The T-shirt business is booming, more and more people are jumping on board but may find it difficult to get stated.
Are you ready to start a successful t-shirt business? This 7 step guide will show you how to set up and run a successful t-shirt business, automate your t-shirt and printing process, and launch a successful t-shirt business.
Finding a niche for your t-shirt business is crucial and will determine if your business is going to succeed. For example, if you want a niche in dog prints, you would start your research by typing on google or any other platform you use "dog t-shirt" and will immediately see the search engine results page (SERP) features popping up.
You will also get blue links from E-commerce or from other websites. You will find that most search results come from high authority domains and well known brands like:
If you click on any of the above sites you will see the t-shirts that were sold and also find the niche of shirts you are looking for. This will help you get an idea of the design you want to create.
There are many t-shirt business ideas out there and what you need to do is:
Make a list of the ideas you like and prioritize them by:
Keep the ideas that will most likely sell and that supports your business model. Choosing the right niche can potentially make your business successful very fast so choose wisely.
These are a couple of tools you can use to research your t-shirt idea:
Use these tools for sourcing your t-shirt business idea:
Pro Tip: To see the best selling designs on Shopify copy and paste /collections/all?sort_by=best-selling after the root domain that you want to check.
There are many designs out there so in order for your t-shirt business to be successful you will need to create a design that is remarkable and that stands out.
It may not be that easy to design a t-shirt. Below are a few ways you can design a t-shirt:
You can hire a designer to design your t-shirts for you.
You can find a graphic designer on websites such as:
For example, on Upwork you can search on the search bar by typing "t-shirt designer" but before you do this you will need to create a client account. You can also post a job and wait for freelancers to come to you.
Pro Tip: Ask freelancers to start their proposal with a certain word or phrase to avoid spam and automated messages.
when finding a designer online look for things like:
There are many free tools to design online such as:
Quick Tips:
Make your t-shirt unique so that you stand out from the crowd. Still not sure on the designs you want to go with? Well here are few websites you can use to generate ideas:
Naming your brand is only a small part of building your brand. Building a brand means telling a story.
Ask yourself these questions:
These questions are very important and need to be answered in the best possible way.
Why is building a brand important? Since you are just starting your business, you will not have any reviews so customers will come to you if you have a great story about your company.
Ask yourself these questions:
Building a brand is one of the most important aspects of starting a t-shirt business.
These tools can help you design your brand:
Mockups will provide you with how your t-shirt will really look like. Photoshop is the best tool to use in order to create mockups for your t-shirt designs. Your can also buy mockups from marketplaces like GraphicRiver.
Other resources and marketplaces you can use for your mockups are:
You may not have the budget to shoot all your products so investing in a good t-shirt mockup is essential. The better your mockups are the more sales you'll make. So creating a high quality mockup will help you sell your t-shirts faster.
When designing your t-shirts you'll be faced with two options:
If you are on a tight budget or do not simply want to invest money on equipment or space then find an on demand printing service online.
If you do wish to print on you own then there are a few things to consider:
If you choose to use a print on demand service, you can find many services online and choose the one that best fits your needs.
When choosing the right printing service consider:
When working with an on demand printing service:
Choosing an E-commerce platform is an essential step for starting your own t-shirt business online.
Key factors to consider are:
When choosing the right E-commerce platform, you should look into:
If you do not want to set up a new business, you can purchase an existing store on:
To sell your t-shirts online you need to be:
Do not be discouraged if things did not go your way, persistence is key. Many people have launched successful t-shirt businesses but this does not mean the market is already swamped. You can still be successful in launching your own t-shirt business. As a matter of fact, having tough competition will just mean that you will be a better entrepreneur in the long run.