Why it grows R&K
Your work on the names they want
A rancher who lives in Carhartt, or a business that gifts YETI cups, can get your leather patch or engraving on exactly that piece. They come to you for the brand and remember R&K for the work.
Bigger orders, no money of yours tied up
Teams, ranches, businesses and weddings order in dozens. The client pays the blank cost up front, so a 24-hoodie order never sits on your card while you wait.
A premium tier next to your everyday line
Your Richardson 112, Bella+Canvas and leatherette tumblers stay your everyday line. Special orders add a step up for clients who want the brand name, and an option below for clients watching every dollar.
How an order would work
- They ask. Through the Custom Quote form, a text or a call, the same as now.
- You quote it in a minute. In the quote builder: pick the brand, type your supplier's blank price, and your decoration price fills in. It shows the total and what's due up front. Send it as a link, an email or a PDF.
- They pay the up-front part. In your dashboard, make an invoice for the amount the quote shows as due up front (the blanks and the special-order fee), the same way you invoice now.
- You order the blanks. Only once that's paid. It can't be refunded after you order.
- Proof, then you make it. Same proof step as today. Production starts after they approve it and the blanks arrive.
- The balance. A second invoice for the rest, paid before pickup or shipping.
When this moves to your website, a client who opens a quote link can press one button to send it to you, and it lands in your Quotes tab like any other request.
How it's priced
price each = blank cost + your decoration price
+ one special-order fee per order
due up front = all the blanks + the special-order fee
Your own hats, shirts and tumblers keep the prices on your sheet. In the builder, the special-order fee ($15) and the decoration prices ($22 patch, $20 embroidery, $20 DTF) are examples: roughly your price for 2 to 9 pieces minus the blank you normally buy. Set your own once in the builder's settings. Engraving uses your sheet's $15+ for items you don't supply.
See three example quotes (the blank prices are the public prices below, not your supplier's):
What you could offer
Blank prices are public prices I found and fact-checked on 22 October: public bulk prices, a reseller's price or the brand's own retail price, as marked. Your supplier account is usually lower. Use your own price on every quote.
Brands to handle with care
- Sold decorated only: through SanMar, Carhartt, Nike, TravisMathew, OGIO and The North Face can only be sold with your decoration on them, never blank, and big orders need SanMar to pre-approve the logo. The brand's own label stays on.
- Patagonia: I'd leave it out. It mostly doesn't allow added logos, and only through its own approved decorators when it does.
- Nike: embroidery only, and never anything that adds to or imitates the Swoosh.
- YETI and Hydro Flask: your engraving ends their warranty. The quote says so, so the client knows before they order.
- Stanley: call a lookalike a "40 oz handled tumbler", never a Stanley or a Quencher.
- Every quote and listing says the brand name describes the blank, and that R&K isn't affiliated with or endorsed by the brand.
The terms on every special-order quote
Suggested wording, for your OK. It prints at the bottom of any quote with a special-order item:
The quote builder
For you
Your items price from your sheet, bulk tiers included. Add a special order, a Money Run piece or anything else. Digitizing, rush, pickup or shipping and Eckert's sales tax are all there.
For your clients
Copy the link and text it, or email it from the builder. They see a clean R&K quote they can print or save as a PDF, with your terms and what's due up front.
Your settings
Set your special-order fee, decoration prices and how long a quote is good for. They're saved on your phone or computer, and every new quote starts from them.
What I need from you
- Your special-order fee and your decoration prices on another brand's blank (or tell me and I'll set them).
- How much is due up front: just the blanks and the fee, as drafted, or a set percentage of the whole order.
- Which brands to start with. I'd suggest a short list: Richardson rope caps, Carhartt, Comfort Colors and YETI.
- Where you buy blanks now, and whether you'd like a SanMar or S&S Activewear account for dealer prices (Carhartt and Nike come through SanMar).
- Your OK on the terms above, word for word or with your changes.
Once you're happy, I add a Special Orders page and the quote builder to randkdesigns.com, connected to your Quotes tab.