Since so many people are buying masks right now,
I've got some useful tips and resources
that will help you sell some.
You can sell flat masks which look like this
and result in $1.79 profit per sale
and fitted masks, which look like this
and give you double the amount which is $3.58 profit.
We'll look at fitted masks first
since they're the most profitable out of the two.
Redbubble launched them in October 2020
and people still haven't got the hang of them,
which is great news for you 'cause there's less competition.
Looking at the number of listings,
best-selling fitted masks only have 22,000 results
compared to 374,000 results for flat masks.
That's a huge difference!
And of those 22,000 fitted masks,
many of the designs don't look great on the product.
I've noticed that people seem to get confused
by these two gaps in the fitted mask
which are there because it gets sewn together,
creating an end product that looks like this.
Many of the designs that are there now
ignore the gaps as you can see, which results in
the middle of the design getting cut off.
Alternatively, they'll place their designs
on one side of the mask
so they don't have to deal with the middle section at all.
If you scroll down the best-sellers list,
these styles are nowhere to be found.
They aren't selling.
So what do I recommend?
Get this template first, which I'll link in the description
and I'll show you three ways you can make your design
look great on fitted masks.
The first one is finding a way for your design to work
with the gaps, like this rainbow design does.
So anything you place here will disappear
and the two sides will join up.
You can drag your design in Photoshop
and change the opacity
so you'll see what you're gonna be missing
when you position it.
If you decide that isn't gonna work with your design
or you can't be bothered adjusting it,
you can duplicate it
so it appears on both sides of the mask.
This'll be more attractive to buyers,
rather than having one side of their mask
being completely blank,
which gives you a huge advantage over the competition.
You can duplicate the design
by dragging it on top of the template,
the going to Layer and Duplicate Layer.
Move the duplicated layer so both sides look good
and they're within the safe zone.
Then disable the template layer and save as PNG
so you're ready to upload.
Alternatively, you can take advantage
of the Redbubble pattern feature
by uploading a single design element
and then setting it as a repeat pattern
on the website like this.
Now I'll briefly cover flat masks.
I'll link this template for flat masks
and the dimensions in the description for you to use.
The clue's in the name, flat masks are flat.
This means that there's no gaps or sewing to think about
which is nice.
It's easy to adjust your design for them
and most of your existing work will probably look good
just by positioning it appropriately.
Make sure your design fills the whole template
if applicable, with the most important elements
inside the safe zone.
Looking at the best-sellers of the flat mask section,
you can see that these people have considered
what the design will look like on a mask,
as well as why people would want to wear it.
If you compare that to some of the new uploads,
you can really see the difference.
This one, for example, was clearly designed
for another product, then enabled on the mask
as a last second decision.
It's only on the middle part
so their design doesn't look good.
It's too crowded.
And would anyone even want to buy a mask
for a Psychiatrist as a farewell gift?
I found that the most successful styles
are repeated pattern masks like these
which are easy to position on the template,
simple text based designs like these,
and single element designs
where there's just one minimalist feature on the mask.
Things that don't work too well
are designs for other products
that get awkwardly placed on the mask,
overcrowded designs that haven't been simplified
and one sided masks.
I actually bought the rainbow design
advertised by Redbubble on both a flat mask
and a fitted mask to better understand
and demonstrate the products.
The flat mask is very floppy
and made from thin polyester.
This is controversial apparently
because it's against CDC guidelines,
which recommends 100% cotton with a filter layer.
As Timothy from the Redbubble comments section
angrily pointed out:
"Polyester? Really?!"
"This is just a blatant and shameful cash grab."
Now, in Redbubble's defense,
they do explicitly say that these masks
aren't medical face masks
and they even included a disclaimer in my order,
but I'm not sure that buyers would take any notice of that.
The fitted masks have one outer layer of polyester
and two inner layers of 100% cotton,
which must have satisfied Timothy
because he's nowhere to be seen
in the comments section this time.
But users did point out that Redbubble
got the dimensions of their own product wrong
in the template they provided.
Props to Jessica who manually amended it to the correct size
and it's her template you'll find in the description.
The fitted mask feels much sturdier
and has adjustable straps as well as a nose bridge
to keep it tight to your face.
It might be slightly harder to design for,
but the fitted mask is much more profitable
and easier to compete against other sellers
who seem to be confused by the design process.
That's why it's worth getting the template
and spending some time adjusting your designs for.
The flat mask should be enabled as well
and won't need much intervention to look good.
In terms of the profit margin,
I'd recommend leaving both masks at the default markup
until you make a sale, at which point,
assess the pricing of the competitors
before you increase it.
The fitted masks already cost $25
at the default profit margin,
which is really expensive in my opinion.
The flat masks are only $12.50,
so there's much more room to increase the margin.
Hopefully you found that information helpful.
What do you think about masks?
Do you think they'll be normalized
when the pandemic's over?
Will we be still wearing them or are they gonna die out?
Let me know in the comments and see you in the next video.