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.
If you can afford to trademark right away, definitely go ahead and do so. But if you are starting with limited funds, my opinion is to put your money towards production and marketing, and you can trademark later on.
I would at least have a trademark attorney confirm that your name would not be infringing on another business's trademark before you choose a name for your business. It would be unfortunate to receive a cease and desist letter from an existing business of the same name after you have spent thousands of dollars on website creation, business cards, shirts, etc.
I would think most brands take that risk since most are small start ups with no or little capital, then once they have the funds and a few sales under their belt move forward with trademarking. Most of the successful lines i know of started with under 500 bucks witch all went to the dba and product, so I would assume trademarking from the get go was out of the question.
still am a fan of trademarking, if you have the money since it may cost you less in the long run. God forbid you had to go back to the drawing board.
When to TradeMark 
