Are Men's T-shirt colors really this limited?

[BothHands]

I'm probably missing something.

I want to select a single unisex T-shirt on which to feature each new design.  So far, I don't see one that provides both white and black color options.  I see a blank-product T-shirt that provides the white color option, but no black.  And vice versa.  Do I really have to create two separate T-shirt products just to offer the most basic color choices, black and white? 

And of course, customers want lots of color choices, so what am I not understanding (as usual)?
Thanks,
Tom

[PenguinPower · Accepted solution]

So when you go to design a shirt and you pick your template you'll see: (this is just the top row.... there are 33 different t-shirt styles currently)

If you choose "men's value T-shirt" you'll see this when you begin to design (this is also what your customer will see if they choose to view your shirt). As you can see for this particular style of shirt you can choose either a black or white base shirt and there is a menu to view other styles which will each have different color offerings.

If you choose "see more" in the style menu, you (and your customers) can scroll through a list of all of the shirt offerings.  If there are color choices available they will appear when you've chosen that style. Some styles have very limited color choices, others are wider. 

[PenguinPower]

You can place your design on any tee - when the customer looks at it, all of the options for every tee (unless you've limited them to "dark only", "light only", "this style only" etc.)  will be there in a drop down menu. So if I place a design on a men's value tee (which has only options for black or white), it's also available on men's basic tees (that have lots of colors) women's tees, long sleeve tees, sweatshirts, toddler tees etc. etc. You can put your designs on more than one style of tee in your store for marketing purposes, but you don't have to just to make them available for every tee shirt. 

[BothHands]

@PenguinPower   Thanks.  My focus thus far is on trying to come up to speed on the basics of Selling.  I haven't yet shopped on Zazzle, so I guess I haven't been considering the versatility Zazzle offers customers in terms of switching my design to other blank products.

I want to provide inexpensive products as much as possible for my customers, with the option of choosing a more expensive version if they like.  My impression thus far is that customers may have to choose a more expensive option just to find a shirt color they like.  

I didn't find a basic men's T-shirt that offers both black and white.  Do you see one?

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[PenguinPower · Accepted solution]

So when you go to design a shirt and you pick your template you'll see: (this is just the top row.... there are 33 different t-shirt styles currently)

If you choose "men's value T-shirt" you'll see this when you begin to design (this is also what your customer will see if they choose to view your shirt). As you can see for this particular style of shirt you can choose either a black or white base shirt and there is a menu to view other styles which will each have different color offerings.

If you choose "see more" in the style menu, you (and your customers) can scroll through a list of all of the shirt offerings.  If there are color choices available they will appear when you've chosen that style. Some styles have very limited color choices, others are wider. 

[BothHands]

Now THAT's a post!  =D   Maybe even a treatise, and I much appreciate the screencapture illustrations.  Thanks for taking the time, @PenguinPower.  But in the end, it seems that no one t-shirt—at least not at the lower end of the price scale—offers the choice of simply white or black. 

In response to your outstanding presentation I visited the "Men's White Value T-Shirt" page and could not select a black version without bumping up in price by $1.00 to the "Basic Dark T-shirt."  In light of Zazzle's ultra-versatility in many respects, I find this extreme limitation in relation to such a staple of POD sales...surprising.       

[PenguinPower · Accepted solution]

I believe that the $1 bump for dark tees is due to the more complicated printing process. With white tees you can opt to not have the white base ink printed - just leave the white tee background to create the blank spaces...
Personally I don't choose to ever display that option myself, because it never looks as good and on anything other than white it can look downright weird. I prefer to at very least display the "vidid printing" option all of the time, because it looks that much better and for a $1 I think it's well worth it. I don't necessarily block it... the customer can still choose the option, but I'm a lot more concerned that when they look at my designs they'll be far more turned off by washed out looking designs than the price. 

[BothHands]

More excellent points!  Thanks for sharing your experience, with me and with other readers.  It makes  sense that the white backing layer costs something.  I'll keep that in mind, along with your advice regarding better results from vivid printing (white underbase).   < vivid printing is a link I found in response to your post above, and based on that link's explanation, I see ways to use both vivid and standard printing, depending on the subject matter and the desired effect.  Specifically, Mickey-in-the-Middle was printed on a blue T-shirt via standard printing.  I think I can use that to create a traditional "silkscreened Tee" effect. 

I hadn't thought carefully about any of this, so I much appreciate 1) your cluing me in, and 2) your expertise.  

Q1. In your experience, does the 'vivid printing' white underbase cause the printed design to become stiff at all?  Having never purchased a DTG (direct-to-garment) shirt myself, I worry about how well my designs will hold up for my customers.  I've seen lots of silkscreened designs crack and peel off...

Q2. Is your moniker a reference to Linux OS?  

Very helpful information, PenguinPower. 
Thanks,
Tom