If you want to start your eCommerce journey, the T-shirt business might be the right way to go. Just because the process is very simple, it provides endless opportunities that can make you a lot of money. The T-Shirt business is on the rise for the last couple of years and its value will go up to 3.1 billion dollars by 2025. This explains why so many people want to start their own T-shirt brand online.
The eCommerce business is getting a bit crowded and more often we see people selling identical or very similar products bought from the same manufacturer and they are differently priced. This can impact sales as people are getting frustrated with all the fluctuations in prices and similar products. However, in the T-shirt business, people can provide unique products that they designed themselves making it easier to get sales.
In this article, we will go through some of the basic steps for starting your own T-shirt printing business.
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1 Determine your Niche
As in any eCommerce store, the first and most important thing is determining your niche. As we already mentioned that the eCommerce business is competitive field, it is better if you create unique niche that targets smaller audience but it is more focused and with less competition.
You should always take your time to do proper research in order to come up with a unique design and style that will be appealing to customers. For example patriot- create different designs like 2nd amendment t shirt, something that your target market would easily notice. It is better if you target a niche that you are familiar with, that way you will know all the customer needs and come up with a way to satisfy them.
If you decide to go for sports niche, make sure you check the potential of your audience by searching keywords and check out the competition that you are dealing with. Most of the sports teams from football odds favorites, for example, have official logos and designs that are copyrighted. They also have official merchandise, so beware to not get a lawsuit. It is also essential to find a good printer cartridge supplier before you start printing your designs.
2 Design Your T-Shirts
Once you established the niche and brand name of your business, the creative process can begin. For a T-Shirt business, you have to know how to operate design software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw and etc.
There are no rules to success in the design of the T-shirts, you can design banana-eating monkeys to inspirational quotes. It is always good to follow popular trends that are easy to sell, but be aware that you should not use any branded names or trademarks that could get you sued.
Determine your style that suits your niche and keeps it that way forever. By doing this your brand can easily become more recognizable.
3 Buy your T-shirts
After you finished with the design of your T-shirts, you have to source your products. It is always better to buy wholesale T-shirts that could bring the price down. Remember to use only high-quality materials. This is the most crucial moment just because if customers find out that your T-shirts are not good quality and they are ripping off or shrink after a couple ofyears, your business is going down.
Find a way to personalize orders such as putting name tags on the t-shirts or your branded logo. This is a good way to make brand awareness.
4 Print your designs
When it comes to printing your designs, you should always start with finding a printing company that will do that for you. Once you start selling your t-shirts and you know that you are here for the long run, you can start to think about buying your own printing machines and they can be a significant investment.
You should always go for the highest-quality print just so it does not fade away after a couple of wears. You should invest in a quality ink as well, like on Sell Toner. For this part it is crucial to understand all the printing methods in order to choose the right one.
- Screen printing
It is the perfect option for a darker or high level of vibrancy designs. Using stencils or screens printers apply different layers of ink for every color. This is the most used way and it lasts longer.
- Heat transfer
This means that you run your design on a printer or cutter, and with special transfer paper or vinyl, you transfer the design on the t-shirt with the heat press.
- Direct to garment print is usually a high-quality method with inkjet printers that can print directly on the t-shirt. There is a possibility that these designs are the most expensive.
5 Build your eCommerce store and promote your designs
The final part is to create an eCommerce store and start promoting your brand. Make sure you include size description, pictures of models wearing your t-shirts, and different paying methods. You can promote your brand on Facebook, Instagram (influencers) or Google.
The T-shirt business can bring a lot of revenue, and if it is done right it can turn out to be a very profitable business with high levels of income. You should always invest part of your revenue into your business and try to buy your own machines so you can print the designs yourself.
