Crowdsourcing the community worked very well for the DBU t-shirts, so If we made a SACKSburg t-shirt:
1) Would you buy it (at our normal pricing of $25 which includes tax and shipping)?
2) What would you want on it?
3) Any other feedback would be awesome.
Forums:
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Comments
Boom.. VT Brings their sack lunchpail every damn day. The lunchpail outline would be sick in like a white embossed look.
yes I would buy it
I like this idea a lot. Simple outline that's obvious to whoever knows what it means. Maybe include the word WIN in the outline with Sacksburg underneath.
Would definitely buy one, and are we sure we can't put gifs on shirts?
Dadi Likes
Will you teach me to football??
How do you show a three dimensional LOLUVA QB that has been reduced to two dimensions by Dadi & Enkanem? Is a splat really a design?
TBH, I didn't get the DBU shirt since I thought $25 is too expensive for a simple T (even when including shipping and taxes). Can you bring the price down? Else, i'll sadly have to forgo this round again.
Unfortunately, it doesn't make financial sense to charge anything less than $25. When you consider shipping and tax it's only $20. I understand some of y'all are students and operate on a tight budget, but that's the best we can do.
I'm assuming our economy of scale isn't big enough to get those big discounts for bulk...
Exactly. If TKP was selling 5,000 of these, the price would be much cheaper.
I think part of the complaint is that the DBU shirt was great, but you are paying for 3 letters on a shirt (which was by popular demand, and I realize the cost to TKP was probably equal or similar to any other intricate design). I didn't purchase one either because I like shirts with more detail and design, like the horse on a treadmill and the cavman shirts, which is just my preference. I personally hope the SACKsburg shirts have something more to them, and I respect everyone that loves the DBU shirts. I understand that you are running a business, and I appreciate you reaching out to the fans for their opinion on t-shirt designs.
You are also paying for a design on the sleeve. Companies don't charge by the amount of letters on the shirts. They charge by amount of inks that are needed. This shirt more than likely cost the same as the Decade shirt because of the two printed locations.
I understand that. I'm not complaining about the content of the shirt or the price. The design was by the people for the people. I was just noting that some like more design to the shirts like the past ones.
a helmet with Corey Moore's eyes staring out and into the souls of quarterbacks.
Or Bruce blowing up a lineman with an unabated path to the quarterback
This. Corey Moore's eyes, but the youngsters wouldn't understand...
they will see and they will know
An image (or silhouette) of a VT player holding a burlap sack could be pretty good if it was done right. I am not a photo shop person so I would have to defer that to someone else.
Is never a bad option
If you could just use the silhouette of that photo or the one below?
I think I ask something like this every time a shirt idea comes up. The answer has always been that we can't do player silhouettes
It's kind of vague. You can't make (even veiled) reference to current players. You can certainly do a silhouette of a player, with VT, etc. but it can't obviously be anyone. The definition of "obvious" gets tricky...
A silhouette that has no numbers and 0 features outside of physical shape is as vague as you can get I would think. It could be any combination of players from any teams from any modern football era...
I was told this was not allowed (for rules violations, not just quality)...
It took a while...
But...
GOT EM!!!!!!!!
so could you look up a photo of gayle sacking some QB that's gone as well and use that?? Neither are current players.
I've thought $25 for a T-shirt was steep as well, but then I realized I spend money on much more frivolous items; mostly beer. These shirts are original and definitely a great talking point.
I will gladly buy a "Sacksburg" shirt. Integrating the great Bruce Smith would be cool. One of my favorite pictures ever is the Bruce Smith All-American picture in front of the American flag, although I don't know how viable that is. Can't get the picture as my work firewall doesn't like to play nice :)
Side-note: I actually missed out on the DBU shirts unfortunately. Will there be another round to purchase or any extras (excuse my ignorance in the T-shirt industry)?
There are a few leftovers still available for order: http://shop.thekeyplay.com/.
Thanks Joe, I just put in my order.
Very well done, and I look forward to the Sacksburg shirt!!!
Thanks for the reminder link, loved the shirt design. Didn't get to it first time, but got it now!
Beer is never frivolous!
Joe my wife thanks you for never really having to shop for me. She just buys the TKP shirts and we both walk away happy.
The lunchpail on the front side sounds good, but on the back, how about a list of past D-linemen with their numbers. Realize you can't use current players, but you could do past ones without NCAA issues, couldn't you? It could be an impressive list. Names like Cornell Brown, John Engleberger, Bruce Smith, etc.
Sack totals?
A potato sack.
#4 and #90 having a potato sack race to the qb
I know this is probably blasphemy, but I would want a white shirt. I have a bunch of Maroon shirts, (Including Horse on a Treadmill), but my favorite Hokie shirt is actually an old white one with a maroon oval on it with Virginia Tech written on it. Pretty basic, yet classic. I find I wear white T-shirts more in the summer.
But I really like the Sacksburg idea...
One of my favorite V T-shirts is actually an old gray one.
I got the heather gray old school V in T shirt I've worn so much it's now a sleeveless cutoff T. That style is a great alternative, but probably won't stand out enough for what the key play website is looking for in a shirt design.
Grey and maroon go great together.
Color printing, detail, and design shouldn't be an issue at all to produce hundreds of shirts with this picture, right?
/s
It could be sublimated on the t-shirt and look 100% like this. This process does get a little more pricey though.
I would be interested in buying one...need a new shirt for football season this year.
With regards to design, how about the aftermath of Hunter Cantwell's face from his 2005 Gator Bowl appearance?
I was thinking the same things about a silhouette from some of the hits he took. I felt bad for that guy, only time I was hoping we wouldn't just put a QB on his back every play. When he scrambled and got laid out by Hall or Adibi I was yelling "slide for your life!"
I remember they kept showing his family in the stands...it reminded me of that scene from Braveheart where everyone in the crowd is begging for mercy.
SACKSburg
Silhouette of flexing dude (generic VT player, no NCAA violations here!) holding lunch pail
"We Foster destruction."
If possible, stats on back: #1 in sacks since (whatever year), total defense rankings under Bud, etc.
Just some thoughts. You know me, I'll buy it no matter what.
Welcome to the Terrordome, Sacksburg, Va. Population: YOU!
...and yes I would buy one whatever the design ends up being.
IN. Love SACKSburg. Love it. Don't worry Joe I'll have it shipped to my parents place.
Also, and I don't know the legality of it, but I just want to throw it out there, I would totally be down for a TECHmo Bowl shirt if that ever happens. You know my personal history with it, so I am biased.
Any chance we could make these tees out of a different material? I bought HOAT and DBU but am not really a fan of the "boxy" 100% cotton. Tri-Blend or even a cotton-polyester blend would be awesome.
I like a silhouette of dadi and ken ekanem absolutely crushing Grayson Lambert because that moment was everything that is VT. Crushing a uva player and sacking the hell out of a quarterback the only thing that was missing was a fumble for 6 or a pick 6
Would buy (I will buy regardless of results of my request below)
I know that #AME is the popular color choice here (and why the f*** not, amirite?) but would it be at all possible to get orange shirts this time around? I would love to have a TKP shirt for the OSU game and we're being forced against our will (not really, but ya'know) to wear orange for that particular match-up. I want to wear my DBU shirt to that game SOOOOO BADLY but I also don't wanna be that guy who doesn't conform to the Orange Effect. In the spirit of unity I feel obligated to wear an orange shirt to that game and I think SACKsburg would be just as appropriate as DBU.
This is a great point. I think all the shirts I have from KeyPlay (KeyPlay logo, HOAT, DBU) are maroon. We don't have a keyplay shirt that supports orange effect.
Having said that, I probably will not get one of these shirts, sorry, Joe.
#BEATBAMA was orange.
Damn, missed that one.
If that one was an orange effect game, then maybe TKP should create an orange shirt every time we have a worthy opponent for an orange effect game.
I guess we don't really do whiteouts in hokietown.
Herma's readers...of which I'm a big fan. They are white-out tees every time.
This was my first thought. No idea if you can even use that image, which is from the lantern, credit to Jon McAllister.
I figure you could do it with three colors: white, Maroon, and red (Scarlet?) on an orange background. Obviously, the contrast and such would need to be altered, but I am not a graphic designer.
Doesn't matter what it looks like...will buy as always!
(Will this one come with a bad ass sticker as well??) ;-)
What about a silhouette of lane stadium? With Sacksburg printed either above or below it
Had a couple of ideas......
1. A silhouette of Lane with Welcome to(above) Sacksburg (below)
2. A large silhouette of the lunchpail with win on it with welcome to sacksburg on it it similar to #1.
3. a silhouette of the lunchpail with win on in on the front pocket area and 1. or 3. on the back
It would depend on the design of the shirt.
I would definitely buy a shirt with road-map like design, with the heading Sacksburg:
Or
I really like the bottom design. If it is legal, just photoshop (or whatever is better) the Blacksburg off the bottom and put a SACKSburg sign where Lane should be, maybe with a silhouette of Lane instead of a road sign. The orange shirt with maroon letters is great as well.
EDIT: it hit me at lunch that Joe should change the street names to players names. Tech's career sack leaders list plus Bruce Smith (they didn't count sacks when he played right?) or something. Not sure the street layout of BBurg is copyrighted, but I know little about the topic.
Agreed, it's a cool design. Put Lane in there (how did it get left out?) with the Sacksburg.
that particular design is copyrighted. But, superimposing on a map is a simple design for those that are good at photoshop. I am not. But, I'm guessing it would take someone a day to make a similar (or better design).
street maps cannot be copyrighted. So, in order for that one design to be copyrighted, they had to put some "creative" element in it. The creative element is probably the way the streets are written. To be honest though, I don't think that would stand up in court. Thus, although they received a copyright, I doubt they would be able to sue anyone for infringement and win. To be on the safe side, I would not use the street signs. I would use the original road layout and put whatever you want on it. Silhouettes of Lane Stadium, Burrus hall, war memorial, whatever.
That second design.
I see that as an ad on my facebook constantly.
Ok, so I will start by saying I have literally zero artistic ability, but I think if someone could run with the concept this would be cool...
)
)
A Welcome to Blacksburg sign that has the BL graffiti'd out and and an S put over top of it, with a population sign at the bottom kind of marked out and continuing to add to the population as kind of a sack total? Make the sign kind of dilapidated or something.. have a silhouette of Lane or downtown blacksburg in the backgound? Front Pocket picture of just the sign and the rest on the back? I added a picture of how someone marked out a sign in Louisville to kind of explain it a tad better.. apologize for the picture size, I don't know what the hell I'm doing..
I actually think it should look exactly like this, squiggly lines and everything.
I love this idea.
Why don't we switch it up and make an offense themed shirt this time?
Nevermind, it'd be too complicated
Maybe one for the ladies?
Virginia Tech
We like to move our tight ends around.
...yeah I'd buy it...you know...for my wife...or whatever....
with all of the TE jokes that have been tossed around on here, shame on all of us for overlooking this opportunity for so long!
When the offense leads the country in some positive statistics for a couple of seasons I will be glad to jump on the shirt opportunities. So many good pun options with offensive positions.
"Welcome to Unabated. Mayor, Bud Foster"
I like the Bud Foster Mayor theme....
Welcome to SACKSBURG
Don't bother checking your QB at the door, we'll take care of him.
-Bud Foster, Mayor
Keep it simple... SACKSBURG on the front and then on the back put some awesome defensive stats we have and if you want throw in a scary picture of Corey Moore staring into the eyes of who is behind you.
SACKSBURG: Voted most comfortable grass in the league by ACC QBs
I like that. I might suggest keeping it a little more simple and just say "voted most comfortable grass." Maybe show a QB laying broken on the ground.
Blood does make grass grow.
I wouldn't mind something simple, like this helmet was. Instead of "TECH" put in "SACKSBURG" (obviously we would have to make the state larger). If we want to get fancy, put a small silhouette of Lane where Blacksburg is (like Lane is the star that denotes the state Capital)
oh, and would buy. but Joe you knew that already.
A silhouette of a VT DE (or Bud Foster) playing a "Sacksophone" (Saxophone) over a silhouette of an opposing QB
So you were looking for something to dangle over a QB and you thought Sacksophone? I have a feeling Bud would dangle something sacksburg-like over a QB, but not something you could make sweet sweet music with (maybe)...or put on a shirt for that matter.
Would buy. I would like to see a lighter color if it pleases the masses. A road sign stamped onto a Hokie stone wall would look nice. You could go with the crossed out BL with an S written in on the sign.
Reading these, the road sign idea seems to be a favorite, with Lane in the background. I like something with Corey Moore's eyes, maybe peering predator like over the sign... And it appears that a number of people would like it in orange this time. This sounds like a winner to me.
Long post alert:
I spent this week with my wife's family on vacation (all Columbus, OH born and raised) and repeatedly had to explain the HOAT and DBU tee-shirts I wore everyday. Worth every moment. During our trip, my wife's family gave her anOSU gift for her birthday. It was a national champs framed schedule with tickets from each game. They opened a truck of these for free during the celebration at the shoe (sorry, I'm getting there soon). All the tickets had Grey at the top of the ticket, except one, the VT has Scarlet at the top, loss (I understand they aren't real tickets). I haven't had enough time to examine it and haven't found it for sale online to inspect (I'm guessing it's tough to come by, but want a closer look without being an ass in front of her family). Long story short, in my man cave I'll be more than happy for her to put it up alongside my Hokie stuff, and one day I am going to lift my boy up and tell him, "see that, no one thought we could do that, but we did. With enough fire in your belly you can do anything."
More relevant - Joe, you could sell just a Maroon t-shirt and I'd buy to help the site.
By the way, we will be in Lane together this Labor Day. I rest easy knowing we have the best fans that will treat her respectfully. She picked up Hokies as her 2nd favorite after we got married and she learned about Bud Foster.
Sorry for any misspellings, last night of vacation. I'll post a picture of the frame as soon as she is at work and won't catch me.
meh..i've seen longer
Joking aside, that's pretty cool. At first I thought you were gonna say that the VT game was omitted. It's cool of you to put that up with all your Hokie stuff. I really do hope that our fans are hospitable to your wife along with all of the other anOSU fans who will be in Sacksburg for the game. Safe travels home from your vacation!
This is what we came up with.
I will have the preorder information up soon. If you're interested in one of these, would you reply to this comment. I want to make sure they are feasible to print.
Edit 1: People who are upvoting, does this mean you're in for one?
Edit 2: This is the final design. There will also be a TKP logo on the sleeve like the DBU t-shirt.
As always YES,and my wife thanks you.
In for one
That design would look a lot better on the back of a shirt, with TKP logo as a small corner chest logo... Very similar to the "only sign of intelligent life in Charlottesville" I have that has the Blacksburg 180 miles sign on the back. You'd sell quite a few and also get your name out there. Couldn't hurt.
Figured I'd offer my suggestion with them still essentially in the design phase.
I second the back of the shirt suggestion
Unfortunately it's not going to happen.
Oh well, that won't stop me from buying it. Thanks Joe
This is the final design. There will be a TKP logo on the sleeve too.
Printing a front and back logo isn't cost effective at $25.
Makes sense. From your original wording, I incorrectly thought it wasn't final, yet, and you were trying to determine feasibility before making it final. Sorry bout that.
No apologies necessary, I clarified my original post. It was somewhat ambiguous.
Sign me up for 1, maybe 2.
I'd still like to have at least 1 orange TKP shirt...any idea if that's something I can look forward to?
I mean, if it wouldn't be too much bad juju with potentially competing with SGA, we could do a Ohio State game shirt, considering its Orange Effect.
I will purchase this shirt, I will wear this shirt, and I will like it.
Will definitely buy one.
Yes.
Thought I had already replied, then remembered that I hadn't - I'm in.
Yep
Sacksburg, est 1995.
with a picture of a deflated football and mouthpiece next to it. Maybe a couple of guys jumping/celebrating in the background.