Design in demand

[DmitryAleksandrov]

Hello everyone,
Planning to start t-shirt printing business. As I suppose - the most important thing is design. So could you tell me what kind of designs is in demand, or which design do you prefer?

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Quality and not too loud In fact not at all loud especially if you are getting on a bit in age but quality will always win !

 

[fisicx]

Hello everyone,
Planning to start t-shirt printing business

You and a million others.

I like plain tshirts. Or band tshirts I buy at gigs.

 

[DmitryAleksandrov]

Quality and not too loud In fact not at all loud especially if you are getting on a bit in age but quality will always win !

Thanks for advise! But what balance is better: quality of design or quality of material that t-shirt made?

 

[DmitryAleksandrov]

You and a million others.

I like plain tshirts. Or band tshirts I buy at gigs.

Your opininion is opinion too, I see that some times all that loud designs become annoying, so plain shirts may be in demand.

 

[Mr D]

Plain t-shirts can be in demand. And you compete with many places offering them.
Design on the t-shirt can be good - you will need to pay for licensing if the image is subject to license.
One of my favourite t-shirt suppliers pays for a theme license and designs its own t-shirts with that theme.

Some people, briefly, try stealing images from the internet and using those on t-shirts. Can be quite a lucrative business for some companies, tracking down and making the business pay.

 

[DmitryAleksandrov]

Plain t-shirts can be in demand. And you compete with many places offering them.
Design on the t-shirt can be good - you will need to pay for licensing if the image is subject to license.
One of my favourite t-shirt suppliers pays for a theme license and designs its own t-shirts with that theme.

Some people, briefly, try stealing images from the internet and using those on t-shirts. Can be quite a lucrative business for some companies, tracking down and making the business pay.

Absolutely agree. That's because going to do my own. License - important too, but this is not in subject.

 

[Ian J]

One of my favourite t-shirt suppliers pays for a theme license and designs its own t-shirts with that theme.

Can we have a photo of you wearing your Mickey Mouse T shirt please

 

[Ian J]

I pop into TK Maxx frequently where they have racks of T shirts and most of them seem to be little more than advertisements for the manufacturer and looking at the sort of shirts that people wear it seems that the manufacturer's adverts are the most popular

 

[fisicx]

Your opininion is opinion too, I see that some times all that loud designs become annoying, so plain shirts may be in demand.

The point is everyone likes different things. You can’t ask for opinions and base your business on those suggestions.

There are thousands of people selling all sorts of tshirts. Your success depends on marketing not the designs.

 

[Mr D]

Can we have a photo of you wearing your Mickey Mouse T shirt please

Sorry, they don't have a Disney licence.
Lots of places don't produce Disney stuff.

 

[Darren_Ssc]

I pop into TK Maxx frequently where they have racks of T shirts and most of them seem to be little more than advertisements for the manufacturer and looking at the sort of shirts that people wear it seems that the manufacturer's adverts are the most popular

People of low status gravitate to prominent brand names and such. The guy wearing a Ferrari baseball cap being the extreme example.

I am fortunate in that I am low status status but, somehow, have a modicum of taste and prefer plain t-shirts. One that's guaranteed to stay looking good after 3 washes would be a winner for me.

Yes, I know that's been done.

 

[HFE Signs]

You might be better targeting stag and hen parties

 

[kkfcXHzmCc]

Much better designs than that on your website. Get a designer! Do some market research...

 

[HFE Signs]

Much better designs than that on your website. Get a designer! Do some market research...

Agreed!

 

[kkfcXHzmCc]

We don't sell T-Shirts??

It was aimed at the OP! https://teespring.com/stores/ldn4biz

 

[HFE Signs]

It was aimed at the OP! https://teespring.com/stores/ldn4biz

Sorry! my mistake

 

[chalkie99]

Dmitry, the "Buy British" campaign was about 40 years ago, at a guess, so apart from being old fashioned it is incredibly badly targeted as you are offering items printed with the Union Flag and the Buy British slogan yet the items you are printing them onto are all foreign goods, e.g. Samsung, Apple, etc. and shirts are generally manufactured in places like Honduras.

Aside from that the prices are high, delivery charges are high and dispatch appears to be from the EU with very long delivery times which most people will not accept.

Most (all?) of the things you are offering are available with better designs at better prices from thousands of other suppliers.

Sorry!

 

[Mr D]

Dmitry, the "Buy British" campaign was about 40 years ago, at a guess, so apart from being old fashioned it is incredibly badly targeted as you are offering items printed with the Union Flag and the Buy British slogan yet the items you are printing them onto are all foreign goods, e.g. Samsung, Apple, etc. and shirts are generally manufactured in places like Honduras.

Aside from that the prices are high, delivery charges are high and dispatch appears to be from the EU with very long delivery times which most people will not accept.

Most (all?) of the things you are offering are available with better designs at better prices from thousands of other suppliers.

Sorry!

Ah the buy british niche.
Way overused - come across some coconut milk once that was promoted as buy british - the shop owner was british.

Can be useful but as you say some people will pick up that the product may be from elsewhere.
Bit of relabelling....

 

[Ziggrs]

Most people like quality stuff, so it should be your fist focus. Secondly, what would be your target market, i.e. teenagers, tourists, female, male...? For the design you should seek to find out what your target market would buy. It is better than to ask guys on forums

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I would suggest you do your homework and check out all existing sales channels to see what others are selling at what prices, The market you are entering is filled with lots of local competitors wherever you live and the standard sales outlets like Universities, clubs, companies etc well covered


Whilst looking at high street prices normally £20-25 they are buying in at probably £2-3 printed from the large companies, smaller shops can also buy from wholesalers at similar prices or a quid extra, even embroidery prices are similar


You would need to have a great marketing budget to get anywhere and this is the sort of competition you are up against
https://www.clothes2order.com/T-Shi..._cAByTpTBHMOUGeT4jNHnWfEC96LUPLsaAvugEALw_wcB

 

[DmitryAleksandrov]

Thank you forum members for the valuable advice! I looked at my business with your help from the other side.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

No offence... but, the "London Fun Collection" looks about as much fun as a dried up tomato.

With all due respect, you're trying to sell something with tourist's in mind... looking at your "stock"... big mistake online TBH... why would someone order from you when they're in London? Surely they're going to buy from a local shop in London... and probably cheaper too.

 

[DmitryAleksandrov]

With all due respect, you're trying to sell something with tourist's in mind... looking at your "stock"... big mistake online TBH... why would someone order from you when they're in London? Surely they're going to buy from a local shop in London... and probably cheaper too.

Your comparisons of our t-shirt design

with "dried tomatoes" are very brave! It's great that those who buy them from us did not hear this! I love sun dried tomatoes and even cooked sometimes, and therefore clearly represent what you feel looking at those shirts. But I thank you for some valuable comments that will help us.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

Hardly brave, honest and truthful... and my personal opinion.... some may agree, some may not but at the end of the day... I never mentioned sun dried tomatoes, I said a dried up tomato... completely different...

Dried up tomato

Sun dried tomato

I say tomato... you say potato... two completely different things entirely

As an example

https://myshirts.co.uk/products/awe...GcROAkVHA5RVMu7Pcwz1g4kEufxJNLbMaAp9kEALw_wcB


Looks more fun and interesting to me than...

The font is all wrong, whenever I see the font that's on your T-shirt I think of a font that promotes military propaganda or paraphernalia.

 

[DmitryAleksandrov]

"Мilitary propaganda"? Gosh! And I think it's a reflection of the trade traditions of port London, where this type was used on the packaging of goods. Everyone has their own opinion and taste. However, thank you for your opinion.

 

[Opinion87]

In the nicest way, they're all pretty terrible.

"I'll buy a t-shirt showing the business districts of London!" said no tourist, ever.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

"Мilitary propaganda"? Gosh! And I think it's a reflection of the trade traditions of port London, where this type was used on the packaging of goods. Everyone has their own opinion and taste. However, thank you for your opinion.

But tourists are not visiting the trade locations... they're visiting tourist attractions...

I mean, I've only ever been to London two or three times, and I honestly have no idea where the location is on the T shirt that you have... yet the T shirt that I found online shows me places I remember in London ... I.E. Big Ben, The London Eye, London Bridge...

Anyone buying your T shirt clearly doesn't know anything about London... nor do they have any taste whatsoever... no disrespect to you, but C'mon the image on the T shirt is just terrible and the font saying London covering the bottom of the image and bleeding into the T shirt just looks shocking... it looks like a 10 year old has produced it on paint... sorry but it really does.

 

[glengraving]

is that skyscraper supposed to be wonky?

as it happens, I've recently started up a print-on-demand store aimed at a regional demographic of my city too, with colloquialisms and cultural iconography.

The only sales I've had so far are entirely riding on the bandwagon of some cultural events I've referenced, so I can't take much pride in it. But I'm not expecting to get rich from Print-On-Demand commissions either - this is really just an exercise in teaching myself a bit of graphic design and marketing (I mean to eventually buy equipment to produce my own merchandise rather than outsourcing it to the likes of RedBubble/Teespring, but theres no reason not to quietly build a portfolio in the meantime).

You're not going to make much money via t-shirt designs unless you have a background in design, an under-fulfilled niche and some real marketing savvy. Plus tenacity.

You need to ask yourself, will anyone feel the *need* to own the things you design? [And then you need to ask the same question to a friend with better design/aesthetic sensibilities.]

I'm going to assume from your name and sentences that you're not ethnically British - from some country further east? That's a niche. What would spark a sense of both pride and belonging in an immigrant to Britain who has a similar story to yours? There's something there, if you dig for it. Maybe come up with some concepts and pay a graphic designer to polish them.

p.s., while the name of an online store isn't as important as what it sells, LDN4BIZ reads as the opposite of fashionable to me. Shortening of words (especially with '2' or '4' in place of 'to' and 'for') like that is generally super tacky. The logo looks boring and corporate.