Local entrepreneur and Cincinnati nightlife promoter Sean Herron knows a potential business idea when he sees it. His latest is
CollabTees.com, a virtual t-shirt shop where musicians can have a high quality t-shirt designed, printed, distributed and sold. The site launched just two weeks ago.
Herron, a Hip Hop fan, got the idea after going to some local shows he'd helped promote, and noted there was a dearth of fan merchandise there.
"There'd be 1,600 people there and no one out front selling merchandise," said Herron, who lives in Highland Heights.
That was in sharp contrast to some rock shows he attended where someone was always selling band-related shirts and other trinkets.
It doesn't take a lot of time and money to get t-shirts printed but it does take a buy-in and some focus to get them sold. That's where CollabTees comes in as a partner with someone with a t-shirt idea. The site is geared toward DJs and artists, but you can log on and for $50 can submit an idea through the web site including sketches. Herron works with local designer
Nicholas Earl who will turn the submitted idea into a t-shirt design. Earl also designs flyers for Herron's show promotions.
Once the design is nailed down it goes to the t-shirt shop (Herron is working with Southpaw Prints in Over-the-Rhine). Once the client sells 10 shirts, CollabTees will ship the shirts, send you a free shirt, and host your design on their site. Then every time your shirt sells, you earn $5 per shirt. The more people you direct to the site who buy, the more you earn.
"Once they sell the first 10 shirts, the site becomes active and alive. If a DJ travels a lot, they can hand out a card and direct them to the site," Herron said. "And after that 11th shirt the individual starts to make money."
Herron said the site is getting about 2,000 view per day, and he's getting calls from people in California and Miami who are interested in the concept. Like his nightclub promotions, buzz is building through word of mouth.
"In the new age of Internet social networking, I don't pay radio or print advertisers. We use a lot of the buzz marketing aspects. We get lot of people who like the idea talking about it. … Now is the time when if you have connections, that those can really start paying off," he said.
If the concept proves successful, he'd eventually like to devote fan pages to artists and DJs that would delve deeper into their work offer them an online publicity house.
In addition to promoting and marking local shows for area bars and nightclubs, Herron has also recently launched
My All Card, a membership card that offers discounts at more than 600 local food, health, entertainment, beauty and other business.
Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: Sean Herron, founder CollabTees.com
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