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.
It costs me $500 to print these up. I want them to be sold for $15. I want $10 dollars per shirt from the stores that I will start putting them for sale in. Since I'm just starting out, I'd honestly be fine getting as little as $8 on them if that's what it took to get them in the stores to get the ball rolling. If my clothing line gets rolling I know I can make numbers based on quantity with the various designs I plan on putting out soon after. I believe in the brand for the long haul.
For those with experience, do you think I am expecting too much or too little for my first shirt?
Hi. You have paid $500 for 100 shirts. You need to sell at least fifty of these just to get your money back. If you sell all 100 shirts to a retailer at your proposed prices, you will make a gross profit of $300-$500.
Working purely on those figures, to make an income of just $300 dollars per week, you will need to be selling one hundred shirts to these stores every week.
The questions you have to ask yourself, is how many of your many shirts, would you expect a retailer to sell in a week, why will a store stock your products and what is the minimum purchase you will expect them to make?
In many cases, that purchase could be as little as ten shirts.
I've considered that. If they move really slow, I won't be making life changing money. As I come out with other designs, I know I'll want some of them to retail for more.
I know I'm not making a lot of money on my hundred shirts, but it's the name I want to build. I know I'll be spending a whole lot of time networking, driving to stores, meeting with them and pitching the shirts, all kinds of time will be spent and money wise it won't seem worth the reward in the very beginning.
But if I can eventually get my clothes in, let's say in 30 stores and each one were to only sell an average of 10 shirts a week. 300 shirts a week would be nice and an attainable goal at this point.
Hi. You certainly seem to have the right attitude to make a success of your business. Too many people drift into business thinking that everything is going to 'fall into their lap', that is seldom the case.
Only advice I will offer you is to stay positive. Never focus on the stores that say no, as they physically can't stock every product that is offered to them, but instead focus on building the relationships with the people that do buy from you.
Things tend to fall into your lap if you have a feasible plan. It can or can not be hard work depending on how you set up your plan. For me, its all about strategy. Everyone has a t-shirt idea they think will sell like hot cakes, but the successfull ones have a strategy to make it a success.
My question to you is, why did you make the shirts if you don't have an order? Now you have the shirts with your design on them. If your design doesn't sell, then you are out the money. But if you made one shirt as a demo shirt to sell your orders to retailers, then you could at least resell the blank shirts if your design doesn't sell.
Besides that point, it sounds like you need a marketing strategy. People sell shirts for hundreds of dollars or for a buck. So, if you're asking yourself if $15 is too much, then you need to re-evaluate your market and your market strategy. Find your niche and market positioning, then you can determine if $15 is too much.
To reiterate what "bythesea" is saying. It is all about perceived quality. If you expect your t-shirt to be a $15 item, then that is all it will be. In my niche my very basic Gildan shirt sells for $20 and when I started out with them priced at $15 buyers strongly advised me that I was asking too little and people would start looking for faults in them because of that, all based on the environment in which I market and sell my products. $20 to $30 for my t-shirts seems to be the sweet spot and I never anticipated that (woohoo). Be conscious of your target market, do your homework up front and be confident in your product.
__________________ www.stuffnthingz.com - "You can never have too much stuff", however, "The best things in life aren't things" is also true. XPS1530 | DK20 | Mighty Press 15 |Chinese hat press | Oki5800 | 88+ | LP24
CircusAct, I would like to commend you for taking the bold step forward.
You may also want to think about the ramificaitons of selling to 30 stores in one area. It's a great idea to have your products all over the place, but if those stores are all in the same area, you may create a price war between the stores. For one to sell the shirts, they lower their price below the others and for the other guys to compete, they lower their price and eventually, they price them to low to buy from you at a price you can profit from and they stop buying. It might be a better idea to price them higher and go after a smaller amount of the stores that can move the most amount of product.
congratulations on taking your first steps though, that's to be applauded!
Hey guys,
I just picked up the shirts two days ago and it's pretty exciting to see the shirts for real for the first time ( i started this thread when i put in the order)
I'm EXTREMELY busy planning a wedding with my fiance btw, so this t shirt business is something I plan on giving more time to in about 6 weeks when I'm back from my honeymoon.
I did sell my first 3 shirts yesterday and today to some co-workers of mine. Yeah they liked them and yes chances are they bought them because they wanted to support the new venture and because they knew me, but nonetheless, it's a good feeling to get the ball rolling.
I won't post pictures or even mention the name of the clothing line though. My plan is to make this huge...as in making millions. A former friend of mine is one of the owners of Tapout (Dan aka punkass on the TV show), so you might think I sound delusional but I have long term goal with this because I have seen it done right before my eyes before and seen a nobody turn fairly rich (u would fall over in laughter if you ever saw their designs in the early years LOL).
So anyways, I don't want to say the name or show designs because I AM a newbie to this game and don't want people knowing it once they see it in stores one day. maybe that makes sense, maybe it doesnt... anyways, I prefer to stay invisible!
I have business experience before running a small company but this is something new for me. My main goal is just to build contacts with stores and to get my clothes in there. I don't care if they want 20 shirts or 2 shirts to start out. The point is those 2 shirts orders will turn into 10 and that will turn into 40. Stores just wanna make money and once they see I have something that can make some money, they'd be stupid not to carry something that makes them money. It won't happen overnight and my business goals are long term. I'm aiming to make "semi" life changing money within 12 months.
I've talked with some stores over the past couple of weeks and showed them what the shirts would look like and it looks like I should have some product in at least a couple places within the next couple of weeks.
This thread has been helpful to me though, so thanks to everybody, whether I agree with you or not.
So I printed my first 100 shirts... 
