[Buechee]

My 1st post. Hope you can help?

First I would like to start by saying hello to everyone out there. I hope that most of us can grow to have a business relationship.

Now I'm also hoping some one can help me with these questions.
1) What would I need to get started making t-shirts?
2) What is the competion like in the business like?
3) How much money is there in it and where does most of the money come from, net sale or trade shows?
4) What are some of the nets marketing avenues?
5) Is there any type of software i will need?

I'm sure there are tings that I have not asked. As I learn more I'll have more to ask. But since I'm new to this, I would like to see if it is something I would like to do.

Thank you all for your time,
Buechee

 

[Comin'OutSwingin]

Welcome Buechee!

I'm no expert, but I'll help you the best I can. I'm sure others will chime in with some answers for you as well!

1) What would I need to get started making t-shirts? This all depends on what you personally want to accomplish and how hands-on you want to be. You can design your shirts yourself, heat press or screen print them, and sell them on your own custom website. Also you could do a combination of these things. It varies greatly!

2) What is the competion like in the business like? It is very competitive. As of this post, this forum has almost 1,200 members. Most of the people here involved in the t-shirt business on some level. Whether that is designing, printing, or just selling blanks. That is just the ones that have found this forum so far. The web is full of people selling t-shirts and be sure there are many more that don't sell on the web at all. So it is very competitive.

3) How much money is there in it and where does most of the money come from, net sale or trade shows? Again, this all depends on a variety of factors and what one is trying to accomplish. There are people that have made lots of money selling t-shirts and plenty I'm sure that for whatever reason, just bombed out. You will find that in any industry. If you are asking can you make a good living doing this full-time, I would say it is very possible. But you definitely need the right mix of product, marketing, and personal sacrifice. Just like in any business. As far as where the money comes from, somone else will probably have to chime in on that one. I don't have a site yet and can't really speak to net sales.

4) What are some of the nets marketing avenues? search engines, link exchanges, banner ads. Again someone else with more experience will probably be able to help you with this one.

5) Is there any type of software i will need? This again will depend on what you want to do and how hands-on you would like to be in your business. If you are good at designing, like designing, would like to learn to design, then you would need some sort of graphic software like photoshop or illustrator. You could also be totally hands-off on this portion of your business and outsource your graphic designing. I think a lot of that would depend on what type of t-shirt business you would want also.

I hope that I've at least been a little helpful. I'm sure others will join in and try to answer some of your questions as well, but in the mean time, I would suggest you look through the forums and the different subjects. There is tons of info there from previous posts that you could learn a lot about the different aspects of selling t-shirts from.

Welcome again, Buechee!