Custom, kitschy, and graphic tees have risen in popularity over the past few years. The number of successful t shirt printing businesses has boomed, and tee printing is becoming a very popular method of self employment. If you’d like to start your own t shirt business, here’s a quick guide on how to turn your idea into a reality.
T Shirt from Zazzle.
The first thing that any t shirt business needs is a marketable idea. What sort of shirts are you going to print? Are you promoting a cause? Trying to appeal to a certain demographic? Printing shirts only in certain colors or fits? Figure out what you want your products to be before you begin.
The next thing you need to do is determine your target market. Who are you trying to appeal to? Men? Women? Kids? Will you be trying to appeal to a niche, like sports fans, artists, or cat-lovers? Is there another business that does this already, and do you think you can do it better? Do a little research before you dive in.
Once you’ve come up with a business idea and identified a target market, you need a business plan. Will you have employees, or are you planning on running the business alone? Will you be the sole proprietor, or will you be registering your company as an LLC or LLP? At this stage it’s always a good idea to get legal advice.
Image from Free Digital Photos.
Another important thing that you need to determine early on is where you will buy your blank t shirts from. A good wholesaler such as The Adair Group can provide blank, wholesale t-shirts to you in bulk at a low cost. Additionally, how will you be printing your t-shirts? Will you use your own screen printing equipment, or will you partner with a printer?
You’ve got a great idea and a great product, but that isn’t enough. Distribution is an important consideration to take into account. How and where will you store your product? How will you ship them, and what will the cost be? Will you package them yourself or will you contract that work out? And lastly, how will you sell your shirts– online, through a retailer, or wholesale? How much will it cost you to do each?
Every business needs a website and yours is no exception. Be prepared to create a website to advertise and promote your products. If you want to sell your shirts online, you may need help setting up an ecommerce site. And no matter what you do, you’ll need to optimize and advertise your website so that your target market can find your products and purchase them.
Consider all your costs before you even start the business. How much will it cost you to buy the blank shirts, print them, and ship them? What will your overhead costs like pay, insurance, and payment for legal services be? How much will advertising cost, and with all this money in mind, can you still price your shirts competitively? It’s very important to know these ahead of time so that you can be absolutely certain your business will be profitable.
