I have been researching how many designs to actually start with. I think this is an important question, because you could easily get yourself into allot of financial issues way before you have ever sold one item. I know everybody's financial situation is different. Some might have unlimited startup capital and others may throw a $100 here or there when they can.
My question in all of this is, if you were shopping online and found a certain shirt design, slogan, or brand you liked, and they only had 1 or 2 designs up on their site for sale, would you be less enclined to buy from that company as opposed to some other company that you liked and had 20-30 designs.
For me personally that would not deter me from buying from the smaller design company if I liked the apparel, but I am not everybody and people might think the overall quantity of the designs determines the quality of that company. That is why I am asking this question. What is your experience from a buyer or seller standpoint?
My question in all of this is, if you were shopping online and found a certain shirt design, slogan, or brand you liked, and they only had 1 or 2 designs up on their site for sale, would you be less enclined to buy from that company as opposed to some other company that you liked and had 20-30 designs.
If I really liked the designs, that in itself wouldn't deter me.
I think there are a lot more factors that make a site seem trustworthy aside from the number of designs.
I think speaking "generally" that buyers do like to feel like they have a choice.
I started with one design, and even though I had the exact design that people wanted, I got emails all the time from people asking if I had other designs as well. As I added more designs, the volume of those "do you have more designs" email dwindled.
It's good to do what you can to make the customers feel more comfortable shopping at your site. If you impress them in all the other ways, and the number of designs is your only fault, then you're doing the best you can.
Me personally, I have purchased from t-shirt sites that carry just one design and I've not purchased from sites that have dozens of designs (and vice versa).
I think 3-5 is a nice starting number if you're starting small.
Hi,
my cafepress shop has 140 designs. Sometimes, I think that it overwhelms people & turns them off. When I start making my shirts at home & sell on my own site, I will only have 4 catergories & probably 12 designs for each catergory. I will use my best selling designs in my own personal store that people seem to love at my cafepress store. If you only have 2-3 designs, if they are unique, you will always have buyers. It is always best to make your designs special, so that no one else can imitate them easily, but also to sell them at a reasonable price.
My question in all of this is, if you were shopping online and found a certain shirt design, slogan, or brand you liked, and they only had 1 or 2 designs up on their site for sale, would you be less enclined to buy from that company as opposed to some other company that you liked and had 20-30 designs.
I'd be less inclined to trust that they are a professional, reliable company, which in turn might make me less inclined to buy from them. I have bought from multiple sites that only had one design available, although most of those were reputable for other reasons (e.g. well known web sites that just put out one t-shirt).
For me there's a sweet spot. I groan when a site has 40+ designs, and I generally leave immediately if they have more than a hundred. Four or less I'll look around, but it will affect my perception. 5-25 or so is probably my sweet spot.
It really depends though, with a strong concept two designs can be enough.
I am planning on launching my on-line store in the beginning of April and I am starting with three lines with two designs in each line. However, either I have produced or I have commissioned a total of ten designs and plan to continue to obtain designs on a fairly regular basis. I am not even counting the designs I have rejected.
I am building my online shop now and, allthough I have a job too, the money I can spend is limited.
I agree with you that it is not really important if you have one or one hundred different designs. The only thing that counts is that you sell what the customer wants to buy.
However, the more shirts you offer, the greater the chance that a customer will find what he is looking for.
Therefore I make my designs digitally using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. I made a picture of a shirt and combined it with the designs. This way I want to start with about 15 different designs. The shirts are not printed untill somebody orders it.
The local screen printer promissed to print the shirts the same day. Of every design ordered 15 shirts will be printed. This is more expensive than larger quantities, but the risk is limited too.
However, the more shirts you offer, the greater the chance that a customer will find what he is looking for.
And the greater the chance their sensibilities will be offended (be they aesthetic or moral). Some sites clearly haven't considered that sometimes less is more.
Thanks alot for this idea. My partner and I were just discussing tonight how to show retailers more of our designs without having to print them. That is a great idea to combine the design with the tshirt and just have a print out.
You can always throw designs up on a website
before printing and see what your best response
is. Then get rid of the unwanted ones and add
some more designs and keep testing the market.
i had trouble with this to begin with, but after thinking hard about it, and speaking to a printer today about my intended fashion label, i am going to start with a handful of designs myself, say 4 or 5 designs, then a hoody and tee in each design, possibly 2 different styled tees in a couple of the designs (different colour or wash technique).
This seems like a toss up, becuase when you have a large quanitity you have more selection which is great, but then you have the customers that may not make the decisoin right away, or if they really like your store they will buy mor ethan one design. I am going to start my site off with three designs, and just build from there releasing two more, because i know alot of people mentioned that hte quality of the design is important too. But in my opinion you dont' want to print a lo of shirts in the beginning becuase if they don't sell, then your stuck with tons of shirts leftover. 36 pieces sounds like a good number, but then of course i want to print 100 just in case the company goes big real quick.
I have noticed a great way to judge you designs is a voting system. Similar to threadless but only have two shuts up and let the customers choose which one should be released next. It also creates a return factor because people love to matter.
i think it all comes down to you presenting what your clothes/company is about to the consumer so that they can identify with it better and not just see it as a sick design. Sure having more designs makes fills out the portfolio but it doesnt matter if those designs are weak.
starting out and number of designs 
