I was on here a bunch a while back. I had been researching t shirt production after reading an article about getting into the shirt business "cheap" by doing plastisol tranfers and whatnot. Either way, The more I researched, there is no real "cheap" was of doing it. It seems that I'd have overhead and everything from the getgo, and I was laid of this summer (I'm a shop teacher) so I do not feel that I am in a place to be investing into a new business.
Either way, I have come up with ideas, and even designed some pretty nice graphics, that I think would sell. They are Christian shirts and they are very similar to some sold by Kerruso. As far a I know, that is the only real big company that sells shirts like I have in mind. Whether online, at a gas station, or a Christian book store, they are the brand I see for everything. SO, my question is this, do I continue to hold out in hopes that one day I can be a competitor (not trying to outsell them or anything, but just offer similar shirts at comparable prices), or should I maybe try to contact them an sell my designs? I am fully confident that the designs I have come up with would be sold by them if they had come up with it. To better explain, they have a line if shirts that takes a popular brand/logo/slogan and then makes it with a Christian twist. Like a Crush soda t shirt that says Christ instead of crush and then a catchy phrase or verse below. I've come up with a half dozen finished graphics as well as a few more ideas that I just haven't taken the time to do. Should I try pitching the ideas to them?
If I did go the route of selling my ideas rather than making the shirts, how can I protect myself from having them just take my ideas?
I see people in your position as having three options.
1. Sell graphics for a one time price that might not be what you think its worth.
2. Take the jump and see if you can do the business thing
3. Find a print on demand site( as I think your graphics don't need specialty printing) and start up the buzz and build capital.
When you create an idea and have some proof of creating it, you will hold a pretty substantial legal claim to it, without any official registration.
Print on Demand is something I was thinking about. Sadly they seem to cost so much I don't feel that I could charge the prices I wanted. I'd like to sell shirts for $15 a piece, and I have a feeling the PoD site would charge similar. If anyone has a good PoD site to suggest, please do.
My other problem I found with my designs is that one is a very detailed design. It'd be a DTG or something that could get all the colors and details. And another shirt design I had is big. It goes along the collar line and down to the bottom. Very similar to one of those white shirts with the body builder or bikini body on the front... So I feel that some of my designs limit the method of creating them...
When you create an idea and have some proof of creating it, you will hold a pretty substantial legal claim to it, without any official registration.
This really isn't correct. You cannot protect an "idea," only an expression of an idea, such as a design. A design is technically copyrighted once it is in fixed form, but it is pretty important to apply for official registration to establish legal ownership for the purpose of protecting the copyright in the event of infringement.
It is also important to note that copyright only protects the exact design. If someone took the idea, but designed it differently, the owner of the original design would have very little legal recourse, if any.
If I did go the route of selling my ideas rather than making the shirts, how can I protect myself from having them just take my ideas?
As I stated in the previous post, "ideas" cannot be protected. Designs can be copyrighted; Brand names and logos can be trademarked. You can try to trademark the phrases that you want to use, but it is somewhat difficult to register a phrase for use on a t-shirt. So the best thing would be to copyright your designs, but only the exact design is protected. So if you go this route and show your designs to someone, there will always be some element of risk that they take the idea and use it themselves instead of buying your design.
Sell shirts, or my ideas??? 
