At first glance, the T-shirt clothing industry can often appear to be a lucrative industry. And while that is absolutely true, the challenge in it is being able to break into the fashion realm because it is also one of the most saturated e-commerce niches.
However, if you manage to play your cards right and work with the top t-shirt manufacturers in the world, then grabbing the spotlight from the competition might not be so difficult. In that case, the real question that you probably want to be answered is… how should you start?
Well, the first thing that you need to familiarise yourself with is the T-shirt manufacturing process, which tends to involve doing more than meets the eye, so let’s quickly break it down.
How To Start A T-shirt Brand For A Startup?
The first step that you need to take is to pick a niche and determine what types of designs you intend to use on your T-shirts. This is an important stage, but if you are inexperienced in this area, you can either take an online design course or visit Appareify to work with a clothing designer that can help you craft a unique concept based on your ideas.
The next step in launching a T-shirt brand is to find a clothing manufacturer, which as we mentioned before is a critical part of any successful brand. After all, without a reliable supplier, you cannot expect to consistently produce high-quality products or scale your business to meet increasing demand.
In most cases, you can find a reputable supplier by attending local trade shows and industry meet-ups to collect clothing manufacturer contacts. Alternatively, you can browse online to find reputable companies like Appareify that have long-term experience and have worked with numerous clients in the industry.
In this regard, you should keep in mind that choosing a quality T-shirt manufacturer often requires you to weigh a number of factors, other than just pricing. After all, while it can often be tempting to simply go for the most affordable option, you need to consider the main aspects listed below.
What Should You Look For In A T-shirt Manufacturer?
There are four main aspects that you should always keep an eye out for when looking for a T-shirt supplier. These aspects should always be carefully considered and ticked off, in order to ensure that you have found the right partner to work with over the long term.
Reputation
One of the first things to look at is the company’s reputation. This is important because there are a lot of clothing manufacturers out there that don’t necessarily specialise in this niche and the problem with that is they may not be able to deliver the high-quality clothing and detailing that you need. In this respect, always make sure to look at their client list and also check out past testimonials online to determine if they can be relied upon.
Experience
Another area to keep an eye out for is the company’s level of experience in the industry. If the manufacturer has been producing T-shirts for at least 5 years, then chances are that they can be relied upon to produce high-quality clothing items that can meet your specific needs and requirements. On top of that, it proves that they have managed to continually grow their client list and secure a stable place in the clothing industry for a long time.
Quality Assurance
Quality control is extremely important, as you cannot expect customers to keep coming back to purchase your T-shirts if you cannot constantly provide them with high-quality clothing. This means making sure that you ask them to provide you with samples of some of their current garments, which will allow you to see if they can truly meet your quality standards.
MOQ
The minimum order quantity is another important aspect that you need to consider, as this is usually the least amount of T-shirts that the company is willing to put into production. If you are just starting out, it is a good idea to focus on partnering with clothing manufacturers like Appareify that can offer you low MOQs, which will ensure that you don’t go beyond your budget or end up with an excess amount of inventory.
What Are The Costs of a Launching A T-shirt Brand?
There are a wide variety of costs that you need to take into consideration whenever you are thinking about launching a T-shirt clothing line. And while there are many other costs and fees that you are going to encounter, these are some of the most common to keep in mind. These include:
- Samples: Before making the final decision to make a bulk order, it is necessary for you to get samples of your T-shirt line beforehand. These samples will usually need to be paid for and it can sometimes be expensive, especially if you require multiple variations or adjustments, so keep that in mind.
- Manufacturing: This usually varies depending on the manufacturer that you use and will usually cover the cost of producing the shirts, as well as extra fees such as the designing and shipping of your garments.
- Website Development: Launching an e-commerce site is another important aspect that you may need to showcase and sell your T-shirt collection. You can either invest in building a website of your own or use an e-commerce storefront like Shopify or Bigcommerce.
- Marketing and Advertising: If you intend to successfully launch your T-shirt brand, you will also need to budget enough money to advertise and promote it. This can often be a costly expense but it is an essential one if you want consumers to buy your products.
How To Avoid Legal Issues When Launching Your T-Shirt Brand?
The T-shirt industry is often filled with cases of copyright and trademark infringement, so if you want to avoid any legal issues, it is important that you avoid taking random images from the internet and using them in your t-shirt designs. Most of these images tend to be protected by copyright, so make sure that all the designs that you use are copyright free or completely original.
Aside from that, you should also make sure that you protect your brand by copyrighting and trademarking your brand name and logo, as well as any unique T-shirt designs that you create. This is not necessarily required in the early stages of launching your business, it is essential that you do it as your brand starts to scale, in order to protect your T-shirt designs from being illegally duplicated.
Conclusion
Launching a T-shirt business can often be a great way to start a brand with low capital and build up from there. However, there number of things that you need to consider in the process, so make sure to use this article to your benefit, as it should provide you with all the basic information that you need to hit the ground running.
You should also remember that in order for you to stand apart from your competitors, your T-shirt designs must be unique and creative, as well as offer variety to attract the attention of interested buyers. In addition, quality control is another crucial factor, which involves choosing a reliable clothing manufacturer like Appareify that can consistently be called upon to produce bulk orders without ever compromising on quality.