My friend needs help with her Tees

[elenisofikiti]

Hello BBHF friends.
A friend launched her first campaigns on Teespring, and asked me for my opinion. Although I'm an expert internet marketer, I have no prior experience with T-shirts, and I'm not sure what to say. I certainly find the designs original, but I cannot be objective, because... well... it's just a pair of eyeballs.
Here are the two campaigns
https://teespring.com/a-lesbian
https://teespring.com/a-lesbian-tee
Would you be kind enough to share your opinion about the designs? Especially if you are in the target group, which is people that wear funny or provoking Tees. Also, what kind of marketing tactics would you use to promote these? She's running FB ads as far as I know, but sees no conversions so far. Any other promotion tools you'd suggest?
Thanks. I appreciate it.
Eleni

[grumble]

Probably a bit 'In your face' for the American market of conservative Christians.

A little plain / Basic.

No humor.

Sort of pointless really - like a shirt with 'Bloke' on it what's the point / purpose / humor? So why wear it?

[polymahh]

yea too basic maybe! ahh two holding hands one with black nails and the other with pink or two female lips kissing would give it more energy 'something eye catching'... and the texts shouldnt be in a simple line like that after all when you think about lesbians you imagine something rebellious or wild ... or that just me !

[California Kid]

i like the tank top versions the best if it's gonna be that plain. i don't know how teespring works but if she can add the rainbow colors somehow to color it up and spice it up a little, it'd be better.

it seems the fonts should be 1-2 sizes larger

if i were doing it, i would have the wordings on the back of the shirts and on the front, i would brand the "i am a lezbian" in the upper left of the shirt in small font cursive or whatever. then jut figure out a way to dominate the "i am a lezbian" t-shirt biz on teespring

[California Kid]

i was just about to append my messsage but there seems to be a posting delay in this section.

as far as marketing, fb ads for sure along with her own website around that brand.... and hell....why not a fb page too? hopefully she knows fb marketing and retargeting. if she isn't getting any conversions then obviously either she isn't marketing correctly on fb or people aren't liking her shirts.

oh btw- there are 6 colors in the pride flag. "island" has 6 letters. just saying.....if she wants to color it up a bit, that's how i'd do it.....

[JeanGreyHat]

There could be some design elements added to really draw the eye in. I say that because, even though there's text LARGELY DISPLAYED across the front of the shirt, it's not until you read the smaller text below it that you "get" the joke, which takes away from the effect if someone's just passing by the wearer as they're walking down the street.

That point probably hits people about the shirt right away. And, as a result, the current design would probably appeal to folks who don't care that the message/humor has a high potential to be lost (so women with a sexual orientation to women lesbians, instead of Greek people from the island of Lesbos). But then the line below takes away some of the appeal for the first kind of lesbian (since, again, the main appeal would be the words, right?).

So design elements could make it so that the shirts appeal more broadly.

[JeanGreyHat]

I can't edit the previous message - it disappeared when I clicked "Post Reply". Anyway, I forgot to add points about the marketing side of things.

Since it's a very visual product, visual social media (Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr) should probably be avenues for promoting too. And, even better, would be if she could put the shirt on people ... in the street... and snap shots of the shirts being worn (look at what Banana Republic does with their Instagram account - though obviously, professional photography wouldn't be needed like the way they do it - the point is more the "what" than the "how" with this example).

Also, "why" the message? Does she actually have a branding story or is just trying to be funny? I ask because 1) she's not being very funny with the shirts (the humor is flat - which would be ok if at least it were tied to some larger story) and 2) it's the one joke, just told with different font types (which, again, would be fine if there were some larger story somehow). If there's no why/brand story, then my suggestion would be to think of ways to up the funny (design elements, a different joke, quote commedians if need be) OR come up with branding that has the potential to resonate with a community of people (example: "I'm with her" doesn't need to have catchy visuals if you actually stand behind the visuals, right?)

[elenisofikiti]

Hello JeanGreyHat
Thank you so much for taking time to reply to my question.
I really appreciate your views. All of your points are solid.
Thanks again.

[JeanGreyHat]

You've most welcome elenisofikiti. I'm glad you found the feedback useful (and hopefully your friend does too). Best wishes for success with her business.