Best Bang For Your Buck written by a new customer
As a frequent consumer of custom t-shirts and using companies across the the country I tend to compare the shirt shops I use as I do the restaurants I visit. I think when it comes to giving something the title of “best of” and in this case pricing…it encompasses so much more than the dollar amount I write on my check or bill to my credit card.
The best priced custom t-shirts in St. Louis brought me to the Kirkwood Trading Company. My history is market research for a large firm out of San Diego and my job requires me to travel the country visiting clients to improve their market share for their particular industry. I visit about 30 cities a year and in each city that is home to one of my clients I present them with custom t-shirts with their logo on it. While I deal with a lot of fortune 500 firms I also deal with the “mom and pop” businesses and everything in between. My company actually specializes in being able to work with any client no matter their revenue or company size.
The custom tees I present my clients is not a company mandated thing, it’s my own thing which means it comes out of my own pocket so I tend to call around when I get to new cities because when it comes to my own expenditures I tend to be frugal.
It has been a while since I visited St. Louis and the funny thing is the one client I had here as well as the t-shirt company I used both went out of business. Obtaining new clients in St. Louis means I needed to find a local custom t-shirt shop and that led me to Kirkwood Trading Company. I would probably be small potatoes to a screen printing business because I may only need 12 t-shirts or I may need a thousand, just depends on my client’s company size. My point is that when I called Kirkwood Trading Company they answered the phone as if they need a million dollar contract was calling them. Yeah, that’s not me but I was drawn by the way they were happy to answer the phone, happy to engage me and answer my questions, and when I explained my situation they happily provided me with options so I could choose the right shirt at the right price. The best priced custom t-shirts in St. Louis is what I found all Kirkwood Trading Company was all about.
When I say best price what I’m really saying and people need to understand is the value. If I pay $1 for a hot dog and it’s terrible and I pay $5 for the best dog I ever had, when some places are charging $2 and $8 and $12 for a hot dog, the value of the $5 is the best. The $2 hot dog might be okay and save me some money but it’s not memorable, the value does hold to the cost. The presentation or the vendor wasn’t memorable. Value is not just the cost of something, it’s the return on investment and how that particular purchase ranks as far as cost versus quality.
The Kirkwood Trading Company experience
So back to the phone call. After I long conversation about various options and some candid conversations about business I understood that these guys don’t care how big your order is, it’s about relationships and at the end of the day, while every business wants that home run client, at the end of the day for most companies, it’s quantity over quality and repeat business is the life blood of any small business.
We discuss cotton shirts versus polyester shirts and 1 color ink printing versus multiple colors and how the price breaks down based on the quantity of the shirts. Like I said, I know I’m small potatoes and this initial order was for 40 shirts and doing this before I didn’t need to spend a lot of time on this but I do like to know the people I do business with and Matt and Mike were more than engaging. When I left their shop I truly felt like friends.
By the way, the reason I even called Kirkwood Trading Company, because they were the 3rd company I called, is because again with this cost coming out of my own pocket I like to get the most bang for my buck. They first 2 minutes of the conversation I liked what I heard. I didn’t care what the cost of the shirts was because I knew I was going to have a good experience. I did by the way.
So long story short because I’m about 20 minutes from landing, they did my 40 t-shirts, had them ready in 4 days, the shirts were folded as you’d expect them, by size in such a way that they don’t wrinkle and I can directly hand them out to the clients. The printing was excellent, the shirt he steered me to was a winner, and my clients loved them. Sometimes my clients already get their own custom t-shirts made and sadly they may have a better design than what they provide me and are sometimes cooler than what I bring. But they appreciate the effort nonetheless. In this particular situation this client of mine never did t-shirts, they loved them and will start using Kirkwood Trading Company locally for their own needs. As for me and my business with them, as I said, I couldn’t have been happier about the fast turn around, it was as they advertised, the quality was exceptional and the customer service was 5 stars. I will continue to use them not just when I’m there in St. Louis but anywhere I go to where the cost of shipping won’t make them too costly. The best priced custom t-shirts in St. Louis would be Kirkwood Trading Company.
When I told them I write blogs for my business and offered up to write one because I know they are good reading pieces. I didn’t realize this would be a thousand word review and while I hope I didn’t bore you with the details of my business, I do hope you give the guys at Kirkwood Trading Company a call when you are looking for custom t-shirts. Trust me and remember when I say the best price is made up of value and what you get in return, not the price you right on the check. I don’t know where their prices rank locally in Saint Louis, as I said, I stopped calling other companies once I called them, but they were in line and in same cases lower priced than companies I use across the country, but their value has yet to be matched.
Regards,
Dave Derkowitz
ISTD Marketing
DLD