Frustrated with slow sales and no support

while i think you and your friends are the models, the photos are pretty good, imo (except for the graininess of the banner, which i'd have another look at), and you're all pretty hot, so i don't think it's that, lol. and it's clear that you're really trying and doing a lot of the positive things you're 'supposed' to be doing. the website is nice, though an 'about us' would be nice and a better description of the shirts should be added (such as, '100% cotton' ~ people need to know what they're buying). too, you need a FAQ with a return policy. information on your site is pretty skimpy, and that's basic stuff people need to know to order with confidence.

so, is it the design? i don't think that's it, either, but keep working on new designs. it's clean and simple, and you're concentrating on the brand itself (for better or worse, lol) with a definite fashion idea. the one thing i would consider is seeing if foil or glitter works better. i think you had these screen printed, but check out some of your vinyl options, as i think you might be surprised by what's out there. vinyl may bring down your production costs while at the same time give the customer more of what they want without sacrificing quality.

nor do i think it's your price that's stopping sales or the styles you offer (although i can't really attest to the latter, i'm assuming you know what your market is wearing). if you haven't done market research, do some and determine if $20 is an appropriate price for your segment. if you determine that the price is on the high end for whatever reason, and you arrived at that price merely to offset production costs, i never believed in passing that on to the customer as that's not their problem, it's the brand's. generally, i've noticed brands usually sell a lifestyle, and that lifestyle comes with a slightly higher price than just designs. it is, however, hard to determine exactly what kind of lifestyle you're trying to sell for $20 based on just the website. you have one pic of a girl in a restaurant, and i think that says something, but not necessarily enough, imo. i think this is a major failing of brands that don't have pics like that, and when they do the pics are of low quality of kids hanging out against a wall and that's it. as much as i loathe the complete corporateness of it, check out ugmonk.com as an example of how to sell a lifestyle.

two things i think are hurting your sales right now. 1) very high expectations (which aren't hurting sales, just your feelings ~ you're a business owner now, so it's time to put the tiara in the drawer and thicken that skin, lol. i know that sounds harsh, but, honestly, there are times when people need to hear that. if this doesn't apply, disregard) and B) parts of the web site that are lacking, as mentioned above. i can't say if the shirt style and/or dirth of flashiness contributes to the low sales, so perhaps a reboot is in order, but give it a little more time because sales just don't happen overnight.

i've seen time and time again how people wonder how they can have so many 'likes' and wonder why sales are low. i think if you've gotten 3% in sales you're probably doing good. i know it must not feel like it, but this is where you separate your friends from your business. you might look into doing some SEO (search engine optimization).

my bad advice is to stay hot, fix the website, don't neglect coming up with new designs (which i know you're not), keep a creative outlook on promotional opportunities, do another round of market research if you haven't done any so far (most people think, 'i'd buy it if i were me.' most people are themselves, but they're not me and my needs/wants may be different), consider more pizazz in the design itself and/or different styles, keep doing what your'e doing and stay the course. i don't think four months is time to be worried about anything, it's just time to start looking at some reasons why sales may be low. make some changes and see what happens after you've given the change time to have an affect.

Don't get to discouraged too soon. My website was up for almost 9 months before I got an actual sale via the site, and I didn't even have friends.

Make sure you are marketing in places other than FaceBook & Twitter. Make sure you have submitted your website to as many of the FREE search listing sites as possible, and give some of the e-mail marketing services a try. I have found Campaigner to be very helpful and very inexpensive. You mentioned your inventory isn't very large, but consider getting another 20 shirts or so and doing an actual promotion/giveaway. Maybe you and your friends can dress in the shirts and visit one of your favorite spots or some type of event and pass out extra shirts and flyers. Be creative and don't wait for the customers to come to you.

As far as the designs, they are nice. Consider enhancing them as was mentioned in an earlier response. Bling is big right now, and you have a few designs that would be over the top awesome if done in rhinestones.

Keep pushing, the sales will come and good luck

First, You need more designs. The human eye/mind is designed to remove unwanted items while looking for something. By that I mean, you can have 19 crappy designs and ONE nice one, and that one will sell!.
You should NEVER start a business hoping your friends will buy. They wont. And you dont want to SELL to your friends. You can use your friends to increase sales. Give free shirts away and the word will spread.
Facebook is a great tool to get publicity, but not many FB-fans will actually buy something in short term. But the more fans you have, the "bigger" your business is, and people can have trust in your shop and products.

AND, you have to invest in the business with commercials, ADwords, Give freebees to bloggers. Sadly this isnt a cheap process. When your new in the market, you will acctually have to pay for every sale.

I started with 6 designs. No sales. Added 6, to 12. No sales. Added 12 more. HEY a sale! Added another 10 and more sales. We now have over 400 designs. Something for everyone! This amount keeps the visitors on the site browsing 5-10 sides at minimum and we have a bounce rate at 25-32% wich is pretty good.

I like your designs. Keep it up and add more designs!

i agree, four designs is too few. there is some debate over how many designs to carry. i would check out your competition's sites and see how many designs they offer. imo, i think 8-12 would suit your site. 400? uh, no, not for your brand, lol. you can have dozens of designs if you want, spread out in different categories, and offer accessories, but i think the core of it is a limited variety of shirts that expresses a hint of exclusivity.

you're going for a fashionable, playful, casual to dress-casual look, and, as mentioned (which i can't believe i didn't mention), rhinestones may work out really well. sparkly and/or shiny things appear to sell well. i personally feel as if that would be a huge positive in a lot of buyer's minds.

i think i saw where you wanted to have men's shirts, too. to me, that's a bit trickier. then again, women buy the shirts, and guys wear them. i just wouldn't want 'tomboy chic' on my label b/c, eventho i'm arm candy, i don't want to feel as if i'm wearing women's clothing. perhaps shorten that to 'tbc'?

anyway, i think you're pointed in the right direction, but it also seems as if having a brand is often harder than selling designs. people buy art, not shirts, but i think with brands they buy a lifestyle, too. if that's the case, i think brand owners have another set of issues to deal with specific to what they're trying to accomplish.

Ok, I haven't read any of the other posts in here and I skimmed your site for about 30 seconds, but here's my opinion.
That 30 seconds I skimmed your site was really about all it took. For me, I like simple..but that was too simple. You should add what the shirts are made of, etc.. Also, try to add more designs. You should have a goal of minimum one a month. Two of them I saw were also very similar.

There's a ton of free places to submit your site to, and you should really work on getting linked in from other sites. Try contacting blogs and asking if you can advertise with them, or sponsor a contest for 3 free shirts? It's a cheap way to buy links and get hits, and if they are on a fashion blog a good chance that will equate to a sale. I think ultimately the old adage of "You gotta spend money to make money" rings true. This is just my worthless opinion.

As I see it, you have two main problems currently. One is that all your designs center around a brand that is not yet well known. When people buy something with a logo or a brand name on it, they're buying not just the shirt or whatever, they're buying the concept for which the brand stands. Right now, no one knows what your brand means, or why they would want to identify with it. If most of your designs are going to be based around the brand, you have to let people know what that means. Adding a About us page on your website would help. Talking about it on your Facebook page would help.

Second, your website may need some updating before it will convert visitors into purchasers. Right now there is no size chart that I can see, and a size chart is usually very important when selling to women. Your product descriptions could be used to further sell your brand. There's no about us page and no shipping or return policies that I could see. Making all that info available up front helps potential buyers to trust you. People buy from people and sites they trust, so give them as much information as possible so they feel comfortable with buying.

Also, you mentioned a blog, but I can't find a link to it on your site. That may be why you're not seeing any traffic there. A blog would be a great way to help spread the brand, but it won't do you any good if no one can get to it. I did finally find it, but I had to go look for it on your Facebook page. Most people wouldn't do that.

I think you have a nice idea for a brand and it could work, you just need to keep promoting and fixing issues as they appear. Brands and companies are always works in process. Just keep working at it.

Your website is too basic. Simplistic is good, but yours is overly simplistic. You have your website name, and 4 products- and thats it. The first thing I would do is change the black background. White text on a black background is never a good idea, especially on webistes. Change it to a dark gray or something textured.. that alone will help the website.
You do need more designs, but preach that ON your website with a "Coming soon" banner or something. that will break up the website and make it not so plain. Also add your FAQ's and stuff.
Add a fan page of other people wearing your clothes.
Get a few more models to model the 4 designs you have so that the clothes will get a different look (add those to the fan pages as well).
Price seems good to me.

And you have learned what we all have learned -friends wont buy! They expect freebies! lol... but hey, that is one obstacle you have now overcome! Above all... STICK TO IT and don't give up. If you keep at it, there REALLY is NO WAY you can fail.