How To Start A T-Shirt Business
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There are more ways than ever to start a business that also gives you a creative outlet. Selling t-shirts with your art, words or anything printed on them is a great way to use your creativity and make money. A t-shirt business can earn you a small profit on each unit sold, which can be a great source of extra income. Learn how to start a t-shirt business with our simple guide. We’ll help you start your new side gig or full-time t-shirt career in just a few easy steps.
Step 1. Make a plan
Before you start selling t-shirts, you need to create a plan to help guide your actions toward success. Follow these seven steps to get your business moving, but don’t worry if you don’t have all the details yet. You just need to have an idea of where you’re going so that everything flows smoothly once you start.
First and foremost, you need to choose a name for your business. Whether it’s just your name or something different, that will guide the process of creating your logo, business card, website and other branded assets.
Once you’ve chosen a name, you can register a domain so you’re all set to link it to your brand when you set up your website. Shopify and Etsy are popular options for selling t-shirts online, but if you want to build your own website, you should start early so your website is ready to launch with your products. .
Step 2. Register your t-shirt business
Whether you plan for your new venture to be a side hustle or full-time, you should register your business as a sole proprietorship or limited liability company (LLC). Registering as an LLC will give your business additional tax benefits. You’ll also be able to purchase blank t-shirts at cost with your EIN (as opposed to your personal Social Security number).
It can cost anywhere from $50 to $100 to register with your state. You should also familiarize yourself with your state’s legal requirements for small businesses and make sure everything is in order.
If going through the process of setting up your business is too time-consuming, you can pay an LLC service to set it up for you. Investing in this service and saving you time will give you space to focus on the creative aspects of your business.
Step 3. Find the right method of production
There are different ways to create printed t-shirts for people of all skill and knowledge levels.
If you are committed to working with the materials yourself, you can purchase screen printing equipment for your home or office. This gives you a lot of control over the quality of the art and design printed on the shirts, and if you enjoy creating social media content people love to see the creations take shape on TikTok and Instagram. The initial cost of these machines will be high, but your profit margin will be higher after that because you will only have to pay the maintenance costs.
It is also very easy to find local businesses that provide screen printing services for you. This means you have to factor in the cost of paying these vendors as part of your initial budget. However, a local service, or a company that is far away but with which you have a good relationship, would also be good to monitor quality control.
There are also print-on-demand services that are very reliable if you want to get started right away. Services like Printful and Printify have fast turnaround times and allow you to sell more products without estimating the cost of unsold products. However, the profit margin of these products is small due to the cost of individual printing.
Step 4. Create a unique design
Before printing, you need designs that reflect your brand goals. If you’re starting a t-shirt business to feature your drawings, paintings or digital designs, you’ll need to make sure they’re the right digital files (usually vector files, like .eps). are stored that can be used. The printing service of your choice. If you create a very complex design, you may want to do some test printing to see if everything prints clearly on the shirts. If you’re just getting started with design, there are tons of free tutorials on using Adobe Photoshop and Canva to create designs.
There are also thousands of great artists whose work you can commission through websites like Creative Market, Fiverr and Upwork. When you find an artist, you can buy their work outright, but if you have a good relationship with the artist and want to continue working with them, a profit-sharing relationship is more for the future. Can be durable.
If you’re stuck on ideas, you can get insight for new designs by checking sales numbers of T-shirts on Etsy or using the tool Jungle Scout (which shows you how many units a product has sold on Amazon). Additionally, a Google trends search of various slogans you want to design for your shirts can show you which are the most popular and probably the most likely to sell.
Once you have the designs ready, customers will want to see how the t-shirts look on real people. Placeit is an easy-to-use service that provides you with a bunch of images along with blank t-shirt products that you can put your designs on. You can also look at stock photo packages that include photos of people wearing blank shirts, and you can add your own designs using Photoshop.
Finally, if you have the time and contacts, you can hire a local photographer and get some models for more dynamic action shots. It depends on your budget and how many shirts you are producing.
Step 5. Choose your sales channels
When you’re ready to sell, it’s time to choose a sales channel. You can host sales on your website, but online marketplaces are also an easy way to sell.
If you choose a third-party seller, you’ll need to open an account and set up your store. Services like Etsy, Zazzle and Redbubble are popular for selling lots of clothes and getting lots of customers. You can also sell through Amazon or on social media.
Before choosing, you should check the prices of these services and see which one will be most sustainable in the long run.
Step 6. Create your website
Even if you’re selling on a third-party marketplace, you need a website to promote your t-shirt business. Here are the best e-commerce platforms for building an online store:
- Shopify: Strong sales reporting capabilities, ability to customize storefront with design templates
- Wix: Free plans available, easy user interface
- Weebly: Ecommerce in the lowest price plan
All of these services can be integrated with a print-on-demand service, if that’s how you’re designing your t-shirts. They make it easy to sell and promote as you like, and even ship merchandise directly to your customers so you can focus on the creative side of things.
Step 7. Market Your T-Shirt Business
Marketing a new business can be difficult, but there are cost-effective ways to do it. If you’re targeting a specific niche, you can look into online communities like subreddits and Facebook groups where you can post your t-shirts to increase interest.
You can also try reaching out to micro-influencers and asking for their engagement rates to see if their conversion rates would be reasonable. Influencers who are just starting out are also likely to support a small business that is just starting out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better: print or print?
It depends on what metric you want to save money on. Printify has lower production costs than Printful. However, Printfill has better international shipping rates.
How do you create shoppable posts on Instagram?
You can make shoppable posts by tagging a product the same way you tag a person. First set up your Instagram shop, then you’ll be able to tap items into your photos and link them to the product listing.
What is the average profit margin on a t-shirt?
Most sellers set their profit margin at around 50%. So if your shirt + printing costs $10, you can sell your shirt for $20. Setting a higher profit margin may enable you to offer free shipping.
Do I need a business plan to start a t-shirt business?
While you don’t need a business plan to start a t-shirt business, it’s a good idea to have one. This is because a solid business plan will help you stick to your original vision. Planning your suppliers, goals and overall growth will set you up for future success.
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