I do agree that local is nice as far as customer service. We are fortunate that EPI has local reps that come to my school whenever I have a new project and meets with me personally. The people in the arts department are also amazing. I had created a logo for our science camp and it had lots of different colors. I sent it over to our EPI rep and asked for the best price. They converted my logo into two colors using shades of yellow and purple. It was amazing. The purple was all these different shades - some looked grey, almost black. The yellow was beige to bright yellow. All this so we could get the 2 color special. These shirts cost us $2.99 each. The shirts are also the 50/50 beefy T. The thicker, nicer shirt.

Also, on another project...some of the shirts were a little "off center" - not too bad, but just enough that I wasn't going to ask people to pay for them. Our rep didn't even need to see them. She simply said what sizes were messed up and she'd replace them right away. Within a week we had new shirts. She never asked for the messed up shirts back (except for one so she could show the printers their mistake). We gave the slightly off-center shirts away.

Anyway...they are a great company and work to make people happy.

We went local and I have to say it's been a blessing. Our middle school hadn't had any spirit wear since.....hmmmm....I don't think they ever did. Anyway, since we had a very small budget to work with and we weren't sure how well the items would be received, we were apprehensive about how many to order.

Another gal and I went and set up the designs (which we've gotten quite a few great comments on)and then chatted with the local lady who was helping us. First, we didn't have to invest in a whole ton of clothes. We ordered 10 of each size in t-shirts and sweatshirts, and 15 pairs of sweatpants. The order came was done the day of our open house and since we went local, they even held out check until the next day, so we could have our deposit in first. Not that we would have been left without funds, but it really would have dropped the total.

We also, had order forms available for the parents to take home and send back to school and oh my gosh. I was swamped with orders for 3 weeks. Since we had gone local, we were able to purchase only what we needed, and if the kids wanted to add on their name or sport number, all they had to do was take their item to the shop and they got a discount on that, too. Also, when an order got bungled, we were able to get a replacement within two days. OH, also the gal at the sports shop was willing to come to our school for $10 (yes, that's ten dollars) and be available to print shirts as needed if we ran out of sizes. We figured we weren't going to be having a good turnout, so we declined, we ran out of all, but one sweatshirt, two sweatpants and a handful of tees.

So, in case it's not obvious already, I'm a big fan of local.

DJ

We order from EPI. Our students wear uniforms and on Fridays they wear can wear their spirit shirts - so they get a lot of wear, since most kids wear them at least once a week.

We have a parent who owns EmbroidMe (franchise around the country that does screen printing and embroidery). He does our uniform shirts and said that for EPI's price that it was the best way to go - he couldn't beat it.

The shirts are a lighter weight, but they have never peeled. Their designs are are great. If you pick their they give you a discount. Or design your own.

We try to use local vendors whenever possible, but when your school is 75% free lunch we have to consider that when selling. We have never had a parent complain about the quality. Mostly I think every is thrilled w/ the price.

Wow, do I feel dumb. I just tried the address from Tim's message and amazingly EPI came right up! So far they seem to have the best deal I've been able to find.

Deb

i have used the t-shirt people for shirts when i was working for walmart, they tend to fade and the imprint peels off. so not good if they plan on wearing alot. Which we did at walmart since we didnt have to wear a vest if we a tee on.

I couldn't find EPI in the yellow pages here - I must be blind - but I did find them on the internet. Their address is: www.educationalproducts.com

Deb