Testing at StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a site where you can download a toolbar for websurfing. With each click, the StumbleUpon toolbar serves you up a webpage based on your interests and the recommendations of other stumblers.

You can rate each page "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" and Stumbleupon learns what you like.

Every sixth webpage is sponsored. That is, an advertiser has paid US$0.05 to Stumbleupon to show that page to you. That's where we come in.

As an advertiser we can see a report of how many people rated our site thumbs up or down. That's a marvellous test since it's a completely impartial rating of our site. Advertisers can target by gender, age, country and subject category.

A few months ago I advertised the old GMtee website to 2,000 people worldwide aged 18-55 and interested in fashion. A 58% majority gave us the thumbs up.

I just repeated the same test for our new website and I am pleased to report that we are now rated thumbs up by an enthusiastic 75%. That's pretty good, I think. Now I'm starting some new experiments with variations on gender and country.

If you are a stumbler and a fan of GMtee, take a moment to give us the thumbs up!

...And In With The New!

It's up! The new GMtee website is live!

Out With The Old...

It's a big day at GMtee. Our old site is gone forever.

Later today you'll see a new site with a new look and a new collection. (Yes, the word "new" features in our marketing plans.) New shirts with new designs, new styles, new fits, a new direction.

I will have much to write about here and I might even have a few readers in future. I'll be reporting on our advertising efforts and results, both for the new website and this blog. Our marketing has been very minimal in recent months but now we will be spending some advertising dollars at Stumbleupon, Shopping.com and Facebook for instance. More about that later.

We'll operate the new site quietly for a few days to check that it's working properly and then build up our marketing into the new year. It should be an exciting time for GMtee.

For now, it's out with the old...

Dear Departed Design Game

In a sombre ceremony this morning we paid our last respects to the GMtee Design Game May it rest in peace.

The Design Game served us well for many years. Every week we displayed twelve draft shirt designs and asked players to vote for two. Any player who correctly selected the two most popular designs that week won a US$20.00 credit for their next purchase. Hundreds of people played and won. Many players were Canadian, due to the promotion of our game at a popular Canadian website devoted to winning free stuff.

The results of the game helped us decide which designs were most likely to be successful. And it gave our customers a chance to influence our creative direction.

But by this time next week you will see our new and improved GMtee website. As we soar onwards and upwards, sometimes painful decisions have to be made about what to leave behind. The ruthless hand of the editor sweeps out the old and brings in the new. Fashion demands constant renewal!

As we mourn the passing of the Design Game, we eagerly anticipate the rebirth of GMtee. Coming soon to a blog near you.

It's later than you think!

Hark! The herald angels sing,
Soon it will be last mailing!


The season of giving is almost upon us and it's time to alert you to the last mailing days for Christmas from Hong Kong. According to the wonderfully efficient Hongkong Post, airmail packages must be mailed before these dates if they are to reach their destinations before the holidays:


8.12.2007 UK
10.12.2007 USA
11.12.2007 Canada
12.12.2007 Australia, New Zealand
14.12.2007 Singapore, France
15.12.2007 Netherlands, Spain


GMtee sends out packages by express airmail, not ordinary airmail, so that would improve delivery time by a day or two. If you are willing to pay a much higher shipping charge, we can send your purchase by international courier which guarantees delivery in four working days (e-mail us for these rates).


Please don't leave your Christmas shopping to the last minute. Take care of it now. You know it makes sense!