How to Start A T-Shirt Business: Everything You Need to Know

Key Takeaways

if you hate risk but love the idea of starting a semi-automated business from anywhere in the world then starting an online t-shirt business could be for you t-shirts have universal appeal are affordable to source and are easily customizable [Music] i'm michelle bally and i'm a creative strategist i've helped fashion startups take their sales from zero to thousands so if you clicked on this video you're probably wanting to start your own online t-shirt business and today i'm going to show you how in this video we'll cover seven key steps finding your audience creating your designs sourcing quality materials printing options validating your business idea before investing a lot of money opening your online store and managing inventory and fulfillment step number one pick a niche in order to find your audience there's quite a bit of competition in the online t-shirt business because there's such a low barrier to entry in order to cut through the noise you're going to want to specialize so that you stand out against your competition picking a niche ensures that you're catering to a specific group or audience so if you decide to go with funny slogans on your tees that's going to be too broad but if you choose funny slogans that appeal to neurologists for example then you're on the right track a good niche is going to be an inch wide and a mile deep whenever someone asks me how to choose a niche i always recommend they choose something that's of actual interest to them if you're genuinely interested and passionate about it that will drive your success if that's not an option here are some ways to find a niche check out a niche subreddit and take a look at the engagement and subscriber count you can also use facebook's audience insights tool it's a tool that marketers use to get more information about their target audience it'll bring up information like geography demographics purchase behavior and more now it's time to choose your design in this business you have to make a real effort to stand out so going with a design that already exists is probably not going to cut it that doesn't mean you have to go with a super complex design sometimes simpler designs do best but what that does mean is that you have to go with a design that resonates with your audience so do research what is the cultural language that only your audience understands are there any industry inside jokes once you have some ideas rolling around in your head then you're going to want to make a design file if you're uncomfortable with making the actual design file yourself check out dribble freelancer upwork or behance to hire somebody out if you are comfortable creating the designs use adobe illustrator for any flat designs otherwise use photoshop for any complex designs like the use of photography make sure your images are 300 pixels per inch are using cmyk and have a transparent background measure out the actual design so that it's taking up enough of the shirt quality is so important you don't want your patterns to fade or crack and you don't want the actual shirt to shrink or rip that's not going to create raving fans that are going to come back to repurchase the final quality of your shirt will depend on the material that you choose and the printing technique here are five things you're going to want to keep in mind when you're choosing the actual shirt fit material sizing softness and weight i've left a link in the description box with the top six most popular t-shirts to choose from so that's the actual t-shirt covered now we have to think about our printing options there's three popular ways of doing this there's screen printing direct to garment and heat transfer all of them have their pros and cons screen printing is effective for larger batches however it's not cost effective for multiple colors and you can only really print simple images and designs then there's heat transfer with heat transfer you can produce full color images relatively quickly and easily all you do is order the prints from your local printer and press each shirt on demand yourself on the flip side this method doesn't produce as high quality results it can be a large investment up front because a heat press costs anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars and taking the do-it-yourself approach does require you to invest a lot of time so that can be harder to scale direct to garment has unlimited color options and your designs can be very detailed it's great for smaller orders and there are no setup costs however this won't be cost effective for larger runs because there are no volume discounts before you invest a lot of money in your new business idea make sure that you verify that there's a market and interest in your designs get feedback using your social networks post your designs to facebook niche facebook groups and instagram but be careful when you're asking your friends and family because their opinions are prone to kindness despite the community's general aversion to marketing reddit is still a great place to get honest feedback it's easy to tap into a niche with the amount of subreddits there are out there just post your design and ask for some honest feedback and who knows that interaction might turn into a sale later down the line crowdfunding sites have made it much easier to validate and collect money up front for your new business idea crowdfunding campaigns can be extremely time consuming but the benefits can be huge you may be able to fully fund your project before you even launch it and if you have a particularly novel idea like matching shirts for dogs and their owners then crowdfunding might be for you check out kickstarter and indiegogo by integrating your shopify store with a print-on-demand service you can validate your idea without investing in inventory check out the description box below for a list of 10 companies for print-on-demand services of course this is the part where we mention shopify how could we not shopify is a quick and easy way to get started and luckily shopify has a free trial so you can get your business set up before even having to spend a dime here are a couple of things to note to make your shopify store easy to use and nice to look at make sure your home page has clear images of your t-shirts and people wearing them include strategically placed shop now buttons to encourage purchases new shoppers will want to find out more about your business so include an about us page with your brand story and what makes you different include a shipping and returns policy this will make your customers feel confident when buying your products also include a contact page to instill trust good customer service is key when gaining new customers and encouraging repeat customers your product pages should have a description of the fit materials and other important information make sure you're including multiple photos of the t-shirts all shown at different angles we have an entire video dedicated just to increasing conversions so if you want to learn more about how you can do that click this link up here and open it in a new tab so you can watch it later but if you're more in the market for a quick setup go with a print on demand service that integrates directly with your shopify store you'll be able to take orders right away these services will print and ship your t-shirts to your customers on your behalf every time you receive an order it's a great way to get started because there's no need to purchase or hold any inventory best of all if you want to use your design on other printable products like totes or mugs you have the option to do that as well if you plan on holding inventory you're going to have to have a strategy for this if you hold too much inventory you're going to tie up all your funds in product but if you don't hold enough inventory and your lead times are too long your customers might get upset when they have to wait for their orders my recommendation would be to start lean start with 20 t-shirts if it ends up being too much you can just send it to friends and influencers and chalk it up to a marketing expense if it's too little you can always order more just make sure you're clear with your customers about lead times take into account how long it takes to produce and to ship to your customers i actually want to reiterate how important it is not to tie up all your funds in inventory you're still going to want to have some leftover money for facebook ads your website photo shoots and the list goes on so that about wraps it up in this video we learned how to find your audience create your designs and source quality material we also covered printing options how to validate your business idea and managing inventory those are all the tools that you need in order to start a successful teacher business today as always if you have any questions make sure to leave them in the comments section below and i will get back to each and every single one of them thank you so much for watching do not forget to subscribe and i will see you in the next one