How to start an online t-shirt business
- Choose a niche to focus on
- Source quality materials
- Create your designs
- Mockup your t-shirts
- Validate your designs before you invest in them
- Set up an online store
Selling your t-shirts on Shopify
Here’s the good news: Building and launching a new t-shirt brand is relatively inexpensive and quick. If you already have designs you want to sell, you can be up and running in as little as a few hours.
With the abundance of apps and integrations in the Shopify App Store, you can also connect your store to a t-shirt printer/dropshipper in minutes and have a fully functioning store, ready to print and ship to your customers.
5 things to consider before you start a t-shirt business
Although the tools and technology available nowadays for designing, printing and shipping your own t-shirts makes starting up relatively simple, the difficult part is building a brand to stand out from the competition. Combine competition with slim margins and building an online t-shirt company becomes a little harder than it might first appear.
To be successful with your new t-shirt brand, you have to make the right decisions from the get-go.
There are several critical elements to starting a successful t-shirt business. Each of these elements needs to be considered closely before moving forward:
- Niche: Being more specific will help you stand out as well as better attract and market to the right audience without blowing your budget
- Design: The majority of people that are purchasing graphic tees are looking for designs, graphics, and slogans that connect with them and reflect their opinions and personality
- Quality: The quality of the shirts you use and the prints need to be top notch to build a sustainable business
- Brand: A strong, interesting brand is vital in the t-shirt industry
- Inventory: Will you manage your own inventory to take advantage of volume discounts or use a print-on-demand service to save time and effort
