sound like what you’d hope to achieve soon, and chances are you will if you take smart steps. We created this guide because we get questions from our readers all the time about specific concerns that we realized hadn’t been sufficiently answered anywhere else—concerns that we, too, had throughout our journey. We hope to address these questions and more throughout this guide.
To make this guide even more helpful, we enlisted the help of a few other founders of kick-ass brands who really know their stuff, some of whom have achieved way more success than we have so far and were nice enough to share their wisdom and their own stories. Pay close attention to these exclusive brand owner contributions highlighted throughout the book, as they are probably the most important passages you’ll read. After reading this book in its entirety, we truly believe you’ll be on your way to launching a kick-ass t-shirt brand of your own.
CHAPTER 1
REALITY CHECK
Many people have this crazy idea that starting a t-shirt business is easy. The truth is, starting a t-shirt business is far from easy. If you’re looking for the quickest route to get rich while putting in little effort, look elsewhere. In fact, both successful and aspiring t-shirt entrepreneurs alike will tell you that launching a successful t-shirt business can be extremely hard. Sorry to break it to you, but they’re right.
It’s Tough Out There
With all the new t-shirt brands popping up every day, it’s no surprise that many people believe it doesn’t take much work to set up shop and start making money. Starting a successful t-shirt business is just like starting any other business. It takes, among several other things, willingness, dedication, skill and, whether you like it or not, money. There are going to be times you’ll feel like throwing in the towel, too.
Even after we had been at it for a while, there were still months we had to rummage for loose change for lunch money, and we thought maybe it was time to give it up, maybe it just wasn’t worth it. But you know what? We kept on going, and that’s what set us apart from most aspiring business owners who fail in less than a year.
Think You Got What It Takes?
Before you dive deep into the business, you need to seriously think about it and decide if this is the business for you. Are you truly passionate about creating a t-shirt brand? Are you ready, willing and able to sacrifice other important things in your life for your business? Are you ambitious enough to set goals and climb the ladder to success? Or are you just doing this for the money, or because you thought it would be cool to have a clothing line?
Don’t give up on your dreams just yet. Only you can truly decide if you have what it takes to make it in the business. If you believe so, it’s likely that you’ll do whatever you have to do to make things happen, and reading this book is a big step. But in addition to being mentally prepared for this venture, you have to be financially prepared. Starting a t-shirt business is neither easy nor cheap. If you thought you were going to magically start a business and actually make money without spending any money, you’ve been misled. Know your finances, and be ready to spend time and money.
A Lot To Learn
While starting a brand is its own reward, sometimes you yearn for a little more. If your goal is to become a successful t-shirt entrepreneur, or even a t-shirt millionaire, this book will give you the information you need to set yourself apart from the slew of other aspiring t-shirt entrepreneurs out there with the same goal. You will learn how to research the market, get your t-shirts printed and ready for sale, and acquire press coverage for your brand online and offline.
From developing your ideas on paper to producing and selling them to earn money, there is a lot to learn. This book contains a wealth of knowledge to set you on the right path to accomplishing these difficult tasks while having fun at the same time.
So you want to start a kick-ass t-shirt brand? Are you ready for the exhilarating journey of running your own business? Well then, read on!
CHAPTER 2
STARTING POINT
The prelude to this kick-ass guide is an informative article on T-ShirtMagazine.com titled “10 Tips For Launching Your T-Shirt Business,” which has become the most-visited article on the site. Since then, our inbox has exploded with emails from aspiring brand owners asking us for more advice. This article serves as a good starting point for anybody launching a t-shirt brand. If you have already read it, it’s always good to refresh your memory.
To kick off the hundreds of pages of priceless tips and advice that follow, here’s the article that started it all.
10 TIPS FOR LAUNCHING YOUR T-SHIRT BUSINESS
It seems nowadays that everybody is selling t-shirts, and if you haven’t started already, you might be next. Before you jump into the t-shirt business, you might want to take a few pointers, and we’ve got you covered. Here’s a guide on how to start your own t-shirt business, divided into the 10 most important aspects.
1. Do Your Research.
Make sure you’re knowledgeable about the clothing industry before you dive in. Get an understanding of how the business works. Read about how other brands became successful and model a similar strategy.
2. Plan Everything.
Before you get started, have a clear idea of what you plan on doing. Try to decide things like what kind of t-shirts you will be selling, who your target market is, whether your t-shirts will be available online only or if you’ll eventually be aiming to sell in stores. Design a marketing strategy that involves both free and paid advertising methods to expose your brand to your target market. Compose a practical business plan to use as a guideline for operating. For starters, identify your brand’s values, mission, objectives, strategies, goals, and long-term vision.
3. Know Your Competition.
You should always be familiar with the other clothing labels you’ll be competing with. If you’re starting a label based on humorous t-shirts, you should watch what all the other funny t-shirt labels are doing. Keep track of things like their design variety, pricing and promotion, because it may spur some new ideas for your own business strategy. This can be done easily nowadays by reading the blogs of competitor brands and subscribing to their newsletters to keep tabs on what they’re up to. This knowledge can help you keep up.
4. Create Products People Would Actually Buy.
It seems obvious, but you’d be surprised at some of the t-shirts you can find these days. Test the quality of your t-shirts by getting honest opinions from others, preferably people who are within your target audience.
5. Know the Finances.
Once you know what you plan on doing, get an idea of how much everything is going to cost you. When you start producing and selling t-shirts, keep track of all of your expenses. Get screen printing quotes from several printers and compare prices to get the best deal, without sacrificing quality. Add in the cost for labeling, hang tagging, bagging, or whatever other finishing options you might use. Don’t forget the cost of shipping envelopes, boxes, and product storage.
