A T-shirt is the most common style of fabric that is loved and used by people of all ages. No wonder why the market for t-shirts is always on the rise. Every day hundreds of T-shirt businesses are introduced to the market. While some startups work and experience massive success, at the same time, a lot of them undergo a disastrous downfall.
The global custom t-shirt printing market was valued at USD 3.9 billion in 2021 and is expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.9% which indicates that it may cross 10 billion USD by 2025.
Since you can see the competition is very fierce, in order to survive in the market, you need a strategy to get started with your online t-shirt printing business.
Step-By-Step Guide On How To Start T-Shirt Printing Business
This is why our experts at DesignNBuy decided to share a few tips for all those who are planning to launch an online t-shirt business or have already been running the business and want to excel.
- Study the industry and the market
- Keep up with the competition
- Work on the plan
- Know the investment
- Set up your online presence
- Sell what people want
- Get an Online Tshirt Designer Tool
- Make your design tool feature-rich
- Select the right t-shirt supplier
- Launch & market your store right
- Try out the Promotional way
- Sign-up with business partners
- Set Business targets
- Sales is not a one-day job
1. Study the industry and the market
Make yourself well aware of the retail clothing industry before making a decision. Study the success stories of brands into similar business and try to follow the same strategy.
2. Work on the plan
Once convinced on the idea, think upon the kind of t-shirts you plant to sell online, the target market you want to cater to, plan the advertising and marketing activities to promote your store and brand. Not to forget to define your brands value, vision and mission and a long term goal, that will drive your business.
3. Keep up with competition
Study the market, target audience, what they require and also study your competition well. Keep an eye on the pricing, products, style, discounts and offers by browsing through their sites and subscribing to their blogs.
4. Know the investment
Any idea would not work unless there is enough finance planned. Get the quotes of printing the t-shirts from multiple vendors and choose the best, keep in mind the posting, packaging, labeling and shipping charges, these will help deciding upon the selling price of the t-shirt.
5. Set up your online presence
We are in the online era and hence being available online for your customers has become the need of the hour. So, building not just an online presence but an effective and attractive web store is the most crucial step if you want to survive the competition.
6. Sell what people want
Survey the market and take genuine opinion from customers of what they are looking for in a t-shirt, what style they want and what is the ongoing trend.
7. Get an Online T-shirt Design Tool
People are interested in printed or designed t-shirts more than plains ones hence, an online t shirt design software is a must for your online t-shirt business. To meet the demands of customized t-shirts and to stand out in the competition, an online product designer tool will help you a lot, and hence it is something you must not skip.
You can simply buy this web-to-print tool and integrate it with your eCommerce store or approach web-to-print solution and service providers like us to get it done rightly.
8. Make your design tool feature-rich
Now, certain online product designer tool comes with basic features but customers’ requirement is never-ending. They need something new every time hence, get your design tool customized and make it feature-rich from time to time.
Addition of ready-made quotes, clipart, texts and fonts of different styles, graphics, masking effects, shadows, overlapping, etc., not only will it make the design more interesting, but it will also make customers come back for more.
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9. Select the right t-shirt supplier
You need premium quality t-shirts in order to print what your customers ordered and for that partnering up with the right t-shirt supplier is another important step to make your t-shirt printing business successful.
Hunt down a good manufacturer who can provide you with good quality blank t-shirts for printing.
Check for its quality in detail because your print must not fade, or crack on it. Neither should the t-shirt shrink or rip after a wash because or else your fans won’t come back for repurchase.
Best Wholesale Blank T-Shirts Suppliers
10. Launch & market your store right
You are all set with your store now it’s time to make it public. Launch your store and market it well on all possible platforms because or else how would everyone know that you are open for business.
Apart from promoting online, you must also spread the word about your upcoming business offline through flyers, pamphlets, and business cards by handing them out to the nearest organizations, businesses, and schools.
Don’t forget the traditional word-of-mouth marketing as well because the more you spread the word, the sooner you will become the talk of the town. As far as online marketing is considered then there is a number of ways.
You can post pictures of your brand on Instagram, go live on it or conduct polls, contests, and surveys on Facebook, run online ads, and use other paid marketing tactics. Share tutorials on YouTube, and whatnot.
11. Try out the Promotional way
To spread your brand awareness launch a promotional offer that advertises your brand with the word of mouth. A lot of other digital promotions can be considered by start-ups like Press Releases, blogs, social media promotions, online ads, sponsor events. A lot of free give away can be budgeted to spread the brand awareness.
12. Sign-up with business partners
It’s good to have business partners to reach the brands goal more effectively. You can always have internal and external partners that will assist in your business goals
13. Set Business targets
It is always advisable to set weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly targets. Setting business targets would help you understand the overall picture of how the business is doing and what’s working and what’s not working in the market. Hence setting the target will help you define the strategy of selling the t-shirt.
14. Sales is not a one day job
Sales is not easy, it demands a lot of efforts, hard work and patience. Sales cannot be done overnight, it is not a one day job; combination of multiple efforts boosts your sales slowly and gradually. Hence do not plan to quit if you do not see sales happening in just few days of starting of the business.
Learn the Most Popular Types of Shirt Printing Methods
For your t-shirt printing business to work like magic, of course, you have to focus upon its printing software, techniques, technologies, and all about printing needs that today’s customers desire. So, the following are some of the considerations you must ponder upon if you want to provide quality prints to your customers :
1. Screen Printing
Used for thousands of years, screen printing is still a relevant printing technique where ink is applied to the t-shirt with the help of a prepared screen. They do give long-lasting effects but are expensive as multiple screens are required which adds up the cost.
2. Heat Transfer
A printing method that uses a combination of heat and pressure to print the image onto the fabric. The desired image is first printed onto paper which is then transferred to the fabric with the help of heat.
3. Direct to Garment
One of the trending printing techniques, DTG is currently the hot favorite among printers and customers cause it saves a lot of time and effort behind getting a design printed. Unlike other methods, a design is printed directly on the garment using a digital printer where the ink is applied directly onto the fabric of the apparel.
Wrapping Up
Enjoy every bit of your business, if you are not enjoying what you are doing then probably you must not continue, as you will gain success in businesses that are carried out with passion.
For an free consultation with our experts connect at [email protected]
FAQ
Most Frequently Asked Questions and Their Answers
T-shirts are loved by people of all ages and there is no specific winner as to what type of t-shirt sells the best. Although ever since printed t-shirts came into action with customization features, t-shirts that can be personalized or customized are selling like hotcakes.
If you are planning to start an online t-shirt printing business, approach an experienced web-to-print software provider like us, Design’N’Buy whose t-shirt design software is all you need to get started.
Nothing comes for free but yes you can start your online t-shirt printing business at a very nominal rate by getting our t-shirt design software rather than burdening yourselves with the heavy expenses of opening an offline store.
Of course, even though a lot of t-shirt printing businesses are emerging every now and then, the demand for printed t-shirts is riding high and if you have something unique to offer that will woo your customers, fear not, profits will shower upon you.
Do you have any more questions? Contact our experts
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* This article was originally published in March 16, 2019; it has been updated on Nov 2023.
