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CHAPTER 2

STARTING POINT

The prelude to this kick-ass guide is an informative article on T-ShirtMagazine.com titled “10 Tips For Launching Your T-Shirt Business,” which has become the most-visited article on the site. Since then, our inbox has exploded with emails from aspiring brand owners asking us for more advice. This article serves as a good starting point for anybody launching a t-shirt brand. If you have already read it, it’s always good to refresh your memory.

To kick off the hundreds of pages of priceless tips and advice that follow, here’s the article that started it all.

10 TIPS FOR LAUNCHING YOUR T-SHIRT BUSINESS

It seems nowadays that everybody is selling t-shirts, and if you haven’t started already, you might be next. Before you jump into the t-shirt business, you might want to take a few pointers, and we’ve got you covered. Here’s a guide on how to start your own t-shirt business, divided into the 10 most important aspects.

1. Do Your Research.

Make sure you’re knowledgeable about the clothing industry before you dive in. Get an understanding of how the business works. Read about how other brands became successful and model a similar strategy.

2. Plan Everything.

Before you get started, have a clear idea of what you plan on doing. Try to decide things like what kind of t-shirts you will be selling, who your target market is, whether your t-shirts will be available online only or if you’ll eventually be aiming to sell in stores. Design a marketing strategy that involves both free and paid advertising methods to expose your brand to your target market. Compose a practical business plan to use as a guideline for operating. For starters, identify your brand’s values, mission, objectives, strategies, goals, and long-term vision.

3. Know Your Competition.

You should always be familiar with the other clothing labels you’ll be competing with. If you’re starting a label based on humorous t-shirts, you should watch what all the other funny t-shirt labels are doing. Keep track of things like their design variety, pricing and promotion, because it may spur some new ideas for your own business strategy. This can be done easily nowadays by reading the blogs of competitor brands and subscribing to their newsletters to keep tabs on what they’re up to. This knowledge can help you keep up.

4. Create Products People Would Actually Buy.

It seems obvious, but you’d be surprised at some of the t-shirts you can find these days. Test the quality of your t-shirts by getting honest opinions from others, preferably people who are within your target audience.

5. Know the Finances.

Once you know what you plan on doing, get an idea of how much everything is going to cost you. When you start producing and selling t-shirts, keep track of all of your expenses. Get screen printing quotes from several printers and compare prices to get the best deal, without sacrificing quality. Add in the cost for labeling, hang tagging, bagging, or whatever other finishing options you might use. Don’t forget the cost of shipping envelopes, boxes, and product storage.

Don’t be fooled by the hundreds of new t-shirt startups you see these days; starting a t-shirt business isn’t cheap. A lot of the costs involved should also help you decide how much you should charge for your clothing.

6. Come Up With a Promotion Strategy.

Figure out a way to spread the word that makes it easy for those who discover your brand to spread the word to others. For starters, your strategy can include PPC ads, press releases to blogs, and social networking. You can even give away t-shirts with your logo for free. Using guerrilla tactics and promotional items like this can have a tremendous impact on your business growth.

However, don’t be a “cheapo.” Sooner or later, you’ll realize that you’re going to have to spend money to market your t-shirt business, so you should be willing to pay for things like online ads, event sponsorships, and other paid marketing methods. Understandably, not everyone is “rollin’ in the dough,” so find smart ways to balance paid promotion with free promotion to create an excellent strategy.

7. Find Partners.

You might start out on your own, but you should find partners to help maximize your brand’s potential and help you reach your goals more efficiently. Aim to have partners within your company while also collaborating with other businesses that may be of some help to you.

8. Set Business Goals.

How many t-shirts do you plan on selling this year? How about this month or this week? A lot of people new to the business have no idea, or just don’t care. Then there’s the group of people who are too scared to set a goal out of fear that they won’t reach it. A successful business sets goals so it has something to aim for.

Set a goal and believe in your ability to reach it. As the law of attraction goes: If you know you’re going to reach it, you’re going to reach it. If you decide from this day forward that you will sell 10 t-shirts every week, and you strongly believe in your business, you’ll do everything you can to figure out a way to get those tees moving. If you don’t set a goal, well of course you’ll be stuck with a box of t-shirts you were too scared to sell.

9. Don’t Quit Because You’re Not Seeing Sales the First Day.

That’s a good way to get you nowhere. Try to figure out ways of improving your designs, your strategy or your work habits. When you’re just getting started, you’re still learning, so keep at it. Winners never quit and quitters never win. Read informative, motivational books to keep your spirits up. Frequently visit other brands’ websites and blogs, and see how much fun they’re having to remind yourself of where you want to be in a few years and how bad you really want it.

Reanalyze your business plan, promotional efforts, and branding strategy. Consider how you compare to the competition and emphasize your competitive edge. Whatever you do, don’t quit. Finish what you’ve started.

10. Have Fun.

If you’re in it just to make a quick buck, you’re not going to succeed—and that goes for any business. Love what you do and do what you love. Your passion will definitely show in your brand image. The more fun it is, the more productive you’ll be.

Go Ahead!

The following pages will elaborate on the suggestions provided in the above article and also offer much more. Starting a t-shirt business is a fun and profitable journey, and the abundance of information you will learn here will make it easier. Get ready to kick-start your brand and kick some ass!