Thanks for this site by the way, it has convinced me to go for it by providing knowledge on the things that were stopping me before.
Anyway, I have a question. I am starting an ecommerce based t-shirt business and I plan to launch it with 30-40 tees.
I would like to sell each tee in mens and women's sizes (maybe some tees as men only or woman only depending on the designs). S, M, L, XL. That means I need 8 different sizes of each design. For 30-40 designs I want to make sure that I don't spend a ton of money at the get go for something that might fail completely.
Anyone have any suggestions, should I get 5 of each shirt in each size to start, or should I just set up a nice relationship with a printer, so that I only make 1 of each shirt to model on the web until someone orders. I guess it would be problematic waiting for the printer to get them done before shipping.
How did everyone else begin. Maybe 30-40 designs is too much to start, but I have noticed that sites with few designs turn me off.
Maybe the best thing is to buy my own screen printing set-up so I don't have to waste blank shirts if no one orders them...
THanks for the reply, but I don't want to go the cafepress route.
I guess I am wondering how to go my own way and not have it cost tons of money to get started. I am willing to lose a couple thousand but it would appear that I will have to spend much more for inventory, and I might not sell one shirt.
Or I might be cheap and sell 5 of the same shirt on the first day but only have one in stock. What is the answer to this dilemma?
I think maybe you should just print some samples and show them to the prospective clients or even friends to see if they are marketable, otherwise is a risky gambling. Marketing research and study before U take that plunge, for starter, maybe like 100 each, and that might even be too much....
Maybe the best thing is to buy my own screen printing set-up so I don't have to waste blank shirts if no one orders them...
Do you know how to use the equipment or will you be wasting shirts learning.
Good equipment costs good $$, the knowledge to use it going in......priceless.
Hook up with someone local to print them when you start out and/or go the cafepress or similar route. Low initial investment means more available for targeted marketing.
I agree, I will not do the printing. The only thing I might do if my printer does not want to do it is screen print a tag into my tees for tagless shirts).
I guess who does the printing is not an issue, I have a great screen printer only a mile from my operations and I plan on using them.
The problem is it seems you have to order cases from American Apparel, and considering each case comes with almost a hundred shirts, it would mean I have to buy 32,000 shirts to start my operation if I buy only one case per size of each design. That is ridiculous.
So I have two questions:
Can you have all different sizes in each case of American Apparel shirts, like could my 96 shirt case consist of 32 Smalls, 32 Mediums, and 32 Larges?
If this is not the case, than I would need to be able to order American Apparel Tees in much much much lower minimums at wholesale prices from another one of their distributors. Any recomendations?
I don't see how any small business could start out with American Apparel tees and a nice amount of designs in different sizes in their inventory if you have to buy 96 each per color per size. You would have to have a couple hundred thousand dollars to start up.
Forgive me if I sound ignorant as I am not registered as a wholesale account with American Apparel, so I am just assuming this by browsing their catalogue.
It would be a happy day if someone told me you could stagger the sizes in each case, then I would only have to order one or two cases per design, and things seem a little bit more doable. Although still expensive as hell.
Please shed some light, as I will not be able to talk to American Apparel until sometime this week.
Just found an American Apparel price list posted somewhere else on this massive forum and boy am I relieved to see you can order down to a single shirt at wholesale prices, but you just have to pay a little bit more the less you order. No big deal.
Not to mention their prices are pretty good considering you can sell a t-shirt for 18 bucks. It is probably feasible to make 10 dollars a shirt even after factoring in shipping and screen printing. And you will be selling quality shirts.
I just keep reading that their shirts run very small. Does this mean that customers should order a size larger than they usually would after washing it a couple times? I hate when a t-shirt gets really small, it sucks. I am usually a large, should I be an extra large in american apparel?
Anyway, it seems like my business is a little bit more feasible. It's nice to know I don't have to keep 96 men's small in stock, and I only have to buy 4 if I want to.
you can also search the hanes, gildan, fotl, web pages and search for a wholesaler in your area... These people will normally carry ALL the brands.. well.. not AA.. but brands like Hanes, gildan, fotl, jerzees, etc.. We have one in our major city and you can buy as many as you or as little as you want - always the same price .. so you may have one in your area also.. hope that helps
if you have an american apparel wholesale account you'll have 3 costs per shirt
single
dozens
and case
you can't mix colors/size in any of the categories.
the best value really is to order in dozens at that discounted price directly through the company...you may find a local supplier but they will charge you a couple bucks more per shirt. if you're ordering a lot, the price is worth it. how many of the 40 designs are on the same color shirt? think about that when you're ordering. Also, who are you printing with, depending on what rates you want to charge you'll probably want to do at least 50-100 shirts per design to get a somewhat reasonable rate on printing.
Last edited by Rodney; June 11th, 2007 at 02:58 PM.
Reason: removed self promotion as per forum rules
Anyone have any suggestions, should I get 5 of each shirt in each size to start, or should I just set up a nice relationship with a printer, so that I only make 1 of each shirt to model on the web until someone orders. I guess it would be problematic waiting for the printer to get them done before shipping.
Search the forums for sizes (or size statistics) to find out some good size breakdowns.
TSCApparel offers free shipping on AmericanApparel if you get over $150 I think.
Also AlphaShirt.com carries American Apparel. You could check with their site (alphashirt.com) to see if they have a warehouse near you.
Wow, that is great to hear. Especially if their prices are similar to American Apparel. If they are more per shirt it might not make a difference. I have got to set up an account with some of these places.
THanks for the reply, but I don't want to go the cafepress route.
I guess I am wondering how to go my own way and not have it cost tons of money to get started. I am willing to lose a couple thousand but it would appear that I will have to spend much more for inventory, and I might not sell one shirt.
Or I might be cheap and sell 5 of the same shirt on the first day but only have one in stock. What is the answer to this dilemma?
Stone
Hi Stone, if you are looking for better quality t-shirts(american apparel) and you would like to test the waters before making a huge investment I recommend spreadshirt. Like you, I started really ambitious, spent alot of money on inventory and now 3/4 of it is still sitting in my basement because my concepts weren't good(actually I think it was just the brandname). This time I am focusing on a niche market and testing my concepts on my spreadshirt shop before I expand with a website that integrates with my shop. Make sure you have a good concept for you line before you waste a ton of money......like I did!
How Many Tees Should I Buy to start 
