FAQ
If your questions haven't been answered please contact us at Support@IronicCorporation.com.
Shipping and Returns
- How does the free shipping work?
- Should I choose free shipping or pay extra for the expedited shipping?
- How long does it take to "handle" my order?
- How will I know which method was used to ship my order?
- Can orders be shipped internationally, or to Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico?
- If having my order shipped to my business or college mail address is an option why should I do this?
- Can I return a product?
- If I screw up my Freedom of Speech Bubble t-shirt while I'm making it can I return it?
Pricing
- What type of purchases qualify for the 10% discount?
- Why are your prices less expensive than everyone else's? And what's up with the free shipping?
T-shirts
Magnets and Decals
Freedom of Speech Bubble products
- Some of the Freedom of Speech Bubble products are sold as "deals". How do I tell you which cards or stickers I want?
- Why are more than one envelope colors listed with some of the Freedom of Speech Bubble greeting and note cards?
- What's the difference between the Freedom of Speech Bubble greeting cards and note cards?
- The Freedom of Speech Bubble t-shirts look hard to make…any pointers?
- Should I use a fabric maker or iron-on letters on my shirt?
- Do I really need to use a special "fabric" marker for my shirt? Can't I just use a sharpie? And what about those "erasable" markers companies like Crayola sell?
- Do you sell individual iron-on letters?
- Why aren't iron-on letters and fabric markers included with the Speech Bubble t-shirts?
Miscellaneous
- Are your products currently available at stores?
- Do you mind if we "borrow" your ideas and designs?
- Who manufactures your t-shirts?
- Where did you get your background photos from?
- Who does the illustrations for your shirts?
- What's your deal?
- Do you like French fried potatoes?
- If you think that big business is the root of so many of our problems then why are you running a for-profit company?
Shipping and Returns
How does the free shipping work?
Please read the "Free Shipping Policy".
Should I choose free shipping or pay extra for the expedited shipping?
Basically, anyone with a light or flat order should choose free shipping because we're going to use First Class mail and you're going to get your order fast. Customers with heavy or bulky orders (like a t-shirt) need to weigh the benefit of expedited shipping versus its $5 cost.
How long does it take to "handle" my order?
Our goal is to ship your order within 24 hours of receiving it.
How will I know which method was used to ship my order?
After we ship your order we'll send you an e-mail specifying which method we used so you'll know when and how to expect it.
Can orders be shipped internationally, or to Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico?
We can ship to Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. We can also ship first-class international mail to Canada. We aren't, however, ready to ship individual orders internationally to countries other than Canada, but we're working on setting this up ASAP. If you're shipping to Canada please choose the free-shipping option because expedited international shipping is neither affordable nor expedited.
If having my order shipped to my business or college mail address is an option why should I do this?
Commercial postal carriers such as UPS and FedEx charge businesses such as ours more money to ship to peoples' residences than their places of business. So if you have the option of having your order shipped to your place of business please do so. This will help us be able to continue our Free Shipping Policy. Also, please be honest. If UPS or FedEx delivers the order to your home after we purchase the less expensive delivery to a business they will simply change the difference to our account. And FYI, a college postal address is considered a business address by these companies, so shipping to your college address is great for us (and great for you :)
Can I return a product?
Yes. As long as it's unused and unwashed and can be resold. The customer is responsible for the return shipping and our return address is:
The Ironic T-Shirt Corporation
Attn: Returns Department
300 Center Drive
Suite G-134
Superior, Colorado 80027
Also, please e-mail us at Support@IronicCorporation.com if you plan on returning your purchase so we know to expect it.
If I screw up my Freedom of Speech Bubble t-shirt while I'm making it can I return it?
No, not if we can't sell it to another customer as a new item. Besides, read and follow Tips for making your Freedom of Speech Bubble t-shirt, and this shouldn't be a problem.
Pricing
What type of purchases qualify for the 10% discount?
All personal purchases $50 and up qualify for the 10% discount. The discount will automatically appear in the shopping cart when $50 or more worth of goods is placed into it.
Why are your prices less expensive than everyone else's? And what's up with the free shipping?
We have a different philosophy than other companies and we didn't start this business to become rich. We started this company to express ourselves and spread our ideas and we think we can reach the greatest number of people by offering great products at low prices.
T-shirts
The colors of the design on my t-shirt are somewhat different than they are in the product photos…What's up with that?
Color variation is a fact of life when you screen print with water-based ink. A lot of screen printers use a nasty, plastics based "plastisol" ink on their shirts. Plastisol is that rock hard, vinyl screen print that sits on your chest like a plastic "shield". We hate these shirts, so we decided to go with the more old skool, water-based ink screen printing process. Water-based ink screen printing has it's advantages and disadvantages, and they're both based on the fact that when you screen print with water based-ink the ink is literally mixed into the shirt fabric (unlike plastisol, which just kind of sits on top of the shirt). The advantage of this mixing is that the ink in now literally part of the shirt — after washing, the screen print is as incredibly soft as the shirt material (no chest shield here) and the color should last the lifetime of the shirt. The main disadvantage of this mixing is that the ink takes on some of the color qualities of the dyes used to color the shirts. For example, it's hard to get a pure white screen print on a dark shirt because the dye in the shirt "darkens" up the screen print ink a little. This brings us back to the original question about color variation. Dyed, colored t-shirts actually have a lot of color variation (two brown American Apparel shirts are likely two different shades of brown), and as a result, water-based screen print on dyed shirts will show color variation as well.
The bottom line is think of water-based screen printed t-shirt as a form of art. Our screen printers do everything they can to make each shirt as "perfect" as possible, but no two shirts will be exactly the same, and we think that's actually kind of cool.
Magnets and Decals
Magnet versus vinyl sticker?
The choice is yours, but check out your car carefully before buying a magnet. What you think is metal (especially around the rear bumper) (especially if you have a new car) may actually be plastic. And you know what they say…if a magnet doesn't stick, a sticker ye' shall pick. Also, just so you know, you're not supposed to put a magnet on the hood of your car. (maybe because the heat of the engine? — not sure, just don't do it.)
Will the static cling products look good on my tinted car window?
No. Static clings are removable and reusable and adhere to the INSIDE of your car window, so they're not great on tinted glass. For tinted windows you need a product called a "window decal" — window decals are placed on the outside of the glass, so they're more visible on tinted windows. We don't offer window decal products yet, but we plan to in the near future.
Freedom of Speech Bubble products
Some of the Freedom of Speech Bubble products are sold as "deals". How do I tell you which cards or stickers I want?
We sell the Freedom of Speech Bubble products as "deals" to give the customer as much choice as possible. After you chose your deal and place your order PLEASE send an email to Support@IronicCorporation.com and tell us which cards you want. You can mix and match your order any way you want as long as the total number of cards matches the number of cards that you ordered in your "deal".
If you order a Freedom of Speech Bubble "deal" and you don't send us an email we will contact you through the email address you provided when you placed your order, but this will delay the shipping process.
Why are more than one envelope colors listed with some of the Freedom of Speech Bubble greeting and note cards?
Many of the cards go very well with a couple different envelope colors, and we've tried to share this opinion in the information on the product's page. When two envelope colors are listed with a card, the first envelope color is the default "recommended" color that we'll mail with the card unless you tell us otherwise. If you'd like the second envelope color instead (or any of the other colors for that matter), just let us know in your email.
What's the difference between the Freedom of Speech Bubble greeting cards and note cards?
The only difference is size. Otherwise they are identical. The greeting cards are 5" x 7" while the note cards are 4.125" x 5.5". Both products are blank on the inside and come with brightly colored envelopes.
The Freedom of Speech Bubble t-shirts look hard to make…any pointers?
They're not hard to make. Read and follow Tips for making your Freedom of Speech Bubble t-shirt and you should be fine.
Should I use a fabric maker or iron-on letters on my shirt?
The choice is up to you, but you need to know that the space within the speech bubble for iron-on letters is limited. In general, if you've got a lot to say in your speech bubble, you should use a fabric marker and write in freehand.
Do I really need to use a special "fabric" marker for my shirt? Can't I just use a sharpie? And what about those "erasable" markers companies like Crayola sell?
You need to use a specific fabric marker because the ink of a generic permanent marker like a Sharpie will bleed. Also, if you use Crayola erasable markers they will not wash out of your shirt. Read more about this in Tips for making your Freedom of Speech Bubble t-shirt.
Do you sell individual iron-on letters?
Not yet. We hope to be able to do so in the future, but we don't have the capacity to do so right now. And we're also planning on adding a feature that will allow you to type your slogan into our site to see how it looks on a shirt and then order it.
Why aren't iron-on letters and fabric markers included with the Speech Bubble t-shirts?
Our choices are to sell the accessories separately or to include them with each Speech Bubble t-shirt and add their cost to the t-shirt's price. We think the former gives our customers more flexibility, and besides, we're selling the accessories at our wholesale cost so you're not getting ripped off.
Miscellaneous
Are your products currently available at stores?
As of April 1st, 2007, they are not. We are, however, interested in selling to retail businesses so if you're a retailer and you're interested in selling our products please contact us and see the Current Pricing Sheet (PDF - 56KB).
In the meantime, if you see someone selling our products or passing off our designs as their own please let us know so we can kick their ass. This includes you guys in Chinatown. Huge t-shirt rewards for any and all information that leads to an ass kicking.
Do you mind if we "borrow" your ideas and designs?
Yes, we do mind. Our ideas are our art, and we take our artwork and designs very seriously. In fact, the Anti-Ribbon is a registered trademark of The Ironic T-Shirt Corporation. If you would like to use our designs for a non-profit organization or anti-war project please contact us at Support@IronicCorporation.com.
Who manufactures your t-shirts?
We "contract" screen print our t-shirts, which means we buy blank shirts in bulk from American Apparel and their distributors and then pay a screen printing company to screen print our designs onto the shirts. We searched long and hard for a screen printer we were happy with and we ended up finding an excellent local small business in the Denver/Boulder area. This screen printer uses a water based ink that makes for an incredibly soft print after the shirt is washed and the water based ink is much better for the environment and the shop's workers than the traditional oil based ink used by most other screen printers.
Where did you get your background photos from?
Our background photos are from our personal collection and from posts on Flickr.com.
Who does the illustrations for your shirts?
Our main illustrator is a cat named Cloxboy, and his email address is jem@cloxboyart.com. Check out his website at www.cloxboyart.com.
What's your deal?
The founder of our company is smack dab in the middle of the long and onerous process of writing a novel about social and economic change in America and he wanted to find a more immediate avenue to express his ideas. The characters in his story make and wear homemade t-shirts in order to broadcast their views to the world, and viola, and idea for a business was born.
Do you like French fried potatoes?
Yes, we like all kinds of fried vegetables. We also like The Beastie Boys, Rage Against The Machine, The White Stripes (in that order), super bright colors, American Psycho the novel, screaming, national parks, and trying the best we can. We very much dislike commercial media, little dogs, being lied to, Democrats and Republicans (conservatives and ultra-conservatives, respectively), and litterbugs.
If you think that big business is the root of so many of our problems then why are you running a for-profit company?
We think there's a big difference between small and large businesses and we're big fans of small business. First of all, people who run small businesses interact closely with their workers; they see first-hand how their policies affect their workers' lives and their conscience drives them to treat their workers as they would their friends and family - fairly and with respect. In contrast, owners of big business never interact or even meet their employees. Large companies like Walmart and McDonald's don't give a rat's ass how their policies affect their worker's lives and employees in these companies are generally treated like anonymous commodities, simply a means to an end. Another difference between small and big businesses, is that small businesses and their customers are relatively equal in power and their interactions are generally fair. Do you think your interactions with big businesses are fair? Why are you overcharged every month on your cable bill? Why are there five forms of tax on your cell phone bill? Why do CD's cost $17? How much do CDs really cost to make? 50 cents? Less? Big businesses and you are NOT equal. They are much, much more powerful than you and your dealings with them are not fair. What do you really expect in a country where businesses pay congressmen to pass laws that further their interests over yours?