaryen ones are , they almost soom blue... :thumbsdown:

Yeah. My boyfriend got the Targ shirt and was disappointed by how blue it was.

[DragonAge93]

I'm on the edge of buying the You Win or You Die shirt. Looks great. I know the material is kind of thin, but I'm not going to wear it everyday, and will most likely wear it a once a week every month (in the summer). Kind of more of a collectible to me, anyway.