Tshirts & eCommerce
- Thread starter sebastya
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Kind of two totally different options ya got there. Do you want to screen your own shirts, or hire a shop to do it... or do you want the crappy iron on hobby stuff that cafepress offers?
One takes some capital, and the other is free. One is professional, and the other makes it nearly impossible to promote your own brand image while selling shirts through cafepress' interface.
One takes some capital, and the other is free. One is professional, and the other makes it nearly impossible to promote your own brand image while selling shirts through cafepress' interface.
Go with CafePress until you make the profit you want/ see how it works etc... You can always customize/brand your CafePress shop. If you think CafePress is going to ruin your brand take the orders yourself on the front end then simply run them through CafePress. Still a lowcost solution.
probably hire a shop to do the screening.
i want it to be professional and i have some capital, so i guess i would have to ditch CP?
do you have experience with CP or is this what you have heard from others? just curious to know.
If you want it to look professional then you are definetly going to want them screenprinted. For the most part, CP will only print on light colored shirts and they are going to be iron ons.
The problem you are going to run into with having them screened is what if they don't sell? Then you have a bunch of shirts that suck that are just sitting there. To avoid this you can always order a smaller shipment of these shirts to begin with, but then you are looking at a lower profit margin. Probably best to start off small with this regardless. It takes a good balance with outsourcing these shirts because a lot of the time screenprinters are loaded with work and most of the time you are not going to get shirts screenprinted overnight unless you are ready to fork over some loot. If you wanted to personally get into screenprinting there is a bit of a learning curve, you will need some room for the equipment, and it will get very messy. However it can be great source for extra income. Here is book that basically tells you exactly what you need to get started:
Fresener, Nonfiction Books, Textbooks, Education items on eBay.com
The problem you are going to run into with having them screened is what if they don't sell? Then you have a bunch of shirts that suck that are just sitting there. To avoid this you can always order a smaller shipment of these shirts to begin with, but then you are looking at a lower profit margin. Probably best to start off small with this regardless. It takes a good balance with outsourcing these shirts because a lot of the time screenprinters are loaded with work and most of the time you are not going to get shirts screenprinted overnight unless you are ready to fork over some loot. If you wanted to personally get into screenprinting there is a bit of a learning curve, you will need some room for the equipment, and it will get very messy. However it can be great source for extra income. Here is book that basically tells you exactly what you need to get started:
Fresener, Nonfiction Books, Textbooks, Education items on eBay.com
I've setup a cafepress store just to check out the process, never with the intent to sell anything on it. I've purchased a couple shirts off cafepress, and have been disappointed with the iron-on graphics.
I've ordered thousands of shirts for companies I've worked for or with. And have a couple personal friends that do screen printing professionally.
I'm no expert in the matter, but I do have some experience dealing with it.
I would never try to launch a clothing brand off cafepress products. Nate had a good suggestion as to doing the printing yourself. It is not all that expensive to get a basic screen printing setup. The question is really if you have the time to learn, and the space to do it in. Printing your own shirts would bring your cost down a lot vs. getting small batches printed up by a printer.
Both options have a lot of pros and cons. I've had a shop with CafePress for just over 2-yrs now and have been one of the top shops for several different months (over $4k profit in a month). The quality of the shirts has definitely improved over time (most of the process is done with digital ink or direct printing).
You certainly can make decent $$ with CafePress. I'd say the main advantages (and these are huge, imo) are not having to deal with the shipping/returns and all the customer questions. Sure you are not going to have high profit margins on the products but all the hard work is done for you. Do you have any idea of the amount of time you'll have to devote to all those duties?
I haven't touched my shop for over a 1-yr and it just sits there making me money every month doing absolutely nothing. It's not much anymore since trends change but I still average around $500 a month profit without any work involved.
The advantages of screen printing yourself are obviously the profit margins. The cost of the shirt and the design (depending on how many colors you use & the bulk purchases of t-shirts) will probably be around $3-$5 a shirt. You can easily sell them for $15+ ... but once you factor in all your time of printing, boxing/shipping/dealing with returns, on the phone with customers, buying ink, cleaning the press, etc. it's going to eat up a lot of it.
Honestly, I'd open a Cafepress store first and test how well your designs will sell before shelling out a bunch of $$ for a screen press and all the packaging you'll need. Maybe nobody will even consider your designs worth buying? who knows?
At least with CP there is a marketplace already for you to be seen. Plus the search engines love CP so your shop will get picked up quickly. If you build a shop on your own the only way for people to find you will be to do PPC or some sort of banner/text advertising on sites which can be expensive upfront costs.
You certainly can make decent $$ with CafePress. I'd say the main advantages (and these are huge, imo) are not having to deal with the shipping/returns and all the customer questions. Sure you are not going to have high profit margins on the products but all the hard work is done for you. Do you have any idea of the amount of time you'll have to devote to all those duties?
I haven't touched my shop for over a 1-yr and it just sits there making me money every month doing absolutely nothing. It's not much anymore since trends change but I still average around $500 a month profit without any work involved.
The advantages of screen printing yourself are obviously the profit margins. The cost of the shirt and the design (depending on how many colors you use & the bulk purchases of t-shirts) will probably be around $3-$5 a shirt. You can easily sell them for $15+ ... but once you factor in all your time of printing, boxing/shipping/dealing with returns, on the phone with customers, buying ink, cleaning the press, etc. it's going to eat up a lot of it.
Honestly, I'd open a Cafepress store first and test how well your designs will sell before shelling out a bunch of $$ for a screen press and all the packaging you'll need. Maybe nobody will even consider your designs worth buying? who knows?
At least with CP there is a marketplace already for you to be seen. Plus the search engines love CP so your shop will get picked up quickly. If you build a shop on your own the only way for people to find you will be to do PPC or some sort of banner/text advertising on sites which can be expensive upfront costs.
I use CafePress affiliate program on a few sites that work well. CPs affiliate program is now on cj.com
You might try some of the other services besides cafepress. There is one called Custom T-shirts - Design, Buy & Sell T-Shirts, Hoodies, Jerseys, and Unique Personalized Gifts at Printfection.com and I'm sure there are others. You could order a sample shirt from each to determine the best quality and go with that company, knowing that it won't be as high a quality as pro printing. I think pocketrockets had a smart plan of seeing if your design works with a test mass shop and move to pro printing after that.
Forgot to add Custom T-shirts - Design, buy or sell customized TShirts : Spreadshirt ... they are probably right behind CafePress as far as size/popularity. I haven't used them but the quality of their shirts might be a bit better.
:bigearAlright so something I can tell you about this because I do this in house IRL.
Alright here is a small investment if you can prove your designs will sell on cafepress well then this is the next real step that will allow you to make designs on multiple color shirts and sizes and not stock huge amounts of printed shirts.
PLASTISOL - The Essence Of Screen Printing
It is what is used in screen printing, its the ink that makes the design.
It's done in layers and not one fell swoop. So a design with four colors would be "color seperated" in a illustration program - corel draw or adobe illustrator ( corel draw is still the industry standard I hate it though) then these layers are done in order on a screen printing press, with "curing" (the setting of the Plastisol so it's dry and flexible ) of the layers being done with a flash unit after each layer. then once all layers finished they get cured again usually through conveyor belt flash unit.
NOW THAT SOUNDS LONG AND COMPLICATED RIGHT?
well it is and if you dont have the numbers to have your own equipment, nor want to stock that many shirts in every color and size and design, what is your option? Well there is something that is the perfect step in between.
PLASTISOL HEAT TRANSFERS - Gods Answer To The Tshirt NetPreneuer
These are the most awesome thing ever invented.
They are real screen printed designs, but they are done onto paper and a fixing agent applied to the back of the design. A heat press is used to apply them to almost any apparel item you can think of.
Now think:
You could have a catalog of 250 designs, and allow customers to buy that design on 6-15 dif types of apparel items. And only stock blanks.
As orders come in you set a time later in the day where you turn on the press and do that days orders.
In the morning the ups truck comes by and takes em away.
using your garage and some cheap labor and you have to do absolutely NADA yourself.
WHERE DO I GET BLANKS?
2 places I have used and still use are : Broder.com and Alphashirt.com
cheap in bulk, and watch them weekly for discounts.
get ready to show a tax id.
They carry american apparel which is the in thing right now and will up your sales a lot if you use them.
OK ---> I'll stop rambling cause honestly this is the wrong forum for this:
I'll start you off with a good thread where a guy that was doing only screen printing ordered a bunch of stuff from dif Plastisol Transfer suppliers, shows how the transfers turned out on actual garments.
JOIN THIS FORUM, people here have experience and really share information about the industry as a whole:
T-ShirtForums.com
Alright here is a small investment if you can prove your designs will sell on cafepress well then this is the next real step that will allow you to make designs on multiple color shirts and sizes and not stock huge amounts of printed shirts.
PLASTISOL - The Essence Of Screen Printing
It is what is used in screen printing, its the ink that makes the design.
It's done in layers and not one fell swoop. So a design with four colors would be "color seperated" in a illustration program - corel draw or adobe illustrator ( corel draw is still the industry standard I hate it though) then these layers are done in order on a screen printing press, with "curing" (the setting of the Plastisol so it's dry and flexible ) of the layers being done with a flash unit after each layer. then once all layers finished they get cured again usually through conveyor belt flash unit.
NOW THAT SOUNDS LONG AND COMPLICATED RIGHT?
well it is and if you dont have the numbers to have your own equipment, nor want to stock that many shirts in every color and size and design, what is your option? Well there is something that is the perfect step in between.
PLASTISOL HEAT TRANSFERS - Gods Answer To The Tshirt NetPreneuer
These are the most awesome thing ever invented.
They are real screen printed designs, but they are done onto paper and a fixing agent applied to the back of the design. A heat press is used to apply them to almost any apparel item you can think of.
Now think:
You could have a catalog of 250 designs, and allow customers to buy that design on 6-15 dif types of apparel items. And only stock blanks.
As orders come in you set a time later in the day where you turn on the press and do that days orders.
In the morning the ups truck comes by and takes em away.
using your garage and some cheap labor and you have to do absolutely NADA yourself.
WHERE DO I GET BLANKS?
2 places I have used and still use are : Broder.com and Alphashirt.com
cheap in bulk, and watch them weekly for discounts.
get ready to show a tax id.
They carry american apparel which is the in thing right now and will up your sales a lot if you use them.
OK ---> I'll stop rambling cause honestly this is the wrong forum for this:
I'll start you off with a good thread where a guy that was doing only screen printing ordered a bunch of stuff from dif Plastisol Transfer suppliers, shows how the transfers turned out on actual garments.
JOIN THIS FORUM, people here have experience and really share information about the industry as a whole:
T-ShirtForums.com
Just to chime in with my 2cents... I recently put together some designs for friends in my Everquest guild (ok, stop laughing) so we could all have guild-themed shirts for a gaming convention. The shirts turned out tolerably well.
I used Zazzle. They allow printing on front and back of black t-shirts, whereas CafePress does not.
Some caveats. You have to tailor your design to the printing process they use.
- Really light colors will not show up on the light or lighter colored shirts.
- Subtle gradients you see in e.g. Photoshop will not be visible; assume a lower color fidelity.
- Your shirt will not show up as vibrantly as on the screen, so kick up
the vibrancy a few notches.
Aside from those few warnings, the shirts turned out great. If you are a multitasking ADD person like me who doesn't want to have to deal with orders as they come in, letting Zazzle (or CafePress) handle your orders is a godsend.
The cost of entry for something like Zazzle/CafePress is very low; you can create some designs, and then whatever projects you work on in the future can have some links to your shop, and you can milk it for years. Also, with a shop like this you can whip out some trendy text ("Don't tase me bro!") on a shirt and people can be ordering in a matter of minutes. Don't tell me that kind of ability to capitalize on trends isn't appealing....
I used Zazzle. They allow printing on front and back of black t-shirts, whereas CafePress does not.
Some caveats. You have to tailor your design to the printing process they use.
- Really light colors will not show up on the light or lighter colored shirts.
- Subtle gradients you see in e.g. Photoshop will not be visible; assume a lower color fidelity.
- Your shirt will not show up as vibrantly as on the screen, so kick up
the vibrancy a few notches.
Aside from those few warnings, the shirts turned out great. If you are a multitasking ADD person like me who doesn't want to have to deal with orders as they come in, letting Zazzle (or CafePress) handle your orders is a godsend.
The cost of entry for something like Zazzle/CafePress is very low; you can create some designs, and then whatever projects you work on in the future can have some links to your shop, and you can milk it for years. Also, with a shop like this you can whip out some trendy text ("Don't tase me bro!") on a shirt and people can be ordering in a matter of minutes. Don't tell me that kind of ability to capitalize on trends isn't appealing....
Three years ago I decided to add something to my biz as I was as I called it pushing boxes. I sold toners and cartidges over the internet. After some searches I found that making personlized items like t-shirts, mugs, mousepads etc was something I could make and sell.
My idea was selling to customers like grandparents wanting to have a mug for there grandchild you know.
But it turned out that the method of printing was in high demand by businesses as I offered orders starting from 1. Last year I ditched all things besides mugs and mousepads and only take orders from business in quanity of 10+ . My monthly profit from this side of my business is 10k a month.
What I am trying to say is ...look for a niche as there are many ppl out there selling t-shirts.
Offer fi like me mugs or mousepads with company logo and name of the employe to small businesses. They will pay top dollar as they are used to be turned down as normally it's minimum of 50 or 100 items.
My idea was selling to customers like grandparents wanting to have a mug for there grandchild you know.
But it turned out that the method of printing was in high demand by businesses as I offered orders starting from 1. Last year I ditched all things besides mugs and mousepads and only take orders from business in quanity of 10+ . My monthly profit from this side of my business is 10k a month.
What I am trying to say is ...look for a niche as there are many ppl out there selling t-shirts.
Offer fi like me mugs or mousepads with company logo and name of the employe to small businesses. They will pay top dollar as they are used to be turned down as normally it's minimum of 50 or 100 items.
Here's an excellent post from DoshDosh on T-shirt affiliate marketing:
So You Want to Make Money Online: An Extensive Guide to T-Shirt Affiliate Marketing
So You Want to Make Money Online: An Extensive Guide to T-Shirt Affiliate Marketing
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