I want to open a point selling T-shirts. Business selling unusual T-shirts
Many people think that starting your own T-shirt business these days no longer makes sense. The number of such companies in almost every region is off the charts, and each of them strives to offer the maximum range of products - T-shirts with beautiful prints, funny inscriptions, recognizable logos and images.
However, such an idea should not be considered unconditionally utopian. It is no more utopian than the appearance, for example, of a new artist or the opening of another store. There is always a need for a new, original and unique design (you can’t do this without the talent of an artist) and you will always need a place to buy clothes with this design (maybe your store will be this place?)
The clothing printing industry has been developing for almost a hundred years; these days it is a million-dollar business, despite the fact that sublimation equipment is becoming more accessible every year. So is it worth postponing?
History of T-shirt printing
It is believed that the first T-shirts appeared during the First World War and were used by soldiers as light underwear. Their more widespread distribution began in the United States several decades later - in the 40s.
However, the age of clothing printing technology is much more respectful. It all started in the 1700s when Western Europe Screen printing technology migrated from Asia. The term “silk-screen printing” appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, but at first this process was not used for clothing at all, but for the production of wallpaper and interior items for rich people.
As early as 1910, three chemists Roy Beck, Charles Peter and Edward Owens revolutionized commercial screen printing by introducing the first photo-imaging stencils for industry.
The technology gained particular popularity in the 30s, then the artist Andy Warhol contributed his share, presenting his famous silk-screen painting of Marilyn Monroe in 1962.
Along with screen printing, thermal transfer technology began to develop in the mid-20th century, first used by SATO to create color images on paper. The first sublimation printer appeared back in 1957, the first thermal printer - 1972, and ultimately, technical “evolution” led to the emergence of versatile equipment used for commercial purposes: automatic screen machines, heat presses for sublimation, universal printers.
Why should you start printing on T-shirts?
Before you even start studying technical features production, wanting to find out what is better: buying a flat heat press or ordering the first batch of T-shirts from a printing house, you should decide on your goals and build a business plan.
Almost half of the success of any enterprise lies in confidence, determination and a clear understanding of your desires. So, putting your doubts aside for a moment, think about the following:
# People really love t-shirts
It is both an effective advertising product and comfortable clothing. It is most in demand, of course, in the summer, but there are always people who wear T-shirts all the time. Moreover, each person has several T-shirts in his wardrobe, which he willingly changes depending on his mood.
In some cases, a T-shirt is the main element of a uniform or corporate identity - in retail chains, logistics organizations, advertising agencies, they are often used at informal corporate events.
In a word, there will definitely be no shortage of clients: organizations will buy T-shirts for sublimation in bulk, ordinary clients will buy t-shirts for sublimation to diversify their collection of outfits.
# This is one of the most attractive types of business from a financial point of view
Moreover, both for you and for buyers. The T-shirt is inexpensive - cheaper than a shirt or sweatshirt. It is not fussy about washing, and if the design is made of really high quality, then it will not be afraid of water or cleaning products.
Using fewer colors can provide additional savings. Yes, your products may not be so bright and catchy, but this can also become a kind of corporate identity.
Among the artists, there are those who paint with watercolors, and there are those who use only pencil or charcoal. Both of them have their fans. So, why don't you start with the original black and white graphics?
# Be original
This is one of the guaranteed keys to future success. If you take “pictures from the Internet” as the basis for your prints, your products are unlikely to be in demand. Most likely, you won’t even be able to print high-quality prints - the recommended image resolution for thermal transfer should be at least 300 dpi, which is very rare among these same “pictures” that are freely available.
Professional quality is achieved through the use of vector graphics, where the layout is verified with extreme accuracy in scale and color scheme. It is worth soberly assessing your skills in CorelDRAW and Adobe Photoshop editors, as well as whether you are able to create with their help individual design T-shirts.
# What specialists should you hire?
If the previous point about originality causes you serious doubts, consider engaging third-party designers. Nowadays, finding those who know how to use graphics programs is not so difficult - both for one-time orders and on an ongoing basis.
In addition, you may need the services of technical specialists. It depends on what equipment you are going to use:
Find out more information about this product, get professional recommendations you can choose from, as well as buy products for sublimation by contacting our specialists for advice.
If you want to start a business related to printing on T-shirts and producing other original products with minimal investment, we recommend that you first pay attention to the Economy equipment set. It includes a Vicsign VS330 cutting plotter and a Grafalex 38x38 flat heat press - these two devices will be enough to get started immediately.
Vicsign VS330 will allow you to create high-quality thermal transfer blanks without any difficulty. Automatic contour detection using position sensor and independent work without a computer, they will allow you to cut out a logo, inscription or design in a matter of minutes with high accuracy. The high power of the plotter will make it possible to cut reflective film high strength class. By using a digital and intelligent engine, exceptional segmentation accuracy is achieved, saving you from time-consuming tedious settings.
Having prepared desired design, all you have to do is transfer it using a Grafalex 38x38 flat heat press. The top heating plate of the heat transfer press is Teflon coated and is ideal for sublimation. Grafalex 38x38 equipped electronic system regulation and control of temperature and time. The countdown of the time set on the timer begins automatically after closing the press.
The Economy set is available for order at a special discounted price - don't miss out!
Extraordinary designer clothing is gaining more and more popularity. IN Lately T-shirts with original designs or inscriptions made to order are in great demand. This could serve as an excellent one.
To do this, you will need to buy or rent a professional machine for printing on knitwear or cotton.
You can, of course, start by outsourcing printing orders to another company, but this may turn out to be too expensive and unprofitable.
How to set up your business and what equipment to use will depend on which business model you choose.
You can create a company that will purchase ready-made T-shirts in bulk and only do the printing. Drawings for printing can be either standard or according to individual orders of customers.
Or you can open own production T-shirts with prints. Of course, this option will require more significant investments from you and a larger staff.
Where to begin?
To begin with, you must analyze the competition in the industry and study the market. It should be noted that you should not limit yourself to just your city. You can sell T-shirts with prints throughout the country using mail or courier services.
Think about what advantages your company will have over its competitors. A lot in this business depends on the quality of the T-shirts, the printing and, of course, design ideas. Try to approach this business creatively and feel not only like an entrepreneur, but also a real designer. It is the creative approach and extraordinary ideas that will be of great value to your business.
The first step to implementing your business project is registration entrepreneurial activity. The easiest way is to register an individual entrepreneur (individual entrepreneur), as this requires least cost and greatly simplifies accounting.
To run a business, you will need production space to accommodate a T-shirt printing machine, as well as storage of finished products. You will also need space to accommodate managers and receive clients.
Necessary investments
To print on T-shirts, you will first need to equip your business with an industrial printer that allows you to transfer digital prints to fabric.
The cost of such specialized equipment starts from $10,000. The wholesale price for T-shirts can be $2-4 per unit. Of course than better quality T-shirts, the higher their price. Check out the offers of wholesalers and try to conclude the most beneficial cooperation agreement for you. Wholesale dealers are ready to accommodate and offer discounts and various discount programs for regular customers.
Before you begin production directly, you will need to have ready-made projects drawings for printing. To do this, you must also purchase graphics programs such as Photoshop or Corel Draw. Licensed software will cost you $600-900. A designer's development of one image project for printing can cost $50-300. The cost of a designer's work greatly depends on the complexity of the design, as well as on the deadlines.
Selling T-shirts
There are many opportunities to sell your products:
- Cooperation directly with clothing stores to sell your T-shirts
- Selling T-shirts through auctions (ebay.com, molotok.ru, etc.) or online store
- Selling T-shirts in your own store
- Production of T-shirts according to individual customer orders.
The idea of starting a T-shirt printing business is already well known around the world. However, high-quality T-shirts with interesting designs developed by talented designers will undoubtedly find their buyers.
Many companies (especially startups) today are trying to capture their share of the market using non-standard solutions in the fields of communications and “time travel”. For example, Teespring sells itself and helps sell T-shirts to thousands of partners.
And she does it very well - with the help of social media, about six million T-shirts are sold a year! Hundreds of the company’s partners managed to earn more than one hundred thousand dollars in 2014, and the income of twenty lucky ones crossed the threshold of one million dollars.
How can you get rich from T-shirts on the Internet?
In this article we will look at:
- what is Teespring
- advantages and disadvantages
- success stories with Teespring
- a detailed case on earning $400 a week using the same site
- plus a short summary
→ Useful article —
What kind of company is this – Teespring?
And how does she help her partners earn money? How does making money from T-shirts become a reality?
The developers of Teespring have created an online platform on the Internet that allows any company or individual to design T-shirts and then sell them. Teespring partners are launching crowdfunding - special campaigns offering "affiliate" T-shirts.
You can design T-shirts yourself (without leaving the Teespring website) or use the services of the company's designers. Having decided on a design, partners indicate selling prices for them and the minimum number of pre-orders, after receiving payment for which Teespring will begin producing them. The company resolves all issues related to the production of T-shirts and their delivery to customers. The company’s partner receives his profit at Teespring headquarters (USA, Rhode Island, Providence) after selling the entire batch of T-shirts “created” by him.
The main advantages of an online business selling T-shirts:
- large commission - the partner receives an average of 50% profit from each T-shirt sold with his design
- The Teespring website is a popular English-language resource: people from all over the world buy T-shirts there every day
- can be sold own design not only on the usual “men’s” T-shirts, but also on women’s T-shirts, sweatshirts, etc.
- communication with the client is carried out by the company - the partner is free from solving problems with delivery of goods, returns, disputes, etc.
The main disadvantages of an online business selling T-shirts:
- To make a profit, you need to be able to sell more than ten T-shirts with the same design within a certain time - otherwise you won't get paid a cent
- to really make money you need to develop unique design T-shirts – on your own or with someone’s help
As you can see, there are still more advantages)
Algorithm for working with Teespring
Beginners may think that making money on T-shirts is a difficult and expensive business. The simplified algorithm below shows that this is not the case:
1. Register on the Teespring website.
2. Using the tools of the T-shirt editor built into the site (or using Photoshop), develop a T-shirt design.
3. At one of the steps of creating a T-shirt, you will see its cost. Add your markup to it.
4. Indicate the number of T-shirts you intend to sell (minimum 10 pieces). Your commission will increase in proportion to the number of T-shirts sold.
5. Enter the number of days you need to sell the T-shirts. The average is 7 days.
7. Start producing T-shirts with your design.
8. Start working to attract traffic to the link specified in paragraph 6 and sell T-shirts.
As you can see, there is nothing complicated about selling T-shirts. You just need to spend a little time to understand the technical details.
The slogan “Keep Calm!” printed on the T-shirt. Now this is the care of the chemotherapy” (“Keep calm and let the radiation therapist take care of it”) brought Benny Hsu, who worked as a restaurant administrator, more than one hundred and twenty thousand dollars in 2014.
Former hospital secretary Kimberly Springer chose women as her target audience - and she was right: in 2014, she earned two hundred thirty-eight thousand dollars from them.
The most popular was a T-shirt with the inscription “She is strong: Proverbs 31.” T-shirts aimed at single women also sold well. The inscription on them read: “This girl still dates her husband.”
“Researching your niche is key,” says Kimberly Springer. We need to find answers to questions like: “What makes them proud of themselves?” or “What is it that women find it difficult to get recognized for?”
Teespring is one of the best T-shirt retailers in the United States. In 2014, she sold more than six million T-shirts. People like Springer and Hsu, who earned hundreds of thousands of dollars using the company's website - more than a hundred, said Walker Williams, summing up the results of the year, CEO Teespring. In addition, twenty people were able to earn more than a million dollars by selling Teespring T-shirts.
The company employs about three hundred full-time employees as a back office for such “freelance” designers as Springer and Hsu. They do all the dirty work for Teespring partners: providing online sales, processing payments, producing T-shirts, communicating with customers and handling logistics. The company charges partners about nine dollars per T-shirt (the price depends on the complexity of the print (pattern) and the quality of the cotton. Retail price partners set it themselves, making money on the difference.
The company's report shows that almost 60% of sales come from advertising in social networks. It is noteworthy that about 20% of people who buy T-shirts post their purchases on Facebook.
Teespring's success is driven by Youtube star designers. For example, former broker Glyn Williams has sold a million dollars worth of T-shirts since October 2014. Glyn says he is amazed by the success of his Facebook followers.
Sitting at home in the UK, in just a few clicks, Glen was able to advertise his signature message “Keep your hands off my gun, Obama” to his target audience (men over 25) even in the USA.
The analysis showed that his subscribers are supporters of the National Rifle Association and regularly visit sites with gun rules.
Glyn also tried to produce T-shirts with inscriptions expressing the views of opponents of weapons, but this experiment was unsuccessful.
But he sold T-shirts for French emigrants who were worried about “the government expelling them from the country,” as well as T-shirts for dog owners. different breeds(the leaders were the “faces” of German shepherds and pit bulls, ahead of Labradors and Chihuahuas). Williams spends three hours a day “maintaining” his business, updating data in a spreadsheet and analyzing revenue and advertising costs for more than a hundred T-shirt designs.
As the company's turnover increases, so do its production costs and Facebook advertising costs. In addition, the flow of official complaints about the content of the inscriptions on T-shirts has increased.
Their authors are often accused of using sports team slogans, film stills, and copying the design of top-selling T-shirts. Walker Williams says special people His company is responsible for reviewing all design projects, minimizing the occurrence of liability incidents, which helps to stay out of trouble.
Total: in just three years of existence, Teespring achieved annual sales of six million T-shirts. The company's main marketing channel is targeted advertising on social networks.
→ For Internet entrepreneurs —
How to useFacebookI earned 400 in one week$
I want to offer you a story about in an interesting way making money. To get started you will need some basic knowledge in English, creativity and some money.
Case fromLewis Ogden
In a little more than seven days, I was able to earn $400, starting out with little money and zero experience. Using my example and the links below, you can also earn at least $1600 per month.
Project
As you already understand, we will make money using the website Teespring.com.
For those who are not in the know, this is a resource that allows you to create T-shirt designs for free, which you can then trade by advertising them on social networks. The T-shirts will be produced by Teespring once you reach the required number of pre-orders.
The beauty of the Teespring project is that it is simple and battle-tested (using the Groupon model of a group shopping site).
After registering and creating a design, you will need to specify a minimum number of T-shirts that you plan to sell through pre-orders. The trick is that you need to choose a volume that will ensure a normal profit (the larger the batch, the lower the cost of the T-shirt and the higher the partner’s income) and a price that will not scare away potential buyers. Below I will tell you how to use this trick correctly.
How to set up a campaign
Setting up a campaign on Teespring is easy - just a few clicks and you're done! You can start by reading the "How It Works" section on the company's website, but if you're like me, you'll be able to figure it out on your own.
One of the key aspects of doing business with Teespring is t-shirt design. You need to think about this at the very beginning. Personally, I invited a freelance illustrator to collaborate ($15 per hour). In sixty minutes he produced three design projects, so my costs for him were small. If you know how to work in Photoshop, then you can do without investing in the development of T-shirt designs at all. I paid a freelancer because I really wanted to start my own quickly.
I advise you not to complicate the design. If you even saw a beautiful and complex design on a T-shirt somewhere and thought: “I’ll create something like that too...” - then take my advice: don’t do it. My experience has shown that T-shirts with complex designs need to be offered to ready-made target audiences (for example, your own large communities on social networks). Do you have such an audience? Then try, but it’s better to start with something simpler.
ABOUT minimum number sales
The more T-shirts you want to sell, the lower their cost should be. Here's an example of my design:
- I only used two primary colors (white and black) and standard design(the more colors you use, the more expensive the base price of the t-shirt will be)
- the minimum sales volume that I set is 30 pieces
- The base price of the T-shirt was $8.3
- the selling price set by me is $19.95
The block below with a blue frame is a new Teespring feature (it didn't exist when I created the campaign). It allows you to choose different colors and design styles. Previously, to do this, you had to send a request to the company’s email after launching the campaign.
Here is the description, I added to the sales page (you can safely use it for your own projects):
- “Your year of birth is 1974? Limited Edition "Made in 1974. Seasoned to Perfection" T-Shirts! You can order right now! Hurry up to book while you can!
- The old price is $29.95, but today only the collectible can be yours for $19.95! Limited quantity! Hurry up!”
How to set the optimal price for a T-shirt
In my case, the price of $19.95 turned out to be the most optimal. The price range on the site is wide, but the average price of T-shirts is $20. I advise you to set the cost at a level close to this. $20 is a price that allows you to make a good profit and does not look threatening to the wallets of potential clients.
Where to get traffic?
Ads inFacebook
This strategy relies on using Facebook ads and pricing the jerseys to make a profit.
Below I have included an ad that brought me more than 50 sales, resulting in a profit of $400.
Why did it work? You won’t believe it, but I didn’t think about this ad for a long time) That is, I didn’t modify it in any way after the start of the campaign (except for increasing the advertising budget after accelerating sales (it is determined in the following table)). And yet, the ad worked perfectly.
Targeting
For the 1974 advertising campaign, I targeted users aged 39 with an upcoming birthday. The audience reach was almost seventy thousand people! Imagine that your birthday is coming soon, and suddenly you see such an announcement in your news feed. A powerful thing, wouldn’t you agree?
The amount you pay per click matters when calculating the effectiveness of your advertising campaign. If you don’t control costs and let things take their course, you can get a very unpleasant result.
Most traders consider themselves smarter than others, setting very low prices per click. Believe me, Facebook is not a fool either, it also strives to make money. If your ads have a good CTR, then most likely you will earn money and be able to pay for their further display. This means that both earning parties will be “happy and satisfied” - both you and the social network.
I set a daily budget of $10, paying for clicks. This way I was paying for real clicks from the social network to my Teespring sales page. After letting the ad run for two days, I checked the statistics. The percentage of transitions was 7.6. Although it is believed that figures exceeding 5% - good sign, I looked at the actual result: clicks and sales.
Compare your total sales profit with your total advertising costs and you will know whether you are in the black or in the black. If the campaign is successful, increase your ad spend, making sure your ad reaches all 70,000 potential customers. After the first $20 spent on advertising, use your ability to play with numbers and math.
Improving ads
There are many ways to improve your ad. For example, I could target only male users because men are more likely to buy a black T-shirt than women.
I could also expand the audience a little, but at 70 thousand it seemed to me that the limit had already been reached.
When choosing a picture for the ad, I “swimmed against the tide.” Research shows that images of faces, especially women's faces, improve click-through rates on ads. Many people “decorate” their ads with a large red frame, trying to make it stand out from competitors’ ads.
In this article we will consider the question: how to open an online T-shirt store and provide a minimum business plan to get started.
Market Features
Thinking about starting your own business? But what to choose with minimal investment? There is a great solution - creating an online T-shirt store. This type of clothing is quite popular both among young people and among more age groups. This wardrobe item is universal and everyone has it. You can find a huge selection in stores and on the Internet. But even such a quantity of goods cannot satisfy the tastes of everyone. You can become the person who will create exclusive T-shirts that fit... a certain person or a group of people.
Business model
Choosing a business model:
manufacturer
Opening an IPWe create our website:
- a blog selling a group on social networks. At the moment, there are many options for creating your own website - from a professional, or try it yourself through platforms such as Moguta.CMS, etc. At first, the simplest platforms will help you out (they require minimal investment), later you can transfer your site to a more advanced resource.
- You can also open your own online store using special services: https://storeland.ru/, http://www.shop-script.ru/, AliExpress, Amazon.
We display product samples, describe services and prices, promote ourselves using advertising (Yandex, Google, VK, FB, our own page, bloggers, partnerships with sites on similar topics). We are receiving orders.
Mediator
Agree with the manufacturer on the terms of cooperation. In our opinion, it is better to negotiate not on a fixed salary, but on a percentage of sales. So there is a higher incentive to work.
Dropshipper
Here I recommend an affiliate program: you earn money on the number of clicks - conversions, or on a percentage of sales.
The target audience
This niche covers a large target audience: from children to the elderly. Depending on the age and interests of the potential client, the amount per product will vary.
Teenagers. T-shirts are not only their daily wear, but also a means of self-expression. You need to be up to date with all the latest pop culture to know what you can offer them: a print of a sensational film, quotes, just beautiful phrases(the main thing is that the font is beautiful), popular actors and singers, memes, etc.
Adults. This group prefers simple and stylish things. Most often they buy comfortable clothes in a casual style. But they most often prefer to give exclusive gifts: a T-shirt with a joint photo, themed ones (for example, for a bachelorette party).
The price of a T-shirt will depend on the complexity of its manufacture (material, picture), but usually it is no more than 1000 -1500 rubles. Such affordable prices will attract a wide audience to you.
Major competitors in the industry
Pooblika. This is a well-known store that is more focused on corporate orders. Revenue for 2017 – 10 million rubles. 90% of revenue comes from corporate orders. 149 thousand rubles is the average bill for corporate orders.
Jamaica. T-shirt printing studio in St. Petersburg. Focused on ordinary person, and on the company. They help with design development, delivery and offer a wide selection of payment methods.
Find a supplier
One of the most important points. It is necessary to find a supplier who guarantees quality, price and delivery on time. The Internet will tell you this (forums, search engines, word of mouth). You can also use these resources: http://futbolki-opt.maryjane.ru/, https://supl.biz/, http://www.greenv.ru/, http://futboprint.vmayke.org/. Don’t forget to check all the information and carefully negotiate all the terms of cooperation.
Find staff
If you are going to sell finished goods, then you will only need one more person - an assistant who will help you organize and develop your business. If you're going to sell custom T-shirts, you'll need a designer. While you are at the start, a couple of people will support you. If you successfully develop your business and reach a new level, you cannot do without an order processing manager and an accountant. You, of course, can be “one for all,” but as the business develops, you will have to spend more and more time on it. You don’t want your life to get lost in everyday work, do you? Therefore, look for capable people and delegate some of your responsibilities to them.
Select payment acceptance services
Nowadays, many people make purchases online. To do this, you need to decide on a method: plastic cards, bank transfers, electronic money, payment terminals. The most popular are options 1 and 3. If you opened your online store on any ready-made platform (in paragraph 3 of the article), you can rest assured, because... The creator of the service has already taken care of the security of transfers. If you are trying to connect yourself this service, then you need a professional who can organize correct work your store.
Prepare delivery
There are several types of delivery: courier, mail or pickup. The choice of delivery method depends on the number of units in the order and where your customer lives.
- Courier. This could be a friend of yours, or you yourself (if the customer is in the same city as you). You can also consider concluding an agreement with a courier service.
- Mail. One of the simplest and most accessible ways.
- Pickup. Perfect option, because you don't need to waste your time and money.
Possible doubts
Creating an online store selling T-shirts may seem unprofitable to you for several reasons:- There are already too many of them. Remember - there are no comrades according to taste (you can also add about the size of your wallet).
- You need to spend a lot of time searching for premises, personnel, and creating a website. As already written above, modern world makes your life as easy as possible: you can open your store on a ready-made online resource. You don’t need a bunch of professionals to start, you and your desire are enough, well, you can also involve a friend or a more experienced person in the implementation of your idea.
The Internet gives you huge scope for implementation own ideas- go for it!
Business profitability
Starting capital – 340 thousand rubles.
Profit per month – 108 thousand rubles.
Payback period – 4 months.
Question: how to open an online T-shirt store should now become a little more clear. If you have any questions, we will be happy to answer them in the comments.
To post and sell your prints on our trading platform no costs or investments required.
Select the product on which you want to place your print. When creating a print for a case, you can select a designer for any phone model, the print will be placed in all sections with cases.
Create a product with your print in the designer.
Click the sell button.
Fill in the information about your print.
Your profit will be 90% of the markup you specified.
Payment is accrued when the order is closed, when the client has paid and received the goods.
For example, you posted a print for a case with a markup of 300 rubles. It was sold for a case for Samsung S5, SoftTouch material, costing 790 rubles + 300 rubles of your markup. Your profit will be 300 * 0.9 = 270 rubles.
After posting, your print is moderated. You can see the current moderation status in personal account. Detailed statistics on posted and approved prints are also available there.
Also, if you have a blog, group, page or resource, you can receive an additional 25% of the base price from the traffic attracted through ours.
We take care of everything else: we print, accept payment, and deliver the goods to the client!