We’re so excited to have Deo Volente Industries as on of our exhibitors at NYWC SAN DIEGO. This is a post from their team with some helpful tips for your youth ministry T-shirts.

We have all been there. You add an extra $6 to the registration cost so that each kid can have an awesome shirt at the youth retreat.  When retreat finally comes, the only time you see the kids put on the shirts is when they have to wear it for the group picture. After the retreat, that poor little t-shirt is relegated to a work-out shirt or household cleaning rag. What went wrong? Being in the t-shirt biz for over 20 years I see a lot of common mistakes.  Here is a list of the top 5 mistakes youth groups make when creating a t-shirt:

1. Having a design contest. This is a great idea to get kids involved, but hardly results in a great shirt. Art is often sketched out, not in the right format, or has multiple colors (every color adds to your overall cost). Contests are great for pie-eating, but not t-shirt designs.
2. Designing by committee. You start with a great design, but everyone in the committee gets to put in their two cents. It is like asking everyone to add their favorite topping to a pizza. In the end you have a bloated mess of a pizza. The same can happen with a t-shirt designed by a committee.
3. Trying to save money by getting a cheap shirt. For only 75 cents more you can have a soft, fashion fit shirt that the kids love! Putting a great design on a cheap shirt is like candy-coating vegetables.
4.  Being too involved in the design process. Let the professionals have the freedom to make a fantastic shirt. Designers are creative and think differently. They see what works and they know what looks great on shirts. This also frees up more time for you to concentrate on the kids!
5. Designing a shirt before you have a style and color of shirt picked out.  Knowing if you want a dark shirt, bright shirt, or v-neck shirt makes a difference in the design.  I have seen many awesome designs that are put on the wrong color or style shirt. It was so close to being a great shirt.

We hope this helps the next time you need shirts for your youth group. Getting a shirt your kids will love is not rocket science.

Here is an example of an email that resulted in a great shirt.

“Hi Jared, we have a camp coming up! Info for shirts: Rooted and Grounded 2015, Ephesians 3.17. I can imagine you guys will have lots of ideas for graphics with that verse….thanks for all you do!”

This picture shows the t-shirt our designers created.

Got questions about your next T-shirt order? Contact Jared Kira from Deo Volente Industries at jared@4dvi.com.