UK/Europe

Gildan Heavy (5000)

The typical band t-shirt, and apparently the best selling type of t-shirt in the world. It’s fairly loose fitting and made of thick cotton.

Gildan Softstyle (64000/L)

Increasingly popular, this is a more fitted garment made of lighter cotton. If you like American Apparel style t-shirts, this is the one for you.

Also available in a fitted ladies’ version.

Fruit of the Loom Athletic Vest (61098)

For metallers and emo kids alike, our athletic vests are the perfect way to combine the rock show with the gun show.

Fruit of the Loom Hoodie (62208)

Our nice warm hoodies have a front pouch pocket, a matching colour draw cord, and a hood (obviously). Printing can be on the front above the pocket, or on the back.

Fruit of the Loom Zip-Up Hoodie (62034)

For the ultimate in warmth, our chunky zip-through hoodies have a front zip, twin front pouch pockets and a matching draw cord. Printing can be either on the left or right chest, or on the back. For printing across zips or seams, contact us first.

Fruit of the Loom Sweatshirt (62202)

For an alternative to hoodies, our 100% cotton hoodies are a super-trendy alternative to hoodies which your fans will love.

USA/Canada

Gildan Heavy (5000)

The typical band t-shirt, and apparently the best selling type of t-shirt in the world. It’s fairly loose fitting and made of thick cotton.

Gildan Softstyle (64000/L)

Increasingly popular, this is a more fitted garment made of lighter cotton. If you like American Apparel style t-shirts, this is the one for you.

Also available in a fitted ladies’ version.

American Apparel (2001)

Every hipster’s best friend - made from 100% fine jersey ringspun cotton.

American Apparel women’s fitted t-shirt (2102)

Fitted t-shirt made from 100% fine jersey ringspun cotton.

American Apparel Men's Tank Top (2408)

100% cotton. Apparently features a “nice loose drape”, although we’re not sure what that means.

Gildan Hoodie (18500)

50/50 cotton/polyester blend, with double-lined hood, matching drawstring and pouch pocket.

American Apparel Hoodie (5495)

100% cotton hoodie with matching drawstring and pouch pocket.

Gildan Sweatshirt (18000)

A lightweight 50/50 blend sweatshirt.

American Apparel Sweatshirt (5454)

100% cotton sweatshirt, pre-laundered for minimal shrinking, warm yet breathable.

Choosing the appropriate print method

Using DTG, the number of colours in the design doesn’t matter. The downside is that the price per unit is fixed - printing 10 costs ten times as much as printing one.

For orders of roughly 20 or more, it can make sense to use screen printing instead. This is where a screen is made for each ink colour, and the ink is forced through the screen and onto the garment. Check out a video of the process here.

Setting up the screens takes a lot of time, and is expensive. But once the screens are done, it’s really quick and easy to print hundreds or thousands of garments. That means that when you average out the setup cost over more garments, the unit price becomes cheaper.

Counting the colours

Here’s an example of a 3 colour design (white, red, grey):

Getting your artwork print-ready

If you’ve got a design and you’re not sure about the best print method, just email it over and we’ll take a look for you.

This week, Toto's Favourite Bands takes you on a journey around the world, from Sweden, stopping off in France and finishing up in Sydney, Australia. Along the way we have picked up three very different artists for you to peruse at your leisure over the next week.

#1: First Aid Kit

We've had Swedish band, 'First Aid Kit's' second album 'The Lion's Roar' pretty much on repeat since its release earliar this year. The beautifully melodic tracks 'Blue', 'Emmylou' and title track 'The Lion's Roar' make for a perfect soundtrack to a Sunday afternoon of foraging, lighting fires and skipping through a forest (i'm just guessing that's what the Stockholm sisters get up to in their spare time).

The Lion's Roar is a huge leap forward from their 2008 debut 'The Big Black and the Blue' and defintely solidifies them as another likely mainstream crossover from the ever-popular folk scene. With their recently announced slot at this years Bestival promising to be a highlight of the summer we can't wait to check out this bands' live show.

Give the brilliant 'Emmylou' a listen, below:

(Maybe I was right about their Sunday afternoons). 

#2: DRUNKSOULS

Founded in 2002, 'DRUNKSOULS' are an independent French band composed by members from different origins and cultures. Their music is a patchwork of various influences from the rock and reggae genre. Their songs, sometimes playful, sometimes dark, sometimes lively dark at the same time, carry a message of conciliation and tolerance, in which humour and gravity are intelligently cohabiting.

Very popular on the internet (with their first LP downloaded more than 100 000 times), just thanks to positive word of mouth. The year 2011 confirmed this tendency: DRUNKSOULS were given the chance to play twice in the legendary venue, the Grand Auditorium du Palais des Festivals de Cannes, once in a big fashion show around DRUNKSOULS music with models and dancers , the second time supporting the African Reggae Star TIKEN JAH FAKOLI.

Now, DRUNKSOULS are back with 'REVOLUTION', a 16 track album offering a new trip through the original musical world of the band always littered with multiple influences (Rock, Reggae, Funk, Pop, Electro...)

Check out this teaser trailer for the upcoming album REVOLUTION, below: 

#3: Monks of Mellonwah

After the critical acclaim of their debut EP "Stars are Out" (2010), the Monks are already putting the final touches on their follow up, which is due for release in early 2012. Their music video for "Swamp Groove" took 1st prize at the Howard's Shorts short film festival, and the Monks are set to be featured in an upcoming documentary on ABC's RAGE.

Their latest track 'Neurogenesis' is featured below, let us know what you think!

Let us know what you think of our featured artists and please keep your suggestions coming, tweet us @totomerch or e-mail james@totomerch.com

James @ toto

First off, Team Toto would just like to say a massive thank you for all of your tweets and e-mails regarding last week’s post, particularly those of you suggesting bands and artists for us to feature in the coming weeks. Please keep them coming, we read every single message we get and really appreciate them!

This week we have another three suggestions that we hope will soon be top of your iTunes top 25! (Other music services are, of course, available.) Enjoy!

#1: Anna Calvi

The recent simultaneous hype and disparagement of Lana Del Rey is starting to grate. It appears never-ending with the music press showing no sign of letting up. But the reason it is most irritating is because we can’t help but feel that Anna Calvi should be receiving all this publicity – at least she has an album out, and a brilliant one at that!

Her debut self-titled album released last year has been Mercury and Britt nominated and extremely well received from the Guardian, The BBC, The NME, I could go on…. Her powerful live shows, haunting voice, and heavy, often distorted guitar sounds make Anna Calvi a far more impressive and legitimate performer. 

Anna drew early comparisons with PJ Harvey, Siouxsie and Patti Smith – tough acts to follow. But it is clear that her noted influences have helped her shape something quite unique – The guitar power of Television and Hendrix, that stage presence of Bowie and Nick Cave with the blues of Captain Beefheart.

Check out ‘Wolf Like Me’ (below) a brilliant cover of the ‘TV on the Radio’ track:

 #2: The Willows

With the recent news that folk sales have risen by 20% in the last 12 months due to the success of mainstream folksters Laura Marling and Gillian Welch, it’s no surprise that Cambridge 5-piece ‘The Willows’ are rapidly garnering a following amongst fans of the genre.

Their debut, self-titled EP attracted a great deal of support amongst music critics with its soothing pop-folk melodies and gentle guitar backing. On the first listen it’s easy to see the potential success the band is likely to receive in the future particularly when folk appears to be having somewhat of a rebirth in popular music.

The band has toured with the likes of LAU, Uiscedwr and Boo Hewerdine along with a much-talked-about Cambridge Folk Festival slot. With a debut scheduled for release in early 2012 The Willows have released a fantastic teaser track entitled 'Absent Friends', check it out below:

http://the-willows.totomerch.com/

#3: Codes in the Clouds

Part of the eclectic and fully independent ‘Erased Tapes Records’, ‘Codes in the Clouds’ are one of the many stand-out acts that the record label has to offer. The large line-up consists of Dartford post-rock purveyors: Stephen Peeling, Ciaran Morahan, Rob Smith, Jack Major Joe Power and Olly Glosby.

Their latest album, ‘As the Spirit Wanes’ was released last year and has everything a great post-rock album needs; epic, cinematic sounds that are full of ambition that seem to move you to a different, more spacious and grandiose place. These are the tracks that are always prominent within post-rock. Tracks like ‘The Tragedian’, ‘Washington’ and ‘You and I Change Like Seasons’ (below) definitely deliver this.

To date, they have been touring extensively across Europe, often with other Erased Tapes artists. If their album is anything to go by then their stage performance will be fantastic. Full of epic crescendos and gentle melodies pushing you this way and that, everything you could hope for from a great post-rock band.

http://codes-in-the-clouds.totomerch.com/

james@totomerch.com

Twitter - @TotoMerch

This week we have three great eclectic selections to enrich your ears for the next seven days!

#1. 2:54:

London based ‘2:54’ are made up of sisters Colette and Hannah Thurlow, joined by Joel Porter on bass and Alex Robins on drums. They take their slightly obscure name from “The bit where it gets good in a Melvins song,” simple as that!

To date, they have toured with the likes of Yuck, The Big Pink, Blood Red Shoes and Warpaint. One could perhaps draw a comparison between Warpaint and 2:54 with their female fronted, dark, ‘gloom-pop’. However, 2:54 cite heavy punk bands as their main influence noting bad Brains, Queens of the Stone Age and Boris which seem to add a heavier guitar sound to their tracks.

We can’t wait to hear more since playing their EP ‘Scarlet’ more or less on repeat for the last few weeks and I’m sure they deliver a suitably moody and enigmatic stage performance that’ll be well worth experiencing.

#2. Unknown Mortal Orchestra:

When you don’t really know where to place a band, that’s a good thing right? UMO is the brain-child of Kiwi-Portland-Based Ruban Nielson (formally of The Mint Chicks), and I’m pretty sure even he couldn’t slot his project among any of his contemporaries. Perhaps it’s because there is so much happening within their self-titled debut.

‘FFunnyy FFriends’ offers great guitar hooks with a post-psychedelic sound perhaps similar to the more commercial sounding MGMT, later tracks such as ‘Bicycle’ have even been  compared with early Beatles tracks and later Paul McCartney work.  This is also mixed in with some great modern bass funk sounds, prominent in the single ‘How Can You Luv Me’ – early RHCP albums automatically spring to mind.

The NME put it best (believe it or not) when they said of the band: “Nielson probably didn’t know what he was getting into when he started UMO and is probably still figuring it out now. If that means more sleepless nights for him, all the better for us!”

#3. Café Zurich:

All we can say about ‘Café Zurich’ is FINALLY.

Finally there is a band that make electro, disco house that you’d be happy to be caught dancing to.

The Cardiff five-piece have posted their latest glossy, up-beat track ‘Diadem’. Diadem sums up what the band is trying to create on the first listen; lyrics that stick in our head, catchy guitar riffs and brilliant, well-placed synth. As simple as it sounds Café Zurich pulls it off beautifully in an age where pop music often sounds bland and a bit samey and for that Toto applauds you!

Give the track a listen below, we dare you not to want more from this band!

http://cafe-zurich.totomerch.com/

Let us know what you think of our selections below or tweet us @totomerch ! 

We love hearing from you, so if you have any suggestions of bands/artists that we should be aware of hit us up with that too! 

James @ Toto

You've been busy making great music and creating cool merch all year, so we reckon you deserve something in return. So without further ado, here's the lowdown on Toto's Christmas Competition!

The prizes:

1st prize: 5 free t-shirts of your choice (we can even send them directly to fans if you like...that's re-gifting in action, kids).

2nd prize: 3 months of free Premium membership of Toto, allowing you to do all manner of cool stuff (and ultimately, of course, sell more).

3rd prize: Your band featured on our blog, as read by literally hundreds of spammers and our mothers.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Select your favourite design from your Toto shop - whichever you think is coolest. We know, we're asking you to choose between your children, but that's the kind of people we are.

2. Either email a link to james@totomerch.com, or post a link to it on our Facebook wall. 

We'll add it to our Facebook gallery, and give you a shout when it's up.

3. Send your family, friends, enemies, pets and random strangers over to the gallery, and get them to 'like' your design.

The design with the most 'likes' wins! That's right - nothing says 'Christmas spirit' like fretting about your relative popularity.

Closing date: 14 December. On this date we'll contact the winner, and get you your free shirts in time for Christmas!

IT'S AS SIMPLE AS THAT.

Good luck!

Facebook is the world’s biggest social network, and there’s a good chance that most of your fans hang out there at least some of the time. But rather than just a place to talk to your fans, Facebook can also be a great way to connect with friends of those fans. That’s what a comScore report earlier this year focused on.

On average, ‘friends of fans’ are a group 34 times larger than just your fans - so if you can reach them, it’s a big opportunity to increase your audience and convert them to being fans themselves.

How to extend your reach

Other than paid adverts, the way to reach friends of fans is to get your updates to appear in their newsfeeds. This happens when your fans ‘engage’ with your content somehow. So if Mark ‘likes’ one of your updates or comments on it, a record of that activity will appear in the newsfeed of Mark’s friends. Those friends might then read your update, and investigate further.

Getting into the news(feed)

So the key to reaching friends of fans is to post updates which make your fans take action (by liking or commenting), so that action appears in the newsfeed of their friends.

Hypebot identified 10 ways that musicians can create this engagement:

1 - Ask Questions

2 - Post Games and Trivia

3 - Interact with Fan Engagement

4 - Incorporate Wall Sapplets (such as coupons and polls)

5 - Incorporate Relevant Photos

6 - Relate to Current Events

7 - Incorporate Videos

8 - Post Content for Time-Sensitive Campaigns

9 - Include Links within Posts

10 - Be Explicit in Your Posts

For a band this could mean:

- What’s everyone listening to this morning? [question, interaction]

- Here are some photos of last night’s show...tag yourself if you were there! [photos, current event]

- Check out this awesome post on totomerch.com...what do you think of the advice there? [link, question, interaction]

Are your fans even seeing your Facebook updates?

Posting ‘engaging’ content is doubly important because it makes it more likely that your existing fans will see your updates. On average, only 16% of your fans will see any given update.

This is because Facebook uses an algorithm to determine what a user sees in their ‘top news’ feed, in an effort to show them what they’ll find most relevant. If your content has been commented on or liked by lots of people, Facebook will consider it more relevant and therefore more likely to display it to other users.

Ready for action? Here are the three most important points to bear in mind

There are three main take-home points when it comes to promoting your Toto products on Facebook:

1.     Use the links within Toto to promote your products. You’ll find the share button on each product page in your shop. You should also get into the habit of sharing a product as soon as you create it – to remind you, the share button appears on the ‘success’ page every time you make a new product.

2. Don’t be afraid to promote your product multiple times – remember, only 16% of your fans will have seen it the first time! If you’re shy and only mention a product once, you’re likely reaching under a fifth of your potential market.

3.     Find ways of creating conversations around your merch – this will increase engagement, and help reach friends of fans. It’ll also make it more interesting for anyone who sees you promoting the same product more than once. This could include:

- Check out our Toto shop – which design is your favourite?

- Here’s our new t-shirt design...which colour will you be buying?

- We’re now selling merch through Toto – if you ‘like’ this status, we’ll be picking one person at random to win a free t-shirt!

As this report shows, you’re not just selling to the converted - but if you get the message right, you can convert some new fans too!

What’s been most effective for you when using Facebook to sell your stuff? Have you tried any of our tips? Let us know in the comments, or tweet us!

This week Michael Brandovold has kindly taken the time to answer a few questions for us about his expertise and experience in the field of online marketing in the music industry. He has offered his views on how the music industry has changed and the role new technologies play when communicating with fans. Michael has also given some advise for new bands trying to make it in the industry.

1. Could you give our readers an insight into who you are, what you do, the experience you've had in the music industry and some of the artists you have worked with: 

I am a freelance music industry consultant based in Northern California. Having launched Michael Brandvold Marketing to leverage my years of experience to provide direction to large and small artists in the areas of online & social marketing as well as e-commerce and fan acquisition and retention.

Gene Simmons of KISS first tapped my skills as a pioneering online marketing strategist to launch and manage all aspects of Kissonline.com's multi-million dollar enterprise, including their ground-breaking VIP ticket program.

I have has also managed the online efforts for Motley Crüe, Rod Stewart, Madonna, Ozzy Osbourne, Madonna and Britney Spears to name only a few.

2. What key advice would you give unsigned, up-and-coming bands when marketing themselves?

Look at your entire image. People do judge a book by the cover. Make sure your official website is as professional as you can afford, it is often the first impression you make.

3. Having worked with Kiss in the past, what would you say was the secret to their success regarding their long list of merchandise?

They are not afraid to put their name on just about anything, but at the same time they were personally involved in reviewing every single item to make sure it properly presented the band's name and brand. Be involved with your career.

4. Would you say that it is vital for artists to create a strong 'brand' for themselves?

Extremely important. Your brand is as important as a great song, and will often live longer than the song. A great brand on a t-shirt will promote you when the show is over.

5. What are the biggest changes you have seen in the music industry since Kiss' heyday?

The return of control to the artist. The artist today has the ability to do everything themselves. Nobody is going to give a boatload of money to make you a star. You have to make yourself a star.

6. With the recent growth in social media, how important is it that bands utilise it in the 21st century?

Social media is no different than when bands would do a instore appearance or a meet and greet with contest winners after the show. Only now you can meet greater numbers of fans, every single day. It is now easier to meet and interact with fans and there is no excuse to not do it. If you are too busy to do it, I promise the other bands are making the time.

7. Having managed the online activities of artists including Madonna, Motley Crue & Ozzy Osbourne, what advice would you give bands when trying to engage with fans online?

Make every fan feel important. They want to feel like they are important to you. For a fan it is more important to get artist recognition than it is some piece of exclusive content. Make engaging with fans part of your daily activity. 15 minutes, 30 minutes or a couple hours... make the time and just hang out with your fans online. 

Thank you Michael for taking the time to answer our questions!

For more information you can check out Michael's website: http://www.michaelbrandvold.com/

James @ Toto

It has now been a fortnight since team Toto compiled our first list of favourite tracks! The feedback has been great, so once again we have an eclectic mix of our favourite sounds from Toto bands and other great artists to offer in a neat little Spotify playlist! 

This week we feature everything from chilled-out, acoustic pop-folk from Alessi's Ark, The Willows and Laura Marling to the heavier and more energetic sounds of Pulled Apart By Horses and Djevara plus many more great artists all featured below.

Listen in Spotify by clicking this link

1. Alessi's Ark - On The Plains

2. Audiogold - You and I

http://audiogold.totomerch.com/

3. Beans on Toast - M.D.M.Amazing

4. Djevara - Playing With Fire

http://djevara.totomerch.com/

5. Duke Raoul - Young Starlings

http://dukeraoul.totomerch.com/

6. Feist - How Come You Never Go There

7. GEAR-CX - MINDCRUSHER? 2.0

http://gearcx.totomerch.com/

8. Jahcoozi - Fish

http://jahcoozi.totomerch.com/

9. Lanterns on the Lake - Keep on Trying

10. Laura Marling - Sophia

11. Lightning Strikes the Empire State - You First

http://www.myspace.com/lightningstrikestheempirestate

12. Mighty Mouse - Junglefish

http://mightymouse.totomerch.com/

13. Mount Kimbie - Carbonated

14. My First Tooth - Sleet and Snow

15. Pulled Apart by Horses - High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive

16. Robert Babicz - Come Closer

http://www.myspace.com/robertbabicz

17. These Furrows - Duke

http://www.myspace.com/furrowsband

18. Veronica Falls - Bad Feeling

19. The Willows - Down River

http://the-willows.totomerch.com/

20. Yuck - Georgia

(Alessi at Hammersmith Apollo 2010).

Alessi’s Ark is the current project of London born, acoustic-singer-songwriter Alessi Laurent-Marke. To date she has released several EPs including 2010’s ‘Soul Proprietor’ along with two studio albums: ‘Notes from the Treehouse’ (2009) and 2011’s ‘Time Travel.

Alessi left school at 16 to pursue a musical career and rapidly gained a small following by posting demos on her MySpace page - anyone remember MySpace? She then self-released her first EP – ‘Bedroom Bound’ - through her own independent label.

According to her Last.FM profile (lazy journalism), to avoid confusion with the music act ‘The Alessi Brothers,’ her mother suggested calling herself Alessi’s Ark. Alessi claimed: ”I liked the idea of a boat, where everybody is welcome, even friends that are geographically far away – we are together.” Representatives from EMI soon saw the newly christened ‘Alessi’s Ark’ performing and offered her a deal which she late signed on the eve of her 17^th birthday.

(Alessi performing at 2011’s Truck Festival in June). 

Since then she has toured extensively up and down the country along with numerous summer festival slots. She has also supported the likes of Mumford & Sons, Johnny Flynn and Cerys Matthews as well as playing Neil Young’s Hyde Park show in 2009. 

In 2010 Alessi signed with independent label Bella Union. On April 25, 2011 she released her critically acclaimed second album: ‘Time Travel.’

The album offers a compact and deceptively simple sound that has been described as a ‘cross between Hope Sandoval and Bjork’. Alessi’s individual charm that she brings to her live sets can be seen in the more up-beat melodies of ‘On the Plains,’ ‘The Robot’ and the brilliant ‘Maybe I Know’ – a cover of the 1964 hit by Lesley Gore. On the flipside she can deliver more emotional and chilled out tracks such as ‘Stalemate’ and ‘Blanket’. All this and she’s only twenty: what have I done with my life?

Check out the Lesley Gore cover, ‘Maybe I Know’ (above) and let us know what you think below or on Twitter - @TotoMerch, happy listening!

James @ Toto