Y-Que has promoted and sold American Apparel for a long time and there has not been a sufficient amount of focus on providing a direct alternative to American Apparel until now. I sell t-shirts all day long and despite previous problems with the stock and availability of American Apparel in the past I don't think anything will compare to the problems that a company will face with hundreds of leases and not enough cash. To be properly prepared there must be an available resource to provide to my customers that is a viable alternative to American Apparel.
We've listed and discussed various brands in the past and we will have to reconsider and promote many of them until the winner is clear. Consider Y-Que like a wine merchant who gets grapes from many sources and comes up with the best combination for a particular year.
The main brands as alternatives to American apparel t-shirts that are available wholesale are Alternative Apparel, Kavio, Next Level, Canvas, Bella, Hanes, Anvil, Gildan, Alstyle and each of them have their positives and negatives. Made in USA iss the first problem and only American Apparel can boast that, but we have found a private label t-shirt the we can have for Y-Que that is Made in the USA. The problem is there isn't much cost savings from American Apparel, but as an introductary price we are considering selling it for a straight $4.00/ea on whites and $5.00/ea on color. The label is a consideration, but I am thinking about printing a label that will dissolve in the first wash. In this way I can make it easy for printers to find the size, but the buyer of the shirt can get rid of the label by washing it. If they want to keep the printed tag then they would simply iron the space with the print.
