How to Kickstart A "Clothing Company" With ZERO Inventory and Only $100

[Charnell]

P.s. Take a look at the feedback from Candy_Klitz. That's a common theme among artists giving advice. The perception is that commercializing your art makes you worth less. However, I personally believe that if people are walking around with my name "MAXMLN" on their chest, then it can only help. I guess we'll find out ...

I wouldn't worry too much about "advice" from someone named after a sugar coated vagina. Half joking!

Putting the finishing touches on my site. After that, announcing the launch on IG/Tumblr:

I found your site easily from a quick google search. What kind of finishing touches are you planning on doing for the website?

One thing to include in my opinion, from a consumer's point of view, is having your shirts sorted by what the person is famous for. Right now we have to click through 3 pages to find a shirt we like, when you could divide it up into musicians, actors/actresses, and historically famous. I'm just saying
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

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[ttados]

This is excellent! I actually did some research into starting an online clothing company awhile ago but couldn't ever figure out how to get around having to buy a lot of initial stock. The print on demand offered by printaura is perfect.

I already have my niche down, some art samples I designed, and some ideas as far as branding goes. Since I got laid off from my crappy startup web dev job a week ago from yesterday, this is an excellent time to throw up a landing page and start working on an online store

Thanks again @AgainstAllOdds!

 

[Jambla]

I like your artwork. I am tempted to buy one of those my self. I know this is not passive but I think they would sell at festivals.

 

[Gymjunkie]

This is very cool. T-Shirts have been sexy but scary. Because of huge competition.. seeing T-spring success and how many Ts are there etc. just looks like overloaded market..

But this is very cool to see that it can work..

 

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[masterneme]

You could get in touch with some Youtube celebrities and create a special edition T-shirt based on their persona.

If you are using Wordpress, there are many affiliate/referee management plugins that you can install to track sales.

It's great to have an army of affiliates selling your stuff and if some of them are one of those guys with millions of subscribers and hundreds of thousands worth of weekly hours watched from their videos you could get a f-ton of money.

 

[LifeTransformer]

Great thread(s)! I like the artwork a lot. Lots of solid info in here too. I recently read a book about the T-Shirt business.

I want to go a slightly different route to you, I want to find a designer for some ideas, and then work to get them designs made. Anyone on the forum done anything like that? If you've got any tips, they would be hugely appreciated!

Also, I remember seeing a website before where you could create custom t-shirts without the border. If anyone knows who I'm talking about, please let me know. I can't remember the name of the company.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Also, I remember seeing a website before where you could create custom t-shirts without the border. If anyone knows who I'm talking about, please let me know. I can't remember the name of the company.

https://www.theprintful.com/product/all-over-printing-sublimation#retail

 

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[James Beattie]

Anyone know of a company that do this in the UK? The on-demand part, most of them I find require you to have a large following by the looks of it.

 

[Superwoman]

Wondering if you have an update, AgainstAllOdds?

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Wondering if you have an update, AgainstAllOdds?

Treating this as a hobby and have 3 clothing brands now. Not a lot of money. Maybe $3k in passive income annually (not pushing personal sites).

However, if you treat this as an actual business, then you can make a decent return.

Personally, this is just a side hustle that I enjoy. Plus, I only invested a week or so in getting these brands online.

 

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[Superwoman]

Are you importing and selling on Amazon as well? I thought I saw some other posts by you.

The tee shirt biz looks like fun, and something that can be done quickly. Maybe not to buy a lambo-but multiple streams of income are always good!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MakeMoreMoves]

Great Guide and laying all the steps out. Don't take this the wrong way, but I am so called in your target market. Honestly, I wouldn't buy it. Its just one of printed shirts on a regular tee. In my opinion there is nothing special about your design. Is there a way to change the cut of the shirt or quality of material? So its just not printed T shirt. Once again, I just don't understand. Didn't want to really bash since your guide is good.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Don't take this the wrong way, but I am so called in your target market. Honestly, I wouldn't buy it. Its just one of printed shirts on a regular tee. In my opinion there is nothing special about your design. Is there a way to change the cut of the shirt or quality of material? So its just not printed T shirt. Once again, I just don't understand. Didn't want to really bash since your guide is good.

Looks like you're not the target market: http://www.karmaloop.com/browse.htm#!PageSize=40&Pcat=141&Pclass=53&Pdept=10&Pgroup=1.

There's 3,200 + graphic designed t-shirts on Karmaloop right now. Those companies combined do at least $1B + in revenue annually. Do their clothes appeal to everyone? No. But do they have a demographic that buys? Yeah.

If you want to do cut and sew, then this guide isn't for you. Cut and sew is a completely different ball game.

 

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[MakeMoreMoves]

Looks like you're not the target market: http://www.karmaloop.com/browse.htm#!PageSize=40&Pcat=141&Pclass=53&Pdept=10&Pgroup=1.

There's 3,200 + graphic designed t-shirts on Karmaloop right now. Those companies combined do at least $1B + in revenue annually. Do their clothes appeal to everyone? No. But do they have a demographic that buys? Yeah.

If you want to do cut and sew, then this guide isn't for you. Cut and sew is a completely different ball game.

Oh alright. What I wanted to was to design unique fitness apparel. Like Nike has their Dri-Fit. Under Armour has their charged cotton. How do I get a manufacturer to make something that unique if they have never made it before? Do I have to design that material myself at home? Every time I see private labeling of things, the manufacturers spit out a product with the same formula, only difference is brand.

 

[Petter]

Hey AgainstAllOdds I checked out your site and all your items are out of stock. Have you stopped taking orders? And one more thing I was wondering about: You said you sold them for 25$ each and that you profited 11$. isn't just the print and shipping 16$ and 5,5$ totalling 21,5$? Or am I missing something? thanks a lot, best regards

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Hey AgainstAllOdds I checked out your site and all your items are out of stock. Have you stopped taking orders? And one more thing I was wondering about: You said you sold them for 25$ each and that you profited 11$. isn't just the print and shipping 16$ and 5,5$ totalling 21,5$? Or am I missing something? thanks a lot, best regards

$25 + $5.99 shipping = $31.99 in revenue.

And I decided to stop selling for a bit. Investing all of my time into my latest venture and eliminated everything that can take away my focus.

 

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[Deleted35442]

My tuppence. Great post btw. I've been toying with a clothing concept I think would catch on and become that "thing" that you have to own to be cool. The way brands like Hollister capture a lifestyle. I just bought my domain for it at the very least since I'm very happy with the name.

For all domains, and I recommend this for anyone, go through register4less.com. Domain companies are well known for selling your shit (Srsly, did you think a $2.99 domain at godaddy.com is just $2.99 after all the upselling attempts and that they wouldn't sell your shit?). BUT, I did use namecheap.com for hosting just now. For less than $10 bucks you can host up to 3 domains, 50 SQL servers, and "unlimited bandwith" (you can always call them on it if they try to cap you).

 

[Uly Sambrano]

Sweeeeett!! thanks for sharing and being a Mentor

 

[Superwoman]

My tuppence. Great post btw. I've been toying with a clothing concept I think would catch on and become that "thing" that you have to own to be cool. The way brands like Hollister capture a lifestyle. I just bought my domain for it at the very least since I'm very happy with the name.

For all domains, and I recommend this for anyone, go through register4less.com. Domain companies are well known for selling your shit (Srsly, did you think a $2.99 domain at godaddy.com is just $2.99 after all the upselling attempts and that they wouldn't sell your shit?). BUT, I did use namecheap.com for hosting just now. For less than $10 bucks you can host up to 3 domains, 50 SQL servers, and "unlimited bandwith" (you can always call them on it if they try to cap you).

My tuppence. Great post btw. I've been toying with a clothing concept I think would catch on and become that "thing" that you have to own to be cool. The way brands like Hollister capture a lifestyle. I just bought my domain for it at the very least since I'm very happy with the name.

Thanks for the info, Cyriex. I am learning web building right now and am helping a friend with her site. She has 3 different sites on three different hosts. Trying to get it all together.

For all domains, and I recommend this for anyone, go through register4less.com. Domain companies are well known for selling your shit (Srsly, did you think a $2.99 domain at godaddy.com is just $2.99 after all the upselling attempts and that they wouldn't sell your shit?). BUT, I did use namecheap.com for hosting just now. For less than $10 bucks you can host up to 3 domains, 50 SQL servers, and "unlimited bandwith" (you can always call them on it if they try to cap you).

 

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[drifter]

If anyone is interested in selling Ts / printing / etc, I can recommend http://www.t-shirtforums.com - I used the site before starting my custom brand clothing biz last Autumn.

I also use shopify as my ec platform; if anyone has questions re shopify, I shall do my best to answer...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[ExcelGuy]

I've been inspired to finally put some ideas from my head into tshirt form. But for the moment I flexed some old Photoshop skills and worked on using the Threadless template. I have other ideas for text tshirts with B-track song lyrics, but this might be a good test to just simple do and try it out. However, I think I went too far with this shirt and it might only be interesting to people on Fastlane :

 

[InitialX]

And you are officially my hero ! Just the kick that I needed when I doubted the same idea won't work. Thank you for the valuable info. I owe you one. If we were in prison I'd protect you in the shower.

 

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[devine]

@AgainstAllOdds, ended up not being worth it?

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

@AgainstAllOdds, ended up not being worth it?

I have a couple websites running passively and managed by a virtual assistant. It's ok money. Not significant unless I invest time into it - which I won't.

 

[stealth09]

Any update? Since it was basically no cost to you, why wouldn't you just leave it run in the background?

 

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