It’s a question that plagues every T-shirt designer, whether they’re a professional or someone who just enjoys making their own graphic tees: “How do I start my own T-shirt printing company?” The good news is that it’s not as hard as you might think. You don’t need an art degree or even previous experience as a designer to get started.
What you do need is imagination, vision, and the ability to follow through on your ideas. If you have those things, it’s possible for anyone to start their own T-shirt printing company as long as they’re willing to invest some time and money into making it happen. It can be done with just $5,000 in startup capital – but you might need $30,000 or more to get things off the ground.
Here are 5 steps you should take when starting your own T-shirt printing business:
1. Research The Market
Doing some competitive research before launching a company is always smart, and it’s even smarter if your industry involves expensive, heavy machinery and a lot of potential liability for accidents. Make sure you know what your local market is like before committing to this business venture.
2. Find A Location For Your Shop
Finding a location for your T-shirt printing business isn’t as easy as it sounds. You want to be somewhere with low rent but high traffic, and you should have a good relationship with the landlords – they hold a lot of power over your business if things go sour.
3. Design Your T-Shirts
You can find designers online or in your local area who will help create designs for your particular company, but it’s important to make sure those designs are appealing to customers first and foremost. If you have a good idea for a design, go with it – but if not, hire a designer to do the work for you.
4. Make A Website
This step is no longer an added expense; every T-shirt printing business should have at least one page on the web. Websites are easy to make on your own, or you can pay someone to do it for you. Either way, your website should have information about your business, information about the types of T-shirts you print and how they’re printed, contact information, and some examples of printed shirts – obviously designed by professionals.
5. Run Promotions
This is where all that research from earlier will really pay off. This is the time to make sure you’re getting your name out there because, without that, you’re not going to get much business. Look for local art shows and other events where you can sell printed shirts at lower-than-market prices just to get yourself known in the area.
At this point, it’s time to do some more research. Look into buying printing equipment and making sure you’re fully insured. Talk to several different T-shirt printers who work locally and see if they’ll let you shadow them for a few days so you can really see what’s involved with the process. Heat Press Vinyl is a popular method to get you started.
Then, once everything is set up, go ahead and start your business!
Now Grow Your Business!
Once you’ve got your company set up, it’s time to get the ball rolling. The best thing you can do for yourself is expand – get more equipment so you can produce more shirts in less time, and look into buying a van or larger truck for easier transportation. If your T-shirt printing business is successful enough, you could even think about hiring others to do the work for you and expanding your facility!
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