To my fellow Yanks, Who wants a "I am the Stig" and his "fat cousin" T-shirt...

[Electric-Mayhem]

Hey Ya'll,

I'm looking into making both of these (the "I am the Stig" one and the "I am the Stig's Fat Cousin" one) T-shirts here in the states, so we don't have to pay the exorbitant amounts of money for a relatively simple t-shirt. What I am wondering is, how many people want one. I'll be able to throw down the initial money to get these I think, but I don't want to be sitting on a ton of these if I do.

So here is what I am thinking. I kinda like the blue color that the official shirt comes in, so we'll go with that unless people want to go with something else. I personally have a ton of black t-shirts as I am a stage hand and get them as swag for most shows, so I vote for the blue too. Do people want a different color for each shirt. The official "fat stig" shirt is a dark grey I think, so i could try to stick with that. As of right now, I was thinking only size XL (and maybe Medium or Small if there is interest) as thats a size that will fit most people (all but the smallest).

So for this poll, I'm putting up a couple questions. I'll put up an option for if you want one or the other t-shirt, one for if you want both, one for if you want one or the other in smaller size, one for in a smaller size but with both t-shirts, and one for if you want any of these but dispute the color choices (please post in this post with the color you would prefer. I'll try to match the logo as closely as possible to the official one too. If anyone wants to help with the creating the logo, I'd gladly accept it.

I think these will be around $15-20 dollars a piece shipped, but I won't know till I get a final count and a quote. I'll probably do it through Paypal to keep it nice and simple

Lastly, I'll put one additional poll item on here for those who have a problem with ripping of this t-shirt. I think we are rather justified in doing this, but I don't want to piss anyone off or get in trouble, so let me know about that too. Feel free to shoot me a PM or IM if you want to discuss this or anything mentioned further but not in the post.

Cheers and lets see what we can get going.

Josh Hallenbeck
Rome, NY USA

p.s. If you want to get more then one of each, let me know that too

[American TG Man]

I'm imagining a "cease-and-desist" letter from the printing company and the BBC.

[NecroJoe]

I like my idea for a shirt better, but none of the online printers will do it...

[Electric-Mayhem]

Originally Posted by NecroJoe

I like my idea for a shirt better, but none of the online printers will do it...

hehee.......that is a good one too.......maybe we'll do that instead if we get shot down for making a re-creation of the official stig shirt (unless it too is for legal reasons). Oh, and I'll make this very clear, I haven't even begun to get quotes or contact anyone about making these. This is purely a feeler thread to see if its 1) legal and 2) If people actually want to do it. I'm unclear on whether the t-shirt is in fact trademarked and if its the BBC that is even making and selling them. The website is run by some LLC company called Amber something or other.

JH

p.s. on the back of that shirt.......we would have to put the Stig with a big ole cross out over him me thinks....

[Narcolepsy]

Originally Posted by American TG Man

I'm imagining a "cease-and-desist" letter from the printing company and the BBC.

[Cobol74]

May be a better way to go is get the franchise for Tee Shirts from the BBC for North America on a royalties basis? Copy the design all you want then. ...

[Electric-Mayhem]

Originally Posted by Cobol74

May be a better way to go is get the franchise for Tee Shirts from the BBC for North America on a royalties basis? Copy the design all you want then. ...

yeah......I don't think I need one that much. I was thinking that the total order for these would be less then 50 or so all told. Its not like I would be making money off of it really, just enough to cover costs. I don't want to make a business out of this, and I am not up to trying to go through the red tape of getting permission from the BBC.

The only other thing I could think of is to find out if the official source would send us a group order to see if we could get costs down that way. Otherwise, I'll just have to live with having no Stig shirt, as I refuse to pay $50 bucks for any t-shirt. Its a cool shirt, but its not that cool.

JH

[I'm not Takumi]

I demand a Large Size. Plus options where I can switch Stiggy's name to Takumi or other well-known drivers

[cl191]

I second for a large size as well, I am a bit skinny so XL is a bit too much for me...hmm...may be the "fat cousin" one wouldn't work too well on me

Thanks for doing this btw, I can't justify spending almost 50 bucks on a t-shirt from the official source.

[I'm not Takumi]

Originally Posted by cl191

I second for a large size as well, I am a bit skinny so XL is a bit too much for me...hmm...may be the "fat cousin" one wouldn't work too well on me

I am not The Stigs Straight-Lined American Cousin.

[Crash Override]

I third the large size, but will take an XL if need be. Also, I'm in Utica, NY so could I come by and pick it up rather than shipping(with a small discount)?

[BerserkerCatSplat]

If you make the Cow/Camaro, I'll order that and the Stig one.

[TommySVT]

Any luck with the shirts?

[Electric-Mayhem]

Not nearly enough positive interest for me to want to do this. I would need to make 50 shirts minimum, and only 15 people showed interest. A lot of people had a problem with it too, so I just didn't pursue it further. I'm in the process of moving anyways, so I couldn't deal with this right now. If someone else wants to take up the torch by all means. I think making one shirt at a time (i.e. Stig or Fat Stig or Cowmaro but not all of them) is the only real way to do it, so people would have to decide on that. Less then 50 shirts, and you might as well just order one from the UK, because it won't be much cheaper from what I could find. The problem people had was copyright and trademark infringement, so you'd have to consider that too.

JH

[Blind_Io]

<tangent>
I bought the "I am the Stig" and "Some Say the Stig Urinates 98 RON Petrol" shirts. They shrank two sizes the first time I washed them (yes, I checked the settings) and the "I Am The Stig" shirt's lettering is almost gone after only 3 washings.

I was annoyed to say the least.

We now return to your regularly scheduled thread
</tangent>

[TommySVT]

Originally Posted by Blind_Io

<tangent>
I bought the "I am the Stig" and "Some Say the Stig Urinates 98 RON Petrol" shirts. They shrank two sizes the first time I washed them (yes, I checked the settings) and the "I Am The Stig" shirt's lettering is almost gone after only 3 washings.

I was annoyed to say the least.

We now return to your regularly scheduled thread
</tangent>

Damn, that sucks.

[stiggie]

Amber Promotions (the guys who have the right to legally produce and sell these shirts) are not some giant faceless company who charge "exorbitant amounts of money" in some attempt to fleece Top Gear fans for all they can get. These blokes keep their business running by showing up to filming each week to sell some shirts to the audience. I have bought the "I am the Stig" and Da Vinci shirts from them and had absolutely no problems with quality. They always try to keep shipping costs as low as possible and are especially willing to help out with group buys. I am currently planning a group buy of ten shirts for friends here in Australia and the team at Amber Promotions are even covering part of the cost of shipping out of their own pocket, such is their generosity.

While I understand why you would want to purchase the products more cheaply and more locally, I think that to start selling counterfeit Top Gear shirts is wrong and sincerely hope that anyone who chooses to do so suffers all the consequences for which the law provides.

BTW, I love your avatar Electric-Mayhem.

[Blind_Io]

The only reason I would buy a knock-off is because I feel cheated by the company that sold me the "genuine" item. I now have two rather expensive T-shirts I can't even wear.

[Paul Mariner]

Originally Posted by Blind_Io

The only reason I would buy a knock-off is because I feel cheated by the company that sold me the "genuine" item. I now have two rather expensive T-shirts I can't even wear.

I am the guy who runs Amber Promotions!

We have sold tens of thousands of shirts worldwide and rarely have a problem with them shrinking, or with the print. But if you had problems, you only needed to e-mail me and we would have put it right straight away without quibble. That offer still stands.

Please do not produce counterfeit products. There are protected by copyright and in most cases, trademark.

My e-mail address is doug@amberpromotions.co.uk

Regards
Doug

[smib]

Originally Posted by BerserkerCatSplat

If you make the Cow/Camaro, I'll order that and the Stig one.

Same for me. I would probably prefer black, but blue is fine too I suppose.