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How To Sell T-Shirts Online: The

Best Ways To Actually Make a
Profitable Shirt Business
Giedre Kronberga (https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/author/giedre-
kronberga/) / 16 min read
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Top 3 Ways to Print, and Ship Your T-shirts
How to Get Your First T-shirt Sale

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People love t-shirts. They can make your entire outfit pop, help you
make a statement, or be a conversation starter.
According to Statista
(https://www.statista.com/statistics/272391/us-retail-e-commerce-
sales-forecast/), ecommerce sales amounted to $504.6 billion in
2018.
This number is projected to surpass $735 billion in

2023. And apparel and accessories alone should
generate over $138.7 billion by 2022.
This once again proves that the fashion industryHave

hasyou
secured
signed upa for our
stable place in ecommerce and it isn’t going anywhere. 1
thebetter.
Now anybody can launch a t-shirt store online and cash in.
✕
You don’t require product knowledge or modern technology to get
started – you just need the right tools at your fingertips that can
automate the entire process.
Interested in learning how to make your own shirt

(https://printify.com/make-your-own-shirt/) business? Continue
reading for actionable tips!
How to Start Selling T-shirts Online

The idea of running your own t-shirt store is an exciting one, but
before you get to see the sales coming in, you’ll have to roll up your
sleeves a work a little.
There are 4 essential steps you’ll have to take in order to start a

successful t-shirt business.
1. Find your target audience and niche.

While you might be the first one in your circle to design and sell t-
shirts online, in the wide world of ecommerce, there are a bunch of
other merchants chasing the same dream. So before you get to
designing and setting up your store, you need to answer one
question: who is going to buy your t-shirts?
If your answer is “everyone,” you’re entering a danger zone.
Targeting everyone under the sun is like tilting at

windmills.
By making your target too broad, you’ll end

Have you up up for our
signed
targeting no one. newsletter yet? We share cutting-
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thebetter.
✕
Doing so will also cost you not only money but also time. And who
wants that?
Since you’ve already decided to sell t-shirts, you now are part of
the fashion and apparel industry.
While this is a good start, you can probably agree that it doesn’t
really help you define your target audience – everyone can wear a
t-shirt!
That said, you need to narrow down your audience even more to
find a product niche (https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/find-
product-niche-start-selling-online/). And here’s how you can do it.
Define your passions and interests.

Nobody else but you will have to run your t-shirt business (at least
at the beginning).
So in order to be successful, you need to find a niche

(https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/ecommerce-niches/) that
you understand and can market to.
Think of what you are passionate about and what are the interests
of people that are around you.
Knowing the desires and pain-points of these people is your

biggest advantage – you can now generate product ideas that this
particular niche will love.
Do your research.
Now it’s time to research your interests and passion on a deeper
level.
1
thebetter.
✕
Find out who are your competitors, what are their
strengths and weaknesses to get a better picture of
how you could position yourself in the same market.
Scout the web to learn what are local (or global) trends among
online shoppers to find a gap in the market for your niche product.
A couple of tools that can help you on this journey are Google
Trends (https://trends.google.com/trends/), Alexa
(https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/), and Ahrefs (http://ahrefs.com/).
Identify a problem you can solve with your product.

You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again – every product has
to solve a problem no matter how big or small it is.
Think beyond beautiful t-shirt design and fast shipping.
Will your t-shirt provide psychological support, help someone

express their beliefs to the world, or make them feel part of a
community?
2. Set up an online store.

Once you have defined your target market and discovered a
product niche, it’s time to set up the real estate of your store.
BigCommerce is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms

(/articles/ecommerce/ecommerce-platforms/) out there that lets
you launch a store in a matter of a few minutes.
Once you create your account (/essentials/), hit “Store setup” in

your dashboard that will guide you through important steps of
1
getting your store up. That includes going over:edge ecommerce strategies all
thebetter.
• Storefront settings.
• Currencies.
• Payments.
• Tax.
• Shipping.
• Accounting.
3. Add products to your store.

BigCommerce offers a number of integrations (/apps/) you can use
to source products for your online store, so explore your options.
Probably the easiest way to get started is partnering

up with a print-on-demand drop shipper
(https://www.printful.com/) – a third-party service
that fulfills and ships your products.
Since all of your products are printed only when the order comes
in, you don’t need to worry about any upfront costs.
This also gives more freedom to introduce new products, or

discontinue those that are not selling.
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create and edit pages by dragging-and-dropping content,
no coding required.
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4. Fail, try again, fail, and keep trying.
Let’s be real, you probably won’t have hundreds of thousand orders
coming in just after the launch of your store, but don’t let it put you
back.
Being an online store owner requires resilience and creative

problem-solving.
While your research has suggested what design will drive sales,
your predictions might not match the actual needs of your target
audience at this point in time.
That’s why it’s important to give your customers a voice.
Let them decide what products and designs are most

attractive to them.
If one design isn’t popular, try something entirely different. And if

customers don’t react to the new design, create another one.
Listen to the feedback and keep trying! You’ll get there eventually.
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How to Create a T-shirt Design

T-shirts are one of the most popular apparel items
(https://www.globalsources.com/ST/20-Most-Popular-
Products/FASHION-APPAREL-FABRICS.html) out there that are
worn by both men and women.
As a rule of thumb, the more popular the product is,

the bigger the competition it has in the market.
That’s why to break through the noise, you’ll have to create t-shirt
designs that tell a story or make a statement people believe in.
1. Find design ideas.

Start by jotting down the key themes, beliefs, and styles you want
your brand to be known for. Then, take some time polishing these
ideas to come up with more concrete design concepts.
Define your business goal.

Have you
Ask yourself whether you’re looking for a one-time signed or
success up for our
1
something that will pay your bills and take you edge
on vacations
ecommerce for
strategies all
thebetter.
time!By using our website, you are agreeing to
years to come.
We use cookies (and other similar technologies) to improve your experience on our site and to serve you
✕
Now, there’s no good or bad answer here, but being honest with
yourself at this very moment can help you make the design search
a lot easier.
If you’re looking for ideas that are evergreen, concentrate on topics

and themes that don’t go out of fashion or are relevant all year
round among your target audience. For example, a t-shirt that says
“weekend vibes” or “holy guacamole”.
But if starting an online store is your way of testing the waters of

ecommerce, make seasonal themes and trending topics the
epicenter of your designs. Is there a popular meme or saying that’s
taking the world by the storm? This might be your chance of
monetizing the moment.
And in case you’re looking for a little bit of both, mix up your
evergreen product offering with designs that support a social
movement that’s currently being talked about.
Just make sure it resonates with your personal and

business values.
Hijacking random news events can work against you if won’t put
much thought to it.
Explore different design elements.

Your t-shirt design can come in multiple shapes and forms.
You can use typography, line drawings, shapes,newsletter
illustrations, orshare cutting-
yet? We
1
photographs as your design base. But if you think that using one
thebetter.
type of element is too restricting, mix and match different
✕
elements to create a one-of-a-kind t-shirt design.
Just remember, even the smallest detail in your design can tell a
thousand words, so for the best outcome, stick to clear shapes and
forms that are easy to recognize or read both up-close and from a
distance.
Choose your color palette strategically.

For most people, including you future customers, visuals matter
the most.
That said, every color you use can affect how people see your
brand and products.
That’s why you need to think not only about the colors of your
design, but also about the colors of the t-shirts your design will be
on.
Your ultimate goal is making sure that the two

compliment each other.
Learning the basics of color theory

(https://www.designwizard.com/blog/design-tips/color-theory), or
color psychology (https://www.printful.com/blog/color-
psychology-in-ecommerce-and-branding/) can come in handy
when making such decisions.
But you also have to keep some of the technical aspects in mind.
For example, selling white tees with text in black will look
newsletter yet?sleek, butcutting-
We share
1
having the same text in pale pink might make the design difficult to
thebetter.
read.
✕
Find the right t-shirt type.
The crew neck, the V neck, and polo are just a few types of t-shirts
(https://www.bewakoof.com/blog/different-types-of-t-shirts-how-
to-wear-them) out there for you choose.
When deciding which t-shirt will make the best canvas for your
designs, think about your target audience and envisioned goal for
your brand.
It’s simple. Polo shirts probably won’t be the best choice for a store
that has an urban feel and targets streetwear shoppers.
Baggy or cropped tees, on the other hand, might be just perfect.
Decide on the print method.

When looking for t-shirt design ideas, you also need to keep
printing technique in mind.
Some printing methods are more flexible than others,

so it’s better to know what you’re working with right
off the bat while you still have time to make
adjustments to your designs.
Let’s take a look at the 3 most popular printing methods for t-

shirts.
Direct-to-garment directly applies the ink onto the product. It’s

sort of like printing on paper, except on a t-shirt. DTG printing
allows extensive color options in designs and offers great precision
1
in details. However, design placement can sometimes be limiting.
thebetter.
✕
Screen printing involves pushing ink through a woven mesh stencil
onto fabric. What’s important to know, is that with screen printing
only one color can be applied at a time. So the more colors your
design has, the longer it will take to print it, and the more
expensive the whole thing will be.
Sublimation printing infuses a layer of ink directly onto the fabric,

which means that the t-shirt print area is significantly bigger. This
type of printing works best with patterns, photographs (especially
landscapes), and abstract designs.
2. Create the designs.

Once you crystallized your ideas, it’s time to create the actual
design. There are several ways you can go about it.
Do it yourself
If you have skills and time, take on the challenge of creating t-shirt
designs yourself. There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing your
idea come to life right in front of your eyes.
Creating designs doesn’t have to be difficult, you just need to know

what tools are out there that can help visualize your idea.
If it’s your first time creating something digitally, it’s fair to say that
professional software like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator
might not be the best choice not only because of the price, but also
because of the learning curve.
Luckily, there are great free alternatives out there that offer basic
functions needed to create a print file for your t-shirts. Let’s go
over a few open-source vector graphic editors that you can start
using today:
1
• Canva (https://canva.com) has everything you edgeneed
the
ecommerce
time!
strategies all
to develop
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your first designs – a simple drag-and-drop editor, access to
over 8,000 free templates, folders to organize your designs and
the ability to upload your own images.
• Photopea (https://www.photopea.com/) has a bunch of pre-

made templates for different projects, this software is a friendly
tool for both graphic design beginners and veterans.
• GIMP (https://www.gimp.org/) is a graphics editor that will let

you retouch the images you want to use for your t-shirt
designs, or add a few free-form drawings to it.
• Inkscape (https://inkscape.org/) can be used to create or edit

vector graphics. While it’s a versatile tool you can use to work
with illustrations, lines, or complex paintings, it has a learning
curve.
PRO TIP
If you want your design to look the best it can when printed,
carefully follow basic graphics requirements provided by the
printer of your choice.
In most cases you’ll have to take in consideration the size of a

print area, file resolution, and accepted print file formats.
Hire a designer.
Not everyone is blessed with an eye for great designs or have all
the necessary skills to create them, and that’s completely fine. If
you don’t feel comfortable creating t-shirt designs yourself, hand
this task over to a professional.
If you’ve never hired a freelance designer before, don’t worry, you

won’t need to move mountains to find one. newsletter yet? We share cutting-
1
thebetter.
There are numerous platforms out there that will
connect you with a talented designer who has the
skills to turn your vision into a print file for your t-shirt
store.
Let’s take a look at a few options:
• 99designs (https://99designs.com/designers/search). This

platform connects freelance designers with clients who are on
the lookout for custom designs, let it be logos, business cards,
or you guessed it – t-shirt designs. If you have a clear vision of
what your t-shirt design should look like, simply browse
through the pool of designers to find a person whose style you
enjoy. The hit that “Invite to work” button and start your
conversation. However, if your idea for design is vague and
you’re open to creative interpretations, start a contest that is
open to the entire designer community on 99designs. It’s
simple: you describe your idea, set the budget and let different
designers submit their versions of your design. You get to pick
and pay for the one which meets your aesthetic taste and
design needs best.
• Dribble (https://dribbble.com). Graphic designers and agencies

use Dribble to showcase their portfolios and network with
fellow creatives who are on the lookout for new opportunities.
To find your designer on Dribble, take time browsing through
portfolios until you find someone whose work you enjoy. If that
particular designer is open to hire, you’ll see a “Hire me” button
on their profile. You can also post a job ad on Dribble if you had
no luck discovering talent on your own.
• Upwork (https://upwork.com), Fiverr (https://www.fiverr.com/),

1
Guru (https://www.guru.com/). These global freelancing
thebetter.
platforms let independent professionals with clients who are
✕
looking for help connect and collaborate remotely. In the pool
of freelancers, you can also find graphic designers who can help
you with your t-shirt design idea realization. Browse these
platforms to find the freelancer yourself or post a job inviting
anyone who’s interested send you their proposal.
PRO TIP
When speaking with designers, let them know how you’re

planning to use the design.
Don’t hesitate to share your store idea, print file guidelines, and
some of the design no-nos.
The more information you share with them, the easier it will be
for them to create the design you love.
Use your printer’s product generators

Most printers out there have product generators that let you create
designs in one go.
So, if you don’t want to worry about finding the right design
software and getting your print file quality and size just right, this
might be the right choice for you.
If you’re not ready to commit to any printer yet, but

would love to test your creativity first, head to
Printful’s mockup generator
(https://www.printful.com/generator/mens/t- Have you signed up for our
shirts/bella-canvas-3001-unisex-short-sleeve-jersey- edge ecommerce strategies all
1
t-shirt-with-tear-away-label).
We use cookies (and other similar technologies) thebetter.
to improve your experience on our site and to serve you time!By using our website, you are agreeing to
✕
This free tool will let you create designs with custom-drawn
smileys, shapes, and fonts, and showcase them on the actual
product.
The sky (and the maximum print area) is your limit, so don’t hold
yourself back.
Top 3 Ways to Print, and Ship Your T-

shirts
Every store owner is different, therefore the way you choose to
print and ship your products is entirely up to you. But of course, it’s
good to know your options.
1. Do it yourself.
If you like being in control, you can print and ship t-shirts on your
own.
Since you’re the one doing all the printing, you can
guarantee the quality of your products.
Besides, you can customize the packages by adding a

personal touch to each order that comes in.
But all of this freedom comes at a price.

1
You’ll have to invest in a printer and inks, or findedge a reliable
ecommerce local
strategies all
the time!
printer who’d take care of the printing for you. ✕
You’ll also need to keep the stock of the t-shirts as well as your
packaging materials.
All of this will require not only the physical space to do all the work,
but your time too.
2. Use third-party fulfillment partners.

Another option is to partner with a print-on-demand dropshippers
(https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/dropshipping-companies/)
like PrintAura (/apps/printing-products-on-demand/), Printful
(https://www.bigcommerce.com/apps/printful/), or TeeSpring
(https://teespring.com/).
These third-party services print and ship your products in your

stead.
So, if you don’t want to worry about keeping your printers in top
shape, bulk-printing the stock, and making endless visits to the
post office, this option might be right for you.
Working with third-party fulfillment partners gives

you the freedom to experiment without losing any
money.
You can add new variants of the same t-shirt or introduce new
styles or designs. If sales of a certain item aren’t going well,
discontinue it and try something else.
But just like with everything in life, there are some downsides
newsletter too. cutting-
yet? We share
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thebetter.
✕
Your fulfillment partner will charge you the cost of the product and
printing. You also won’t have full control of the production process
and shipping, which means you won’t be able to customize your
packages.
3. Dropship.
Finally, if you can’t be bothered about creating the designs and
prefer selling a ready-made product, the dropshipping option is for
you (https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/dropshipping/).
Find wholesale t-shirt suppliers, select the designs you like and add
them to your store. Once orders start flowing in, your supplier will
ship them directly to the doorstep of your customer.
Similarly to print-on-demand option, you won’t need

to keep the stock or losing money if one of the
products isn’t popular among the shoppers.
This means you’ll have more time to grow your store’s brand
awareness, run promotions or special offers.
However, dropshipping the t-shirts also means you won’t be selling

one-of-a-kind product – multiple other stores might be offering the
exact same tee (and maybe for a lower price).
So you’ll have to think how to differentiate yourself from the

competition to justify your price and land more sales.
1
How to Get Your First T-shirt Sale thebetter.
✕
Having your online store up and running is just the first step in your
ecommerce adventure.
What follows next is making that first sale.
So in this section, we’ll take a look at a couple of things you can do

to find your first customer faster.
1. Product reviews.
It’s not an industry secret that product reviews can accelerate sales
growth. But what if there’s not a single customer who bought your
product yet?
If there’s anyone who’s willing to place an order on your store

without questioning its legitimacy, it’s your family and friends.
Once they do that, sit down with them to learn what their shopping
experience was like, and, of course, ask them to leave a product
review.
2. Brand awareness giveaway.

You need to grow your brand awareness in order to land more
sales. And what is one of the easiest ways to get people interested
in you? Offering something for free.
A good old giveaway can work wonders in getting

more eyes on your business and products. And that’s
not a myth.

1
thebetter.
✕
Seattle-based online store Girlfriend Collective
(https://www.girlfriend.com) launched one product in April 2016 –
eco-friendly leggings made from recycled plastics.
To kick things off, the company decided to run a this-is-too-good-

to-be-true campaign offering the new generation of activewear
just for the cost of shipping.
Yes, you heard it right – free leggings!
The result? 10,000 pairs sold

(https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/girlfriend-collective-word-
of-mouth-marketing/) in the first day and over 800 customer
emails received asking to confirm that the campaign is not a scam.
3. Social media presence.

In the world of the internet, businesses have to maintain their
presence on social media to be taken seriously.
As a new store owner, you need to think beyond weekly promo

campaigns.
Try to engage with your audience, participate in

conversations outside of your social media accounts
feed, follow the trends, and react to the hottest news
in real-time.
Most importantly, be consistent and stick to your brand voice.

1
You want to be recognized not only by what you sell,
edge but alsostrategies
ecommerce by all
the time!
what you stand for.
✕
Simply put, use brand storytelling
(https://www.printful.com/blog/ways-to-make-your-brand-story-
irresistible/) to connect with your audience through social media to
drive engagement.
4. Social media influencers.

Another option worth exploring is influencer marketing
(https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/influencer-marketing/). An
honest shout out by an opinion leader can get you in front of a
niche audience that you might be struggling to reach yourself.
Now, don’t confuse influencer marketing with easy-to-get ads.
To run a successful campaign you need to have a clear

idea of what you want to achieve, then find relevant
influencers, and agree on collaboration structure.
PRO TIP
Base your partnership around the creation of useful content

instead of ads.
Transparency and honesty is what 49% of customers

(https://www.bazaarvoice.com/uk/press/content-called-out-47-
of-consumers-fatigued-by-repetitive-influencers/) are
expecting from their opinion leaders and brands they’re working
with.
1
thebetter.
✕
5. Retargeting ads.
Once more people start visiting your store, you’ll face the
inevitable: users will browse your product catalogs, maybe add a
product or two to the cart and leave without taking the most
important action – buying from you.
How can you get that shopper back? By running retargeting

campaigns (https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/retargeting-
campaigns/).
Retargeting ads use cookie-based technology to display custom

ads to visitors who have left your online store without placing an
order.
In other words, you can bring the users back to your website by
showing personalized ad on their Facebook
(https://www.magnificent.com/magnificent-stuff/how-to-leverage-
facebook-ads-with-zach-spuckler) and Instagram feeds, or Google.
In both business and life, change is inevitable.
So in order to be successful, you need to continuously think how to

develop your online store further.
1. Experiment with similar niches.

You might found your niche and made quite a few sales. But think,
how often do people buy new t-shirts? Once every season? Every
year?

1
thebetter.
✕
In order to keep the orders flowing in, you need to try
approaching niches with similar interests or
backstories.
If you’re targeting stay-at-home moms, perhaps you can offer

something for stay-at-home dads? And if you’re offering products
interesting for rock guitarists, it might be worth introducing
yourself to drummers too.
2. Market to multiple segments.

Dividing your target audience into different segments is a great
way to connect with your customers on a more personal level. And
as we all know, personalization drives conversion.
Let’s say your products are aimed at dog lovers and you recently
introduced a t-shirt to the store that says “proud dog mama”.
Now, not all dog lovers are dog owners. It would make sense to
push promotions for this product to a more defined segment of
your target audience, for example, women who own dogs.
Of course, it doesn’t mean that people who don’t own a dog won’t
be interested in the shirt. They might know someone who does.
Your job is to target multiple segments using copy that resonates

with each individual in your target audience.
3. Expand your product line.

1
thebetter.
✕
Selling shirts is a great start, but it can be limiting after
some time. So don’t hold yourself back from
introducing other types of apparel and accessories to
your store.
If you want to stick to printed products, consider adding hoodies,

phone cases, or mugs to your product catalog. Just make sure the
new products go well with the entire concept of the store.
Otherwise, you might appear unprofessional.
4. Try offline opportunities.

Even though your business is operating online, there’s a lot you can
do offline to grow your brand.
Exhibit your products in trade shows, local fairs, or popup markets

(/ecommerce-answers/what-pop-shop/).
If you don’t feel comfortable setting up your booth at the events

like this, attend them as a visitor. And don’t forget to bring your
business card along and wear your t-shirt.
This will help build new partnerships, meet your customers, or

simply get your name out there.
But that’s not all.
Get in touch with a local newspaper and share your story. Organize
or help to organize an event for your local community. Approach
brick-and-mortar stores that are interested in independent brands
and introduce them to your products.
1
thebetter.
✕
In other words, be where other people and preferably
where your target audience is.
5. Keep designing.
If you want to grow your online store, you need to introduce new t-
shirt designs every now and then. So keep designing.
Think of upcoming ecommerce holidays

(https://www.printful.com/blog/ecommerce-holiday-marketing-
calendar/) you can use to build your designs around. Add a
seasonal t-shirt, or put together a limited edition collection.
Also, don’t forget to listen to your customers. What is they want to

see on your t-shirt store?
How to Start Selling T-Shirts with

BigCommerce and Printful in 4 Steps
If you’ve always dreamed of starting your own clothing line
(https://www.ecommerceceo.com/how-to-start-a-clothing-line/),
don’t wait for that “perfect” moment – start an online business
today!
With easy-to-use tools, it’s simpler than ever.
1. Sign up and choose your theme.

To get started, create an account on BigCommerce
(https://www.bigcommerce.com/essentials/) and set up your store:
choose a theme, upload your brand logo, and add contact
information. newsletter yet? We share cutting-
1
thebetter.
If you’re confident about your brand name – register a domain
✕
name.
You can a purchase custom domain name
(https://support.bigcommerce.com/s/article/Purchasing-a-
Domain) for your store directly from BigCommerce.
This is the fastest method for applying a domain name to your

store and requires the least amount of setup.
2. Add t-shirts to your store.
If you want to launch your online t-shirt store fast and

without investing extra money, consider adding
products to your store using print-on-demand drop
shippers like Printful.
Visit BigCommerce apps and integrations

(https://www.bigcommerce.com/apps/) page, search for Printful
and hit “get this app”.
You’ll then be taken back to the dashboard of your store and asked
to configure the app installation.
Once your BigCommerce and Printful accounts are connected, you

can start adding your products.
Select a t-shirt that you like, upload the designs, select product
variants, push them to your store, and voila!
3. Set your prices and shipping rates. Have you signed up for our
1
You don’t want to under-price or over-price your edgeproducts.
ecommerce strategies all
the time!
So, when trying to define the retail price
(https://www.inc.com/guides/price-your-products.html) for your t-
shirts, consider:
• market prices.
• competition.
• production/fulfillment cost.
• your revenue goals.
If you’re still not sure about the price tag you should add to your
products, check Printful’s profit calculator
(https://www.printful.com/profit-calculator).
Now let’s take of the shipping settings.
Go to you BigCommerce Shipping Manager.
There, select all the locations to which you want to sell and choose
specific shipping methods for each area.
Finally, decide whether you want to offer flat-rate shipping, or

weight- or value-based rates.
4. Finalize and launch.

You’re almost there!
Before launching your online store, carefully check if

everything is in place and functioning.

1
thebetter.
✕
You don’t want to start driving traffic to the store that has broken
images, grammar errors in product descriptions, or buttons user
can’t actually work.
Most importantly, test the checkout process – order something

from your store.
Are the checkout steps clear and intuitive? Can you accept the
payments? What happens once the order is complete?
Once you have the answers to all of these questions and they don’t
alarm you, your online t-shirt store is ready for the grand takeoff!
Conclusion
Today ecommerce is stronger than ever
(https://www.bigcommerce.com/articles/ecommerce/), which also
means the competition is stiff.
As a new online t-shirt business owner, you need to seek

authenticity to be one step ahead of other merchants. The easiest
way to do that is to create designs that speak your truth and
resonate with other people too.
Knowing how to automate the tasks of running an online store is

important no less.
Choose your ecommerce platform wisely

(https://www.bigcommerce.com/articles/ecommerce/ecommerce-
platforms/) and don’t forget to look into other
services that can make your production process easier.
1
thebetter.
Finally, be resilient. If something didn’t work from the first, fifth, or
thirtieth time — stand up and try again.
The only failure is failing to try. And those who made hundreds of
thousands selling t-shirts online can only confirm that.
Want more insights like this?

Subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter to get the latest thought
leadership content delivered right to your inbox — from blogs
and resource articles, to podcast episodes, webinars and more.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
How to Start Selling T-

shirts Online
How to Create a T-
shirt Design
Top 3 Ways to Print,

and Ship Your T-shirts
How to Get Your First

T-shirt Sale
How to Start Selling T-

Shirts with
BigCommerce and
Printful in 4 Steps
Conclusion

1
thebetter.
Giedre Kronberga
Giedre is a Content Marketer at Printful (https://www.printful.com/). When she’s not writing about all
things marketing, you can find her re-reading H. Murakami novels or packing up a suitcase for another
weekend getaway.
View all posts by Giedre Kronberga (https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/author/giedre-kronberga/)
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How To Sell T-Shirts Online: The

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Top 3 Ways to Print, and Ship Your T-shirts

How to Get Your First T-shirt Sale

This number is projected to surpass $735 billion in

This once again proves that the fashion industryHave

Interested in learning how to make your own shirt

How to Start Selling T-shirts Online

There are 4 essential steps you’ll have to take in order to start a

1. Find your target audience and niche.

If your answer is “everyone,” you’re entering a danger zone.

Targeting everyone under the sun is like tilting at

By making your target too broad, you’ll end

Define your passions and interests.

So in order to be successful, you need to find a niche

Knowing the desires and pain-points of these people is your

Identify a problem you can solve with your product.

Think beyond beautiful t-shirt design and fast shipping.

Will your t-shirt provide psychological support, help someone

2. Set up an online store.

BigCommerce is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms

Once you create your account (/essentials/), hit “Store setup” in

3. Add products to your store.

Probably the easiest way to get started is partnering

This also gives more freedom to introduce new products, or

BigCommerce is here to help. With Page Builder you can

Being an online store owner requires resilience and creative

That’s why it’s important to give your customers a voice.

Let them decide what products and designs are most

If one design isn’t popular, try something entirely different. And if

Want more insights like this?

How to Create a T-shirt Design

As a rule of thumb, the more popular the product is,

1. Find design ideas.

Define your business goal.

If you’re looking for ideas that are evergreen, concentrate on topics

But if starting an online store is your way of testing the waters of

Just make sure it resonates with your personal and

Explore different design elements.

Choose your color palette strategically.

Your ultimate goal is making sure that the two

Learning the basics of color theory

Baggy or cropped tees, on the other hand, might be just perfect.

Decide on the print method.

Some printing methods are more flexible than others,

Let’s take a look at the 3 most popular printing methods for t-

Direct-to-garment directly applies the ink onto the product. It’s

Sublimation printing infuses a layer of ink directly onto the fabric,

2. Create the designs.

Creating designs doesn’t have to be difficult, you just need to know

• Photopea (https://www.photopea.com/) has a bunch of pre-

• GIMP (https://www.gimp.org/) is a graphics editor that will let

• Inkscape (https://inkscape.org/) can be used to create or edit