Advertise to your target audience
Create a unique shirt and sell it online and
at carnivals and other small events
Anticipate Holidays
There are several routes
Spreadshirt
Zazzle
10 TIPS FOR STARTING A SUCCESSFUL T-SHIRT COMPANY
How To Get Resellers To Sell More Of Your Products - Udemy Video Training
CLIENT'S TESTIMONIAL
Gerry and Crew,
I know i said it was a busy week, but i was excited from your
encouragement,stayed up late last night reviewing the materials and
thinking about implementation strategy. Just a couple of notes that I
have from the meditation that are in no particular order.
- I would like to focus on bulk order business, from time to time a
good idea for retailing directly to the customer does come across my
facebook page and I sell those items using paypal. But I have found
that while hocking shirts one at a time provides a drastically higher
profit per shirt it is time consuming and very difficult to read what
will sell and what wont. The market for this kind of business online
is flooded. I have made the mistake of dropping money in to the
production of shirts that I thought would sell and they are still in
boxes or being used as rags.
- Finding a couple corporate accounts that are regular customers would
provide a great foundation for my company, any suggestions on how to
attract large bulk order customers would make my life considerably
easier.
- I did re-do the home page of my site because of your
recommendations, moving forward, I am going to hire someone to re-vamp
the website and do SEO. I am focusing on improving my manufacturing
capabilities, product quality, and developing a sales training program
trying to learn website design will be another thing that takes my
focus off of these cornerstones.
- I have a meeting with a financial planner this afternoon, he has
come highly recommended by a very dear friend. After that I will begin
to make the money moves to begin the implementation. So having a
concrete business plan, or at least the first steps to take moving
forward is my top priority so when the cash is in the account I can
move it in the proper direction.
Please forward this to everyone, and if I could get everyone's email
so we can start a thread that would be great. I don't think I can say
thank you enough for this help, you guys are awesome.
I know i said it was a busy week, but i was excited from your
encouragement,stayed up late last night reviewing the materials and
thinking about implementation strategy. Just a couple of notes that I
have from the meditation that are in no particular order.
- I would like to focus on bulk order business, from time to time a
good idea for retailing directly to the customer does come across my
facebook page and I sell those items using paypal. But I have found
that while hocking shirts one at a time provides a drastically higher
profit per shirt it is time consuming and very difficult to read what
will sell and what wont. The market for this kind of business online
is flooded. I have made the mistake of dropping money in to the
production of shirts that I thought would sell and they are still in
boxes or being used as rags.
- Finding a couple corporate accounts that are regular customers would
provide a great foundation for my company, any suggestions on how to
attract large bulk order customers would make my life considerably
easier.
- I did re-do the home page of my site because of your
recommendations, moving forward, I am going to hire someone to re-vamp
the website and do SEO. I am focusing on improving my manufacturing
capabilities, product quality, and developing a sales training program
trying to learn website design will be another thing that takes my
focus off of these cornerstones.
- I have a meeting with a financial planner this afternoon, he has
come highly recommended by a very dear friend. After that I will begin
to make the money moves to begin the implementation. So having a
concrete business plan, or at least the first steps to take moving
forward is my top priority so when the cash is in the account I can
move it in the proper direction.
Please forward this to everyone, and if I could get everyone's email
so we can start a thread that would be great. I don't think I can say
thank you enough for this help, you guys are awesome.
T-SHIRT ONLINE
Setting Up An Online T-Shirt Store Is Easy...
You can be up and running in as little as a few hours.
With the
abundance of apps and integrations in the Shopify App store, you can also
connect your store to a t-shirt printer/dropshipper
in minutes and have a fully functioning store, ready to print and ship to your
customers.
Complete the online application for your T-shirt
design. Visit the electronic Copyright Office (eCO) online at
http://www.copyright.gov/. Click "Forms" under the
"Registration" heading. Type into the form to complete it.
Spreadshirt
vido No time limit…..you can also
sell designs…
Pays higher commission
TeeSpring.com
Has time limit
Some don’t use website but use those below – storenvy
rated highly. Play video below
Free Stores Comparison Etsy, ECrater,
BluJay, StorEnvy Video
You can promote your
shirt on your youtube channel
Sell on Café Press… Video recites use of those listed below plus others.
Sell on Threadless
mainly for designers. People vote
Sell on Zazzel Store
Sell on Wordans
Big Cartel – need your
own inventory
PrintTheShirt.com – they
make your shirt for you
But It’s Also Really Hard Work - Designers use Photoshop 9 dollars a month.
The difficult part is building a brand to stand out
from the competition.
To be successful with your new t-shirt brand, you have
to make the right decisions from the get-go.
Niche: Being more specific will help you
stand out as well as better attract and market to the right audience without
blowing your budget. Facebook ads good
getting your niche audience.
Design: The majority of people that are purchasing
graphic tees are looking for design, graphics and slogans that connect with
them and reflect their opinions and personality.
Quality: The quality of the shirts you use and the
prints needs to be top notch.
Brand: A strong, interesting brand is vital in the
t-shirt industry.
Let's take a deeper look at the keys to success.
What about inventory?
Merchify Once you sell a product, we will
produce the merchandise and ship it directly to your customer!
1. Niche
How do you stand out from the many competitors and one
of the best ways to do that is by choosing and catering to a specific niche.
In general, categories like t-shirts with funny
slogans are going to be too broad to attack in a very developed market. You’re
going to want to tighten it up a little more. An example of a more specific
niche would be t-shirts with funny slogans that relate to doctors and nurses.
2. Design
The last thing a visitor would want is to see in your
catalogue is a copy of t-shirt design found elsewhere. graphic tees need to
connect with your audience and stand out.
3. Quality
The next most important factor in the success and
sustainability of an online t-shirt business is quality.
4. Brand: A strong, interesting brand is vital in the
t-shirt industry.
Your brand is a promise that will tie together all
your choices including your niche, designs and quality. Building a unique and
likeable brand is important for businesses in a high competition industry.
T-Shirt Quality
Not all t-shirts are the same and not all print jobs
are the same. As we mentioned above, quality is paramount to your brand and its
success, so it’s important to educate yourself and choose your blank shirts
wisely.
In this day in age, there are three popular methods
for printing onto t-shirts. Each method has its pros and cons, and will
partially depend on how much time you want to invest into the product creation,
as well as the printing partner you choose.
Below, we have outlined all three print methods to
give you a better understanding of each process.
1. Screen Printing
Source: Specialities Plus
Screen printing is an old technique that has stood the
test of time. As one of the most popular methods for printing onto t-shirts,
screen printing can produce durable and long lasting result.
However, a labor intensive initial setup means screen
printing is most cost effective when printing in bulk. Screen printing also
poses issues when it comes to complex designs or designs with more than four to
five colors as each color increases costs and production time.
Pros
Cost effective for large batches.
Volume discounts.
Cons
Not cost effective for multiple colors.
Can only print simple images and designs.
2. Heat Transfer
Heat transfer machine
Heat transfers have also been around for a long time
and exist in several form. You may have seen basic heat transfer paper at your
local office supply store. Although these make it easy to print your designs
from your home computer and transfer them with an iron, these won’t cut it when
it comes to running a business. The more advanced form of heat transfers are
called plastisol transfers and are printed by professional printers on special,
high quality heat transfer paper. The advantage of this is being able to order
a stack of prints from your local printer and transfer them to your t-shirts as
you receive orders with a commercial heat press machine.
Heat transfers can produce full-colour images onto
t-shirts relatively easily and quickly.
Pros
You can “print” each shirt on demand.
Cons
Lower quality and less durable than direct-to-garment
and screen printing.
Large upfront investment into a heat press machine
(Few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars).
Do-it-yourself approach means additional time input
from yourself.
3. Direct-To-Garment (DTG)
Direct-To-Garment (DTG)Source: Melco
The direct-to-garment printing process operates much
like a ink-jet printer you would have at home. DTG prints ink directly onto the
t-shirt and can produce full color images with accuracy.
Direct-to-garment printing produces quality printing
on par with screen printing and better than heat transfers. Because it operates
just like an ink-jet printer, there are no setup costs, unlike screen printing.
This means that it's easy and cost effective to print small orders.
The major disadvantage of direct-to-garment printing
is the lack of volume discount for large orders, as it takes the same amount of
time to print each shirt.
Pros
Unlimited color options.
High detail accuracy in printed design.
Great for small orders or one-offs.
No set-up costs.
Cons
Not cost effective for large production runs.
Generally no volume discounts.
If you’re stuck for t-shirt niche ideas and designs, a
great start is to look at what else is popular and currently selling well.
Below is a list of several popular and bestseller
pages for some of the top graphic t-shirt marketplaces that just might help you
get a better idea of your next niche or t-shirt design.
Teeview
Teeview gathers T-shirt
campaigns of Teespring and Sunfrog
from Google and Twitter,
displaying them all in one place!
from Google and Twitter,
displaying them all in one place!
Zazzle Bestsellers & Zazzle Popular
Shop Or Create Your Own
Shirts, Prints, Mugs & More At Zazzle!
Free Shipping With
ZBlack · 100,000+ Curated Designs · Affordable
Customization
Rated A+ – BBB
Redbubble Popular
Redbubble was born
in 2006 in Melbourne , Australia
Skreened Trending Shirts
Join Now Trending
Snorg Bestsellers
Funniest, most clever
t-shirt designs. Pop culture, fandoms, nerd humor + more.
New Designs -
$12 · Something for Everyone · Choose from 1000+
Designs · Super Soft, Comfy Tees
Types: T-Shirts, Hoodies,
Hats, Sock
Kickstarter T-Shirt Campaigns
Friends, fans, and
inspired strangers have pledged $2.9 billion to projects on Kickstarter, funding
everything from homemade postcards to Oscar-winning documentaries.
You may also want to consider checking out Google
Trends and Google Hot Searches to get a sense of the topics people are
currently interested in.
Hire A Designer
Once you have an idea for some t-shirt designs. You’re
going to have to get your ideas actually designed. If you have Adobe Photoshop
or similar programs you can likely produce some simple designs by yourself.
However, if you’re like most people, you will likely need to enlist some help.
There are a wide variety of tools and market places
you can use to find a suitable graphic designer to help you with your designs.
Design Communities
Dribbble - Dribbble is a great designer community with
lots of unique talent. Search for the style you’re looking for and message the
designers you like to see if they're available for freelance projects.
Design Communities
Behance - Behance is another great designer community
to check out for your next t-shirt designer.
Design CommunitiesNetworks
Some other great options you may also want to try are
the more popular freelance networks like Freelancer and Upwork.
Buy Designs
If you’re stuck for a designer, there are also options
to purchase pre-made designs. You’ll want to keep in mind that if you choose to
go this route, there’s high likelihood that other people are already selling
the design, making it harder for you and your brand to stand out.
Check out t-shirt graphic marketplaces like:
Designious
T-Shirt Factory
You may also want to check out general graphic design
marketplaces but keep in mind if you plan to sell your t-shirts, you’ll need to
purchase a commercial license.
Creative Market
Mocking Up Your Designs
Once you have some final designs, your next step will
be to get some mockup images of them on actual t-shirts. Your customers are
going to want to actually see what the final design will look like printed on a
shirt.
There are a few ways you can get images of your final
designs on t-shirts including ordering samples and taking product photography
yourself, or with the abundance of t-shirt templates online, you can opt to
create a 100% digital mockup like the one below.
Mocking Up Your Designs
Adobe Photoshop (Free Trial) t-shirt templates are the
most common types of mockup files. They allow you to quickly preview how your
designs will look printed on a t-shirt. Most Photoshop templates comes with
multiple layers that allow you to change the colour of the shirt and apply your
own design that will blend with the creases, folds and contours of the shirt.
Below, we have compiled several resources to help you
find the best possible mockup file for your next project:
GraphicRiver T-Shirt Mockups
Design Inspiration Magazine - 40 T-Shirt Mockups
Design Bolts - 50 T-Shirt Mockups
If Adobe Photoshop isn't right for you, you can also
use web-based mockup software that will allow you to do the same thing without
having to download and figure out Photoshop.
Shopify's Free T-Shirt Mockup Generator
Shirt Mockup (Web Based T-Shirt Mockup)
Another great options for tasks like this is to enlist
help from someone on Fiverr for $5. Just search for t-shirt mockups.
Validating Your Designs
Before you spend a lot of money on your new business
idea, you should first verify that there is a market and interest for your
designs. There are many ways you can go about validating the market for your
design ideas.
Some of the popular and more common methods for
validating your ideas include:
Personal Social Networks - Post some of your designs
to Facebook, Twitter and other social networks your friends and potential
customers are a part of. Be careful asking friends however, their opinions will
usually be tainted with an over-positive tint.
Reddit - Reddit is huge and we have discussed it
thoroughly in past posts. With the massive number of subreddits it’s possible
to easily find a highly targeted niche of potential customers and ask them
first hand their thoughts on your designs before launching.
Example: Bitcoin T-Shirt Validation
Kickstarter - Kickstarter and other crowd-funding
websites have made it much easier to test, validate, and collect money upfront
for your new business idea. Launching a crowdfunding campaign can be time
consuming and requires a good deal of preparation, however, the benefits can be
huge, which include fully funding your project before you have spent a dime.
Example: Dev Tee’s and Starstuff Clothing
Open Test Store - Finally, with ecommerce platforms
like Shopify, it’s never been easier to set up a fully functional online store
in the matter of few hours to validate your business idea. Sign up for a free
14-day trial and check out some of the free themes to get started.
Setting Up Shop
Now that you have your t-shirt designs, made your
mockups and validated your idea, it’s time to build your store. As mentioned in
the validation section, getting set up on Shopify is quick and easy.
There are a handful of t-shirt print-on-demand
dropshippers that directly integrate with your Shopify store, allowing you to
get up and running in no time. These printer/dropshippers will print and ship
your t-shirts to your customers on your behalf every time you receive an order,
automatically.
Check out the following Shopify printer/dropshipper
apps:
Print Aura
Printful
Teelaunch
Printify
Merchify
Why Wait?
It's never been easier to express your creativity and
start your own online t-shirt business. Follow along with the video below and
you can have your online t-shirt business up and running with an on-demand
printing and fulfillment service in just 20 minutes. No design or coding
experience required.
THE 10 BEST PLACES TO SELL T-SHIRTS
VIDEO
ADVERTISE
TO YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
CREATE
A UNIQUE SHIRT AND SELL IT ONLINE AND AT CARNIVALS AND OTHER SMALL EVENTS
Anticipate Holidays
THERE
ARE SEVERAL ROUTES
Spreadshirt
10 TIPS FOR
STARTING A SUCCESSFUL T-SHIRT COMPANY
HOW
TO GET RESELLERS TO SELL MORE OF YOUR PRODUCTS - UDEMY VIDEO TRAINING - Go to udemy.com and sign up
How To Start A
T Shirt Transfer Printing Business From Home Udemy Video - Go to udemy.com and sign up
Start-up
Expenses
|
|
Legal
|
$1,200
|
Stationery
etc.
|
$200
|
Brochures
|
$0
|
Computer
equipment
|
$6,200
|
Rent
|
$0
|
Insurance
|
$0
|
Office
furniture
|
$1,000
|
Sublimation
heat transfer unit
|
$2,000
|
Wesite
development
|
$6,500
|
Total
Start-up Expenses
|
$17,100
|
Sales
Forecast
|
|
Year 1
|
|
Sales
|
|
Graphics
|
$98,235
|
Artwork
|
$19,647
|
Total
Sales
|
$117,882
|
Direct
Cost of Sales
|
Year 1
|
Graphics
|
$49,118
|
Artwork
|
$9,824
|
Expenses
|
|
Payroll
|
$68,400
|
Sales
and Marketing and Other Expenses
|
$2,500
|
Depreciation
|
$996
|
Rent
|
$11,000
|
Utilities
|
$3,300
|
Insurance
|
$3,000
|
Payroll
Taxes
|
$10,260
|
Other
|
$1,500
|
Total
Operating Expenses
|
$100,956
|
