How to start a t-shirt printing business

T- Shirts have been around a long time. Who doesn’t wear a T-Shirt? They are given out as gifts after a big sporting event. Going away to a foreign country and buying a T-Shirt is enough to advertise your trip. T-Shirts are good way to start a conversation. I have lots of T-Shirts from cycling events and someone will come up to me and say, "Wow, that tour was great." and a conversation will then begin about cycling.

T-Shirts have gone through fashion. In the sixties you could spot someone's identity by the tie-dyed T-Shirts they were wearing. Surfers and Skaters buy T-Shirts that will identify who they are. In the 80’s T-Shirts were being printed with all sorts of rock stars and more recently T-Shirts have become unique.

Going into the T-Shirt printing business is something different and can be a fun experience. You should find a niche that you are familiar with. It is no good printing a bunch of Hip Hop T-Shirts when you know nothing about the scene. It is better to connect with your customers. If you are a surfer you will enjoy printing T-Shirts relating to surfing.

After college I got into t-shirt screen printing. I was also into music. I printed T-Shirts with rock stars on them and did quite well for myself because I knew where to sell my wares. Later there was a phase where people of my age were walking around in tie-dyed T-Shirts. I teamed up with someone else and we would go to music festivals to market our goods.

First you have to look around and see what people are wearing. For example I wouldn’t make tie-dyed T-Shirts because I know they won’t sell. You need to do some research such as what age group are you catering for?, where will you be situated?, what niche are you going into to? etc.

Once you have your brainwave, you have a design or maybe you just want something plain. Have a few samples printed out. Take these samples to various businesses, shops or maybe you want to market your T-Shirts for people who need them to a specific design such as churches or people that want to market their product or service with the use of a T-Shirt.

Get yourself labels for your T-shirts so that they look professional and market yourself with business cards. These are always handy when people are looking for contacts.

There are two ways about going through this business – a limited budget which is possible and for the lucky ones, a larger budget.

If you have more to spend you will have more time on your hands to market your business. Be careful not to waste money and be wise.Once your business starts to grow you could invest in a screen printing machine with screen printing supplies if this is the way you want to go.

With a limited budget it is possible to learn the trade and get by on your own. Go on a course for silk screen printing. You will learn everything from the equipment and supplies you need to using a screen printing mesh and going up to commercial screen printing.

This will be your biggest expense. Find an inexpensive seamstress who will make up your T-Shirts for you and somewhere where your dying can be done. You will have to start small, but this is how some of the most successful businesses have succeeded.

You will have to shop around.There are even cheap and used t-shirt printing machines that are very useful. You will have to learn the tricks of the trade, but soon enough you will get the hang of it.

Lastly online t-shirt printing is another useful activity that will make you  a lot of money if you market yourself in the right way. The internet  has great potential, but you have to know how to use it depending on the type of  product you have otherwise it will only lead to disappointment. You can't just dive in because it will take time, but it will definitely work out for you if you approach it the right way.