How to design/sell t-shirts?

[fustercluck]

I've always wanted to design sell tee shirts. For one thing, I can't find shirts I like too often. I like comfortable shirts, real soft cottony ones, ones that fit well (I have a small torso ). All the "make your own T-shirt!" places/websites i've come across are pretty crappy. At least all the ones I've looked at are. Even sites like bustedtees have had the same shirts for a long long time. Not that I would ever stop liking this one, but I know I could come up with new shirts quicker than that. I just need to find a way to mass produce them. Obviously I would start small with 10-15 shirts and see if they sell, and if they sell alright then I can order 50, etc. Before the mass production, I would have to approve of the shirt quality/design/printing/fit/etc.. They would have to be up to my standards

I need the cash too, and selling T-shirts = residual income , could be a good way for me to make money. Any idiot can run a website these days.

Thanks for any recommendations/advice. This is something I probably won't follow up on, but it'd be nice to know how to do it if I did want to proceed with it. Not like I got anything else going on.

 

[alm99]

Cafepress?

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: alm99
Cafepress?

I think the OP's more concerned with the textile, stitching, and fit of the shirts rather than the printing aspect...

 

[gwrober]

If you have the design skills, check out sites like printfection.com (similar to cafepress) and set up a FREE store and start there. If your designs sell well, then you can move up.

Or, find a printer (like me) and partner on your designs. We get all sorts of materials/shirts wholesale, so you can try your designs on different clothing materials to see what you like. Keep in mind, the some shirt printers don't offer 'standard' or 'off the shelf' designs, and only do custom work.

Also, when you try to get small quantities made, it increases the price of each item printed. Mostly due to the amount of setup it takes to make the shirts - but once the setup is done, you can usually run as many shirts as you want, which drops the price per shirt.


An online store is your best bet IMHO - you can sell the shirts by graphic, and then the shirt isn't printed until it's ordered. Printfection does this with a garment printer, which is a glorified ink jet made for fabrics (uses different inks too). Another benefit of this method is that you don't have to have 25, 50, or more made before you can sell - which doesn't tie up your funds in stock that may/may not be sold. Each item is printed as it's ordered. The only downside is that sometimes the printer may not want you to take your design elsewhere to be sold once you offer it through them. Definitely read the fine print!


Let me know if I can help at all....we do this for a living!

 

[mercanucaribe]

Best shirts ever. Sweatshop free and made in America.

http://www.americanapparel.net/

The Geography Society at my university used them one year. The shirts are comfortable, nice thick and soft fabric, and "fitted".

 

[LS20]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Best shirts ever. Sweatshop free and made in America.

http://www.americanapparel.net/

The Geography Society at my university used them one year. The shirts are comfortable, nice thick and soft fabric, and "fitted".

these clothing are made in American sweatshops

 

[Tobolo]

Find a shirt your like, and then find someone locally to print the shirts. It will almost always be cheaper.

We looked at buying some expensive jackets last week, for 11 it was 1700 to get them and the embroidery. We just bought the jackets for 1100 and the local place embroidered the jackets for 33 bucks.

And they do damn good work.

 

[gwrober]

Originally posted by: Tobolo
Find a shirt your like, and then find someone locally to print the shirts. It will almost always be cheaper.

We looked at buying some expensive jackets last week, for 11 it was 1700 to get them and the embroidery. We just bought the jackets for 1100 and the local place embroidered the jackets for 33 bucks.

And they do damn good work.

We do work like that too - the only disclaimer is that sometimes print shops require and over- or under-run, which is the right to mess up a couple to get the process right. so make sure if you purchase locally, that you can provide where you purchased them so the shop can go get another if they mess up. It's not usually an issue, but 'insurance' for the oddball items, or the difficult items, like nylon jackets.


And Tobolo, was the local embroidery shop the same as the place that wanted you to pay 1700?? That's a huge difference in pricing. Usually, the vendor should be able to offer a better deal for you if you order the material through them...

 

[GrantMeThePower]

Originally posted by: LS20

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Best shirts ever. Sweatshop free and made in America.

http://www.americanapparel.net/

The Geography Society at my university used them one year. The shirts are comfortable, nice thick and soft fabric, and "fitted".

these clothing are made in American sweatshops

Not true. check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Apparel

They pay their employees a very healthy wage, provide insurance and are not sweat shops. The employees work regular work week hours (and get paid overtime)

I think you need to look into the inhuman abuse that happens in sweatshops around the world where people are beaten, paid below living wages and forced to work ungodly hours.

 

[chimmytime]

www.threadless.com

http://www.alternativeapparel.com/

check those places too

 

[weirdichi]

Hmm.. I might want to do something similar.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Best shirts ever. Sweatshop free and made in America.

http://www.americanapparel.net/

The Geography Society at my university used them one year. The shirts are comfortable, nice thick and soft fabric, and "fitted".

don't really give a fvck about it being sweatshop free but AA does make QUALITY shirts

 

[gwrober]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Best shirts ever. Sweatshop free and made in America.

http://www.americanapparel.net/

The Geography Society at my university used them one year. The shirts are comfortable, nice thick and soft fabric, and "fitted".

don't really give a fvck about it being sweatshop free but AA does make QUALITY shirts

I agree...

 

[chimmytime]

well if you want a more stylish cut you'll have to go with AA, but if you want cheaper trade show type shirts go with the others. im a little skinny so i don't care for the packaged shirts.

 

[whistleclient]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Best shirts ever. Sweatshop free and made in America.

http://www.americanapparel.net/

The Geography Society at my university used them one year. The shirts are comfortable, nice thick and soft fabric, and "fitted".

don't really give a fvck about it being sweatshop free but AA does make QUALITY shirts

JS80,
why do you go out of your way to act like a d-bag?

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: tangent1138

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Best shirts ever. Sweatshop free and made in America.

http://www.americanapparel.net/

The Geography Society at my university used them one year. The shirts are comfortable, nice thick and soft fabric, and "fitted".

don't really give a fvck about it being sweatshop free but AA does make QUALITY shirts

JS80,
why do you go out of your way to act like a d-bag?

You people pretend like you care about "sweatshops" and some of you d-bag/assholes go out of your way to get rid of these "sweatshops" but the reality is that you are making other people's lives worse off to feel good about yourself. 1) The worker loses his job or is priced out of the market, 2) the employer's cost goes up and is forced to close or raise prices all while profits dwindle, 3) the cost is passed on to the consumer and they can afford to purchase less things.

Asshole? Yes I am, and proud of it. You have to be an asshole if you want to get your point across. D-bag? No, that's what you are.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: tangent1138

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Best shirts ever. Sweatshop free and made in America.

http://www.americanapparel.net/

The Geography Society at my university used them one year. The shirts are comfortable, nice thick and soft fabric, and "fitted".

don't really give a fvck about it being sweatshop free but AA does make QUALITY shirts

JS80,
why do you go out of your way to act like a d-bag?

You people pretend like you care about "sweatshops" and some of you d-bag/assholes go out of your way to get rid of these "sweatshops" but the reality is that you are making other people's lives worse off to feel good about yourself. 1) The worker loses his job or is priced out of the market, 2) the employer's cost goes up and is forced to close or raise prices all while profits dwindle, 3) the cost is passed on to the consumer and they can afford to purchase less things.

Asshole? Yes I am, and proud of it. You have to be an asshole if you want to get your point across. D-bag? No, that's what you are.

Isn't an important part of a free market economy informed consumers who vote with their wallets?

 

[whistleclient]

Originally posted by: JS80

You people pretend like you care about "sweatshops" and some of you d-bag/assholes go out of your way to get rid of these "sweatshops" but the reality is that you are making other people's lives worse off to feel good about yourself. 1) The worker loses his job or is priced out of the market, 2) the employer's cost goes up and is forced to close or raise prices all while profits dwindle, 3) the cost is passed on to the consumer and they can afford to purchase less things.

Asshole? Yes I am, and proud of it. You have to be an asshole if you want to get your point across. D-bag? No, that's what you are.

American Apparel is clearly an example of a company which refutes everything you just said. The company makes a profit, workers get a decent wage and medical benefits, consumers get a high quality product at reasonable prices.

i suspect you're rather young, haven't traveled enough around the world but once you do you'll find this to be true:

"How you spend your money is how you vote on what exists in the world."

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: tangent1138

Originally posted by: JS80

You people pretend like you care about "sweatshops" and some of you d-bag/assholes go out of your way to get rid of these "sweatshops" but the reality is that you are making other people's lives worse off to feel good about yourself. 1) The worker loses his job or is priced out of the market, 2) the employer's cost goes up and is forced to close or raise prices all while profits dwindle, 3) the cost is passed on to the consumer and they can afford to purchase less things.

Asshole? Yes I am, and proud of it. You have to be an asshole if you want to get your point across. D-bag? No, that's what you are.

American Apparel is clearly an example of a company which refutes everything you just said. The company makes a profit, workers get a decent wage and medical benefits, consumers get a high quality product at reasonable prices.

i suspect you're rather young, haven't traveled enough around the world but once you do you'll find this to be true:

"How you spend your money is how you vote on what exists in the world."

American Apparel is a very very small portion of the apparel industry. Their market is very targeted to people who are willing to spend $18 for a plain t-shirt (which would cost $1 from Hanes) and make them feel good because they are buying from a "sweatshop free" manufacturer. Their marketing is to take advantage of the unfair bad press "sweatshops" get.

A very small "trendy" company's success does not refute anything I said.

 

[OsoVerde]

From what I've read, the main reason not to like American Apparel is founder/CEO Dov Charney- guy seems like a total sleaze. He admits he's had sex with employees and several former employees have filed sexual harassment lawsuits against him.

From a Business Week article:

In his marketing, Charney has been adept at weaving his libertarian sexual attitude with his progressive labor practices. But it's another matter to make that attitude a bedrock principle of the workplace. In their sexual harassment suits, two of the women accuse Charney of exposing himself to them. One claims he invited her to masturbate with him and that he ran business meetings at his Los Angeles home wearing close to nothing. Another says he asked her to hire young women with whom he could have sex, Asians preferred. All describe him using foul language in their presence, much of it demeaning to women. Says Keith A. Fink, an attorney for one of the women suing: "The work environment there makes Animal House look like choir practice."

If the dude wants to have swinger parties or whatever outside of work with buddies that's his business, but if he behaves like that with employees I hope he gets majorly screwed in court.

 

[whistleclient]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: tangent1138

Originally posted by: JS80

You people pretend like you care about "sweatshops" and some of you d-bag/assholes go out of your way to get rid of these "sweatshops" but the reality is that you are making other people's lives worse off to feel good about yourself. 1) The worker loses his job or is priced out of the market, 2) the employer's cost goes up and is forced to close or raise prices all while profits dwindle, 3) the cost is passed on to the consumer and they can afford to purchase less things.

Asshole? Yes I am, and proud of it. You have to be an asshole if you want to get your point across. D-bag? No, that's what you are.

American Apparel is clearly an example of a company which refutes everything you just said. The company makes a profit, workers get a decent wage and medical benefits, consumers get a high quality product at reasonable prices.

i suspect you're rather young, haven't traveled enough around the world but once you do you'll find this to be true:

"How you spend your money is how you vote on what exists in the world."

American Apparel is a very very small portion of the apparel industry. Their market is very targeted to people who are willing to spend $18 for a plain t-shirt (which would cost $1 from Hanes) and make them feel good because they are buying from a "sweatshop free" manufacturer. Their marketing is to take advantage of the unfair bad press "sweatshops" get.

A very small "trendy" company's success does not refute anything I said.

have you ever worked in a sweatshop?

on what basis do you judge it as "unfair bad press"?

just curious.

 

[fustercluck]

Thanks for all of the information, folks.

 

[FleshLight]

You'll need a whole bunch of things:

1. Adobe Illustrator or any other vector editor ($200)
2. A silk screen printer ($2500-$30000)
3. Silk screening supplies (ink, screens, etc, $200+)
4. Talent ($ lim (7x^2/7x) as x -> infinity)
5. Webhosting + website ($25+)
6. Bulk supply of tshirts in various sizes ($0.50-$1 each if you get them from sweatshops)
7. An a$$load of time to align the screens, switch shirts, design logos, etc

 

[whistleclient]

here's a blog by a guy that makes shirts of out of his house. i remember he made several posts about his setup. maybe you could look back through and find out how he does it, or ask him directly...

link