T-shirts are not just casual wear, they are clothing that reflects our personalities, interests, and identities.
Because of this, selling t-shirts online has become a popular choice, especially for entrepreneurs and artists looking for a relatively inexpensive way to start a business.
1. Choose a niche for your t-shirt online business
A niche will help your online shirt-selling business stand out and better attract the right target audience without wasting your budget.
You’ve heard the term “niche” a lot, but choosing one is important when trying to understand how to create an online t-shirt business. One of the most important parts of a successful online american shirts business model is the ability to stand out, and one of the best ways to do that is to cater to a specific target audience or interest group.
Typically, a category like “t-shirts for people who like fun slogans” would be too broad to stand out in a very developed market. You’ll want to tighten it up a bit more. Examples of more specific niches would be T-shirts with funny slogans related to doctors and nurses or dog owners, as pictured below.
When you want to know how to start a t-shirt business online, there are many ways to find and evaluate your niche. Here are a few.
Visit the subreddit of your potential niche to rate its subscriber count and level of engagement.
Use Facebook’s Audience Insights tool to size your niche on the platform.
For inspiration, scan this list of popular hobbies on Wikipedia.
Consider your interests and the community you belong to. Sometimes it’s okay to trust your intuition.
2. Original quality materials and t-shirt printing options
The next step on how to start an online t-shirt business is finding a supplier. Not all t-shirts are the same and not all print jobs are the same. As mentioned above, quality is paramount to your brand and your success, so it’s important to educate yourself and choose your blank shirts wisely.
When starting a shirt business online, it can be tempting to sacrifice quality for a higher profit margin. However, you need to consider how quality will affect a customer’s decision to share and repurchase your brand.
There are many factors to consider when choosing a quality t-shirt, including fit, size, material, softness, and weight. A good starting point for deciding which blank t-shirt to use is to check out T-Shirt Magazine’s reviews of the most popular blank t-shirts for printing.
3. Create your t-shirt design
The next step in how to start your own online t-shirt business is to come up with a design. Here are a few ways you can start designing your t-shirt business first.
Best Selling Designs & Find Your Niche
If you’re stuck with t-shirt niche ideas and designs, a good place to start is to look at other products that are popular and currently selling well.
hire a designer
When you have an idea for a t-shirt design, you need to design it. If you have Adobe Photoshop or a similar program, you can create great designs by yourself. But if you’re like most people, you should ask for help.
There are many tools and marketplaces you can use to find the right graphic designer for you.