Going the POD sort of route, your PM is going to be low--but so is your actual skin in the game in terms of investment and labor. DIY screen printing would have a much higher PM--but at the cost of your time and labor, as well as an upfront investment in equipment. Those are the two extremes, with many flavors in between.
I DIY screen print. I net from the upper teens to the low twenties ($s) per unit, depending on what the garment is and where I am selling it. At 100 units a day, that would look pretty good, no? Of course, I am not selling 100 units a day. I've sold around 600 units over the past two years, which includes when I was first selling online and had even less of a clue than I do now.
Production is not the limit on income, marketing is. The best marketing is having what people are looking for where they can find it. Of course, if a lot of people are looking for it, there are probably already 7.1-billion people selling it. Most people on here who actually make a living in this industry do so by selling their services as printers, not by selling their own line of printed garments.
I have around 80 live designs. A handful of those account for over 50% of my current sales, and all of those are in a particular niche. Apparently there isn't that much being offered to this niche, and much of what is offered is fairly pedestrian and obviously created by people from outside the niche. I spun it off as its own brand a month ago, only 12 designs--but it outsells the other 70, or so, of my main line.
If you don't have the money to invest in a license for some big name IP, or the balls and low morals to steal it, I can only recommend finding an underserved niche and BEing that niche.
I don't think many of us with our own lines ever get past it being a "leg on our stool," not enough to support us on its own, but sort of like that third job we work so we can afford a nice vacation or our hospital bills. For most, it won't even be that. Go do what you want to do, but keep the day job. If your stuff finds its market, the $$$$$ will tell you when to ditch the day job.
I DIY screen print. I net from the upper teens to the low twenties ($s) per unit, depending on what the garment is and where I am selling it. At 100 units a day, that would look pretty good, no? Of course, I am not selling 100 units a day. I've sold around 600 units over the past two years, which includes when I was first selling online and had even less of a clue than I do now.
Production is not the limit on income, marketing is. The best marketing is having what people are looking for where they can find it. Of course, if a lot of people are looking for it, there are probably already 7.1-billion people selling it. Most people on here who actually make a living in this industry do so by selling their services as printers, not by selling their own line of printed garments.
I have around 80 live designs. A handful of those account for over 50% of my current sales, and all of those are in a particular niche. Apparently there isn't that much being offered to this niche, and much of what is offered is fairly pedestrian and obviously created by people from outside the niche. I spun it off as its own brand a month ago, only 12 designs--but it outsells the other 70, or so, of my main line.
If you don't have the money to invest in a license for some big name IP, or the balls and low morals to steal it, I can only recommend finding an underserved niche and BEing that niche.
I don't think many of us with our own lines ever get past it being a "leg on our stool," not enough to support us on its own, but sort of like that third job we work so we can afford a nice vacation or our hospital bills. For most, it won't even be that. Go do what you want to do, but keep the day job. If your stuff finds its market, the $$$$$ will tell you when to ditch the day job.
