Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business
Hey guys, we need some information. We are three friends who would like to start a t-shirt business. We have no printing experience, but we have really great slogans to put on some shirts that we think will do great. Now how do we go about starting? should we outsource the jobs? we are planning on purchasing the shirts from Continental clothing or Pima Apparel (are they good?) and then outsource the screenprinting. But we need someone to design the graphics for us. Should we just ask graphics artists for quotes and then when we get it done we take it to the screenprinters to do it. We really need some advise. We have business backgrounds in running a business we just don't know how to print on t-shirts? So any helpful information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Re: Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business
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But we need someone to design the graphics for us. Should we just ask graphics artists for quotes and then when we get it done we take it to the screenprinters to do it
Yes, you could either design them yourself or find a graphic design freelancer to design them for you. You can find freelance artists in places like elance.com, guru.com, designoutpost.com or even our very own classifieds area.
You don't need to know how to print t-shirts in order to start a line of t-shirts. Just like you said, you can just outsource the printing and concentrate on the business end.
More information on how to start can be found in a forum search tag search for start or starting:
Re: Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business
if this is something you are serious with u should just buy your own equipment. I would recommend screen printing or heat transfers...all this can be learned in a couple of days by watching videos and of course hands on experience. the designs arent so hard just take a photoshop class they are like $30 for a semester. hope this helps
Re: Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business
Rodney, thank you very much for the advise, we will surely try to find a freelance graphic designer from one of those sites. But should I try to find one in my area or just any area?
Re: Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business
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Originally Posted by abbey5353
Rodney, thank you very much for the advise, we will surely try to find a freelance graphic designer from one of those sites. But should I try to find one in my area or just any area?
Doesn't matter the area. There are lots of graphic designers to be found online and most communication can be done via email.
Since your designs are slogans (even if they weren't), it's not going to be too hard for a graphic designer to get your designs into files that screen printers can use.
Re: Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business
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Originally Posted by el terrible
if this is something you are serious with u should just buy your own equipment. I would recommend screen printing or heat transfers...all this can be learned in a couple of days by watching videos and of course hands on experience. the designs arent so hard just take a photoshop class they are like $30 for a semester. hope this helps
Even if you are serious about a business, it doesn't mean the best route is to take on all the activities of the business yourself.
Especially when it includes a time consuming process like printing t-shirts.
Not everyone who starts a t-shirt line needs to or should print their own t-shirts.
There are large brands that are VERY serious that have never printed their own t-shirts. They sell millions of dollars a year of t-shirts without ever printing one t-shirt.
I don't think you could learn all the intricacies of how to screen print t-shirts in a couple of days. Maybe some could, but definitely not all or even most. Even learning doing transfers takes longer than a couple of days to figure out all the testing, temperatures, times, techniques to make t-shirts that you would want to sell to an end customer.
Sure, doing it all yourself will work for some, but it doesn't have to be the only "serious" solution for people starting out.
Re: Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business
You will probably want to compare prices on both levels to see which would be more beneficial to you. Keep your shipping costs under control if you do outsource outside your local area. And good luck.
Re: Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business
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Originally Posted by Rodney
Even if you are serious about a business, it doesn't mean the best route is to take on all the activities of the business yourself.
Especially when it includes a time consuming process like printing t-shirts.
Not everyone who starts a t-shirt line needs to or should print their own t-shirts.
There are large brands that are VERY serious that have never printed their own t-shirts. They sell millions of dollars a year of t-shirts without ever printing one t-shirt.
I don't think you could learn all the intricacies of how to screen print t-shirts in a couple of days. Maybe some could, but definitely not all or even most. Even learning doing transfers takes longer than a couple of days to figure out all the testing, temperatures, times, techniques to make t-shirts that you would want to sell to an end customer.
Sure, doing it all yourself will work for some, but it doesn't have to be the only "serious" solution for people starting out.
If you do it your way you could lose alot of money in profit. In the long run its is relatively cheaper to do it yourself if you are going to do large orders.You could learn the importans but this whole process is a learning situation.
Re: Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business
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Originally Posted by el terrible
If you do it your way you could lose alot of money in profit. In the long run its is relatively cheaper to do it yourself if you are going to do large orders.You could learn the importans but this whole process is a learning situation.
Or you could make no profit because you're busy TRYING to learn to print.
It may be something they could pursue while they learned the business end of things and outsourced their printing. But this business is hard enough without trying to come into it cold, and learn every aspect of it, and do everything.
Profits will be very hard to come by that way.
Don't forget, your advice is to someone that knows NOTHING about the industry, and you telling her to buy expensive equipment, learn to use it, AND learn how to run the business side as well, all before selling any shirts. That's just not smart.
Erica, there is plenty of profit to be had following the suggestions Rodney made. It's also probably the best way to enter the business. It lets you see if you have things that are marketable without buying expensive equipment.
It also let's you get quality product by letting other people do the things that you can't do yourself right now. My suggestion would be to learn everything you can about the processes of the t-shirt business, outsource what you can, and if you want to learn how to do some printing later on, THEN give it a go.
Re: Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business
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Originally Posted by el terrible
If you do it your way you could lose alot of money in profit. In the long run its is relatively cheaper to do it yourself if you are going to do large orders.You could learn the importans but this whole process is a learning situation.
It is cheaper monetarily, but you have to factor in the time spent printing. That is time that could be spent coming up with new designs or selling t-shirts you already have.
Like Rodney was saying, it can be the best solution, but it isn't always. It depends on the situation.
Re: Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business
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Originally Posted by el terrible
If you do it your way you could lose alot of money in profit. In the long run its is relatively cheaper to do it yourself if you are going to do large orders.You could learn the importans but this whole process is a learning situation.
I know his name is getting more common around here lately, but Johnny Cupcakes doesn't do any of his printing inhouse, and you can't tell me he doesn't have any profits.
Greg is right, as is Rodney, sometimes it makes sense to print yourself, but other times, you are wasting time that you could be out attracting new sales.
Re: Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business
Thanks all for your advise, I think we might go the outsource route because two of my partners work, I am a stay at home mom with two babies. The good thing is that one of my partners work at the post office and the other one is in marketing, so I think if we put our heads together and use some of the advise we get here we should be able to make something of our ideas. Thanks again.
Re: Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business
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Originally Posted by Cross Your Tees
It is cheaper monetarily, but you have to factor in the time spent printing. That is time that could be spent coming up with new designs or selling t-shirts you already have.
Like Rodney was saying, it can be the best solution, but it isn't always. It depends on the situation.
friends this stuff isnt rocket science or chemistry.....its isnt that hard to learn. if you are looking for a one time deal then go and out source...but if you want to learn the craft by the equipment...your are goin to make mistakes its in human nature.
Re: Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business
I'm not saying they shouldn't learn, just they don't have to try and learn it overnight just to get their idea off the ground. If they do "learn everything in two days" and put their product out there just like that, they would probably be hurting themselves, because the quality won't be up to the professional grade you would get from someone who has been doing it for awhile.
Once they have the time and want to give it a go, if they are comfortable with the process and the quality of work they put out, then and only then, should they consider doing it inhouse.
Re: Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business
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Originally Posted by el terrible
friends this stuff isnt rocket science or chemistry.....its isnt that hard to learn. if you are looking for a one time deal then go and out source...but if you want to learn the craft by the equipment...your are goin to make mistakes its in human nature.
I'm almost 100% certain that Johnny Cupcakes never printed one shirt himself, yet he'll do 3 million bucks this year. You may loose a few bucks profit per shirt, but it's a much safer way to start for someone who doesn't know, or want to know, how to print themselves.
This is a discussion about Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business that was posted in the General T-Shirt Selling Discussion section of the forums.
Three young ladies NEEDS advise for t-shirt selling business 
