Do you have an eye for fashion or even good fashion humor? In today's society, trends and fads change with the wind and what was in fashion at the beginning of the year is no longer trs chic at the end. It's the same with t-shirts. The basic t-shirt stays the same but the designs change over time. If you can create new designs that are eye-catching, try your hand at starting a t-shirt business.

What is a T-Shirt Business?

As a t-shirt aficionado, it will be your job to come up with designs that people will want to wear. As an artist, you can create the designs yourself. If you are the business person and not the artsy type, you can hire an artist to draw the designs and a screen printer to do the work on the t-shirts. Either way, you will market and sell your t-shirts with those cool designs to customers online and locally.

Customers may buy one t-shirt or a company may buy in bulk from you. Either way, you will want to get your name into as many places as possible. A store chain like Wal-Mart or Target may pick up your line of t-shirts for their store. Then business will really get rolling.

Like I said, you don't have to be an artist. In any type of clothing business, it is important to have a nose for trends and what is hot that particular season. Taking on a partner will solve the issue of a designer if you don't draw anything but stick figures. Designing software is available for even a non-artistic type to try their hand at creating a t-shirt.

Screen printing is utilized to get those new designs from your mind to the front or back of a t-shirt. Become familiar with all aspects of the printing process.

For a t-shirt business you need to have t-shirts. No, you don't have to take every shirt off the rack at the closest retail store. T-shirts can be bought in bulk from a distributor or wholesaler. Choose shirt colors carefully so that the design you have drawn will show up properly. A good quality computer outfitted with design software and a printer are also needed at start-up.

Using a screen printer can get expensive, too. Each color that is contained in your design needs a new screen. The same goes for designs completed using computer software. Buying and printing the shirts may cost you around $500 or more depending on the complexity of the designs. Before asking the screen printer to make hundreds of shirts, do a market test run. Using a few shirts of varying colors with some of your designs will be enough to see if there is a market for your product.

It is your choice whether to start the business at home or in a retail outlet. It might be wise to test the market for your shirts or create an online store to sell your wares before investing bigger amounts into a brick and mortar business.