T-Shirt Selling Business Model – The Gift and Curse

For decades, the prevailing staple for casual style has been the humble T-shirt. Not only does it excel in terms of functionality, but also as a source of vivid self-expression.

The rise of our now massive online t-shirt selling industry was the result of a perfect storm:

• Shoppers with a desire to express their individuality through clothing
• Entrepreneurs who saw the potential for building online brands
• Creative designs developed to identify with target audiences/demographics
• Internet technology, inception of t-shirt selling platforms and drop shipping services

This business model has lead to its fair share of wild success stories. It's become very attractive for newcomers and online business veterans alike. Why?

Because it requires little investment and has the potential for grand profits.

The low financial and skill barriers to entry have sparked a sharp rise competition in competition over the years. With the Wild West years well and truly over, success in this business now requires smarter strategies.

There's still tremendous potential for both new and existing online brands. Claiming your share of this thriving market will take a deeper understanding of its strengths and weaknesses.

First, let's take a closer look at both the Gifts and the Curses of selling t-shirts online right now. Then we can provide you with a solid 5-step strategy to success with this business model.

The Gifts of Running an Online T-Shirt Business

The greatest advantage, at least for newcomers, is the ease your getting started. Business ventures with low barriers to entry and large earning potentials are rare. By starting out on the right foot, a successful online brand can be built with little to no online experience.

Low Investment and Low Risk

Selling t-shirts online no longer requires a large investment for inventory, materials or even machinery. Online platforms, such as Teespring and Teechip, enable anyone with a little creativity and vision to start their own business.

Operating through drop shipping eliminates up-front costs and associated risks for sellers. Once you've uploaded your designs they take care of materials, manufacturing, processing, shipping and even provide an online storefront.

A certain level of advertising is also free, with further exposure easily achieved through social media channels. Since sales fees are only applied as the stock is sold, profitable businesses can be launched without any commitments other than time.

The risk of unpopular designs is greatly reduced. You can test new ideas and designs quickly and receive orders almost immediately.

No Specialist Skills or Experience Required

Whether it's your first or fifth online business, it’s won't be difficult to get to grips with t-shirt selling platforms. You don’t need a course, qualification or even experience. There are a wealth of resources available online so you can learn as you go.

You don’t even need graphic design skills to produce a well-selling t-shirt design. Most platforms provide simple to use design tools to help you get up and running. Otherwise, you outsourcing design work to a freelancer on Fiverr or Upwork is still very affordable.

The Curses of Running an Online T-Shirt Business

The emergence of these incredible t-shirt selling platforms, tools and drop-shipping services also has a flip-side. The competition has grown exponentially and they too are taking advantage of those gifts!

Yes, it's never been easier to start an online brand, but it also requires tighter strategy to be successful.

Breaking in Can Be Tough

The biggest obstacle new online brands is standing out from the sea of competition. The market is rife with new blood and veterans alike, all fighting for their share of the market.

As a savvy t-shirt entrepreneur, you’ve got to be inventive with designs and branding to shine brightly. Creating an original brand is the best way to catch the attention of shoppers.

Market research and planning have become increasingly crucial factors to success.

Slim Profits Per Sale

With minimal investment or risk on your part, you’ve got to accept much lower profit margins. After all, these platforms are doing all the heavy lifting, they need to cover their costs and coin a profit themselves. So, we have to accept their service fees will take a sizable cut from profits per sale.

T-shirt prices cannot be stretched too greatly. Although, with effective branding, it can be raised above others. Instead, you will need to focus sales volume to boost revenue and overall profits.

Scaling your business and rising above competition are multipliers to success in this industry.

The T-Shirt Entrepreneur's 5-Steps Strategy

Building your online t-shirt empire will require a mix of research, creativity and experimentation. By focusing on these 5 crucial aspects will give your business a great edge.

1. Starting With a Profitable Niche

First of all, niche selection will be critical to the success of your t-shirt selling business. Where you decide to position yourself will influence all other factors, including your potential selling power.

For instance, “funny slogans” would be an extremely broad category and hard to differentiate yourself in. Whereas “funny slogans for dads” is far more specific, focusing in on a specific targeted audience.

Narrowing down your niche will enable you to identify with your audience more effectively, boosting your conversion rates. Then use your designs to further narrow down your audience for laser pinpoint accuracy.

Also, when it comes to paid advertisements, narrowing down your audience is a more cost-effective strategy.

Takeaway: Minimize your competition's influence and maximize selling potential. Conduct research, identify an audience to target and choose a niche.

2. Building An Audience

Simply building a business and expecting customers to come is not a wise strategy, especially in this competitive industry. Even with your targeted audience, you'll still need to work hard to capture their attention and convert them.

Marketing paid adverts to the wider public requires significant funding and it's not always the most efficient marketing tool. Remember, a certain amount of your spend will be used to show ads to people that aren’t even remotely interested.

Consider the 80/20 rule: 20% of marketing budgets create 80% of revenues, the rest is lost.

That's why smart t-shirt entrepreneurs build their own audiences. They use social media channels, forums or even local communities, then market their products directly to them.

Private audiences with highly related interests offer vastly improved click-through and conversions rates, at significantly reduced marketing costs (often free). It unlocks additional opportunities for business growth by marketing additional products, or directing customers straight to your e-commerce store. As a result, you’ll increase both revenue and profit margins!

Takeaway: Growing an audience based around your niche, then marketing your products directly to them is extremely effective.

3. Producing Original Designs

Remember why shoppers are coming in the first place, to express personality, passions or interests. Your designs that create the strongest connections are going to be the best sellers.

Additionally, buyers seek a level originality, so copying popular designs will not attract their attention. If they have already seen similar designs elsewhere, why should they come to you?

Being original does not mean you need complicated or intricate designs, all you need is a fresh approach. In fact, many of the top selling designs are surprisingly simple!

Takeaway: Draw inspiration from other designs and then create an original approach. Remember to focus on forming a strong connection with your target audience.

4. Developing Your Brand

It's the businesses which carve out distinctive brands that truly excel in the t-shirt selling industry. Your branding will be directly tied by all previous steps, but its influence over your buyers is unrivaled.

Building a brand is an essential long-term strategy, firstly for protecting your business from commoditization. Even if new sellers enter your niche, your brand will be what keeps them coming your way. Your logo and branding will allow you to set your own independent prices, an ultimate defense against future competition.

Your brand enables to build your own store, opening more avenues for leads through SEO and increasing profit margins. Once set up little maintenance is required but you will have gained a valuable, sellable business asset.

Without a strong brand in place, you are costing yourself future business opportunities. You may want to leverage your brand to expand across other frontiers such as Amazon (which is blowing up right now!).

In this competitive industry, businesses with the strongest characters thrive.

Takeaway: Developing your brand is vital for growth, stability and protection. It can become a valuable asset and unlock new opportunities.

5. Maintaining Standards & Quality

As with all products, sold anywhere, quality needs to be considered carefully. Sacrificing your product quality to try and chase greater profits often backfires. After all, the reputation of your brand is on the line.

Consider the effect a poor quality t-shirt may have on your reviews, buyer’s decision to share your brand with other, or even re-purchase.

Both t-shirt material and printing processes are crucial considerations to make. You've got to carefully access the material, fit and even weight. For large printed designs especially, your chosen printing process will influence the finish and staying power.

After all this effort to build a great reputation and brand image you've got to maintain it! Make sure you do your research on both materials and printing processes. Most importantly, always order samples!

Takeaway: If your t-shirts are quick fade, crack, and shrink, so will your brand's reputation!

Ready to start building a successful t-shirt business? Great! Enter your ideas into our powerful Niche Search Tool and hunt down the most profitable niches!