Experience Selling T-Shirts/Clothing?

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  • SteveJobs

    I've been bored creatively and have been toying with this idea for years of doing my own T-Shirt line. I know it's lame and unoriginal but I don't care. I don't care so much about making a lot of money. A small revenue stream would be nice but breaking even would be ok too. Only interested in a more high-end/low-volume line, so no cafe press or american apparel. Would maybe want some distressed but definitely higher end (supima cotton?) or whatever would be good for that - no idea and don't even know where to start looking.

    Just curious if anyone has been down this path and can share experiences good or bad. Considerations, cautions, encouragements, or other words of sage wisdom.

  • freedom0

    No distressed graphics, please.

    • It's ok if you don't like it. It's just what I want to do :)SteveJobs
    • Well some, not all designs.SteveJobs
  • freedom0

    iShirt.

  • fadein110

    Loads of experience of this. 2 of the best quality t-shirt suppliers are:

    https://www.continentalclothing.…
    There Earth Positive range is superb.

    https://www.stanleystella.com/
    https://webshop.stanleystella.co…
    These are also really good.
    Obviously you buy the unbranded stuff they do - prob best to contact them as the website is a bit confused in terms of printed and blanks mixed up.

    Get a proper account with both for best prices etc.

    • Theirfadein11
    • I am UK based though.fadein11
    • this is a great shirt - https://webshop.stan…fadein11
    • Thank you for all this!SteveJobs
    • not sure what idiot downvoted it - but my business partner spent a long time researching the best quality t-shirt as wefadein11
    • wanted the best quality garments for 2 businesses we run.fadein11
    • Obviously these are not practical for cheap mass produced band t-shirts etc.fadein11
    • Ha! Continental Clothing - I've not seen them in YEARS. I used to use them back when we sold t-shirts... so, so so long ago.detritus
    • yep - still going and their Earth Positive range is the best out there - we bought so many samples.fadein11
  • shellie0

    I sell a lot of tshirts through my boyfriend's music merchandise. I bought a 4 color press and it does the job for everything I need.

    I started buying blank white ts (which are cheaper) and going to wash houses (in LA and NY) for dye and different finishes (acid, silicon, distressed). You just put the shirts in bags and they charge by the pound. Sales of soft goods like that pretty much pay my rent, but I'm also selling to an existing fan base. I also print for friends since I have the equipment. I don't know the first thing about selling shirts to just random people on the internet. But it seems like there are a bunch of great marketplaces to get the word out.

    • Shellie, thank you! You're from LA right? Any of these around here? I'm in Weho btw.SteveJobs
    • Yes man there are a TON of wash houses in DTLA and also some more commercial Warehouse type areas. Im from LA but i love in NY.shellie
    • Im in LA until the 27th though. I don't have a car but when i come back up (from temecula) id be down to take you around if you drive me.shellie
    • I don't know names of places but i know how to get there from memory.shellie
  • cbass990

    Don't rush the designs. I did this once because I couldn't wait to get the product out there and start making money.

    $2500 later, I realized I could of made them better and regretted it.

    • Ok, good info thanks.SteveJobs
    • yep and launch with just a few designs - perhaps 4ish - slowly build the range - we launched with about 10 and it took a long time to sell all that stock asfadein11
    • some were way stronger than others - do loads of designs and get loads of feedback before printing.fadein11
  • SteveJobs0

    How do you anticipate demand? Can you print 1-offs/samples to shoot product images and then print per order? I'd imagine that's quite expensive? But it also seems like a waste to print, xxs/xxl ranges that may never get bought?

    • we use mockups - have a load of blank hanging shots - and then do mockups until printed then shoot the actual productfadein11
    • good way of doing preorders as well so you can order based on that. It's v.easy to end up with a lot of unsold stock and often the designs you love do not sellfadein11
    • preorders on designs really help with that.fadein11
    • and find a good local printer, build a r'ship. we found someone starting out and he has really built his business based on us alone. So he turns things roundfadein11
    • really quickly if items suddenly sell out etc. If we were just using someone who hadn't become a friend I think you can run into a lot of headaches.fadein11
    • Just don't sell to dwarves or fat people.detritus
    • yepgetting sizing orders was a pain to start with... but now we go from small - xxxl with fewer of the ones we don't sell as many of - but we only knew thatfadein11
    • after going for a year or so.fadein11
    • https://d262ilb51hlt…Gnash
    • Very nice Gnash!SteveJobs
  • Miguex0

    Steve:
    I'm interested to know why you put cafe press and american apparel on the same level.

    ...................................
    Only interested in a more high-end/low-volume line, so no cafe press or american apparel
    ...................................

    • Been a while since I shopped at AA but I never liked their fit, personally. Should I reconsider? That was just my experienc, but I'm open if it's a good choice.SteveJobs
    • I own a tshirt company and in my opinion, they make one of the best t-shirts out there.Miguex
    • Cafe press is like the shittiest quality ever, so I'm still astonished you placed those 2 on the same level lolMiguex
    • i like AA for fit and comfort, also alternativeapparel seemed to be comfy and fit well too. and theres a tee with a large usually different color neck seamdeathboy
    • ive seen companies liek volcom and northface use which are awesome and i look for when grabbing a tee of the rackdeathboy
    • I used to do a lot of tshirts, American apparel was our most requested brand to print on. Something about the feel.Hayoth
  • Maaku0

    Getting an influencer to give a shout-out for you on instagram or snapchat would be great. Not sure how that would translate into sales but the reach can be pretty wide, at least to get people to know your brand.

    • Yeah very good point.SteveJobs
    • +1 this works. In fact Instagram is best platform for retail at the mo.fadein11
  • SteveJobs0

    What about custom tags (the tag inside the shirt neck, not the one prices are listed on) or custom printing inside shirt in lieu of a tag? I'm guessing this takes it to a much higher level in terms of cost.

    • yep we do a neckprint, looking at tags next year.fadein11
    • I've been gathering quotes for just this (in LA), can share when finished researchingBrokenHD
  • dconstrukt0

    Great ideas guys....

    i know a bunch of people personally who have BANKED selling T-shirts.

    All those things are great, but the path to the money is the following:

    you only need 3 things:

    1. a cool design targeting a specific "niche"
    2. facebook ads to target that niche
    3. use service like www.teespring.com - you don't have to carry any inventory. you make like $10 per shirt.

    I know people who have been making $50-100k a MONTH doing this exact model.

    NO bullshit.

    there's so few moving parts with this model its crazy.

    get the design right, get the ads/targeting right and you can bank.

    Google tee spring + Facebook ads to sell shirts. (or something like that)

    think a slogan or something for say... firemen.

    you then run fb ads to people who like firemen, or are firemen or are related to firemen.

    they are interested, they buy.

    you bank.

  • shellie1

    Keep your screens. It will cost extra but you won't have to get them remade for reprints. Then you can do smaller runs upfront and guage demand from there. In LA i get my screens burned at Reetech in dtla.

    You can do backorder sales of all the XXX sizes. I personally sell a lot of 2X and XLs. But you might not.

  • cbass990

    bump - great info on this thread.

    • Agreed. Whether you sell t-shirts or not, this is one of the most useful threads I've seen on QBN. Here's for more of the same!MondoMorphic
  • Miguex1

    Personally I think it's not so much about the design but about the community your are selling to. I have done tshirt designs for existing brands in action sports or big djs, where they sell by the millions probably and I'm sure it had nothing to do with my design in particular. You can bring any monkey with a mouse to an established brand and fans will buy it just because they want to rep it.

    What I'm personally after is not creating a tshirt design but a desirable brand, create or find a niche and develop it. It takes time and is deff a labor of love, there are so many things surrounding creating a brand that are super fun, packaging, photoshoots, promo materials, etc.

    If you think of it as a t-shirt alone, then it probably won't last long. I think you need a theme and stay consistent, so whatever is your message carries along across multiple designs, some people won't really care for some of those designs, but maybe one will resonate with them.

    Of course, all of this I'm exploring myself for being on the process, I def will never sell as many shirts as the ones I did for previous clients on my own, but that's ok with me, I just want this whole thing to sustain itself, its super fun as an escape from work you know?

    • Great insight Miguex. Thanks for posting.cbass99
    • Not that I know what I'm talking about of course haha I'm on trial an error phase at the moment :)Miguex
    • this is so true - find a niche to sell to initially as well then broaden it if you want tofadein11
  • Miguex0

    A great example (also a QBN user back in the day) is Johnny Cupcakes, if you don't know about him, this is a guy you want to watch, personally I don't connect with the cupcake thing but I am a huge fan of what he was able to accomplish, he is not designing for someone else, this is his own thing, he created this brand, he developed his own fan base, his packaging and presentation is one of the best out there. Super talented guy, Johnny if you are reading, we would love it if you share some info man.

    some of his presentation work:






  • breadlegz0

    You could also check out how Ugmonk has gone about building his little t-shirt empire:

    http://shop.ugmonk.com/

    There's plenty of podcast interviews with him on iTunes.

  • microkorg1

    About 12 years ago now a friend and I both started t-shirt lines after getting a grant from the government.
    We got a wad of cash, did some designs, got loads of stuff screenprinted and labels sewn on, got a online shop built ... and sold less than a dozen t-shirts.
    A couple of years ago I threw out a few big boxes full of tshirts and sweatshirts that never sold - actually i donated them to charity.
    If this was 'my own' money i'd have been pissed.

    It's a lot easier to make a name/brand these days and to get followers with the likes of good promo shots on instagram and an interesting social feed in general.

    I'm doing tshirts again now but using a threadless artist shop. they deal with all the printing, online shop, sending out etc - all I have to do is upload new designs every now and then, promote the url and keep social up to date.
    I've sold more £$ worth of tees than I ever did with previous business and have made more money.

    Threadless are pretty good because they now do prints on duvets and bags etc. Their prints are decent quality but to be truthful I wasnt hugely impressed with the tshirt quality.

    I recently got a hoody and two tshirts ran through Spreadshirt to see what their service/quality was like. The tee and hoody (think it was american apparel) was REALLY nice quality. The tees, dunno what they were, are awesome quality. Probbaly a couple of the nicest tees ive owned.

    I'm thinking of shifting my online shop over to Spreadshirt.
    Spreadshirt do the digital printing like threadless but they also to like a screenprint quality but its only up to 3 colours and it cant be crazy detailed as a lot of the process is by hand.

    If you are wanting to do this as a creative release, make some money on the side and be happy in the knowledge that people are cutting about somewhere around the world wearing your designs then i'd thoroughly recommend the spreadshirt/threadless route.

    You wont have to worry about any logistics, you dont have to build and maintain an online shop.

    If your brand then takes off then yeah maybe you could look at doing your own screenprinting etc

    Simples!

  • detritus0

    Have any of you here in LDN/UK used these guys?

    https://3rdrailclothing.co.uk/

    • Looks cool! I'd be getting along there for some screenprinting fun!microkorg