S
Starter Story
Business Idea
Start A T Shirts Business
About
Starting a t-shirts business requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.
If you're interested in how to sell t shirts, or selling t shirts online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.
Want to learn more? You can check out our full guide on how to start a t-shirts business ➜
Key stats
market size
$3.9B
revenue (monthly)
$3K
starting costs
$43.6K
gross margin
50%
avg product price
$17
time to build
9 months
growth
SEO
business model
E-Commerce
time investment
Side project
work from home?
Yes
Startup Costs
| Min Startup Costs | Max Startup Costs | |
|---|---|---|
| Office Space Expenses | $35 | $3,250 |
| Employee & Freelancer Expenses | $0 | $5,500 |
| Equipment & Supply Expenses | $525 | $5,500 |
| Website Costs | $232 | $6,500 |
| Business Formation Fees | $5,600 | $20,400 |
| Retail Business Expenses | $0 | $16,150 |
| Inventory Expenses | $350 | $14,750 |
| Software Expenses | $150 | $3,044 |
| Advertising & Marketing Costs | $75 | $4,786 |
| Other Expenses | $0 | $300 |
| Total Startup Costs | $6,967 | $80,180 |
Successful Businesses
| Business | URL | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Stoic Muse | etsy.com/shop/StoicMuse | #74 |
|
sporty's pilot shop | sportys.com | #45,328 |
|
imprint | imprint.com | #113,967 |
|
6 Dollar Shirts | 6dollarshirts.com | #120,882 |
|
printsome | printsome.com | #122,786 |
|
Shirts and accessories | etonshirts.com | #183,287 |
|
T Shirt Hell | tshirthell.com | #386,456 |
|
Crazy Shirts is your source for soft and comfortable mens, womens, and kid's t-shirts, including our popular specialty dyed clothing and original designs. | crazyshirts.com | #522,073 |
|
PopMarket | popmarket.com | #569,631 |
|
TshirtFly | tshirtfly.com | #767,613 |
|
Clothing Manufacturer Bangladesh, Private Label Clothing, Knitwear Factory OEM ODM CMT FOB | pritomtex.com | #1,129,439 |
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Description |
|---|---|
| Flexibility | You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own. |
| Scalable | With businesses and processes changing daily, there will always be demand for new features, products and services for your business. Additionally, there are several different business models and pricing tiers you can implement that will allow you to reach all types of customers. |
| Meaningful business connections | You never know who you will meet as a t-shirts business. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity! |
| High customer retention rates | Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer. |
| High margins | The gross margins for your t-shirts business are typically around 50%, which is considerably high and allows you to grow your business and manage costs easily. |
| Easy to encourage "impulse buy" | In the t-shirts business, you have a much higher chance of encouraging your customers to buy on impulse - you can easily alter the price, placement, packaging, and promotional value to influence the decision of your buyer. |
| Cons | Description |
|---|---|
| Motivation of employees | If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees. |
| Longer Sales Process | A t-shirts business can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers. |
| High employee turnover | In the t-shirts business, employee turnover is often high, which can be quite costly and time consuming for your business. It's important to try and avoid this as much as possible by offering competitive pay, benefits, and a positive work environment. |
| Taxes | As a t-shirts business, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it. |
| Niche Market | A niche business is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the key to your success. However, it can be more challenging and time consuming to find the perfect niche market and target audience. |
| High overhead expenses | With starting a t-shirts business, there are overhead expenses that come with selling a physical product. You will want to make sure you strategically budget for these overhead costs. We discuss this more in the startup costs section below. |
Marketing Ideas
-
1
Affiliate program
An affiliate program is a way to reward people outside your organization to share your product.
-
2
Word of mouth
The most tried and true way to grow a t-shirts business is through word of mouth - some entrepreneurs would say it's more important than all social media.
-
3
Advertising on social media
Social media advertising is one of the leading ways to get the word out when it comes to t-shirts business.
There are various different Social Media platforms available to you. Some may be more critical for your marketing efforts than others, however, it's important to have an understanding of what's out there and available to you.
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