Jon Kruse | How to start a clothing company

About Jon Kruse

I run this blog and have a web development company called Double Dragon Studios. Send us an email if you are looking for any web work to be done.

T-shirt Design Illustration Technique

Jon Kruse2018-01-25T14:21:23-07:00Categories: Design|

When you need to create something with that hand-drawn look but you’re on a tight time line – this is one way to do it fast. The project I was working on was a t-shirt design for Black Ace Clothing. They’re great guys and pay us well so I am not normally rushing through their projects. But on this particular project I had already completed a large hand-drawn illustration for the back of the shirt. They wanted an additional illustration for the front of the shirt, but I was concerned about the total budget for one t-shirt, so, I busted out this little trick of mine. It saved me time, and saved them money!

Fail Fast, it’s the quickest way to succeed

Jon Kruse2018-04-21T10:36:40-07:00Categories: Business, Inspirational|

The classic mindset is to try to get a business plan or product 95% right before taking action. This is great in theory, but it rarely works. The alternative is to get your idea about 50% right, then let customers tell you what your mistakes are. Listen, learn, get it 50% right, and put your idea through the process again. Keep at it until your customers say, "Wow!" Instead of debating options internally, you'll be making your idea real, taking it to customers, and learning as it fails.

Interview with Flying Mouse

Jon Kruse2009-11-20T17:44:24-07:00Categories: Designers, Interviews, Store Owners|

Over the past few months I’ve been fortunate enough for the opportunity to have some lengthy discussions about the t-shirt industry and get to know one of today’s top and one of my favorite designers. Chow Hon Lam (aka Flying Mouse) is revered in the t-shirt design world and you’ve no doubt seen his awesome work all over the internet. In the past he has been awarded newcomer of the year and most printed artist on Threadless, has took up the recent challenge of creating a new design everyday and now is branching out with his own clothing line.

Storenvy: Free online store review

Jon Kruse2015-08-25T10:53:22-07:00Categories: E-commerce, Starting Out|

oday I’m reviewing a new e-commerce store system called storenvy which offers a free stores to everyone. It is most similar to big cartel which charges $10- $20 a month for it’s services but also includes a bunch of social networking stuff to get your site seen.

Guide to Starting a Clothing Company

Jon Kruse2013-04-08T15:05:50-07:00Categories: Starting Out|

2 Years ago I started up a clothing company that I slowly began to doubt and eventually I abandoned it even though it generated pretty good profits for a time. Since then I have been planning a new business and have been constantly re-evaluating my ideas and designs. The bottom line is I learned a lot from starting a company even though it wasn’t entirely successful. I also have learned a lot from reading through these forums. I wanted to write to this to give a complete guide to every aspect of starting a company. This is going to be a lengthy guide but if you are new to this I think you have a lot to learn from my mistakes and experiences.

How to be a good client

Jon Kruse2015-08-25T18:27:01-07:00Categories: Design, Starting Out|

1. clear your mind of any image you have built up. A designer cannot read your mind so the finished product will never ever look exactly how you see it. And they will not spend the next year revising the design over and over in the hope that it might. Put your ideas in the designers hands, and be excited to see something completely unique by a creative professional. 2. look carefully at your chosen designers work, develop their brief in accordance with their personal style. stop asking me to draw sexy chicks. 3. Remember that a professional designer is not a way for you to exercise your artistic frustrations, They are not just a pair of hands for you to feel creative with. A professional designer does so because of an ability to come up with ideas not just realize them, and their ideas may well be better than yours.

Glamour Kills Interview

Jon Kruse2016-02-09T13:11:02-07:00Categories: Designers, Interviews, Store Owners|

I was very pleased to be able to interview the seriously cool and visionary dude behind Glamour Kills, Mark Capicotto. He has done amazing things with his brand and the success he is now enjoying should ignite the spirit and desire in all fledgling tshirt designers and fashion entrepreneurs! It can be achieved! Glamour Kills have just put out their summer line and it is immense! So enjoy the interview below and have a look at just a very select cross-s3ection of the new threads available!

Ten Things You Must Do When Starting Any Clothing Brand

Jon Kruse2013-09-06T01:00:48-07:00Categories: Starting Out|

There is no doubt about, times are tough right now. It seems like whenever you fire up your laptop or even the TV there is some sort of broadcast of a new business or organization crumbling that will somehow affect your daily life or business. With today’s economy owning or starting a clothing line could get tricky and require bringing in the big guns. Don’t worry though! There is a lot you can do as a clothing line owner to really market yourself. There are many different ways to really bring new website visitors to your brand you just have to think outside the box and sleep a little less. Here are some sure fire ways to further your reach online.

Bullshit Detector – for websites

Jon Kruse2012-10-18T16:26:39-07:00Categories: Starting Out|

So I've run into a lot of people talking the talk, gloating about how well their company is doing, or trying to get me involved with their project. If I don't know you I will be skeptical and look at a few things that will let me know if you are full of shit : )

Interview with Keaton Henson

Jon Kruse2018-01-25T15:59:29-07:00Categories: Designers, Interviews|

Website: www.keatonhenson.com Could you start off by giving us a little background on yourself? Keaton Henson: I was born and raised in london england. was always into both art and music and have been in [...]

Networking for clothing lines

Jon Kruse2018-01-25T15:57:22-07:00Categories: Design, E-commerce, Interviews, Marketing, Starting Out, Store Owners|

What is networking? Why is networking important? Why am I writing this and how does it have to do with Too Legit? All of these questions will be answered in the following Facet of Legitimacy. [...]

Ugmonk Interview

Jon Kruse2015-11-17T23:33:55-07:00Categories: Designers, Interviews, Store Owners|

Hey Jeff how’s it going today? Ugmonk: Busy, but good. Before we get into Ugmonk tell us about yourself and your design background. Ugmonk: I’ve grown up doing all type of traditional art and decided [...]

Electric Zombie Interview

Jon Kruse2018-01-22T08:10:57-07:00Categories: Designers, Interviews, Store Owners|

I'm very glad to say that the first interview for tee shirt fashion is with Kyle Crawford of Electric Zombie. I want this interview to speak for itself, but I will say that I chose [...]

Screen Printing Vs Plastisol Transfers

Jon Kruse2017-09-28T16:36:16-07:00Categories: Printing|

After doing some research I found out about plastisol transfers, for those of you who don't know what plastisol transfers are, it is the same process and quality as screen printing, however, instead of printing directly onto the garment, the design is printed onto release paper and then is heat pressed on, below is a video of the process to help you get an idea of what is involved (the t-square it tool is helpful but not a necessity)

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