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 just started a tee shirt line aimed at soccer players and fans. A local soccer shop owner is interested in putting our shirts in his store. We are selling the shirts for twenty dollars on our website, how much do I sell them to the store owner for? Is it better to sell on consignment and give him a piece, if so how much do I give him? I couldnt be more excited about his interest but we just printed them last week so I know I need to learn a lot really quick. www.shopredcard.com
Everyone will give you different answers, but it all starts with what the shirts cost you to make. This includes everything from artwork to shipping. Wholesale pricing is a bit tricky and can range from a 30% markup to a 100% mark up. Beyond that consignment is something that is a bit riskier for you, but can hold a higher margin of profit, but you also face not selling and then being out completely. I would suggest though not undercutting your online pricing for a retailer. Basically most retailers will mark up goods 100% and you dont want that to be far outside of what you sell for it online including shipping.
I would choose not to do consignment, it's risky, and often benefits the store owner, while leaving you with excess inventory, should they decide to return them because they aren't selling. If you can, stay away from a NET30 account as well, this will just give you another headache that you don't need.
If you're retailing your designs for $20.00 on your website, you may want to wholesale them for half of that, $10.00 each. But, this all depends on how much it's costing you to product one shirt (material costs, design time, labor, setup, rent, etc..)
When my t-shirt company goes live, I'll be selling my tees for $28.00 each, and wholesale at $14.00 each. No consignment, pay up front, all sales final. But, that's just me =)
Most want to be able to mark things up 40% - 100%. I second (or third) the caution about open accounts. You can get yourself product rich and cash poor, in a hurry.
Always remember that an open account is a loan. If you wouldn't loan them cash money don't take too many chances on loaning them product.
When my t-shirt company goes live, I'll be selling my tees for $28.00 each, and wholesale at $14.00 each. No consignment, pay up front, all sales final. But, that's just me =)
That's exactly what we do and we find it's the best way possible. We tried one time letting a store pay by check later and had to hassle them to pay us. Finally a month and a half later we got the check. For a small company, we can't have too much money tied up like that!
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Blog about our venture through screen printing Tance Hughes
How much mark up? 
