5 T Shirt Designer Business Success Stories [2023]
If you love to create different and creative fashion, the field of tee shirt design could be a great opportunity. Some tasks include fitting model garments, maintaining size uniformity, and applying design and aesthetics to create cute tee shirts that capture customers' attention.
Here are some real life success stories of starting a tee shirt designer:
1. Designious ($180K/year)
Alexandru Dumitru (from Bucharest, Romania) started Designious over 15 years ago.
Hi, I am Alex Dumitru and I am a co-founder at Designious. Designious is a graphic design library that provides extra tools like an online designer app and an API that helps both graphic designers and print-on-demand entrepreneurs. At the moment we make around $12-13k per month.
My background is in IT and business development, but I’ve worn many hats along the way, from sales to customer support.
2. Goober Prints ($79.2K/year)
With a full-time job, a baby at home, and a thriving side hustle, Troy Parker was becoming a master juggler. He was excited about the growth of his Etsy shop, Goober Prints, but was beginning to reach the ceiling of his own capacity. Troy specializes in fun, quirky, customizable direct-to-garment…
Troy Parker (from Crystal Lake, Illinois, United States) started Goober Prints over 4 years ago.
Troy Parker is the founder of an Etsy shop selling customizable garments for both humans and pets. He specializes in fun & weird customized garment & accessory printing.
Goober Prints had a breakthrough year in 2020, increasing total sales to $80,000 from just under $10,000 in 2019. In 2020 he sold around 4000 items in total and this gave him a boost to turn his side hustle into a full-time business.
Read the full article on sidehustlenation.com ➜
Learn more about starting a tee shirt designer:
Where to start?
-> How much does it cost to start a tee shirt designer?
-> Pros and cons of a tee shirt designer
Need inspiration?
-> Examples of established tee shirt designer
Other resources
4. Ratchet Clothing ($1.21M/year)
Dhillan Bhardwaj (from Long Eaton, Nottingham, UK) started Ratchet Clothing over 11 years ago.
25-year-old Dhillan Bhardwaj dropped out of college and went on to start his own unique & budget-friendly high street clothing line, Ratchet Clothing.
Ratchet is an organically grown unisex handmade clothing brand specializing in tie-dye and other various hand printing methods.
This brand has been worn by many big named celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, Madonna, Drake, Rihanna, Zara Larsson, and many more.
Currently, Dhillan has multiple shops across England - Long Eaton, the Broadmarsh Centre, and Sheffield.
Listen to the full podcast on podcasts.apple.com ➜
Hey! 👋 I'm Pat Walls, the founder of Starter Story.
Get our 5-minute email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
"An amazing network of founders that truly want to help each other grow their business."