"It sucks. It was handled poorly"
I disagree....it was handled the best way it could be under the current circumstances.....
It's not easy getting something like that up & running, plus the mass-hysteria that the mere possibilty of T-shirts, etc. produced............
The only other way, besides what was mentioned, is what a buddy of mine was able to do by knowing a screen printer well enough.....that was to work with the printer in that he would wait to get paid until the amount a shirts were sold that covered his cost......special circumstance that would not work with any ordinary commercial printer......
He still had to shell out for the T-shirt blanks & wait on that part to get paid back.....