Hi there!

I'd like to know if anybody can help me out with figuring out the logistics for a new business venture of mine.

Basically, we have an awesome idea for a new t-shirt design. It is very niche focused and we are pretty sure there will be a great demand for it.

Being in the website and graphic design business, I have little to no knowledge on manufacturing and distribution - particularly that of t-shirts!
What I do have is a design, and possibly somebody to manufacture the shirts for me. What I need help with is logistics, particularly with distribution, legal and, partly, marketing.

You may assume that the shirts will be marketed via Facebook and other marketing methods, directing traffic to a website where orders can be made. Similar to http://www.tshirtterrorist.co.za, except we only have one shirt.

So here goes.

Distribution:


- How? What would be the best way to get the shirts to people? Via post or courier? What's the cheapest? What's the most effective? What would be an efficient and cost-effective courier/logistics company to use should I decide to go the courier route?

It's important to note that we are based in Durban, but one of our biggest markets will be in Gauteng, particularly JHB. On that note, though, the shirts will be in demand all over SA.

- Outlets?

You may assume that our shirt design is humorous and controversial. It is pretty specialised though.
Would it be a good idea to market our shirt to clothing outlets? If so, where do I start? How do I go about approaching these outlets to "buy into" or order my shirts? What sort of information would I need on my order form? Bear in mind that it's not the sort of thing that would be marketed to huge chain stores such as Mr Price, Edgars, Woolworths etc. I think it would be targeted at smaller, novelty/specialty clothing stores.

Or would it be best to do sales and distribution solely through the website? (Similar to how tshirtterrorist.co.za does it)

- Returns/Refunds/Defects


How would we deal with people wanting to return shirts? The way I see it, we should only take returns for physical defects with a shirt. Again, the issue of couriering shirts back would be a dilemma in itself.

Legal:

- Trademarks/Copyrights/Patents

From what I can see, we probably won't apply for a trademark of the shirt's "brand", as it may be considered offensive to some.

As far as infringing on trademarks is concerned, though, what is the regulation on how similar a logo can be before it is infringing on a registered trademark? If we had to make a "comic" version of, say, a famous sporting logo, would it be an issue? How would we work around this?

The shirt is designed completely in good faith and is not intended to offend anybody. It just may be viewed as offensive by some, so I'm not sure what considerations I need to take into account here?

With copyrights? Is it possible to enforce a copyright on the design of a shirt? Again, if somebody had to reproduce our design, making just a few slight alterations, would that completely bypass our copyright?

- Risk/Insurance

What would I need to consider here? How much risk is involved in the whole process and where does the risk lie? Would I need to invest in any insurance? If so, what? How? Who?

- Seperate Entity?

Would it be a good idea to create a seperate entity for the distribution of these shirts. It's not exactly the main line of business for our web and graphic design business (which is a partnership). If possible though, I'd like to start off the distribution under our current business (Site Fusion) and then should the market be big enough, THEN consider starting up a seperate legal entity. Anything else I need to consider here?

- Capital

What startup costs would need to be considered here? Other than the manufacturing of the shirts of course. (We intend to run a pre-order phase, to lessen our initial capital requirements.)
We are working with a very limited budget, so keeping initial costs low is a must. There is no shortage of hard work and dedication here, though!


My apologies for the lengthy (novel) post. I'm just really confused at the moment as this will be my first manufacture and distribution venture. (I'm only 19, after all! )

Any assistance would be HUGELY appreciated. I have a great idea, an awesome vision and vast amounts of willpower! All I need now is a bit of help with the "action" bit.

Please?