Fashion and clothing items are a universal bestseller.
No matter what age or gender, you can attract many potential customers when you start an online t shirts business on Shopify. If you’re new to this platform and are puzzled about what to sell for profit, this is your sign to start a t shirt store!
Since working for an ecommerce data analytics company, I’ve seen how the fashion and clothing industry has consistently been among the top sellers online.
Statista also backs it up with a report that the industry’s compound annual growth rate is expected to reach 14.2% by 2025. By the end of 2024, industry experts predict the industry will hit the $1 trillion valuation mark.
These numbers are exciting for businesses that sell t shirts online. This category has also shown great resilience and impressive sales potential. If you want to start your own t shirt business online, this guide is for you!
[blog_callout_sec title=”Article Overview” p=’
Things to Consider Before Starting a Shopify T Shirt Business
Guide to Selling T Shirts on Shopify
Conclusion: Starting a T Shirt Business on Shopify
FAQs‘]
Actionable Steps
- Starting shirt business on Shopify is profitable, making it a valid business idea for new ecommerce entrepreneurs.
- Before launching your t shirt store, choose the best printing techniques and suppliers for your t shirts.
- Choose a niche and create unique designs to stand out from the competition.
- Once you have a niche, create a unique brand for your shirt business on Shopify and validate the designs’ popularity.
Things to Consider Before Starting a Shopify T Shirt Business
Before launching a t shirt store, ensure you know the most important things to consider that set you up for success.
Whether it’s choosing the best tools to help create custom t shirts and designs or building a brand for your Shopify t shirt store, here are the vital parts to focus on when building your business strategy.
1. Printing Techniques and Tools
The first and most important step in starting an online store is finding the best tools for your chosen printing techniques. Over the years, the shirt business has grown tremendously, and demand keeps rising.
The advancement in t shirt design and printing technologies has largely contributed to that growth.
Therefore, sellers who want to create their own t shirt business must choose the best printing techniques.
The first option is screen printing. This old technique for printing your own t shirt designs continues to be the preferred choice for printing among Shopify store owners who sell custom t shirts.
The reason why many online business owners prefer it is due to the long-lasting and durable designs. In addition, screen printing is not just suited for t shirts; you can also use it to customize the design of canvas tote bags, hats, and mugs.
The only downside to the screen printing method is that the setup is bulky and time-consuming. Therefore, it is recommended for Shopify t shirt stores that print in bulk.
Heat transfer is another custom t shirts printing method when selling shirts on Shopify. Printing your t shirt designs on your home computer and transferring them with an iron is simple. However, it gets more complicated when using this technique for a small online business.
A more advanced heat transfer method, plastisol transfer, is available using a professional printer and high-quality paper. This printing method for your online t shirt business is affordable in the long run but requires a huge capital investment when acquiring the heat press machine.
Lastly, the direct-to-garment printing method uses a tool that functions like an inkjet printer. It works exactly as it says: the machine prints the ink directly onto the garment using full-color images for more vivid t shirt designs.
2. Custom T Shirts Design
To make your t shirt business profitable, you need to develop unique and eye-catching design ideas.
The best way to sell custom t shirts is to offer original and stand-out designs. Nothing could be worse than your buyers finding what you claim as your own t shirt designs on another website or store.
Focus on unique t shirt design ideas that will attract your target audience. First, identify your target audience and develop designs that appeal to them, such as graphic tees or shirts with funny slogans.
Once you create your own t shirt designs, create high-quality design files that are 300 pixels per inch or above for the best print quality.
3. T Shirt Quality
Another critical aspect of a profitable Shopify t shirt business is the quality of your shirts. Invest in a quality t shirt material to satisfy your target audience.
While you may be able to attract more customers with unique and eye-catching t shirt designs, product quality should always come first.
Your online t shirt business will likely succeed if you offer the best quality t shirts. While they may be more costly to produce, you can offer them at a higher price. This pricing strategy will work if you develop your business model to suit your target audience.
Even if you have a slim profit margin with this approach, you can win over more customers if you focus on quality over quantity.
4. Branding for T Shirt Business
Branding is an important aspect of building a successful custom t shirts store on Shopify. You need to build a strong brand that will distinguish you from other stores that sell shirts on Shopify.
A brand could be inspired by your products, designs, and niche.
Once you have established a brand, you will use that in your business name, logo, and other branding collaterals. Therefore, it should help establish a distinctive presence for your Shopify store against other t shirt businesses.
A good brand must embody a lifestyle you want your target audience to immerse in, effectively capturing their attention. That said, consider your target audience when you build your brand.
5. Inventory Management for the T Shirt Business
Inventory management is the final aspect of building a Shopify online t shirt business. Since the t shirt industry is a crowded market, you must have an efficient way of managing your inventory before you start selling t shirts online.
The traditional way of managing an e commerce store is to invest in your own t shirt printing tools, such as a heat press machine, and have a professional designer in your team. Essentially, you can start selling t shirts online with your team designing t shirts and managing the inventory.
Another advantage to managing your inventory is that you can start selling t shirts in person instead of doing it solely through an ecommerce platform like Shopiify. It allows you to sell products locally, expanding your target market.
Another option to manage your online t shirts business is to print on demand. The print on demand model entails less risk since it involves lower investment as you won’t procure your printing tools.
Your production will only depend on the volume of orders you get for your online t shirt store. It’s a good idea to start with print on demand for your t shirt business so you can get familiar with how it works before expanding into a larger target market.
Guide to Selling T Shirts on Shopify
Follow this step by step guide on how to sell custom t shirts online and build a successful store.
Pick a Niche
The secret to a successful Shopify t shirt business is to choose a niche that allows you to stand out from the competition. You must set your Shopify store apart from other businesses that sell shirts on Shopify.
You can make a distinction based on your design ideas and unique t shirt brand.
When you make a distinction, you can also draw your target audience toward your t shirt designs because you appeal to them. They can only find a particular t shirt design or material from your online t shirt store.
The best way to determine a successful niche in the shirt business is to do market research. Conduct test groups and target market analysis. What do customers within a particular age group or demographic want in a shirt business?
Choosing to sell graphic tees or shirts with funny slogans won’t cut it anymore as it has become a crowded market. Instead, focus on sub-niches so you can start selling t shirts to a specific target audience.
For example, you can target selling graphic or custom t shirts to dog or pet owners. This makes your product more unique and appeals to a specific audience rather than a broad customer segment with plenty of competition.
Source Materials and Printing Techniques
Once you have a niche for your shirt business on Shopify, you can launch your own t shirt business!
This step involves finding a manufacturer or supplier to partner with for your t shirt brand. The manufacturer or supplier you choose should be based on their t shirt printing techniques and design ideas. It will be easier for you if you can find a supplier that fits into your chosen niche, allowing you to sell products that your target audience would buy.
Due to the simplicity of your main product – shirts – quality is paramount. Choose a print on demand supplier or manufacturer that offers the best quality t shirts.
You can order samples from a few suppliers to determine the quality of the t shirts they sell, and if it meets your criteria. Getting order samples is the best way to assess the material’s quality, softness, weight, print quality, and sizing.
You can use the samples to narrow down your list supplier options, allowing you to make a data-driven decision about your shirt business.
Develop T Shirt Designs
Once you pick your t shirts supplier for your t shirt store, it’s time to get creative. Depending on your chosen sub-niche, you can start crafting designs for t shirts to suit your potential customers.
You can get inspiration for trending t shirt designs from online t shirt marketplaces or Google Trends.
Pinterest is another social platform that can serve as a visual inspiration for your designs for the t shirt business. There are billions of pins on Pinterest, which you can use to spark your creative instincts and create something unique for your target audience.
Another idea is to set up Google alerts for trending subjects, which you can incorporate into developing your t shirt designs.
Develop Graphic Design Skills
If you are serious about growing your t-shirt business online, you need to develop your graphic design skills. You can always hire a professional designer, but doing it yourself can be more time- and cost-saving, allowing you to increase your profit margins.
The basic graphic design principles to observe when creating designs for your shirt business include the following:
- Choosing your design fonts
- Aligning the fonts with the images
- Scaling your fonts properly
- Use graphics, shapes, and other illustrations
When all else fails, you can use ready-made designs. Several sites offer royalty-free graphics you can integrate into your t shirts and you can add your unique spin into those designs.
Mock Up Your T Shirt Designs
After finalizing your t shirt designs, you can create mock-up images to visualize how the shirts will look. Seeing the designs on the t shirt allows you to see the final product rendered in a photo.
You can create your mockup design using software like Adobe Photoshop. Some software tools even have mockup templates that you can utilize to change the shirt’s colors, allowing you to visualize how your design looks in different colors.
If you don’t like drawing mockups, you can always refer to the samples provided by your supplier to take product photos.
Validate Your Designs
Getting feedback for your t shirt design is important to ensure its popularity before you sell products online. You have multiple options for validating your designs.
1. Get feedback from your social media accounts
Once you have finalized your designs for your online t shirt store, the next step is to post those designs on your social media accounts to solicit feedback. Try to seek the opinion of those with a design-oriented mind.
Therefore, you must join Facebook groups for t shirt designers and creatives to get an unbiased opinion about your t shirts before you launch your Shopify business.
2. Join web forums.
In addition to joining Facebook groups, search for forums related to t shirts online and share your designs through that platform. As with Facebook, you can ask for feedback on your designs and recommendations.
Sites like Reddit are filled with active users who are interested in specific niches. You can even find future potential customers or leverage them as a free marketing strategy.
In a way, you are already promoting your online t shirt business before you officially launch!
3. Leverage crowdfunding sites.
Crowdfunding sites are another excellent platform to test and validate designs for your t shirt business. While launching a crowdfunding campaign can be time-consuming, it is beneficial if you have a novel idea.
Testing is vital before you invest in your t shirt business to ensure that there is an earning potential or that you can attract enough customers within your target market.
Set Up Your T Shirt Store Online
With your product ready, you can start selling t shirts online by launching your Shopify store!
If you have a print on demand supplier for your t shirts, it would be easy to integrate that into your Shopify t shirt store. Many print-on-demand apps are available on the Shopify App Store, ensuring a seamless way of managing and shipping orders.
After that, you can refer to our extensive guide on starting a Shopify store, which will take you through a detailed process for setting up your t shirt store online.
Conclusion: Starting a T Shirt Business on Shopify
With an ecommerce platform like Shopify, it is easier than ever to start an online t shirt business!
Whether you’re creative and want to showcase your designs, or you have an entrepreneurial mind and want to capitalize on the popularity of the fashion and clothing industry, it’s a valid business idea.
The only downside is that the t shirt industry is a crowded market, and standing out from the competition is extremely challenging.
But with a great business plan and marketing strategy, launching a t shirt business is one of the best ways for new entrepreneurs to dip their toes into the ecommerce business scene.
FAQs
Is selling t shirts online profitable?
While success is not guaranteed in the online business scene, selling t shirts can be profitable since fashion and clothing products are always in demand.
Is Shopify good for selling t shirts?
Custom t shirts are among the best-selling products on Shopify, with an estimated value of $4.3 billion. Setting up an online store is a great way to earn passive income from selling t shirts.