Starting to Find an Idea
The custom t-shirt printing market is expected to grow at a rate of 11% annually until 2030. With online store building platforms and print-on-demand companies, there has never been a better time to start a t-shirt manufacturing business.
By selecting a target audience, creating a brand, and designing t-shirts that delight customers, you can build a successful clothing business at a low cost.
This guide explains how to start an online t-shirt business that brings in additional monthly income. How to start a t-shirt manufacturing business, a step-by-step guide:
1. Choose a Niche
A niche can help attract a target audience to your t-shirt manufacturing business without significantly overspending your budget.
Successful online t-shirt businesses need to stand out, and one of the best strategies to differentiate your products from competitors is to target your offerings to a specific audience or interest group.
Generally, categories like “t-shirts for people who love funny quotes” are too broad to be discovered. Instead, look for a sub-niche and use keyword research tools to find words and phrases that your target audience might search for. For example, subcategories within the broader trend of funny t-shirts could be “t-shirts with doctor jokes” or “funny t-shirts for dog owners.”
Assessing niches is a fundamental part of the plan on how to start the business. Here are some ways to estimate the value of entering a specific niche:
– Browse a list of popular hobbies on Wikipedia for inspiration.
– Look at your own interests and the communities you belong to – sometimes you can trust your instincts.
– Visit niche communities on Reddit and check the number of subscribers and engagement levels.
– Use the Facebook IQ Audience Insights tool to estimate your niche size on social media.
Once you’ve determined your niche, create a business plan for selling your custom t-shirts that covers your goals and various opportunities for selling custom t-shirts, then figure out how to execute it.
2. Find Quality Materials and T-shirt Printing Options
The next step in starting an online t-shirt manufacturing business is to find suppliers. Not all t-shirts are the same. Different printing methods yield different results. Since quality is paramount to your brand’s reputation, educating yourself and choosing your t-shirt inventory wisely is essential.
It may be tempting to partner with cost-cutting suppliers and sacrifice quality to increase profit margins. But consider how product quality affects a customer’s decision to share your clothing brand and buy from you again.
Choosing a high-quality t-shirt includes several factors, including fit, size, material, softness, and weight. Once you narrow down your options, request samples so you can make an informed final decision.
3. Create T-shirt Designs
After selecting your t-shirt supplier, you can start developing your designs. Here are some ways to get started:
– Research best-selling designs and sub-niches
– If you’re struggling to find design ideas, look at what is currently popular and selling. Check out the top-selling items in graphic t-shirt marketplaces like Zazzle, Redbubble, and SnorgTees.
– Look at Google Trends to get an idea of topics people are interested in right now. Use trending topics as inspiration for your designs. If you’re particularly interested in creating a logo for your business, Shopify offers a free tool to create custom logos.
– Hire a designer
– Once you have a general idea for your t-shirt designs, start sketching some drafts. If you know how to use graphic design software, you’re likely to be able to produce great designs on your own. However, it may make sense to seek help.
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There is a wide range of tools and marketplaces you can use to find a suitable graphic designer to help you. Design communities like Dribbble and Behance, as well as general freelancing networks like Upwork, have listings of artists and designers. Look for a qualified t-shirt designer, then check their previous job successes and portfolio to see if they are a good fit for your project. If you like one, you can reach out to them through the platform and hire them right away.
– You can also purchase ready-made designs if you don’t find an artist for your t-shirt manufacturing work. If you choose this route, it’s likely that other people may already be selling the design you choose, making it hard for you and your online t-shirt manufacturing business to stand out.
– Check out t-shirt graphic marketplaces such as Designious, Tshirt Factory, Creative Market, and Graphic River. You may also need to purchase a commercial license for your images before selling the t-shirts that contain them.
4. Mocking Up T-shirt Designs
Once the final designs are completed, the next step for your t-shirt manufacturing business is to produce mock-up images. These images help visualize the final design and how it will look when printed on the t-shirt.
There are a few ways to get images for final designs on t-shirts. You can request samples and photograph them. You can also create a digital preview using templates and t-shirt mock-up generators. Instead of making a sample t-shirt, you can provide a digital preview to clients to illustrate how the t-shirt will look.
Adobe Photoshop t-shirt templates are a popular type of mock-up file. They allow you to preview how your designs will look when printed on the t-shirt. Most Photoshop templates come with multiple layers that enable you to change the t-shirt color and apply your design, which will blend in with the t-shirt’s wrinkles and folds and details.
If Adobe Photoshop isn’t suitable for you, you can also use web-based mock-up software that allows you to do the same thing without needing to download Photoshop. Printful Mockup Generator, Printify Mockup Generator, and Placeit are great options for such tasks. You can also hire someone on the gig platform Fiverr.
5. Validating T-shirt Designs
Before investing in your new business idea, try to test the popularity of your designs. There are many ways to validate the market before selling t-shirts online.
Some common ways to validate your design ideas include:
– Personal social networks
– Post a preview of your designs on your social media accounts and on pages where your target audience browses. But be careful when presenting your ideas to friends and family, as their opinions may be biased in your favor.
– Although the community is generally not drawn to marketing, Reddit is still one of the best places to get honest feedback on your designs (which can even translate into sales after your launch). With numerous subreddits, it’s easy to find a highly targeted category of potential customers and ask for their opinions before launching.
– Crowdfunding
– Crowdfunding sites have made it much easier to test and validate and raise money upfront for your new business idea. Launching a crowdfunding campaign can be time-consuming and requires a lot of preparation. However, the benefits can include getting funding for your project before launching it. If you have a very unique idea for a t-shirt manufacturing business, crowdfunding might be the right option for you.
– Print on Demand
– With e-commerce platforms like Shopify, it has never been easier to set up an online store within hours. You can use a basic store to validate your business idea. Start creating a store and integrate a print-on-demand service to start selling online.
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Listening to the Shopify Masters podcast
– Why (and how) you should test your t-shirt design before investing in it
6. Setting Up Your Online T-Shirt Store
After requesting t-shirt designs, creating mockup images, and receiving feedback, it’s time to build your store.
There are a few print-on-demand services that integrate directly with your Shopify store, allowing you to start receiving orders quickly. These services will print and ship the t-shirts to your customers on your behalf every time you receive an order.
With dropshipping and print-on-demand services, there’s no need to purchase or hold inventory upfront, making it a great way to get started. If you want to use your design on other printable products like mugs and tote bags, you have that option too.
There’s a variety of t-shirts available through the following print-on-demand companies: Printful, Teelaunch, Printify, and Gooten.
Once your store is set up, you’ll be ready to start selling t-shirts online.
5 Factors to Consider When Starting a T-Shirt Manufacturing Business
While the tools and technologies available for designing, printing, and shipping custom t-shirts make it easier to get started, building a brand that stands out in a competitive market can be challenging. When you combine a competitive market with slim profit margins, building a successful online t-shirt manufacturing company can be difficult, but not impossible.
There are several critical elements involved in starting a successful online t-shirt selling business. Each of these elements should be closely considered before moving to the next step:
1. T-Shirt Printing Techniques
There are three common methods for printing t-shirts. Choosing the right method partly depends on how much time you want to invest in producing the product and which printing partner you select. Whether you’re investing in your own printer or using a local supplier, it’s good to know how each printing technique works.
– Screen Printing
Screen printing is an age-old technique and has stood the test of time for business owners designing and selling t-shirts online and in stores.
As one of the most common printing methods, screen printing can yield long-lasting and durable results. It also allows you to print on products like fabric, mugs, hats, and other items you can create and sell if you want to expand your product range. However, the initial setup required by the process involves a lot of work, and it’s most cost-effective when printing in bulk. Screen printing also faces challenges when it comes to complex designs or designs that have more than four to five colors, as each color increases costs and production time.
– Heat Transfer
Heat transfers come in several forms. For instance, you may have seen basic heat transfer sheets at your local office supply store.
While this method makes it easy to print designs from your home computer and transfer them using an iron, it requires a more complicated process when running a small business. The advanced form of heat transfer is called plastisol transfer and is printed by professional printers on special high-quality thermal transfer paper.
The advantage of heat transfer is the ability to order a large number of prints from a local printer and transfer them to the t-shirts using a commercial heat press when orders are received. Heat transfers can produce full-color images on t-shirts with relative ease and speed, making them an affordable option for small batches. While they can be cost-effective in the long run, a heat press machine can be a significant upfront cost. Also, your fabric approach may take more time to create the t-shirts, and the final result may be of lower quality and less durable than t-shirts created using other printing methods.
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Direct-to-Garment Printing (DTG)
The direct-to-garment printing process works in the same way as an inkjet printer that you might have at home. It is popular in t-shirt printing companies because it prints ink directly onto the t-shirt and can produce full-color images with precision.
DTG printing produces print quality that rivals screen printing and surpasses heat transfer. Since it operates like an inkjet printer, there are no setup costs like there are with screen printing. This means that it is easy and cost-effective to print small orders.
The main downside of DTG printing is the lack of volume discounts for large orders, as it takes the same amount of time to print each t-shirt.
2. Design
The last thing a visitor wants to see in your catalog is a copy of a t-shirt design that can be found elsewhere. Your designs don’t necessarily need to be complex – in fact, many of the best-selling graphic t-shirts are simple. However, they should resonate with your audience and stand out.
To ensure high-quality printing for your t-shirt selling business, your design files should typically be at a resolution of 300 pixels per inch (dpi or ppi), have a transparent background, and be large enough to cover the actual printing area on the t-shirt. It’s important to note that exact specifications will vary depending on the printer and printing technology used.
3. Quality
The next most important factor in starting a t-shirt manufacturing business online that is set up for long-term success is quality. You can disappoint someone once, but they won’t let you disappoint them twice. A design that fades and cracks or a t-shirt that shrinks and falls apart will not create loyal customers who return and buy again.
High-quality t-shirts may cost more to produce but they can command higher prices as well. The final quality of your t-shirt will depend on the material of the blank t-shirt, the printing technique used, and the setup of your design file.
4. Branding
A strong and engaging brand is vital to starting an online t-shirt manufacturing business. The brand ties together all of your choices, including the niche you select, the designs, and the quality. From your t-shirt manufacturing business name to the logo you use, building a unique and beloved brand is essential in a highly competitive industry.
When customers have more options, it becomes crucial for an e-commerce business to have a distinctive presence to grab their attention. If you have chosen a niche for your online t-shirt manufacturing business that embodies a certain lifestyle, you can incorporate it into your marketing and website to speak to those customers.
5. Inventory
T-shirt manufacturing companies can purchase and hold inventory, taking advantage of wholesale pricing and local printers, or use a print-on-demand service to manage inventory and shipping for them. You can also choose a combination of the two.
By keeping your own inventory for your online t-shirt selling business, you can sell in-person, which may help improve your profit margins. With print-on-demand, you take on less risk as your production relies on orders. Weigh the pros and cons before getting started. If you’re unsure, print-on-demand can be one of the best small business ideas when starting out.
Drop shipping is an easy business model for online t-shirt manufacturers for small business owners. With services like Printful, it has become very easy to start testing and producing your t-shirt designs.
Of course, if you have the budget, you can also invest in your own printer and set up a base of operations. Success stories of online t-shirt manufacturing companies have emerged.
many entrepreneurs have succeeded in starting a business selling t-shirts. For example, Ryan McCarthy, the founder of Imouri (formerly known as Sugoi), used Shopify to run his anime-inspired t-shirt printing business since 2016. Imouri uses Shopify to operate its online store.
Ryan decided to start his t-shirt manufacturing business when he couldn’t find anime-inspired clothing that suited his personal style. He quietly launched what he thought would be a small clothing business, which later turned into a six-figure clothing printing company selling streetwear inspired by Japanese culture and anime.
What is the secret to successfully starting your own clothing line? Identifying winning designs early using Reddit and paid ads to test products.
Start Your T-Shirt Manufacturing Business Today
It has never been easier to express your creativity and sell t-shirts online. Regardless of the niche you choose to serve or how ambitious you are regarding quality and designs, a t-shirt store can be a great first line for new entrepreneurs.
Shopify can help you control your costs and start selling soon. If you already have designs you want to sell, you could be ready and running in just a few hours.
With an abundance of apps and integrations in the Shopify app store, you can also connect your store to a t-shirt printer or shipping supplier in minutes and launch a fully operational store, with items ready to print and ship to your customers.
Frequently Asked Questions about Starting a T-Shirt Manufacturing Business
Is a t-shirt manufacturing business profitable?
T-shirts are a staple product for people worldwide, with global apparel sales reaching $1.74 trillion in 2023. Creating an online t-shirt manufacturing business is profitable and has low startup costs compared to other business opportunities. While the profits of a t-shirt manufacturing business vary based on your niche and marketing costs, you can set up a profitable additional revenue stream in about 30 days.
How much does it cost to start a t-shirt manufacturing business?
Starting a t-shirt manufacturing business from home is a very small investment compared to opening a physical t-shirt store and buying your own t-shirt printing and embroidery equipment. If you use print-on-demand services to manufacture and ship your products, you can keep costs very low since you don’t pay for products until they sell. This means there are no overhead costs on products, and there’s hardly any risk of excess inventory.
The only fees you will need to pay would be to use your e-commerce platform and domain hosting, along with any digital advertising campaigns you wish to run.
What should I do before selling t-shirts?
Conduct market research on a niche and find an enthusiastic community. Come up with a name for your t-shirt business. Create a logo for the business and set up an online store. Design your own t-shirt designs. Set up your social media accounts. Run paid ads for your online t-shirt business website. Promote for free with influencers and free promotions.
How much can you earn from selling t-shirts?
The amount you earn from selling t-shirts depends on factors including your niche, production quality, marketing, and more.
How can I start a t-shirt manufacturing business with low upfront costs?
If you want to start a t-shirt manufacturing business without a lot of initial investment, add products to your store using print-on-demand services like Printful, which you can integrate using the Shopify app store.
Do I need a business license to sell t-shirts online?
Generally,
What you don’t need a license for
Source: https://shopify.com/blog/start-online-tshirt-business
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