That's an expensive idea though.
I'm lucky I work in a print shop, so I can saturate the entire area with posters and flyers for dirt cheap. I also give my band's mp3's away on our web page. Getting the name out is important, no doubt about it, but takes a long time. I think word of mouth is as good as t-shirts, that way you have a demand for them once you get the money to have them made up.