PROJECT f/s phys-ed like prints on found t-shirts

the address

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boobob92/5348221410/

"Didn't Wards have a ton of cool brands back in the day? I think i remember seeing some kind of conestoga wagon on one of their logos, or maybe it was one Penney's did."

quick google search 'wards sanforized' and VOILA

so, the shirt will be as follows the 'team' will be the PIONEERS in the same font as 'PIONEER' above. Below the 'team' name  will be some rendering of that conestoga wagon logo similar in size/style to vintage phys-ed tees.  I am still debating between using the red and blue seen in the picture above for the text and logo. It will be a simple one color print so we can go with a show of hands style vote and move forward with whichever is a majority. 

Still working out the kinks as we want to print these on found t-shirts.  they turn up on ebay, but that would increase the cost per shirt exponentially and being a poor bastard I'd like to be able to keep this affordable for myself as well as all of you.

We're gonna shoot for a 'limited' run of somewhere between 10 and 15 because we've been struggling to find CLEAN, vintage 100% cotton blanks that were made-in-USA.  My thought is to just use white but this is obviously open to discussion.

Not looking to profit on this beyond a couple dollars to cover El_Gato_Scott and I's time and gas searching for the tees.

So, what do y'all think.  nothing is set in stone but I feel like that's a decent sounding t-shirt.  If I am way off, lemme know.

I hope I am not becoming bothersome with any of this but I just wanted to keep anyone interested in the loop.

Got a message from  the local screen-printer here in town:   '... an order of 15 or more one color print tees should run you between 4 to 5 dollars each if you're providing the shirts and  any of the graphic properties'.  

Obviously The more orders the lower the cost. 

He was also curious why i'd be providing the t-shirts. I explained  I wanted both 100% cotton and made in USA. He said he typically just buys Gildan and AAA as most people are concerned more with cost per shirt than where the shirts were made but that he can source American Apparel and other domestic brands .  

That isn't the route I want to go but I fear sourcing 15 tee shirts is going to create a myriad of challenges, especially in terms of fit and cost. I wear a medium in the vintage Hanes i've managed to pick up and the last few 3-packs of vintage white Hanes tees have gone for over 100$ + . Just kind of stuck, none of my usual spots are turning up any vintage blanks at all even called some of my friends at shops in OK, and they're having a hard time getting them and when they do they can't keep them in stock more than a few days.    

'ahh, I wish you'd called sooner.I bought this place 6 years ago and just last month I got around  to donating about 6 boxes that probably hadn't been opened  or moved since the 80's' (!). I just got tired of looking at them.If you Gimme a sec I can run down and check if I have any of that stock left. I told my husband  to get rid of any it we had on hand because it all ran small and there were only 13 or 14 of each size. Would have made you a hell of a deal on 'em (laughs)'  

She said given the limited demand of 'Made in USA' the distributor she uses (same distributor for the guy here in Elwood) requires her to make an order of 12 dozen, and given her high cost she requires a minimum that is much larger than what I was looking to do . 

She said she'd be more than happy to print any shirts that I brought in. She seemed somewhat intrigued by the project too and of course that she wished there was a demand for made in USA but her bottom line yadda yadda yadda.