How To Start a T-Shirt Business From Home | The Ultimate Guide It's Easy!

hey everyone welcome back to another video I'm your girl Katrina today I'm going to be walking you through pretty much everything that you need to know to start a t-shirt business from home okay so you guys have been flooding my DMs you have been hitting me up emailing me some have even tried to call me listen in today's video I'm gonna give you guys as much information as I can to get you guys started I know I have a lot of new subscribers but I've done a video like this similar in the past I do have videos on everything you need to get started I have videos on what heat presses to buy I have videos on you know where to get vendors from so I have all those different videos but today's video is going to be kind of like an all-in-one but it's going to be specifically for a t-shirt business from home so now whether you want to start a t-shirt business for you know a clothing brand or whether you want to start a t-shirt business for like Etsy and crafts this can pretty much help you out so I'm gonna tell you how I started you know give you some advice but at the end of the day it's your business your vision your designs you decide you are the CEO of you and your business and you have to decide what is the best route and method for you and of course don't forget to like And subscribe leave a comment down below it does help me in the algorithm it helps me to keep creating content like this so that way I can keep giving you guys all the jewels all the tips and tricks that you need to grow and start your business all right so go ahead hit that like button smash the Subscribe button if you have not joined the fam already I do weekly content so I will wait and now let's jump right into today's video some of you guys are asking me questions like what's the best heat press what's the best printer what's the best cutter where do I buy transfer from where do I buy blanks from all these different questions I am just one person there is no way I can keep answering the same questions over and over and over again when I have previous videos so that's the purpose of today's video I'm gonna try to get all of that covered for you guys but again again this disclaimer I'm only going on what I have I've done research you know so when I tell you what um what equipment I have you still have to decide if that's the equipment for you okay not everyone is going to use or want or need the same things please keep that in mind first things first before you do anything before you do anything in order to start a t-shirt business you have to come up with a name for your business please come up with the name for your business make it make sense okay has to be something that actually makes sense has to be something that's catchy has to be like a household name I always say Okay so the name of my Christian clothing line is called move and Grace the name of my son's clothing line is called to Hype okay so you just want to have something that um that you'll be able to explain something that you'll be able to create a story around okay that's the first thing first now a lot of you guys always ask me when do you trademark do you get an LLC this is gonna vary from person to person so I still do not have my business trademark I have an LLC but it is not trademarked I say that to say ain't nobody coming for your business time you start nobody knows about you right so in order for someone to steal your design you have to be out there making money now yes I'm making money in my business but I don't think nobody coming from me right away so even still you trade your business when you feel ready no one can tell you that at the appropriate time in my opinion I wouldn't want to put all that money up front in the beginning and I haven't even sold products how do you know someone even likes your design how do you know how your business is going to do yes we invest in ourselves but I'm not making that big of an investment up front out the gate I want to make sure I have some sales I want to make sure people want what I have so before you go out here spending hundreds of dollars on a trademark I would say wait and get your feet wet in the game first especially if you have no sales experience especially if it's your very first first time launching a business no one is stealing your designs trust and believe all right but if and when your business decides to take off you know whether it's um six months or a year or two years whenever that time frame is for you then you can go ahead and trademark your business do you want to get an LLC right away yes you can but you can also start out with a DBA doing business ads okay so you can start out with the DBA transfer over to an LLC I have videos on that as well I'm not going to go into full details on how to do that because I have a full video already all the videos that I do mention while I'm talking will be linked Down Below in the description box okay and I'm also going to create a playlist specifically for you know t-shirt building brand building so I'm not sure what it's going to be called yet but I'm going to put it all in a playlist for you guys so that way you can go back re-watch stop rewinding take notes and do all of that all right so you can get a DBA you can get an LLC but I would say hold off on the trademark but again that's your personal preference when you feel like you want to do it but companies normally trademark their business when they don't want someone else to take it or copy it okay so when you just come out when you just launch your business no one is trying to steal your business no one is trying to steal your bread so when you first start your business I would say personally hold on to your coins do not go out here spending all your money on a trademark and you haven't even made the first sale but when your sales go up and when you start becoming a household name when people are starting to notice you yes go ahead definitely go ahead and trademark your business okay next you want to have a logo you have to have a logo for your business so you can create it yourself if you love doing that if you you know a graphic artist or you can have someone design it for you like on Fiverr for the low I've gotten like two logos done on fiverr.com all right so and they can keep making revisions until you're satisfied so you give them your ideas you give them your vision you give them some sample photos and they can create a beautiful logo but there's also other platforms as well website builders that can create logos all in one okay so you want to have a creative name for your business you want to have your logo you want to have your brand colors you want to have all that all right after you have that then of course you have to have some products now here's the kicker you have to decide if you want to have um inventory in your house do everything make everything yourself or you want to do ultimately print on demand where there's no inventory and you have a middleman someone else is doing all the work for you and they're shipping out all the products to your customers me personally I did everything at home all right yes I'm still in the process of scaling my business I really wanted to show the ins and out the day-to-day how I do my business so I decided to put money up myself I decided to invest in myself and that's when I went and got all my equipment myself all my inventory and I'm doing everything in house once I get to the place where I really want to be in my business I will not be doing it okay because the demand will be too much for me all right and my family is not trying to help me all the time so you have to decide the route the method that is best for you but this video is specifically for if you're starting a t-shirt business from home so you will definitely need a heat press you definitely have to have a heat press but you have to decide what size heat press okay so let's take a look at some of the heat presses that I have really quick so this is my 15 by 15. this is an HTV Rod I would not be pressing large shirts on this so this is the size Platinum for a 15 by 15 and heat presses do come smaller but my go-to's are 16 by 20. this is my 16 by 20 Trans Pro Plus I started out with the signature series from Heat Press Nation they have great heat presses this one comes from Pro world it's in so many of my videos I love this heat press because it is a slide out drawer it's Auto and manual and it has interchangeable platens okay so I can switch out the flattens for different platen size they have on platens they have neck label sizes they have all of that all right and it is threadable meaning my shirt can go through all the way to the bottom so that way I'm not pressing on really really thick garments all right so that's my 16 by 20. this is really good for you know larger shirts all size shirts because again it has interchangeable platens so you want to consider what size heat press they come bigger than this and they come smaller than this so first you want to decide before you buy your heat press what is your budget because heat presses can range from anywhere from like 200 all the way up to two thousand dollars or more so decide you know your space that you have the size that you're gonna need what features you want do you want to swing away do you want a clamshell do you want to Auto do you want a manual guys the size is going to be very important so if you start out with a smaller heat press like the 15 by 15 you know it's not really good for if you're doing shirts for 2x 3x okay because depending upon the size of your image it will not fit on that size platen so you have to consider all those things do you want interchangeable platens do you want you know a sure pressure gauge do you want the slide out drawer so definitely do your research some of the best websites to buy your heat press from is of course from heat transfer warehouse and they have a brand new Walla press oh my goodness it I think it might be better than that when it's a it's an interchangeable platinum and everything as well and of course Heat Press Nation and of course that one is from Pro world so those are where I recommend you look on those websites I'll have them all linked down below okay moving on from the heat presses now you need to really decide how are you going to print these t-shirts that's going to play a factor in do you even need a cutter so as you can see I'm not sure I have my Cameo that's what I started out with I have the brand new um Caesar Juliet over there and right behind me is my Cricut I'm not sure if you guys can see that but my cricket is right there so I have three different cutting devices so if you're going to be cutting out vinyl if you're going to be cutting out different materials to put on your garments then you will need a cutting device they come in all different sizes but I am going to say this had I known then what I know now I would have never got a cutting device or started that way I still use my cutting machines for crafting for you know birthday shirts for theme shirts different things like that but for a clothing brand Brands I do not recommend a cutting device why because there's so many other options out here that is much better that gives you better quality that gives you more longevity like screen printed transfers or digital screen transfers or taking it to a print shop and letting them do screen printing on it guys when I tell you the quality is so much more better it's a softer feel your customers will thank you for it um it just beats reading vinyl all day those days are over so the only time I use vinyl really is if it's a simple one color design or if I'm using specialty materials like Flock like glitter different things like that you can't beat like the puff vinyl you can't but now there's puff transfers so it just depends on what you want to do how much you want to spend so instead of stocking rolls and rolls in different colors of vinyl you can just send your designs in get transfers made and then press them on a shirt especially if you're one person especially if you're going to be doing large quantity orders or especially if you're just doing everything so I'm the photographer I'm the designer I'm the Packer I'm the shipper I'm doing all these all these things and wearing all these hats I can't be reading and cutting vinyl all day I just can't those days are over so for me um I started out with vinyl it doesn't hold up as long as well you know so now I use transfers only for my clothing brand so right now I do use TKO sales for my transfers I've talked about them in so many videos but I have used super color as well I've used even um I can't even remember the name I've used another company when I very first started out for my neck labels so you know you want to consider which company to use there is no right or wrong you just have to figure out which one has you know the fastest shipping for you the best pricing for you and you know give you great quality most of these companies you can get free samples so that way you can test and review and see which one you want to go with Okay so if you want to do vinyl you can do vinyl you'll need a cutting machine but if you don't want to be cutting and weaving all day then you can go with transfers okay or you can take your stuff to a print shop I've never done that all right so you probably might ask me how much do I charge if I'm using transfers yes your designs might cost more but depending upon how many colors it might cost less it might be more cost effective to go with transfers because the more transfers you order the price goes down keep that in mind okay so I do have a full video on price breakdowns and how you can make a lot of money with using transfers okay especially if you're having you know if you're working for businesses or you're doing like family reunion or you're doing companies where you know you have a lot of orders if they're ordering two and three 500 shirts you can make a lot of money okay especially if it's a one color design so just keep that in mind or if it's your own clothing brand and you're selling a lot of One Design guys transfers are the way to go if you are not having someone else print your design lines for you so now another thing that you want to consider when you're doing your designs whoever is doing your graphics you want to have you know like a staple you want to have um a main design something that's going to be able to sell year round something that's even versatile that you want to put on T-shirts on long sleeve hoodies whatever it is you want to have one signature design that everyone knows you for so let's just say for instance your favorite clothing brand they have one signature design they have other designs as well but they all pretty much have one signature one main logo that is pretty much on everything so when you're starting your clothing brand you do want to have a signature design that is not just going to be seasonal you can definitely come out with new drops new launches but you want to have something that is going to be year-round that people are going to want once that design has proven to be like one of your top sellers then you want to change that then you want to do different variations then you want to maybe add a glitter design to it then you want to add like a pattern to it then you want to add maybe a puff to it whatever it is you want to definitely level up on that design and you want to make different uh variations of it so that way you can make more money off of it but if this was the design that I was selling and everyone loved this and if it was only like offered in white I'm not gonna buy it again but if you offer it in different patterns or different you know colors or whatever or effects then I'll buy another one if you put it on a hoodie uh now I have a T-shirt and I have a hoodie with the same design my favorite designs so always think about how you can upsell always think about how you can you know make different variations or something or how you can profit more off of the same design so next I get a lot of questions on which printer to get guys depending upon what your method of printing is will determine what type of printer you need so if you're doing sublimation shirts then yes you will need a sublimation printer and it does not matter what printer you get but I do recommend a sublimation printer if you cannot get a sublimation printer any Eco tank printer will do okay Epson Eco tanks printers I have the Epson ecotank 85 50 that I converted I started out with the workforce 7710 and I was constantly having issues with you know the ink changing or running out really fast but this Eco tank listen baby these things are no joke they keep Printing and printing and printing it's like the Energizer Bunny that ink never runs out it will run out eventually but they are really great and it's a great way to save money so if you're not doing sublimation then you'll just use any regular inkjet printer any inkjet printer will do because you'll have to of course print out like things like your order sheets stuff like that if you want to make thank you cards all that but you just need any regular printer some of you guys be asking me is this printer good is that printer good I can't tell you if I don't have that printer okay so when I first started out I looked on the University of YouTube myself so I went online and I searched what's the top 10 printers what's the top 10 computers and I did my research on each one that it gave me I looked into it more I deep dived I kept looking up reviews that's how I found out and that's how I settled on my laptop my computer my printer my heat press so I advise you guys to go and look up videos read reviews on stuff I cannot tell you what's the best printer what's the best computer because again I can't tell you if you should get a PC or a Mac you have to decide what you want I can't tell you what size I can't tell you what speeds everyone's needs are different everyone's budget is different so go on YouTube go on websites and look up and see what's the top 10 printers this year what's the top 10 computers this year and you can really see like I cannot tell you about computers because there's so many different specs and features and stuff there's no way guys I am not a tech Guru okay I am not Geek Squad so I literally had to spend hours and hours researching you know computers and printers and stuff just to see which one would fit me in my business so I advise you guys to do the same so that way you can get what you want and once you decide on something go with it don't overthink it okay is just a printer it's just a computer if you don't like it I'm pretty sure you can return it I'm pretty sure you can always upgrade later okay and that's exactly what I've done so right now currently I do have the Epson ecotank 8500 for my regular inkjet I started out with my Canon I can't remember the name I think it was like a t something 85 don't get me the line I had it for years years and it did me just fine all I was doing was printing out my order forms I was printing out every now and then regular inkjet colorful images so that's all I use my regular printer for okay contracts different things like that now when it comes to my shipping labels I have a separate printer I do not print out my shipping labels with my regular inkjet printer but you can so again you'll have to decide if you want to get a separate printer but the thermal shipping labels and I have three different videos of three different shipping labels I'll have those linked down below as well so that way you can look at those if you've never seen them a thermal shipping printer requires no ink it never runs out it prints the labels and it can print stickers it is great the one I have is the new Mund band one where it talks is Bluetooth capable I love that thing okay it comes in different colors so definitely check out that video so that way you can decide if you want to just use your regular um Regular inkjet printer but again if you use a regular printer you'll have to size it you'll have to tape it to your package with the thermal shipping label it takes the 4x6 self adhesive sticker so that way when you print it out you peel off the back and you just stick it on your package that is the best especially if you have a lot of orders you do not want to be printing out your labels and then taping each one onto the bag or to the Box no no no no we're doing things fast and efficiently right and these things are so cheap okay so this has the four by six you put it in your thermal printer and then you can just print it out and you stick it onto your package to ship it off okay what else of course you can't have a t-shirt business without t-shirts you guys asked me this so many times where to get blanks from okay t-shirts I have endless and endless amounts of t-shirts I have kid t-shirts I have adult t-shirts I have unisex t-shirts I have um women's slim fit t-shirts there are so many different styles there are so many different colors there are so many different brands let's break this all the way down for you guys okay oops I'm kicking my camera all right so let's break this all the way down for you guys as best as I can all right so you have to decide what type of t-shirts you're going to be selling and you're going to have to if you've never sold T-shirts if you've never had one you're gonna have to order some samples from somewhere right and you need to decide if you want to sell unisex meaning you know for men and women you want to decide if you're going to be selling men's shirts or you selling women's everybody likes different size shirts okay had I known then what I know now I would have not tried to buy everything I was buying crew neck I was buying v-neck I was buying unisex I was buying women's cut listen it's just too many different cut sizes and shapes so I would say start out with unisex right again if you have not sold t-shirts um there's so many different sizes of shapes see what you're selling but it also depends on your brand if you have a more tailored look for your brand if you have a more athletic look if you have a more you know casual look decide what type of look you want to go for that will determine the type of shirt you want to go for side seams matter you know Silhouettes matter so you have to decide what type of look you want for your brand that will determine the type of t-shirt whether it's a ladies cut slim fit whether it's a floaty cut whether it's a longer tailored cut whether it's a unisex cut okay so now that you've decided what type of shirt you want you want to decide what name you want there are so many different names there's so many different colors like there's Next Level there's Gildan there's Lane seven there's Bella canvas all right there's so many more alright so once you get your hands on some of these shirts and we'll get into where to get them from you'll decide which one is the softest feel which one do you like which one would you wear and keep in mind guys just because you like something doesn't mean your customers are gonna like it all right you're not selling for you you're selling to make sales for other people every shirt does not feel the same you don't want to always is go for the cheapest shirt out there all right and I'm not saying any names but sometimes the cheapest isn't always best but at the same time when you're just starting out you know you do want to make a profit right so you know you might want to cut costs and go with you know a lower cost shirt but at the same time will it be the quality that you're looking for will your customers come back and be repeat customers so all those things you want to keep in mind and consider but you want to make sure that you do your due diligence you want to make sure you do your um your research and that you like it and it's going to be something that's going to hold up in the wash you don't want to get like cheap shirts and then they don't hold up they fade they lose their colors they don't keep the you know the fit all right so do some samples do some testing okay so you might say which one is the best brand again I can't tell you which one is the best brand for you I love Bella canvas for my clothing brand I do for t-shirts there's just no comparison they have so many different styles and they are soft they feel so good on your skin okay so but at the same time I love Lane 7's vintage collection so it depends on the look that you are going for so you determine who you like the best what your customers are gonna like and then you go from there okay decide on the fit the feel the look and the price point so depending upon if you have a wholesale license this will determine whether or not you get your shirts for the Lolo or if you have to pay a few extra dollars or a few extra cents for your shirts so a wholesale license or resells license permits will allow you to buy your blanks in bulk some places you can buy as little as one as well but you buying it without any sales tax you're buying it straight right from the manufacturer you're cutting out the middleman and you're buying it straight from the manufacturer and you are buying it with no sales tax with the purposes of solely reselling okay so I buy my shirts from the manufacturer or I buy it from Big warehouses where they still require a wholesale license and I have a video on that as well I am not going to talk about now how to get a wholesale license so if you are serious about starting a t-shirt business starting a clothing brand you do need to have a DBA an LLC EIN number and a wholesale license okay and then you can buy from anywhere that will allow you to get your blanks a little bit cheaper and of course now you can make a little bit more money but I do have a previous old video on there on where to buy t-shirt blanks from so that way you can check out that video it has a lot of different websites where to purchase your blanks from guys okay all right guys so let's go over everything let's recap before I end the video everything that you need to get started so to run a t-shirt business from home you need your business name you need your logo you need your brand colors you need a heat press you decide on the size you decide on the model you make it work guys you need a cutting device or you can start with transfers all right you can start with transfers from any company you need your printers of course you need your website you need your website guys so in the process of making your website you can't have a website without photos so you definitely have to have product shots okay some people only do mock-ups but I do say you need to have some physical products take some nice product shots lighting is key get a nice background get some backdrops take photos get models you want to have some videos because you want to have content around your business right you want to create a buzz around your business so you become your own model you can have friends and family if you don't want to do it you want to take photos you want to have content for social media you want to run ads I'm not going to go deep diving into all that but you definitely have to be able to Market your business okay if no one knows about your business and you cannot sell you can use free social media you can use tick tock you can use IG rails but you definitely want to be running ads you want to make sure that your website is up to par you want to have a social media business page for your brand for your business so when people come to your social media page or when they come to your website everything looks official you do not want to look like you just started your business yesterday okay so take plenty of photos take lots of content background footage so that way you'll have that to post on social media I say that all the time social proof means a lot if you don't know how to build a website you can definitely Outsource it and get someone else to do it for you you need shipping materials I didn't talk about that but of course you need shipping materials packing materials you need your shipping label if you so desire to choose that method of course you need your designs your graphic designs you can either do them yourself and use programs like canva or photoshop there's so many different AI Technologies out here platforms that help you create awesome designs or you can Outsource them and get a graphic artist like Fiverr or if you know someone else that can do it for you okay and of course you need your blanks guys you need your blanks and most of all you need a vision you need a plan and you need determination because it is not easy you might get a lot of sales in the beginning and then you might get no sales no days so you definitely need to have consistency in your business and you want to keep going don't give up again all the links to all my previous videos and different various products will be linked Down Below in the description box as always don't forget to like And subscribe drop your questions and stuff down in the comments below let me know what other content you guys want to see what else you need help with and I am here for you guys go ahead and start your business from home I did it and I know you can do it as well I'll see you guys in the next one bye

Channel: Katrina's Graceful Creations

Views: 106,669

Keywords: How To Start a T-Shirt Business From Home, how to start a clothing brand from home, best tips for a t shirt business, print on demand business, screen printed transfers, how to make money selling shirts from home, ecommerce business 2023, what equipment to buy for a t shirt business, the best heat press 2023, the best printer for t shirt business, wholesale blanks, best desktop cutter, how to price your t shirts, katrinas graceful creations

Id: 9ZWEHW1nIZg

Length: 27min 19sec (1639 seconds)

Published: Wed May 31 2023