Head of Product

• Check the Ideas channel in Slack — Claude posts a weekly ranking of upcoming moments and t-shirt concepts. Assess: is the window short? Is the audience hyped enough to buy? Can the design be ready before the moment passes?
• For live events, prepare in advance: "If Italy wins, have the design and email ready to go the same day. Do not wait for the result to start."
• Gather inspiration (do not skip this): search Fanatics, Etsy, Google Images ("World Cup Soccer 2026 Tees"), screenshot matching vibes into a local Ideas folder organized by drop type. Inspiration, not copying.
• Trademark rule: never use the word FIFA or any trademarked league name, logo, or official tournament branding. Keep it cultural, not licensed.

ChatGPT

• Upload the inspiration screenshots and prompt for a similar design: graphic only (not mocked on a shirt), high-res, 300 DPI, transparent PNG, 2–5 colors max, no clipart.
• Why the color cap: cleaner look, and cheaper/faster to screen print if it takes off. One color is ideal for fast moment drops.
• Heavyweight tees get a small front (brand name or simple chest graphic) and a large back statement. Always include "Hardcore Italians" on every shirt. Expect 2–3 iterations.

Photoshop

• Print file: new doc 12×12 in at 300 DPI (12×14 or 12×16 for tall designs), scaled to fill with minimal margin, transparent background (Select → Color Range removes white fill). Save PNG as "[Product Name] [Year]" — e.g. Italia Soccer 2026.
• Website mockup: our custom Photoshop template, not Printful's. Lightweight = royal blue, heavyweight = ivory/white (prefer ivory). Add Noise under 10% (start at 5%), layer opacity 98–99%. Save JPEG.
• Ads image: moment-relevant background (e.g. a soccer field), same background across the whole drop, back designs shown large with sleeves slightly cropped.
• File it: Products → Ready Drops → "[date + name]" (e.g. "3.26 Italia Soccer") with Design / Mockups / Ads subfolders, uploaded to Google Drive. Design hands the completed folder to Ops.

Printful (Operations)

• Blanks: Bella Canvas 3001 for lightweight (1–2 colors, front only, royal blue); 1717 garment-dyed for heavyweight (front + back, ivory/white). Both S–4XL, saved in Favorites.
• Add Product → one color to start, sizes S–4XL. Upload the PNG, confirm it reads 300 DPI, size ~11–12 in wide, nudge up toward the chest. Front+back: front 4–5 in centered on chest; back large, a few inches below the collar.
• Outside Label → upload the back tag from the backtags folder. Select the default front mockup only (not 17 images).
• Name it (Italia Soccer 2026 Tee), description = name + "from Hardcore Italians", remove Printful's auto text. Tags: the sport/moment, _label_new, t-shirts (pulls group reviews).
• Uncheck Publish. Set price. Submit to Store. Notify Marketing the draft exists.

Shopify (Marketing)

• Description: no bullets, copy from the previous equivalent shirt. Upload our custom mockup JPEG, remove the Printful image.
• Category and Type = T-Shirt, all sales channels, material Cotton (not Spandex), Variants → Bulk Edit → uncheck Track Quantity, short URL handle (italia-soccer-2026-tee), fill metafields.
• Stays Draft until the CEO confirms the trigger. Marketing publishes only on that signal and coordinates the launch email/SMS.

Pricing — target $20 profit on S–XL

• Lightweight 3001, front only: $32
• Heavyweight 1717, front only: $35
• Heavyweight 1717, front + back: $38

• Validate the idea: fits the audience? Timing window or evergreen? Deliverable in time? Adds something new? Fulfillable? Submit to the CEO with description + timing for go/no-go. Fast-track moments get verbal CEO approval; Ops documents after it's live.
• Shopify build standard: title "[Design Concept] + [Product Type]" (Sunday Gravy Unisex Tee); description leads with the emotional hook, then fabric/fit/sizing/care and the fulfillment note; minimum 3 images at 2048×2048 with alt text; correct shipping profile; US-only until the CEO approves expansion; no homepage or featured collections until the CEO approves scale. Nothing goes live at $0.00 or with a test price.
• Pre-launch QA (Ops Lead): page content, collections/nav, fulfillment/inventory, desktop + mobile, add-to-cart test, no 404s. CEO approval required before it goes live.
• Soft launch: set Active, reachable via collections/URL only, no homepage. Organic social first — 1–2 posts on IG/TikTok/FB with a link. Do not boost until at least 24 hours of organic data.
• Paid ads (optional): hold at least 24 hours after soft launch; test = one ad set, one creative, $25–$50/day, core audience only; spend needs CEO approval. Email: engaged segment first; full list needs CEO approval.
• Report within 24–72 hours: units, revenue, product-page conversion, social engagement, ROAS/CPP if ads — short message to the CEO so they can scale, maintain, or discontinue. Flag early if clearly strong or poor.

• Duplicate a similar product and uncheck all boxes. Title = design name + product type at the end ("Italia Soccer 2026 Tee", "Forza Green Zip Hoodie"). Description = title + "from Hardcore Italians" + the bullet format for that product type (ChatGPT for description, meta title, meta description).
• Images: mockup first, lifestyle second. Never use fake lifestyle images for unreleased designs. Assign variant images by color.
• Sizes: S, M, L, XL, 2X, 3X, 4X — never "Medium" or "XXL". SKUs: UPH-DesignName-Color-Size. Barcodes bulk-added from the Barcode & SKU doc.
• Metafields: color, size, fabric, gender, fit, sleeve type — fix wrong auto-fills (spandex instead of cotton). SEO handle short and clean, max ~3 words, strip "copy".
• Product Type (T-shirt / Hoodie / Hat / Accessory) — an incorrect type breaks navigation. Vendor = Hardcore Italians. Tags: category, Clothing Tax tag (required on all apparel), Yotpo group YGroup_[Category], label (_label_new / _label_bestseller), inventory type (Print-on-demand / Ready-to-ship / Dropship).
• Status: Draft = upcoming, Active = live, Unlisted = link-only, Archived = retired. Set to Draft — never live right away. Save often, preview before going Active.

Sync to Printful

• Duplicate a similar product; tag it "print on demand" and "final sale"; remove any Drop Ship / Ready to Ship language.
• Uncheck Track Quantity, add SKUs, set Printful as the only fulfillment location. In Printful: Stores → View Store → edit the unsynced product → pick the blank (e.g. Bella + Canvas 3001), upload design and back label, apply to all variants, confirm size mapping.
• In Shopify assign the Printful shipping profile; in ShipHero set variants to Drop Ship Only.

Unsync (POD → in-house stock)

• Printful: Disable Fulfillment. Shopify bulk edit: remove "print on demand", add "ready to ship"; Track Quantity ON, Continue Selling OFF; add barcodes.
• Settings → Shipping → Printful → Manage Products → uncheck it (reverts to the General Shipping Rate). ShipHero: assign the correct vendor.
• Create the PO and enable Sell Ahead at close to the ordered quantity so it can pre-sell before stock lands; saving the PO pushes inventory live.

Inventory settings

• Printful products: Track Quantity OFF (shows "Not Tracked", purchasable even at zero — Printful can temporarily show 0 from sync issues).
• Stocked products: Track Quantity ON + Continue Selling When Out of Stock ON — negative inventory reflects demand for reordering.
• Final check before every launch: add-to-cart works, no "Out of Stock" on the storefront.

Regional catalogs

• Printful products: enable all markets — Printful routes fulfillment by region.
• Stocked products: United States only (avoids high shipping and customs).
• Split setup (POD → stocked): the stocked version is US only; keep the original Printful product, remove the US, enable everywhere else.
• Region-specific designs (Italian-Canada, Italian-Australia): only that country.

• Change price: product → Variants → Edit → Bulk Edit → update the Price column for every variant → save → confirm on the page.
• Revert to regular price after a sale: in Bulk Edit, clear the Compare at price field (leave blank) and move the original price back into Price ($72 → $90). Refresh the storefront to confirm no sale banner. Do this immediately when a sale ends, and audit weekly for leftover sale tags.
• Set Active: the Share dropdown → Set as Active, then Preview. Back to Draft: the Status section top right.
• Barcodes missing at PO time: open the Product Barcodes Drive sheet, enter the short name 7 times (S–4XL) with color, assign numbers, add to each variant, then More Actions → Print barcode labels → save the PDF to the same folder.

• Confirm the drop list against the Shopify collection, the campaign folder in Drive, and the marketing materials.
• Set live: select products → Include in Sales Channels → All Channels → Active. Dropshipped items: disable Track Quantity if showing zero. Stocked: enable Continue Selling if needed. Spot-check 1–2 pages and run a test checkout (add to cart, shipping options appear).
• Schedule instead: product must be Active first → Publishing → Schedule Publishing → drop date, time = Start of Day (12:00 AM), channels Online Store + TapCart + Google. Confirm the scheduling indicator. Align with the Marketing Calendar, Klaviyo, and Attentive.

Catching Bundles

• Products must be Active first — bundles won't work on inactive products.
• Apps → Catching Bundles → duplicate an existing bundle (keeps styling), rename by design ("Baseball Heritage Bundle"), swap the products — select both tee and crewneck so it shows on multiple pages; first product listed is primary.
• Discounts: $2.50 off per item, $5 off per item, or 15%. The discount type must be "Amount Off Per Item" — never "Fixed Price", which can accidentally create a very large discount. Save → Publish → verify on the live page.

ShipHero kits

• Inventory → Products → parent product → each variant → Kit Components: paste the top SKU and bottom SKU for that size, Add after each, match sizes exactly.
• Kit inventory not showing in Shopify? Open the PO and make sure "Include kits" is checked.

• Shopify → Reports → Units Sold, last 7 days or daily. Is there a clear winner driving most of the revenue?
• No winner → review Google Trends (past 24 hours), social (sports, news, pop culture, Italian moments), Claude-generated ideas, and past winners. Launch the new test via print-on-demand and push it through organic content, email, SMS.
• No traction → move on quickly. Winner → increase exposure, keep it active, expand into hats, hoodies, shorts, bundles and upsells to lift AOV.
• Daily — more often during slow periods, several times a day while actively testing or scaling.

Think of a drop like a starting lineup: the launch designs start, and the bench is who subs in. If the drop doesn't perform to standard, the next design comes off the bench — one or two swaps usually, but with 20 ready you could field a whole new roster. Last year's Halloween drop underperformed and the month was simply written off; the bench exists so that never happens again.

• For every drop on the calendar (Halloween, fall collection, hoodie releases, heritage collection), build a bench folder of 10–20 additional designs. Designs only — mockups are not needed until a design gets called up.
• Every bench design must be a top-tier concept in its own right — the bench is not a dumping ground for rejects.
• Build it from what's proven: last year's best sellers for that drop, plus AI research on the theme. Halloween's winning pattern was Italian wordplay (Franken-Stunad, Bada Boo, Boo-schetta, Grim Mercada) — iterate on what worked.
• Make secondary versions of promising concepts when you can't tell which will win.
• The bench compounds: whatever doesn't get used this year is next year's drop already planned, and bench designs can also sub into Shirt Club when a month's design underperforms.
• Watch the calendar — bold entries are planned drops. Every one of them needs its bench building ahead of time.

What works

• Simple, funny, or both. The all-time best sellers are one-to-three color designs: a funny Italian phrase, a clean parody, a closet staple.
• Parodies do well: Gnocchi/Gucci (third best-seller of all time), Tommy Cutlets/NY Giants, Ferrari, Gatorade, the Grinch pinch-gesture Christmas tee, Thing 1/Thing 2.
• Proven phrases from our own social pages ("Don't Be a Chooch", "I Got a Guy", "Wooden Spoon Survivor", "Surrounded by Stunads") — the audience already votes on what's funny before it becomes a shirt.
• Holiday and seasonal themes, and viral moments dropped on time — the Super Mario movie tee dropped the same day the box office blew up and sold hard.
• Sports: clean, bold, championship-style marks tied to Italian-American identity (the Team USA in Milan tee crushed). Classic American sports — football, basketball, baseball — over niche ones.

What flops

• Corny: clip-art soccer balls, splatter effects, busy layouts, high-digitization prints. People wear clean and classic.
• Niche topics: F1, tennis, one-off races — the audience that cares is too small, and guys won't wear another guy's face kissing a trophy.
• Late timing: the Kentucky Derby tees released the day of the race, the Italy World Cup exit tee after the moment passed. If the design isn't out before the moment peaks, skip it.
• Not-Italian-enough: designs that never say or show the Italian angle, or that only speak to people who've traveled to Italy rather than Italian-Americans broadly.
• Unproven phrases: a saying nobody has validated. Start from a proven phrase or a proven format.
• Celebrity faces: we got in trouble using Dean Martin's face. Be careful with real people's likenesses on products.

Inspiration sources: our own all-time Units Sold report first, then Baseballism, Baseball Lifestyle 101, Tipsy Elves, Grunt Style, Combat Iron Apparel, and Barstool Sports for the clean-sports look.

Planning

• Shopify → Reports → Units Sold, date range = the same month last year, Product Type = T-Shirt, sorted by units. Pick a top performer and make a variation — not an exact copy. Proven, broad, easy to execute.
• Shirts sell one month before they ship: the May shirt sells in April, so use April's data.
• Rotate colors — no repeats back to back (black can recur more often, but never consecutively). Seasonal only where natural (July patriotic, October Halloween). Must work for men and women; no niche phrases.
• Always prepare a backup design. Upload to the Shirt Club Drive folder and the planning calendar. Stay a few months ahead minimum — ideally a year out. Final design confirmed before the 1st.

Design standards — the $20 shirt rules

• Shirt Club sells at $20 versus $32–35 on the site, so cost discipline is the design brief: shoot for three colors, four is borderline, and five is the absolute maximum — more gets denied. (The Italian flag being three colors is why four is tolerated.)
• One placement only, always the front. Back prints and extra placements cost money the $20 price can't carry.
• What works for Club: niche Italian-American humor (these are repeat customers who love us), the Italian hand gesture, parodies (Gatorade, Yankees, Ferrari), seasonal ties (St. Patrick's, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas), and month-matched concepts like a muscle shirt for gym-season.
• What flops: too basic, too narrow (designs only for people who've been to Italy), unproven phrases, unfunny concepts — and never a celebrity's face.

Monitoring

• Recharge subscriptions dashboard for active subs, MTD growth, new vs churn; Meta Ads Manager for cost per purchase and spend on SOTM campaigns vs prior designs.
• Review within the first 3–5 days. Poor → switch to the backup in ads and on the landing page immediately, don't wait the month. Fulfill previous-design orders (Printful if needed) so people get what they bought.
• Scale winners — extend a strong design or start the next one early. Track orders by design with Shopify notes/tags.
• Changeover discipline: new shirt visible everywhere first (product page, Recharge/Klaviyo flow images), then subscriber emails, then ship — any other order costs subscribers. Keep the Club bench at 2+ months of designs; under that gets flagged.

Stickers

• Sticker Mule, 4×4 in, circle is usually cheapest. Quantity from Recharge → Active Subscriptions, rounded up with extras for mystery packs (435 members → order 500). Order with a week-plus buffer before the mailer date; approve the proof under Artwork.

• Units Sold today / last 7 days / MTD — flag POD top sellers. Weekly sales are the primary indicator; confirm it isn't a one-day spike.
• Validate with Meta / Triple Whale: spend, cost per purchase, ROAS trend — scaling, stable, or declining. Do not proceed with large orders if performance is dropping.
• Quantity: estimate daily velocity, project 7–14 days, pick the supplier tier (24 / 72 / 150 / 300 / 600 / 1000) — start conservative. Coordinate pricing, sizes, and timelines; transition the SKU from POD to stocked.
• Monitor daily after ordering: fast → prep the reorder; slowing → pause. Excess → marketing push, then discount, then clearance.
• Cadence: daily top-seller review; POD → stock opportunities 3–5× per week; reassess after every order.

• Back-in-Stock app → unsent notifications per product. Flag big lists (50–200+) and consistent daily signups; separate all-time from recent demand.
• Validate in Units Sold that it was selling before the stockout. Revenue potential = signups × estimated conversion rate × price — never assume 100%.
• Cross-check marketing: in ads? promo planned? Do not place large orders without marketing alignment.
• Baseline 72 or 150 units; more only if demand is strong and ads are performing. Submit product, quantity, and justification to Ops (Rachel).
• After restock, verify the email/SMS notifications fired (Back-in-Stock support if not). Flag discontinued products with big waitlists for reintroduction. Daily quick scan, weekly full review.

• Products → Active → sort by inventory; ignore Printful items (they show 10,000+). Benchmark: below 90 units in 90 days = underperforming.
• Validate first: size stockouts, recent restocks, products under 90 days old, seasonality, promos. Never discontinue evergreen staples, giveaway items, products in promos/bundles, or items tied to upcoming events.
• Discount: Compare at = original, lower the Price, keep ~50%+ margin, use endings like $24.99 — it shows on the Sale page.
• Discontinue: set to Draft. Do not delete unless confirmed. Send the list (discount / discontinue / suggested pricing) to Marketing. Monthly or quarterly, and before seasonal resets.

• Printful products: Shopify Cost per item vs Printful base cost per size — S–XL and 2XL+ differ. Update Shopify to match and confirm whether shipping is included.
• Stocked products: ShipHero PO supplier cost vs Shopify Cost per item; keep the two consistent. Check every variant.
• Confirm the clothing tax tag so tax isn't absorbed into margin. Align with Finance on whether shipping sits in COGS or separate.
• Shopify COGS feeds Triple Whale (marketing decisions) and QuickBooks (financials) — spot-check COGS per order. Update immediately on launch, supplier cost change, or new inventory order. Escalate discrepancies to Product & Ops (Rachel) and Finance.

• Developer side: trend research (3+ ideas a week), design collaboration, material/quality, sampling, pricing/MSRP/margins, packaging. Seasonal drops every 4–8 weeks. Buyer side: vendor management, MOQ and terms negotiation, restocking from data, lead times, forecasting, assortment — weekly restock reviews, vendor check-ins biweekly/monthly.
• Alibaba: identify at least 2 suppliers per product; ask unit pricing at MOQ and bulk, packaging, mockups, barcode printing, air vs sea. Negotiate — never accept the first offer.
• Sample before bulk (~$50, often credited to the order) with final material, logo placement, and retail packaging. Samples ship to 8044 Barrymore Drive, Darien, IL 60561; bulk goes to the West Chicago fulfillment center — triple-check the address.
• All pricing and payment talk in a WhatsApp group with the supplier and Mike Jr. Pay via WhatsApp order link or Alibaba link only — never PayPal or off-platform. Confirm price, shipping terms, address, and ETA in writing; save invoices, mockups, chats.
• On delivery inspect quantity, material, branding, packaging, barcode scan. Approve → plan reorders; reject → request corrections.