How To Start A T-Shirt Printing Business
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Those of us that work from home are always looking for ways to increase our various income streams so that if one thing takes a bit of a dip, we have backups that we can refocus our energies on. One of the great things about starting a T-shirt printing business is that once the initial work is done, it’s something that will tick along nicely in the background needing little maintenance, making it an excellent source of passive income.
How To Start A T-Shirt Printing Business
Costs Of Setting Up A T-shirt Printing Business
The first thing to do when setting up a T-shirt Printing Business is to work out both the initial and ongoing costs. Set-up costs are things like buying a domain a name for your website and purchasing fonts so your logos really stand out. Ongoing costs are things like website hosting, eCommerce (such as Shopify) that easily allow customers to purchase from your website and the costs of the Tshirts themselves.
Typically with this type of business, I would recommend outsourcing the purchasing of the T-shirts and the printing – this is called drop shipping and is covered in more detail below. Once you know the costs of this, you’ll be able to work out monthly costs and what your profit margins will be.
However, an alternative would be to use a T-shirt printing press or heat or press at home and I’ve covered both scenarios below.
Drop-Shipping/Print On Demand
Drop-shipping or print on demand is the best way to set up a T-shirt printing business. Both the start-up costs and ongoing costs are minimal meaning if the business isn’t successful for whatever reason, you don’t end up hugely out of pocket or left with lots of stock or equipment you no longer need.
Using a print on demand service means that you will work with a supplier who will customize basic white or plain products (such as T-shirts, baseball caps, mugs etc) and they will customize them on your behalf with your designs, but under your business name.
This works well because you don’t actually need to pay for the product until someone has bought it. Plus the t-shirt supplier handles all the packaging and posting too. If you have a great t-shirt business idea this a great way to try it out without incurring massive costs, needing to hold stock or requiring business premises.
This also works if you already have an audience – for example, if you’re a YouTuber or blogger with an audience that would want your name or brand on a T-shirt.
Starting A T-shirt Printing Business Using a Heat Press Machine
You should get your hands on the best heat press machine for starting a t-shirt printing business. A heat press machine with top-notch features will help you imprint top-quality designs on t-shirts without asking you to follow intricate procedures. All you need to do is find the best heat press machine available in the market that provides you with quality results and is a long-lasting product.
An ordinary machine might result in destroying the print that will also damage the t-shirt. But a top-quality heat transfer machine will help your business thrive in a small amount of time
Choosing Slogans
Choosing slogans for your T-shirts could actually be trickier than you might think. You want something that is likely to catch peoples attention and that they’ll want to buy, but you’ll also need to avoid using phrases or names that have been copyrighted.
- Try thinking local – I come from Somerset and we have lots of phrases that are unique to this area such as ‘Ark at ee’ and ‘Where’s That Too’ that could be put on Tshirt. The sort of thing someone might wear to the pub and everyone else would want one.
- Topical subjects would also work – especially to do with politics or Brexit – although these aren’t evergreen topics so would maybe need updating from time to time.
- Even if you have a good idea it’s worth checking Copyright – The word ”Muggle’ from Harry Potter is trademarked as are Taylor Swifts song lyrics ‘This Sick Beat’ and the phrase ‘Lets Get ready to Rumble!’.
- Disney is super hot on copyright and anything of theirs being used so best to avoid.
- Try appealing to a key demographic – funny babygrows seem to be very popular right now with slogans like ‘New to the Crew’ or ‘Been inside for 9 months’.
- Capitalize on seasonal events with slogans like ‘Santa is Coming’ a play on the Game of Thrones phrase ‘Winter is Coming’
T-shirt Mock-Ups For Your T-Shirt Printing Business
Once you have your slogans or phrases it’s time to get designing. You’ll want to give your customers an example of how the t-shirts will look and this is where a t-shirt mockup will come in. These are professional styled photos that you can add your own designs to, so it looks as though your designs have already been printed and photographed. So much easier and cheaper than having a real photoshoot!
Designing Your Website
Once you’ve chosen a business name you’ll want to also set up a website.
Setting up a website may seem like a daunting task, but it is probably the easiest way to go about selling your T-shirts. There are lots of online tutorials and web hosting can cost as little as £4 a month. Personally, I use Lyrical Host for my blogs which is a little more expensive but is fully managed – as I’m not at all technically minded I like knowing there is lots of help there should I need it.
Marketing your T-shirt Printing Business
Once you’ve got your t-shirt printing business it’s time to start marketing and finding your audience and there are lots of ways you can do this.
- Firstly set up social media accounts and get promoting your t-shirt printing business. Social media business pages and accounts are free and a brilliant way to reach a huge audience.
- Giveaways can be useful if getting your brand seen – offer a free t-shirt to one lucky winner who comments on your social post. The more comments, the more people will see it and if people love the design they might buy it anyway. My husband and I love sweary things and are always tagging each other on products on Facebook.
- Reach out to influencers in your niche – they may be happy to promote your product/t-shirt printing business in exchange for one or two as a gift – or if not may just be happy to share a social media post or two. As I’m based in Somerset I’ll sometimes do this for other local businesses who’s products I love without even being asked.
- SEO – SEO Stands for search engine optimisation – this means making sure that when people search for your product they can easily find your website. Make sure your product titles are clear and informative. You may also want to use a keyword to tool to asses what people are searching for.
