This section of the forum is for discussing the business and finance issues of the t-shirt industry. Which business structure to use (sole proprietor, LLC, S Corp, etc), how to handle billing, where to register your business and get the proper licensing, etc.
I will be putting about 5000 into my startup next season, but I ma also depending on reinvesting all my profits back into the business to expand quickly. It certainly is possible to start with a few hundred.
I plan on putting 12 grand into an ecommerence business that will launch in the beginning of 2009...It gives me a year to put everything together and learn as much as possible...I will outsource all the screen printing so i can concentrate on the marketing side of things...
We just started and have 4K in equipment, supplies, software, and samples. For equipment we bought included cutter, heat press, laser printer, and fax. We are working out of our home and are putting everything back into the business as this is a part time/weekend deal. We are on track to having it all paid for by March.
Ideally, I would like to break even within the first six months, as I am launching at the beginning of the summer tourist season. I have a couple other ideas on the backburner as well though, and I want to be able to fund that through leftover profits that I do claim from the retail outlet after the first season is up.
I am planning to outsource all my screen printing to printmojo and selling my tshirts on printmojo to start off with. My plan is to start off with 6 designs and then adding a new design when needed. I rather outsource than do the manual labor myself so I can keep my daytime job. Hopefully printmojo is as good as advertised. I hope to start in the earlier part of 2009 (March - April). Right now, I am investing time into studying the industry of both the t-shirt industy and e-commerce. Estimated Start up cost: $5000.
I am actually bumping my move forward to February 2008, and I will have to cut my startup by about 2000, but I believe it will pay off because I will be entering the market just in time for Bike Week, the Daytona 500, and Spring Break, so I forsee having a very strong first two months leading up to the summer '08 season.
When you mentioned you were going to outsource all of your screen printing, how does outsourcing your printing work? I am completely "wet behind the ears when it comes to the t-shirt business. I was wondering, do I purase my t-shirts from one vendor, have them printed at a print shop, or can I do a one-stop-shop deal, where the vendor sells the t-shirts and does the printing as well. I have a logo that I am in the process of getting trademarked. Once thats done I'd like to have an idea of what my next move should be!
Thanks for your time rand wisdom!
Quirk
I am actually bumping my move forward to February 2008, and I will have to cut my startup by about 2000, but I believe it will pay off because I will be entering the market just in time for Bike Week, the Daytona 500, and Spring Break, so I forsee having a very strong first two months leading up to the summer '08 season.
I am excited and nervous all at once.
Are you still here? How did you plan work out? Did you just do shows or set up shop somewhere? Details man, details?
GETTING STARTED: Out of pocket expenses 
Are you still here? How did you plan work out? Did you just do shows or set up shop somewhere? Details man, details?
