Discuss the fun task of marketing a t-shirt shop. Where to advertise, local marketing tips, word of mouth, press releases, search engine marketing, keyword advertising, magazines, etc.
Hi,
This is my second post after my intro post. I live in the Bay area CA.I am planing to setup a business that would act as an agent for buyers or import the goods and resell to the buyers. This is not a sale pitch. I just need ideas/advice. What will be your approach if you can produce high quality cloths for very competive price. I appreciate any idea/advice. Thanks for reading my post.
- Ganesh
Hi,
This is my second post after my intro post. I live in the Bay area CA.I am planing to setup a business that would act as an agent for buyers or import the goods and resell to the buyers. This is not a sale pitch. I just need ideas/advice. What will be your approach if you can produce high quality cloths for very competive price. I appreciate any idea/advice. Thanks for reading my post.
- Ganesh
What do you have in your business plan for marketing? What ideas did you already have in mind to get the word out about your products/services. Then we can build on that.
Hi Rodney,
Thanks for your quick response and for creating this wonderful forum. Here are some of the ideas I have in my Marketing plan.
1. Produce samples in my India facility and import them here. Visit local stores, show the products to the buying manager. Emphasise on the quality of the product and competitive price.
2. Create a pitch letter/catalog highlighting advantages of having to just deal with a local seller and at the same time procure goods with low prices and great quality. In other words you have a gaurentee of a local business and at the same time you enjoy all the advantages of manufacturing oversees. This I plan to send it in paper mail to addresses mined from Business directories.
3. Import high quality blanks(high gsm, soft etc) in bulk, collaborate with a good graphics artist, Screen printer and create my own brand.
The above are some of the ideas in my business plan. I am still refining my business plan. I am a software engineer by profession and getting into business due my passion to create and run a business. So if some of my ideas don't look good, please bear with me.
Rodney - I am honored to get some advice from you. Thanks and really appreciate your help.
Hi Fred,
Thanks for your reply. I appreciate it very much. I agree that prices are very competitive in the blank shirt business. I am looking at fulfilling customers who have custom requirements(size, style, own label etc), which may not be available from wholesalers (just my idea, may be wrong). By highend do you mean designer clothing. I don't have much idea about that. I will try to collect some information on that.
Unique products is a good idea. I am working on that. Thanks for your ideas.
Hi Fred,
Thanks for your ideas. It helps a lot. Producing garments oversees will work out cheaper if the volume is high (minimum 1000 pieces or more). Just to give an idea of various costs involved
1. You can rent a 3000 sqft factory space for $ 500/month.
2. Highly skilled labor for $200/month.
3. Raw material (cotton) cheaper due to abundance. The top 3 producers in the world are China, United States and India.
4. Fabric production and shirt production use imported machinery, so that high quality garments can be produced.
I will give an example. I took a look at the Dickie mens polo shirt. I am analyzing the shirt to give you an idea how much would it cost to import it. From the picture it looks like a 180 - 200 GSM weight with treatment to make the cloth soft. The shirt can be produced for approx US $5 + add 60% of production cost towards import duty and shipping. So it would be roughly US$8 per piece. It makes sense if the quantity is more.
Thanks again for your time helping me educate in garment area.
- Ganesh
Need advice/help selling blanks from India 
Re: Need advice/help selling blanks from India 
