AUDIOLIFE UK DECAY STORE (“Official” UK Decay Merchandise)
“Authentic” UK DECAY Live event product
We at UK Decay Communities have built up a reputation serving our community.
We have already serviced hundreds of happy satisfied customers with our products
and pledge to continue to do so into the future.
Up until now, any small profits that have been made from the proceeds have
been fed back into the day-to-day running of the website and to help the re-establishment
of the band.
We would like to thank all of our previous customers for their patronage
and to offer our warmest welcome to any new customers. If you buy a UK Decay
T Shirt or garment at a live event or in our online store, we see you all
as members of our community; the Community of UK Decay!
Keeping it ‘Glocal’
In these hard economic times we at UK Decay Communities believe in offering
what small help we can, to aid small local manufacturing and crafts businesses.
Our “Authentic” live event products are still printed right here in the centre
of an ex manufacturing town deep in the heart of the United Kingdom. Anyone
wearing one of our garments can feel a proud sense of identity with the ‘tribe’
or community and the vision of UK Decay. They will also be helping in a small
way, to sustain a small family business of craftspeople that love the work
they do.
About our “Authentic” screen printed garments
Screen printed garments against computer printed transfers and laser prints.
Currently all our “Authentic” live event shirts are still screen printed
by hand at a small plant in Luton. The screen printing method is an old tried
and tested method that has withstood the test of time and works well.
However there are certain limitations; full colour is very difficult and
so too is fine textures. Each colour (including white) has to be ‘screened’
separately, using an exclusive master screen – made up uniquely for the colour.
If more than one colour is used the garment has to be ‘screened’ repeatedly
for each colour, cleaning and changing the colour master screen on each pass.
In addition, the ink on the garments has to be dry before each ‘screening’,
so you can see the labour process is very time consuming.
Most of our current designs have one or two ‘screenings’ ie Unexpected Guest
has a Red screen and a white screen, For Madmen Only has a front white screen
and a rear white screen.
Within the design itself, there are certain considerations to be taken into
account when producing a successful print. Generally, lines have to be sharp
and bold, gradients don’t work very well. The way cotton takes up the ink
makes it necessary to over saturate the colour area in order to realise the
required effect – in other words think of it like as using a very high contrast
on an image editing application or better still using vector type graphics.
So, photo type images usually do not work very well! Another consideration
in producing the master artwork for a two or more colour design is that each
colour used requires a separate but synchronised master screen; therefore
needing a separate master artwork.
As an example, on the For My Country design there are two
colours, white and orange. The orange bleeds into the white background on
a black material. Getting the orange sky with the clouds and texture to look
right, was a difficult process. The original for My Country single cover was
used as a base, the image then manipulated into two separate images, one containing
everything that will end up white and the other containing everything that
will end up orange.(No need for black as it is on a black backdrop) Keeping
the sizes and positions synchronised is all important as any mistakes made
here will end up several processes down the line and be expensive in time
and money to put right.
To make matters even more confusing, the plant requires each colour master
to be black, ie the master for the orange in the sky on the For My Country
design ends up black on a white background and even worse so does the white,
so the artwork has to be created inversely for a black back drop! There are
clear areas for mistakes and often tweeks are necessary after a test screening,
often leading to a readjustment of the artwork.
So why not use PC transfers that don’t have these issues and can easily
print in full colour?
Computers are the way of the world and in many ways get better at doing things
all the time, however when it comes to durability and quality, at this time
we think all the problems of screen printing still seem worthwhile. The advantages
of screen printing verses PC print can be summed up with those two words,
durability and quality!
We are not ruling out digitally printed garments for the future, when and
if that happens we will make the production method clear on the designs in
our shop.
Changes to the way we sell our merchandise
In April 2010 we rolled out a new online T Shirt Store which is powered by
a new online service called Audiolife. We feel the service has certain advantages
over our current methods of selling merchandise, particularly our online and
international sales.
The advantages are firstly that they are a print on demand, which means they
only print the garment when a customer orders. Secondly that they can print
up to full colour (most UK Decay designs are white on black admittedly but
hey we do have some with colour)
Thirdly, Audiolife fulfill the entire order and ship the product to almost
anywhere in the world. Finally they have a fine range of quality cotton American
T shirts, Ladies trim-fit, tanktops, longsleeved, hoodies to choose from.
But what about digital printed quality (as mentioned earlier) and shipping
costs?
The test purchase we made looks and feels awesome! It arrived
in the post two week after ordering. Considering Audiolife are a US company
based in California, that’s not bad considering it was shipped from there
to my home in the UK. The postage for the T Shirt came to $6.50 (£4.30).So,
with the £13.00 for a print on the ‘Hanes’ model, the total cost to buy my
shirt and get it posted to me was £17.20. Although perhaps a couple quid more
than what we buy our screen-printed garments for, we think it’s still a great
deal. Especially, considering the high-quality of the shirt and the print!
Here’s what Audiolife say about the printing method,
“We use a new digital technology that chemically bonds
ink to cotton molecules, resulting in brilliant colors and sharp photographic
quality with no overprint around the edges. The image is soft, breathable,
vibrant and durable - nothing like
the stiff "decal" feel that results from heat-transfer or screen
print methods. Images are fade resistant and machine washable, with a fastness
equal to or better than other print methods on 100% cotton.”
For us Audiolife saves us time, in developing and creating
web stores, fulfilling orders, ordering and storing stock. We are still making
a small profit on garments sold on Audiolife, which again will help towards
sustaining some of the band and websites running costs. We can hopefully spend
the time saved, by getting creative.
All this means that we can increase our range of online
designs, three new designs are already available and there will be more as
time goes by.
But what about our traditional ‘Authentic’ screen-printed
shirts?
Our new online store will take care of sales online and
worldwide (It will be easier to obtain our products, for some customers in
other areas of the globe!)
However, many of our garments are still sold ‘one to one’
at our shows. It’s this ‘personal’ level that is still so important to us
and many that have purchased our shirts in the past.
The screen printed shirts have a ‘warm’, ‘organic’ look
and feel. Its sometimes the slight imperfections that make something individualistic
as an object with identity, feel and uniqueness, in one word ‘special’!
So for live shows we shall continue to use our current suppliers.
They will continue with the familiar range and occasionally
may supplement with a ‘tour-special’ etc. Stock produced for UK Decay’s live
events that remain unsold will be made available on request from the website.
Branding
In order to distinguish between the two different suppliers, we shall call our Audiolife garments
“Official” UK Decay Merchandise (As they are an international establishment)
Our traditional supplied garments we shall call “Authentic” UK Decay Merchandise
DESIGNS
UNEXPECTED GUEST
Brands: “Authentic” and “Official”
“Official”
UK Decay Merchandise available on our Audiolife store
“Authentic” UK Decay Merchandise sometimes available at live events and by
request
As worn by 'Rodney' in 'Only Fools and Horses'. The Classic 'Unexpected Guest'
T Shirt was produced at the time of the “Unexpected Guest” "Dresden"
single, released in 1980.
FOR MADMEN ONLY
Brands: “Authentic” and “Official”
“Official” UK Decay Merchandise available on our Audiolife store
“Authentic” UK Decay Merchandise usually available at live events and by request
One of the most popular of the UK Decay designs. The Classic ‘For Madmen
Only’ T Shirt was produced at the time of the “For Madmen Only”, album released
in 1981.
FOR MY COUNTRY
Brands: “Authentic” and “Official”
“Official” UK Decay Merchandise available on our Audiolife store
“Authentic” UK Decay Merchandise usually available
at live events and by request
The Classic 'For My Country - Unwind' design that was sold extensively during
the UK Decay -Dead Kennedys tour of 1980. Brought out to coincide with the
single release.
I MET MURDER ON THE WAY...
Brands: “Authentic” and “Official” (coming soon)
“Official” UK Decay Merchandise available on our Audiolife store
“Authentic” UK Decay Merchandise sometimes available
at live events and by request
"I Met muder on the way, he wore a mask like today.." The imortal
line from the title track of 'For Madmen Only'. This new design is a motif
featuring a close-up of the For Madmen Only front cover familiar to Myspace
users as the UK Decay calling card.
UK Decay Communities Class Reunion (special)
Brands: “Authentic” and “Official”
“Official” UK Decay Merchandise available on our Audiolife store
“Authentic” UK Decay Merchandise sometimes available
at live events and by request
"Class of 1979 - 1989 Reunion III"
The UK Decay Communities Reunion III special.
Dotties brash 'Mohawk Skull' motif that has become an icon for the Community
of UK Decay.
Unexpected Guest Cover Ladies ‘Bella’ *
NEW
DESIGN*
Brands “Official”
"Unexpected Guest single cover"
“Official” UK Decay Merchandise available on our Audiolife store
A popular bootleg this one, in differing colour combinations. Now for the
first time presented as an “Official” UK Decay garment.
For Madmen Only 2009 ‘Hanes’ *
NEW DESIGN*
Brands: “Official”
"For Madmen 2009 CD "
“Official” UK Decay Merchandise available on our Audiolife store
A tapered down version of the iconographic album cover, designed to fit the
bodies natural ‘T’ shape.
Sexual Twist Long-sleeve 2010 *
NEW DESIGN*
Brands: “Official”
" Sexual/ Twist 2010 "
“Official” UK Decay Merchandise available on our Audiolife store
Another first, there was no official T Shirt back in the day featuring the1981 “Sexual/
Twist” single.
UK Decay Biog 1982 ‘Bella’ Ladies *
NEW
DESIGN*
Brands: “Official”
" UK Decay Biog photo1982"
“Official” UK Decay Merchandise available on our Audiolife store
One of UK Decays most widely used press shots with the original line-up of
1982.
Italia 2009 Special *
TOUR SPECIAL*
Brands: “Authentic” and “Official”
" Italia 2009 Special"
“Official” UK Decay Merchandise available on our Audiolife store
Produced specially for the Italian tour of 2009, originating from the “Dresden”
single cover.
For My Country 2010 Ladies ‘Gildan’ *
NEW
DESIGN *
Brands: “Official”
" For My Country 2010"
“Official” UK Decay Merchandise available on our Audiolife store
A 2010 update to the classic original 1980 ‘For My Country’ single design
Most of our “Official” designs for sale in our Audiolife
store will be available on a variety of different garments including ‘Hanes’,
‘Gildan’ and ‘American’ T Shirts. Ladies garments also include ‘Hanes’, ‘Gildan’
and ‘American’, V Necks, Tanktops and Ladies Shirts. There are also Long sleeve
Shirts, Hoodies and Totebags available with our designs.
Some of our designs are inappropriate for some of the available garments,
so you won’t necessarily find every design on every garment that is available.
Most of the above designs are ‘front print only’
Rear prints that are additional to front prints (double printed) work out
more expensive, whether screen-printed or digitally printed. We feel that
at the current time, Audiolife’s additional charge for the rear print, makes
for an unreasonably high selling cost to the customer. However, we may make
the odd exception, with one or two garments, particularly Hoodies. At the
end of the day, we feel the customer can accept or refuse the option. Because
the garment is only produced if there is an order, no-one is loosing anything!
But please be aware that any double printed garments, will be more expensive.