How to start my own clothing line?
I have a notebook of designs for shirts and things like that and I would like to make my own clothing line. Does anyone have any SERIOUS advice/tips? Will it be expensive to start out? What do I need? Could I get my clothing line to be sponsored (or something like that) under DC Shoes or any other top brand? Would I make a fair amount of money if I'm moderately successful?
I want to start my own MMA clothing line?
The best way to transfer images to clothing is screen printing. When you create your images for screen printing you will need to place each color on a separate layer. Once you have the artwork ready for screen printing you'll need to find a company that is willing to take your order. Most places have minimums unless you go through a company that prints on already manufactured t shirts like fruit of the loom or haines the minimum order can be pretty high. If you want to build a name like Tapout it would probably be wise to manufacture your own clothing rather than slap an image on a haines t-shirt. The best software for creating vector images for screen printing is Adobe Illustrator. Most companies have different art requirements so you'll want to be sure to check with them before submitting it. If its not created to their specifications they will charge you to have their artists touch up your work. Hope this helps. Good luck.
I want to create my own brand of clothes to sell online. How do I start?
Spend some time creating your game plan first before you even create your online site. Most first time sellers end up quitting after a few months because they don’t see the online sales come in after they build their online site.First of all, find out who you’re going to be up against as in your competitors. This will give you an idea on the amount of work and effort you’ll need to put in to sell your own branded online of clothing.The bulk of it would be on marketing and getting your brand out there via organic search and social media without spending on any ads until you’re making profit.You may only want to hold a certain number of stock for your clothing to test the market as compared to having a lot manufactured and then facing the dilemma that they’re unable to sell. Offer limited quantity first and if response is good, you can notify buyers of incoming stock later for them to purchase.List down all the categories and products that you plan on selling and have good product images with models. Clothing sells best when customers are able to see it being worn in real life by models.Determine who would be your target customers. Wholesalers? End users? Both?Work out your costing in terms of monthly subscription fee for ecommerce service provider. If you’re looking for one that does not charge extra for features that you’ll need, consider InstanteStore.Get a domain name that is short and easy to remember. Bear in mind a lot of shoppers these days prefer to browse, shop and and buy online.Make sure your online purchasing process is easy and straight forward.Pick a good payment gateway and check their transaction fees.Offer free shipping for customers who purchase above a certain amount and pick a sensible courier service.Ask for feedback from family and friends to test out your site before you launch it.Reward customers for giving you positive reviews and feedback.Selling online is a learning journey. Give yourself a year to work on it as there’s plenty to learn and tweak along the way.Hope this helps.
What is the best t-shirt printing method?
The short answer is that there is no one “best t-shirt printing method”. Your business, your retail store, your online shop, your interests, capabilities and budget are all going to be different. That’s what should determine what the best t-shirt printing method is for you.For example, in our business we sell the OKI920WT white toner color led printer and Laser EZPeel papers as part of our digital heatfx system. (http://digitalheatfx.com). This system is amazing if:You need to make full color graphics on t shirts or promotional products - frankly, if you are just doing one color jersey numbers you can probably do it cheaper and more efficiently with screen printing.You get smaller order sizes - if you do now or plan to get orders for 200, or 1,000 shirts with the same design on it, you should be screen printing too. A t-shirt transfer system might be the best t-shirt printing method for you if you get an order for 5–50 shirts, or 5 shirts with different sized graphics - you can charge more for these and turn them around faster than you could with screen printing.You want to do wholesale too - one of the best parts of using an OKI920WT Printer and the digital heatfx system is that you can make t shirt transfers that you can mail or ship to anyone with a good heat press. That means you can be someone else’s supplier and not have to worry about picking blank tees or dealing with end users.All this is great, but the DigitalHeatFX system ranges from about $7500 to $10K or $11K depending on what you need (there is financing: Financing available for 200–300/month). So if you only have $1,000 - $3,000 to start you may want to go with something like a vinyl cutter or sublimation.If you don’t really HAVE a budget, you may need to start by ordering transfers - and that would be the best t-shirt printing method for you.. just ordering full color transfers and heat pressing them on yourself. You’ll just need a good heat press and you can order transfers from lots of companies, including Fast, Full Color Custom TransfersThe only method I have mentioned yet for making customer t shirts is direct go garment. with that method you use an industrial ink jet printer to print onto a t shirt just like it was paper. The end result feels and looks great, but the cost is usually $15K-$25K and the systems require a lot of care and maintenance.In the end, the best t-shirt printing method depends on you! There is no objective, one size fits all answer.