Peace Uces and Ucettes! This blog will be cover the costs of making authentic, premium, and quality merchandise for Jhea’s Yeetality.
To set a price for the t-shirts, the factors are: the amount of shirts printed; screenprinting comes with minimums due to the expense of the inks that go into the printing technique, especially the color separation for multi-color prints. Each color in a design needs its screen and stencil, and they’re all layered to create the final design.
Jey Loves Mami
The designs were simplistic with a total of 3 colors. The iconic font recognized on the late great Eddie Guerrero’s “I’m your Papi!” t-shirt, and Rhea’s popular remixed version “I’m your mami!” is a 1 color front, and the Scarface-inspired film flip is a 2 color back.
One of the first charges from my screenprinter is based on the number of colors. It’s $25 per setup times the 3 colors. To replicate the softness of Rhea's Fanatics shirt, I chose Tee Styled's 5.6oz mid-heavyweight tees at $3.25 each (with a minimum order requirement). Minimums vary by company—my screenprinter works in multiples of either 24 or 50 shirts. The Teed Styled shirts themselves cost $3.25 each multiplied by the minimum number of shirts chosen. These three charges are the subtotal.
For these orders, I got inside tags and poly bags. Both were $1.50 each with the $25 setup fee. Finally, Tee Styled charges for shipping, so that added $39 to the total order cost.
The Jey Loves Mami V1 specifically was a 1 color front, 3 color back with a halftone illustration design. All inks were transferred, whereas in V2, only the white and red inks were transferred. V2 had two variants with more shirts printed than V1, bringing the cost down to $9 each for the minimum, while other fees remained the same.
Yeetality Country
This design was a bit more complicated in terms of the color separations, as it involved the various hues and shades of the red and blue signs. This affected the price, and the minimum I had to start with was either multiples of 48 or 50. The design was a 4-color front and 3-color back at $12 each for the minimum order requirement, and the $25 setup fee for the 7 colors.
With the grittiness of the design and what I believe Yeetality would represent, my choice of heavyweight streetwear t-shirts began. The popular streetwear company Shaka Wear is what I chose for Yeetality Country, costing $7.50 each multiplied by the minimum.
This was the last order where I used inside tags, excluding the poly bags. Shaka Wear charged for shipping, and that added $37 to the total order cost.
YEE F’N TALITY
Back to the simplistic design with a total of 3 colors at $11 each for the minimum order requirement; 2 color front, and a 1 color back in puff print ($1.50). The front design was inspired by one of ECW’s iconic t-shirts, EC F’N W—designed with their signature barbed wire with F’N in red. My flip was more distressed, designed with chains with F’N in purple, Rhea’s signature color, and the color Jey hasn’t utilized yet, which would define Yeetality to me.
Continuing with the grittiness, I diverted from Shaka Wear due to its super 7.5oz heavyweight material, and went with another streetwear industry standard, LA Apparel’s 6.5oz heavyweight shirts. Due to inflation, LA Apparel changed their prices from $9.50 to $10.50 with shipping and surcharge fees, which added $60 to the total order cost.
As far as tags, I went with a more professional look; custom woven labels sewn onto the neck seam. It’s part of the brand identity I’ve slowly built while coinciding with Jey and Rhea—Main Event Classics inspired by Mitchell and Ness’ Hardwood Classics. These tags will be on the remaining 6 designs for the Main Event Classics.
Holla At Ya Uce
The next design that’s releasing in August and another design that was a bit complicated, the Waffle House illustration on the back of the Holla At Ya Uce t-shirt. Colorful with different shades and hues from the skin tones of Jey and Rhea to Jey’s Waffle House order, and what he believed Rhea would order, the screenprinting method would’ve made this my most expensive shirt yet. Due to the color separations, I was concerned with the accuracy of colors, so I opted for a different printing method, DTG (Direct To Garment). The difference between DTG and screenprinting is that there are no minimums, it's cost-effective, and the print keeps the color accuracy, so there’s no color separation.
BTS: Holla At Ya Uce
The greatest thing throughout the process is building a relationship with my screenprinter and the guys who work there. The main concern was always options that would be cost-effective, which is how and why the DTG method was offered. The charge was $19 for each print, and for each minimum order, $10.50 for the LA Apparel blanks, and $60 for the shipping and surcharge fees. Saved me more money than screenprinting would’ve, and allowed me to adjust the pricing for the shirt, taking into account the effects of the $5.00 shipping fee for those in the U.S., taxes and duties for those internationally, and sales tax in U.S. states where it applies.
This also applies to the MonJey Night Mami t-shirt. I had a choice between screenprinting and DTG, and while the cost effectiveness of DTG was appealing, the design is distressed, and screenprinting serves those designs best—the Certified Uce t-shirt, for example. I decided to screenprint, and this became the most expensive shirt thus far. 4 color front, 5 color back with $14 each with minimums starting with multiples of 48 or 50. The $25 setup fee for the 9 colors, and the LA Apparel costs. This shirt lives up to the Main Event Classics name with the premium look and feel.
Overall, I’ve sought to balance the integrity of making premium quality wrestling merch that is durable for Jhea fans while not overcharging, but keeping prices fair based on the designs and their printing complexities. I used WWE, and two similar brands that I love, Slow Jamz and DGK, as examples to know where to base my prices.
There will be Jhea illustrated t-shirts priced at $30 akin to DGK, but so far, the designs are of the $35 price point. The highest the shirts will ever be is $45 before domestic $5.00 shipping and sales tax, and taxes and duties for those internationally.
For those internationally, you can reach out to me, and I’ll attempt to offer more affordable shipping rates compared to the standard Shopify carrier rates that are built in for the 200+ countries.
I hope you get a better understanding of the prices for those who’ve checked out the shop, and this gives clarity to those who want to make their wrestling t-shirts.
If you liked this blog or found it helpful, leave a comment, subscribe for exclusives of upcoming Jhea Yeetality merch, get the 10% subscriber discount, cop a tee or two, and share it on the socials for all Jheanators to know!
Main Event Mix from the shop to spin.
Until we Yeet again.