2 different approaches

Hello everyone, as some of you may heard I am planning on starting a t-shirt business soon. I have 2 different ideas for how I will start, but I am not sure exactly how I want to go about it.

Option 1: My plan for this one is to try and start small in flea markets, selling to people I know, getting my company out by word of mouth, maybe selling on sythe a bit, and really just seeing how far I can spread.

Option 2: Make a website, and sell mainly from there. This would make things a lot easier, and would give me infinitely more advertising options, however, this is a much more expensive approach and I really don't know if the company is even going to take off.

What should I do?

Bonus Question: Should I incorporate/trademark my company ASAP? Or should I wait until it grows?

 

I say you ease your way into this one. Take baby steps, and weigh out the pros and cons for the next step. If you find yourself selling out at flea markets, maybe it would be a good idea to expand (internet site). Play it by ear and go with what your gut tells you.

 

The t-shirt business isn't easy, not at all. I looked into it and infact made probably 8 - 10 designs and was going to launch through spreadshirt and cafepress but you really have to be willing to stay on top of social media sites to spread the word.

My suggestion - go through spreadshirt, cafepress, and etsy. They're all markets for printed thigns and crafts and you don't have to pay all of the website stuff.

 

I also suggest having your logo on the shirts. It doesn't have to be big, but include it somewhere.

 

I know, i've implemented it into each shirt's design.

 

I always found it interesting to get flyers with very minimal amount of advertising/words and a lot revolving around style and images. Something sort of classy, with a small streak of your concept/idea through it. If you could make an interesting slogan for your t-shirt company, and back it up with a memorable type of flyer/poster/card (think iPod here) etc. then you've made your way into potential customer minds with relative ease.

Got any examples for your t shirt designs? There are certain ones that I know people don't even second guess and just ignore if they see it. Overdone things like splatters, skulls, flames etc. just don't really interest people, but then again it comes down to the audience you're targeting (I'm guessing high school-college age). Go with the vintage and abstract drawing/sketch type of patterns - people would be wearing your t-shirts because they are unique works of art. Otherwise they would just go to any department store and buy what everyone else already has.

Anyway, the internet business is a difficult one. As there are already so many t shirt (and graphic design in general) sites where people are uploading their ideas and getting them made based on viewer demand. Best to set up your own site, and then advertise that both in real life, and on social media sites.

Tricky stuff, but I'm sure you've planned this out with a lot of consideration. Best of luck to you!

 

Website:

• Allow a main trade point, which would help keep track of things
• Adding social networking sites will add a practical feature which will involve them in your site. It will also allow you to show information to alot of people at one time, e.g. a new shirt being launched, or a competition
• Will show that you care about your business, and are willing to pay and run a website
• Website hosting for a beginning t-shirt company would only need a small amount of hosting (maybe only 5GB from one.com)

Practical:

• You aren't limited to having a website, you can still sell to friends and family, which would eventually spread around by word of mouth to other people. It would also let more people see your brand
• Having a stall selling to people on the street (this may require some sort of license or permission, so I would contact your local council to find out) would help increase sales and advertise at the same time

Good luck

 

have you been on redbubble? you create an account, submit designs, when people buy a shirt with your design you get a commission. (the website makes the shirts for you). Not for the bulk of your business, but it could help get your brand out there and get some valuable feedback.

One of my friends started a clothing brand and they got kids to put stickers around town and gave out free stickers. The point is it was a skate/surf brand so everyone had his logo on their skateboard, whatever you decide to do tailor your methods to target your potential customers, maybe that will help you make a decision

 

Yeah I was thinking of making some posters/fliers with a cool design that people will actually take the time to look at, and then handing them out to everyone I see to help spread the word. I figure that will be cheap and pretty good advertising for a starting company.

 

I'd say start with both options. Start doing the little flea markets and see if maybe they can expand to get the name out there. I'd say start a website and put a logo on the shirt somewhere as you said you did and take a picture of the logo near each shirt and there is a way to "ghetto" trademark. You can take a picture of the logo on the shirt, send it in the mail to yourself, and keep the letter therefore it shows the date you got the letter, showing that you thought of the idea first. I'm not sure how far this could get you if someone took your idea but it would give you the right to say "patent pending" and it would keep you in the clear until you got big enough to purchase your own patent. I'm almost positive that patents are around like $5,000 where I live, and I'm not sure if the price changes in different locations. Good luck to you sir, and if the business takes off, please let me know how you went about it! Thanks.