Original Title: Segue T-shirt
I have seen the Segue T-shirt. I take it these prices are in US dollars. Here’s the link: http://cafeshops.com/segue.
Hey, way cool dude. But whats up with the secrecy? got the NSA to print them for you? ( 
) Any local suppliers, or do we all order it from the U.S?
Secrecy? What secrecy?? There’s no secret about the Shirts – although I should disclose that I’m not really expecting anyone to buy them.
I agree that the idea to have t-shirts is cool – but there certainly isn’t any capital to actually fund this stuff.
CafePress.com allows anyone to make a merchandising campaign. It’s a great idea – except I find the prices to be prohibitively high. Consider: full US retail prices, plus shipping? I’m talking about full retail prices WITHOUT Segue getting a dime! This is why they are over priced
A t-shirt costs US$13.99 – how could our website justify a margin. Then the idea struck me that the T-shirt could be given to people who want to donate cash to the website and have something to show for it.
At some point, I’ll complete a Donation page – which will fully describe how to send money thru PayPal, CafePress, and the twce suggested local (post-office) account. Such a webpage will also detail ALL the costs involved in putting htis website together, so that there is full disclosure about where the month comes from (I think I’ve posted here or on the FAQ about this already). Contributions will also be recognized on that page as well.
Segue is a free gig for members – you don’t have to pay to use it. Some have generously offered money – and the t-shirts and paypal are meant only to accomodate them. Now, I have plans to publish a printed list of links back to the website (segue.com.tw/sample.pdf) – this will involved printing and distribution costs – so future donations would be allocated there as well.
All that said, Segue is NOT a business and I have no intentions of making it one. The t-shirt thing is done for kicks, but I don’t plan to buy a shirt for myself until I finish grad school and get a higher paying job.
btw, I played around with CafePress some time ago, but never told anyone about it publicly because I don’t expect anyone to actually buy anything.
I want Forumosa t-shirts to become a reality before Christmas (definitely before CNY!) - all I need is a supplier that can give us good quality t-shirts in a wide range of sizes. (Including western man size.)
The front of the shirt will be plain, except for 4 Chinese characters:Xin Taiwanren (New Taiwanese). The back will have the Forumosa.com logo. The logo has been decided upon, but if people have other serious suggestions regarding suppliers, colour, style, etc. we’d love to hear them.
You need 'em big enough for the Almas!?! Quiet Mountain!! Even Juba!!!
Nice idea tho’.
Any update on the Forumosa t-shirts? Would tank tops be among the choices? Tank tops might also be cheaper. Be funny if you put “Breakfast Store Laoban” and such on the back. Or 914.
Please let us know soon! Christmas gift idea…
Can we get our forum names printing on them? I think the shirt would look better with the forumosa logo on the front with the username printed on the back.
I’ve already nixed one supplier - t-shirts were lousy quality. I’m really hoping I can get something good in Taiwan. Otherwise, I’ll do it through the States or Canada.
Can anyone post here the Chinese characters for Xin Taiwanren
…and suggest a font that we should use for them
…even better, could you e-mail us a graphic (silver-colored characters)? 
Who are the T-shirts for? The audience, I mean?
It’s all very cool to go back to your own country with a T-shirt bearing chinese characters, but what’s the point here in Taiwan?
Is it to enable me to get into conversations with locals about how we are treated as foreigners here? I’m one of the majority of foreigners that don’t speak enough chinese to argue philosophy and politics in chinese, and don’t really want to anyway.
Is it to enable me to get into conversation with locals about our great website, where they can come and get into arguments about something they didn’t understand? I’m sure they’ll appreciate the language practise, but I won’t.
Is it to attract more foreign users, who probably don’t read chinese and therefore won’t get the message?
Is it to make me look like a cool long-termer who can claim to be Taiwanese and has the T-shirt to prove it? Not interested.
I like the idea of a forumosa T-shirt, I think that to have something written on it somewhere in chinese is fine, but as it is currently being proposed it’s just bloody pretentious.
I am not Taiwanese, and have no desire to claim to be.
My first language is English, and English is the language we use on this site.
There’s no way I, or the majority of forumosans, can claim to be Taiwanese - and do it in chinese - and get away with it. This sort of thing might be appropriate for the small number of people who have been here forever, but it’s not suitable for the average user of forumosa.
Just my tupenn’orth.
Ditto Stragbasher’s comments. Ditch the Chinese characters. Use English, the international language and for the majority of people here, the mother tongue.
Oh and the concept of new Taiwanese whatever to describe a Forumosan? :loco:
Almost. This sounds like the closest one though
I think the real audience are Forumosa regulars - so they can easily pick out other Forumosa people in a crowd
Point taken.
IMO, the Forumosa T-shirt is for regulars who use the website. If you spot someone wearing it, you’d know you have at least this website in common (or they know someone who uses the website).
Someone who reads Mandarin and lives in Taiwan will probably get the in-joke. Other people who read Mandarin will probably just scratch their heads.
Besides, we can always design more T-shirts
…then we can plan basketball tournaments with different teams wearing their own uniforms… ok, getting a little ahead of myself
Everybody/anybody in Taiwan.
It’s not “bloody pretentious” - it would be bloody pretentious if it said “Taiwanren”. Xin Taiwanren is a phrase that would get a smile/chuckle out of 99% of the local community here. Li Denghui coined the phrase to talk about the changing demographic make-up of Taiwan. That’s us. We live here. We’re not Taiwanese, but we don’t define ourselves by what we aren’t which is what the word “foreigner” does. The characters are also the easiest characters for a foreigner to know. Honestly, if someone is living here, not just passing through and doesn’t recognize the characters for Taiwan and ren, then they are living in self-imposed isolation. (I grant you that xin might not be as familiar for people with little experience in the language.)
SB, you say that Chinese written “somewhere” on the t-shirt is fine. Great - where were your suggestions a month ago when you responded? Two weeks ago when you responded? It’s a little late in the ball game now… :s
Have you found a supplier, first of all?
Yes. Turns out the father of one of my buxiban kids is the qualified vendor for HP and Compaq. He can get us anything from ballpoint pens to knapsacks to t-shirts, to polo shirts, at any quality/price.
If I ask him to design a Forumosa thong, however, he will most likely pull his daughter out of my school. 
Can anyone post here the Chinese characters for Xin Taiwanren
…and suggest a font that we should use for them
…even better, could you e-mail us a graphic (silver-colored characters)? [/quote]
I would just like to suggest that the characters be in a pleasant calligraphic style, not some sort of computerish typeface. Properly brush-stroked characters are ever so much nicer.
Yes. Turns out the father of one of my buxiban kids is the qualified vendor for HP and Compaq. He can get us anything from ballpoint pens to knapsacks to t-shirts, to polo shirts, at any quality/price.
If I ask him to design a Forumosa thong, however, he will most likely pull his daughter out of my school. [/quote]
glothong.com/
I agree with Squiddly. If you must insist on having Chinese script, I’d like to see it in a single black (not silver – yeuch!) grass-style script down the center of the back, with a Forumosa logo in the same colours as the business cards/bookmarks on the front over the left breast.
I’m assuming that we’re talking about a white shirt. I suppose sliver script might work on a darker shirt, but then how would you deal with the already-dark colours of the Forumosa logo?
It won’t be white. White t-shirts don’t age so well - they get yellow, they show stains more easily. It’ll probably be a burgundy/wine colour. We want to stick with Forumosa colours as much as possible.
It won’t be white. White t-shirts don’t age so well - they get yellow, they show stains more easily. It’ll probably be a burgundy/wine colour. We want to stick with Forumosa colours as much as possible.[/quote]
So then you’ll have a burgundy shirt with a predominantly burgundy logo? I don’t think that’ll work very well, unless you redesign the logo. You don’t want to do that, do you?
How about a beige/tan colour? That way, you could avoid the yellowing issue, plus you could still avoid the disgusting idea of a silver script (maybe have it the same burgundy colour as the logo?), while the Forumosa logo would still be distinct.
How ABOUT the script, anyway? Jojo’s calligraphy is getting pretty damned nifty. Maybe there’s a way she could prepare an actual script on calligraphy paper that we could somehow transfer into a printable form?
If you could ask her to write it large – maybe filling up an A4 sized page – and then scan it, we could definately use it. Four characters, arranged as a square?
Yes, silver because the background would be maroon/burgundy
And you are exactly correct about the logo – I made a version that will show up on a dark background – silver/gray letters, dark island