Ukulele Hunt T-Shirts

dscf9458I’ve been promising these for a long time and you may well have seen a few of them crop up on various ukers. To be honest, the whole thing has been a nightmare. I’ve been looking at companies that print t-shirts and deliver them. And I’ve found that most of them are terrible. That’s why today is only half a launch of the t-shirts.

If you find yourself in North America, you can buy the shirts on Spreadshirt.

There are two designs: The Under-Bear and The Ukulele Hooters both designed by Art Grootfontein. As modelled by the delectable Jodi Mathews and the gorgeous Todd Baio.

They’re both available as skinny fit and relaxed fit. If you’re going for the skinny fit (by American Apparel) make sure you’re very generous with the size you select.

dscf9471 That’s the good news. The bad news is for anyone outside North America. The shipping from Spreadshirt will cost more than the shirt and that, in my opinion, makes them not worth getting. I’ve tried a number of other companies with no luck. The European Spreadshirt finds it impossible to print designs on a coloured T-shirt. Red Bubble took more than a month to deliver the shirts and the quality wasn’t good enough.

If anyone knows of a reliable service in Europe that will print T-shirts and handle orders and delivery, please, please, please let me know about it. Until I find something, you’ll just have to walk around topless.

UPDATE: Due to popular demand… I’m currently testing out Comboutique for the shirts in Europe. I can’t say whether they’re any good or not. But if you want to take a chance, you can buy them here.

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31 Comments

  1. cardboardfrog July 29th, 2009 7:34 pm

    damn, this is not good news for the european uker low on funds.

  2. todd July 29th, 2009 7:54 pm

    So sorry to hear the news about getting the T-shirts outside of North America…..

    they’re by far some of the coolest uke shirts around……

    and Jodi makes a great ukulele hunt model

    *perhaps they’d be good uke contest prizes for folks putting those together eh? eh?

  3. Hello Jodi July 29th, 2009 8:17 pm

    Well thank you Todd, I am pleased and honored and all kinds of other stuff to be a Uke Hunt model.
    I feel like I should add, for reference, that the model is shown in a skinny fit size large.

  4. Jinxter July 29th, 2009 8:26 pm

    How about “Uke Hunt” nipple tape, while we’re waiting for the shirts? It’s cold in Manchester without a shirt.

    Made my own out of sticking plaster and felt tip pens. Maybe not such a great idea. Didn’t realise I had such a hairy chest, or how much it could bleed. Ah well, only a two hour wait in casualty.

  5. cardboardfrog July 29th, 2009 8:29 pm

    i did a similar thing jinxster but with electrical tape and permanent markers, similar results too.

  6. Nick Bardy-Chivor July 29th, 2009 8:52 pm

    Hey Al,

    I hope I may be able to help, I have a friend who works for a merch’ distribution company in the uk. metal, rock and punk stuff mainly… I’ll hit him up for some details about who they use for manufacture etc etc It may not be successful but worth a crack!!

    I’ll get back to you on this one, cos the discerning euro uker needs nice tee shirts…

  7. J-Hob July 29th, 2009 8:55 pm

    I got so excited when I saw the post title in my RSS, credit card was already out and left hand poised over the number pad and then my hopes were shot down in flames!

    I really hope you can get a UK printer/distributor soon as I would dearly love one of these T-shirts

  8. Armelle July 29th, 2009 9:09 pm

    Ah no, that’s not going to work :
    http://www.theage.com.au/world/french-find-topless-sunbathing-no-longer-in-vogue-20090723-dutn.html
    Looking for information on French stereotypes, I found a countless number of articles of the same kind… Seems to be the talk of the month ! ;)

  9. Jimmy July 29th, 2009 9:11 pm

    How am I supposed to rep the site without a shirt? People just give me dirty looks when I tell them about Uke Hunt :(

  10. zym July 29th, 2009 9:12 pm

    Nooooooo :(

    Damn the Colonies!

  11. Dan July 29th, 2009 10:03 pm

    Tsk, all those futuristic metric units and you guys can’t put a picture on a t-shirt. USA!

  12. Woodshed July 29th, 2009 10:11 pm

    @everyoneineurope: If you’re desperate, I’m testing out the shirts here. They could suck. But if you want to take a chance, they’re there.

  13. Dan July 29th, 2009 10:39 pm

    I think I’m going to go for the owls. The bear kind of reminds me of that self-abusing fellow on Conan O’Brien.

  14. Richie23 July 29th, 2009 10:41 pm

    Theres a fair few T-Shirt printing firms in the UK.

    Try this one

    http://www.streetshirts.co.uk/

  15. Tamster July 30th, 2009 1:34 am

    The shirts look great, however buyers from Canada would still have to pay the shipping, exchange rate, taxes, and duties at the border, so it would still be an expensive t-shirt even though we’re in “North America”.

  16. Woodshed July 30th, 2009 12:08 pm

    Tamster: I did do a test purchase to Canada (to Ukulelezo) and I don’t think there were any extra taxes. I’ll double check with her. The shipping was an extra $1.30.

  17. LonnaB July 30th, 2009 1:31 pm

    These shirts are the bees knees.

    I’ve been wearing mine out and about and people take notice.

    Everyone needs several.

    Sorry to you folks out of the US, what a hassle.

    Good luck with sales Woodshed.

  18. Fiona July 30th, 2009 3:48 pm

    I had to pay $6.99 for shipping to Canada, or i could have paid $13 for quick shipping. Hoping the duty won’t be too much, and i’m glad the Cdn dollar is pretty strong right now!

    It’ll be worth it to bike around ottawa in a ukulele t-shirt. :)

  19. Ukulelezo July 30th, 2009 4:06 pm

    Canadians: There wasn’t any extra taxes or duty on my t-shirts. I received two packages at different times and neither time did I pay any extra fees. So order and enjoy! The shirts are awesome!

  20. Hello Jodi July 30th, 2009 5:05 pm

    If people are desperate, I wouldn’t want someone to go without a shirt. If you want to email me, I’d happily be an intermediary. Shipping one shirt to the UK on my end would be just over $6 American. I can check for elsewhere in Europe, if someone is interested. I mean, as a short term solution.

    :)
    Jodi

  21. Tamster July 30th, 2009 5:17 pm

    ok thanks Woodshed, Fiona and Ukulelezo.
    Write back Fiona if you were charged any duty.

  22. tuscadero July 30th, 2009 6:06 pm

    I could not decide, so I ordered myself one of each. Thank you to Dan for the Conan reference, I already liked the bear, now I know why.

    If you ever print a shirt that says Uke Hunt, rather than Ukulele Hunt, I just may have to buy them by the dozen, because when people read it aloud they blush and stammer. I enjoy that. Maybe a sticker or car magnet, perhaps?

  23. Marcelo July 30th, 2009 9:19 pm

    No T- Shirts for the Third World – that’s not the correct term, I guess… Maybe I’ll just do myself a copy…

  24. Rattele July 30th, 2009 10:48 pm

    zazzle.co.uk might work

  25. Woodshed August 1st, 2009 10:05 am

    tuscadero and Dan: I have no idea what you’re on about. Can you clue me in?

    Rattele: Thanks but I think zazzle.co.uk is just a mirror of the US site.

  26. Dan August 1st, 2009 2:14 pm

    There was a long-time recurring character on Conan’ O’Brien. His attire is similar to that of the bear on your t-shirt, but he had a less edifying hobby. NBC seems to be pretty diligent about keeping him off YouTube, but I found these two small clips:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIkdAEcf9PY
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVMOmt518X8

  27. Rose August 1st, 2009 10:07 pm

    Did anyone in Europe receive a comboutique t-shirt yet? They’re made with fruit of the loom t-shirts so they should be decent quality, but I was wondering about the fit.

    Can’t wait to dazzle my friends and acquaintances with that ukeing bear :)

  28. Woodshed August 2nd, 2009 7:50 am

    Dan: Thanks for clearing that up. And thanks for destroying my innocence!

    Rose: No, no one has. I’ve only just started testing them. The order process leaves a lot to be desired so I don’t think I’ll be releasing through them.

    Richie: Your comments keep getting thrown into spam for some reason. Thanks for the link. But it looks like they only do bulk orders.

  29. Nick Bardy-Chivor August 2nd, 2009 2:12 pm

    My mate is asking the bods where he works this week…off the top of his head a company in Coln called Razmataz was mentioned. but he said that they only manufacture, no sales/distribution and again it would all boil down to quantities…

  30. Woodshed August 3rd, 2009 11:29 am

    Nick: Thanks, but I really am looking for someone who’s going to handle the whole ordering and distribution process as well.

  31. Ukebucket – Tonight You Belong to Me- www.UkeToob.com October 10th, 2009 12:10 pm

    […] wearing a stylish UkeHunt t-shirt, and Jordan harmonizing the heck out the ukulele […]

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