When the funding runs out... design t-shirts!

My PhD was fully funded by the EPSRC's Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (IMRC) scheme for 3 years. However, as is often the case, writing up the thesis has extended beyond that time period - and 2 months later there is still a lot of work to do on it! I assumed that being in the Cambridge bubble my supervisor would move some money around and help me out. Unfortunately I chose the wrong economic climate to be making such assumptions, and as the last paycheck went into my account in September, I realised I had to man up and fix this situation myself.

I began to frantically contact companies with business proposals, I wrote to funding bodies, colleges, university boards and my faculty, with a small amount of success*. I also speculatively wrote to the printing company that I've worked with in the past on t-shirt printing, offering my services as a kit designer and salesman at my university. My theory was that students are constantly let down by their sports or society kit: boring designs, poor quality printing, high costs, delivery delays etc. My print designs were bold, often American college inspired, and usually used the colour of the t-shirt or hoody to add depth to the design, while only printing in one colour to keep the cost down.

The company liked the idea and took me on. We worked together to develop the customer experience, with face-to-face service, intermediate sketch previews of all garments and a transparent pricing structure. Over the last 2 months we have worked with sports clubs, societies and colleges producing some really nice kit. It's not a perfect service, but we are learning a lot on the job, and it's provided me with a healthy wage. Students are always going to need affiliated kit, and it helps to have a student in situ to promote the service, and to understand the needs of customer. When I leave in the next couple of months, we will need to find a replacement student/designer/salesperson, and also think about branching out to other universities.

*A very helpful cheque from the Board of Graduate Studies in Cambridge