- T-shirts are a wardrobe staple.
Everyone has one,
and most people buy too many,
which is why the global market for custom T-shirts
is on a serious rise
expecting to hit a whopping 10 billion by 2025.
If you've been tossing around the idea
of starting your own T-shirt brand,
but you're not exactly sure how to get started,
then sit tight.
Today, you'll learn everything you need to know
to start an online business that sells T-shirts
that your customers can't get enough of.
You'll learn how to develop a brand,
understand your target audience,
write a business plan,
source suppliers and earn your first sale.
With relatively low startup cost,
the custom T-shirt business is a great opportunity
for aspiring entrepreneurs to learn the ropes,
but like anything with low barriers to entry,
the T-shirt market is saturated.
And so you'll need to put some good thought
and planning behind your new online T-shirt business.
So if you're already excitedly Googling suppliers
in another tab,
press pause.
We'll get there.
Here's a few steps you'll need to take
to create an online T-shirt business
that connects with your audience and lasts.
Start by narrowing down a niche.
First, start by choosing a niche,
which is really just a segment of the market
that's willing to buy your product.
What kinds of people will your business focus on selling to?
Your niche should appeal to a small specific group of people
who have similar problems, desires, interests,
and demographics.
Let's put it this way.
If your T-shirt business is targeting men in their 30s,
then your niche is a little bit too broad.
But if you're targeting new dads
who want well shaped T-shirts
that accentuate their shoulders
and hide their dad bod,
well, now you're onto something.
Narrowing it down even further
by figuring out where these people live,
how much they make,
what they spend their time doing,
and what type of content they consume
will help inform decisions,
important decisions like what designs should you consider,
what type of materials you should source,
what price you should charge,
and how you should market your product.
Get particular about the audience your business is serving
so that you'll develop a T-shirt brand
that actually captivates people.
If you're not quite sure who your niche should be,
a good place to start is with yourself.
You need to have authentic passion for it
if you're going to stay motivated to grow the business.
Your unique life experiences
gives you extensive knowledge in a certain area,
so use it to your advantage,
or you can ask yourself these questions.
What market segments do you personally identify with?
What are your interests and hobbies?
What types of T-shirts do you wish existed?
Starting with yourself
can help make your online T-shirt business
an enjoyable venture
because it will be focused on developing a product
for people that you already understand and can relate to.
If you can't seem to narrow down a segment
based on your interest,
you can try searching for a list of popular hobbies
and see if any grab your attention.
Once you find something,
check out the niche's sub-reddits
and pay attention to the engagement levels
and the subscriber counts.
After you find your niche,
take some time to develop a business plan.
Business plans give us the opportunity
to look a little deeper into our idea.
Consider what are the risks, the competition,
and even set some goals.
Don't skip this step.
Always remember that failure to plan is planning to fail.
Check out the business plan template in the link
to help you get started on the right foot,
sourcing your material.
All right, you have your niche and your business plan.
Now you can open up that tab again
and start sourcing your suppliers.
Quality is the name of the game in the business of T-shirts.
While it may be very tempting to save money
by choosing the cheapest blank T-shirts,
avoid this mistake at all cost.
A cheap shirt might get you an initial order,
but a quality shirt will earn you a repeat customer.
Quality T-shirts have a flattering fit,
and they're usually made with thicker
and more durable materials that feel soft to the touch.
To help you narrow down suppliers based on these criteria,
check out T-shirt magazine's reviews in the link below
on some of the most popular blank T-shirts for printing,
but don't just take their word for it.
Always order your own sample.
Wear it for a day.
Wash and dry it to see if it shrinks.
Get into the mind of your customer
by testing it out first.
Ask yourself if this is the kind of quality
that my audience would appreciate.
Create your own T-shirt design.
Now, here's where the real fun begins.
The design of your T-shirt
will act as your main differentiator
in a market that's full of thousands of options.
So this may take some time to really nail,
and while it may seem daunting,
there are several ways to work with talented designers
that can help bring your vision from idea to print.
But let's pretend
you already have a design idea for your T-shirts
and you do feel ready to connect with a designer.
Then a great place to start
is on design communities like Dribble or Behance
or on freelance networks like Freelancer or Upwork.
If you're stuck and not really sure what designs to go with,
you can always look at what's already popular
and selling in your niche.
Is there a creative spin
that you can take on something that's already trending?
Check out some of the top graphic T-shirt marketplaces
like Zazzle, Redbubble, or SnorgTees
and filter sections like best sellers are most popular
to get the inside scoop on what people are buying right now.
The design stage can take time,
so be prepared.
Even after you research,
you may have to work with more than one designer
or scratch a few ideas before you land on a design
that you're confident in,
but enjoy the process.
I promise you you'll learn a lot on the way.
Mock up your T-shirts.
Creating a mockup of your T-shirt design
is probably the best advantage
of starting an online T-shirt business.
Mockups are images of T-shirts
or people wearing T-shirts
that you can upload your design to
before actually ordering a printed shirt.
If you're familiar with Photoshop,
there are many free online mockups
that you can check out in the link below.
If you're new to Photoshop,
you can opt for using web-based mockup software
like Printful or Printify.
We'll link those into description for you as well.
Creating a mockup of your T-shirt design
allows you to put your brand out there,
and gives your customers a chance
to see what your designs look like from different angles.
Without investing any money into the inventory,
validate your idea and build some momentum.
A good idea backed by a great design is awesome,
but an idea that is validated is even better,
especially in business.
Thanks to your mockups,
you can test your T-shirt design
before digging into those pockets
to see if there's any actual interest
coming from your niche.
A few ways that you can start testing out
and getting feedback now is by posting your design
to your own personal social networks,
and engaging with people that you already know.
This is a great way to start,
but you'll also need to diversify your validating research.
As friends and family,
it will tend to be kinder than people who don't know you.
For some real honest feedback on your designs,
we suggest Reddit because sub-reddits make it pretty easy
to share your designs with people in your niche,
and gives you access to unbiased reviews.
Another great way to consider getting feedback
is through crowdfunding sites because they allow you to test
and collect money up front
before even launching your business.
Now, crowdfunding can be time consuming
and it requires a lot of preparation,
but it can be very worthwhile
if your campaign is successful.
Set up your online store.
So you've narrowed down your niche, created a design,
and you've validated your idea.
Guess what?
Now, it's time to start selling.
Shopify makes it easy to start an online T-shirt business
because we have a handful of print on-demand services
that directly integrate into your Shopify store.
These services will print
and ship your T-shirts to your customers on your behalf
every time you receive an order.
This means you don't need to purchase your own T-shirt press
or stock any T-shirts to get started.
Opening your online store is easy with our free templates
that you can customize to suit your brand.
When you sign up with us,
you get a free trial how to set up your website
exactly how you you want it before you start paying.
An exciting new adventure in the world of fashion
is waiting for you if you take these steps
to launch your very own T-shirt brand.
I'm Daniel Lewis,
content creator and founder,
and I hope you gained some value
and actionable tips in today's video.
Until the next time,
have fun and good luck.