What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

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Jill Shea
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What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

Post by Jill Shea »

I know – another "how long's a piece of string" question... I know it will depend upon size, moulding, type of glass etc.

I've so far managed to somehow avoid framing football shirts – sounds like an awful lot of fiddling about – but I've had another enquiry. I was thinking of sub-contracting it out to somewhere like Wessex Fine Art – I understand they would charge around £200. Wondering how much mark up I could reasonably put on for the hassle of sorting it out and whether there is such a think as a "going rate"...

Any tips/suggesions very welcome.
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Re: What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

Post by fusionframer »

I stopped doing framed shirts this year as i don't particularly enjoy them, but i would start as a basic at £175 (plus vat) for a basic frame when i did do them. That would be a simple moulding (normally obeche painted with black acrylic and neutral wax), 2mm float glass, spacer and mount. 5mm foamcore and tabbed to mountboard. Then probably 2mm mdf backboard.

I wouldn't take on a shirt for less. From there, you can go up with fancy mounts, bigger stacked mouldings and fancier finishes. But i certainly wouldn't want to charge less as they always take longer than you think they will in my opinion.

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Re: What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

Post by Not your average framer »

Making money out of framing football shirts is not easy. I work to a standardised method. I don't usually fit a mount at the front of the frame, but the shirt is secured to a piece of mountboard behind the shirt. I limited the size of this piece of mountboard to half a sheet of mountboard, This often means folding the short sleeves inwards across the front of the shirt. I fit some small cut to size and shape pieces of foambord inside the short sleeves to help the presentation and also to save time.

I place sloped placers behid the glass to ensure enough space for the shirt to not touch the glass and I use a nice solid kraft lined backing board at the back of the frame. Framing a football shirt to look really good is not a particularly quick and easy thing to do, so the price needs to be in the area of £150 to £200. I will not negociate on a lower price as framing a football shirt for less, quickly becomes an unprofitable thing to do. If the customer wants to take the job somewhere else, I don't care! They get conservation mountboard a normal float glass for that price.

I quickly measure the size of the shirt and will quote the price straight away and that's it. The customer can take it, or leave it. That's it.

To be honest, I do not much enjoy framing football shirts, so I am not much bothered if the customer takes their job somewhere else.
Mark Lacey

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Jill Shea
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Re: What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

Post by Jill Shea »

Thanks so much for these replies.

Pretty much what I thought. The idea does not fill me with joy.

I don't even like football. :? :
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Re: What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

Post by Fruitini »

Framing sports shirts isn’t as daunting as it might seem. Once you’ve developed your technique for supporting the shirt the rest is no different to a regular box frame or shadow box.

Using 5mm foamcore trace around the outside shape of the shirt, usually a cm or so more to allow for some natural stretching. To insert the former into the shirt score through the centreline of the foamcore (don’t cut all the way through) and fold, and open up inside the shirt. If you don’t like creases these can be pulled round the back into secured to the foam with micro tags, along with the extra sleeve material.

We usually start at £250 (inc vat) using this method displaying full length shirt, including spacers and mountboard backing which can match/compliment team colours. We’ve built a reputation for sport mech and I can save them up and do probably 6 basic shirt designs in a day which is a pretty good earner. We also do very customised shirt designs using the CMC, tracing shapes and adding custom logos etc, text using pen tool. These can look stunning, but very labour intensive and with artglass can reach circa £750. Check out our Instagram in my sig. I’m not too far from you if you wanted to farm these out or refer them on.
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Re: What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

Post by Not your average framer »

Wow, six football shirts framed in one day! That's impressive! By the time, that I've done one, I don't want to do anymore in that day. It's not that there's no time left, but I don't much enjoy doing them. I am not all that slow doing them, if push comes to shove, I can do one in not much more than one hour. I have a preferred deep black moulding which I like to use, as it is a moulding which looks good, it's durable and the price works well.
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Re: What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

Post by Jill Shea »

Thanks again. Wow Frutini – that is impressive! Indeed you are not far from me – will definitely bear that in mind. :)
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Re: What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

Post by Abacus »

We charge £125, but we don’t like doing them when we’re busy so we usually direct the customer to a framers in Halifax who specialise in sports shirts. I think they charge around £80. They do a good job, use a CMC to put “MAN UTD” or “CANTONA” or whatever on the mount. I’ve not had anyone come back with a complaint.
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Re: What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

Post by Not your average framer »

£125 is not very much after you have taken all of your costs out of that and still get a worthwhile hourly rate to cover your time. How are you managing to do this so cheaply?
Mark Lacey

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Re: What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

Post by Abacus »

All figures removed.

Mark

We do ok, thanks

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Re: What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

Post by Steve N »

I do a DIY frame, where the customer puts the shirt in themselves, (nicked the idea from Kev at Moonshine framing,) for £100.00 for a full custom framing, I charge from £200

http://www.frontierpictureframes.com/Sp ... aming.html
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Re: What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

Post by Not your average framer »

Hi steve,

Doing a DIY frame is not a bad idea. Do you put the shirt behind a mount with a shirt shaped mount aparture? I don't have a CMC, so it prabably would not be a useful idea for me. I'm probably going to need to move home in the next few months and I need to seriously down size as I do this, so not sure if I will be keening and equipment and stock at all.

Lots of things are needing to be worked out at this stage, so I don't know what's going to be happening at present.
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Re: What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

Post by pramsay13 »

I've recently put up my prices for football shirts to around £200 for a nice-looking but basic frame.
This can be increased with double mount, photographs, engraved plate, anti-reflective glass etc.
I don't particularly enjoy doing them but at that price there is a decent profit in it for me without being over the top.
It probably takes me around 2 hours start to finish, so I could do around 3 or 4 in a day but on average I probably get in around one per week.
A football shirt is the one thing that I constantly get quote requests for and you know that they are just wanting it done the cheapest, so I just give them my rough price and I never hear from them again.
Just work out your price and stick with it. If you lose a football top customer it is unlikely they are the kind of customer that gets other things framed so I wouldn't be too bothered if you are a bit on the high side. Apparently there is someone near me that does them for around £70 so I don't even try and compete.
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Re: What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

Post by Steve N »

I use two frames to make the DIY frame
Outer
https://www.wessexpictures.com/PW225.html
Inner
https://www.wessexpictures.com/iqs/dbit ... dings.html

With a piece of foam core , the customer places the shirt on the foam core, then using pins, they pin the shirt onto the foam core by pinning into the side with the pins, then pop the foam core back into the inner frame, held in by bedy tabs, the inner frame also holds the glass into the outer frame, then the back is put on into the double rebate at the back of the frame, again held in with bendy tabs, frame is ready to hang. These mouldings are also available in black or white.
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Re: What's the going rate for framing a football shirt?

Post by Not your average framer »

Thanks Steve,

There's not a lot to making that. Quite a big surprise! Do you do that with ordinary glass?

Have you thought about using that technique for making DIY box framing kits? It might be a great idea!
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
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