Starting my own online clothing brand.

[jamieh1989]

Hi there,

I believe i've posted here last year sometime but never actually got back to anything as i couldn't remember registering here. Now to the point...

Basically, i'm 18 and i want to start my own unique clothing brand. I know 99% of the time you would need a huge amount of money to do this if it was a store people would shop at down the mall or something, but i want to start with just a simple online shop - which people can order from.

What i'm here for is to ask you about what sort of direction i should be heading in, i've wrote a list of all the things i think i need to accomplish before hand.

*- I've been looking at manufacturers in China and in the UK which i send them designs of clothes and they manufacture them with embroided logos and/or prints etc.

*- I can get a website designed and fully functional for around the $300 mark. Not forgetting the CMS or the ability for customers to pay online, this will probably cost another $400 or so. So this is the website covered.

*- I'm then looking to spend around $500 on advertisements.

*- Possibly another $200 - $300 on a bit of SEO for the website.

*- Obviously i'll need to pay for the clothing to be manufactured and shipping etc. I haven't got round to working out a budget for that yet though.

I just wondered if there was anything else i really needed? Such as legal issues.. someone i need to talk to about it or do you think i should just go for it if that's what i want to do? It's not a normal big business, i'm not going to loose a whole lot of money if i did it, i could easily sell the website if it didn't go to plan, the only thing i could loose out on is buying the clothes and not being able to sell it (which won't be a lot).

So in theory i'm only going to learn if this business doesn't go to plan. Any suggestions?

Many Thanks,
Jamie Hann

 

[Trendy]

Well if I were you, I'd very wary of manufacturers from China, and I'm sure many other people on this forum will tell you the same thing!

Also if you're looking to aim your clothing brand at younger people then I really would consider networking using myspace or facebook, as young people are currently spend large amounts of time on these websites.

 

[Fernhurst Solutions Ltd]

Hiya Jamie

Welcome (back) to the forum. Have you contacted your local business link for guidance? Do you know any people who already have a business you could discuss such concerns with? Are the prices you have budgeted for is $ or £, to quote in $ seems a bit strange for a young UK business?

 

[Mister B]

Before you go any further, look at your costings for creating your own brand. I think that you'll find that with Asian minimums, you'll end up spending many thousands

If I were you, I'd try the markets and learn about ecommerce before committing to such an ambitious adventure. Get some experience under your belt.

Good luck with it, nice to see an eighteen year old with a little umph

Mister B

 

[fisicx]

*- I'm then looking to spend around $500 on advertisements.

Think you are being as little ambitious here. $500 in adverts is a drop in the ocean. I'd budget on at least $500/month.

 

[Trendy]

I believe that $500 is more than enough for a start up clothing company.

You just have to stop advertising and start marketing.

Get people talking about your clothing brand. Endorse up and coming bands, get them wearing your threads at their shows, and then back that up by having a presence and those shows and selling from there.

Maybe consider having a photoshoot. Get a good looking friend to put some of your clothing on and have pictures taken, then get these pictures into smaller magazines aimed at the same demographic as your clothing. If you're not talking about massive national publications then advertising is much cheaper.

 

[fisicx]

I believe that $500 is more than enough for a start up clothing company.

For a whole year? A single magazine advert will cost more than that.

You mention a photshoot - that's going to cost more than $500 even before you start printing up the marketing material.

Jamieh want's to do it online - and that going to cost money every single month until the site becomes self sustaining.

In any case, advertising is part of marketing.

 

[jamieh1989]

Thanks very much for everyones replys..

I'll take a step back and look into it further.

Well if I were you, I'd very wary of manufacturers from China, and I'm sure many other people on this forum will tell you the same thing!

Also if you're looking to aim your clothing brand at younger people then I really would consider networking using myspace or facebook, as young people are currently spend large amounts of time on these websites.

Thanks for the tips i'll keep them in mind!

Hiya Jamie

Welcome (back) to the forum. Have you contacted your local business link for guidance? Do you know any people who already have a business you could discuss such concerns with? Are the prices you have budgeted for is $ or £, to quote in $ seems a bit strange for a young UK business?

Thank you, I haven't yet contacted my local business link. I could actually talk to family about business but their business is not online. It is in ££ but the reason i say $$ is because i use a lot of US forums, so my fault there.

Before you go any further, look at your costings for creating your own brand. I think that you'll find that with Asian minimums, you'll end up spending many thousands

If I were you, I'd try the markets and learn about ecommerce before committing to such an ambitious adventure. Get some experience under your belt.

Good luck with it, nice to see an eighteen year old with a little umph

Mister B

Brilliant, i'll look into ecommerce and the markets futher, do you have any ideas where i should start? Thanks very much.

Think you are being as little ambitious here. $500 in adverts is a drop in the ocean. I'd budget on at least $500/month.

I've budgeted $500 to start off the advertising, i don't think i'll be spending $500/month on advertising straight away, but thanks for your input i'll definately see what i can do. Where do you suggest i advertise?


Thanks again everyone for the great input.
Jamie Hann

 

[maria102]

Also if you're looking to aim your clothing brand at younger people then I really would consider networking using myspace or facebook, as young people are currently spend large amounts of time on these websites.

http://www.fashionspace.com/shop/

This is a good example of proving how the networking and the funding would make Jamie's idea workable.

 

[fisicx]

I've budgeted $500 to start off the advertising, i don't think i'll be spending $500/month on advertising straight away, but thanks for your input i'll definately see what i can do. Where do you suggest i advertise?

Since you will have an online store your customers will be searching the net for cool gear - so PPC is the only real option.

You can set up myspace/facebook pages but you've still got to get them there.

Advertizing in magazines still works but is very expensive and you need to keep going every month. An advert in GQ or FHM is going to cost way more than $500 but if it brings you in $5000 worth of custom then that could be worthwhile. But rembember, a visitor from FHM isn't going to want to see a $300 homemade website.

So it's back to PPC which is why I put the figure of $500/month. You can't just advertize for 1 month and hope this will sustain you for a year. If I buy a t-shirt from you this month it doesn't mean I'm going to come back next month. You need new customers every month so you need to keep advertizing every month. Remember as well that 1% of your visitors will convert so you will only make 5 sales for every $500 spent on advertizing. Once your brand becomes noticed the conversions will improve as will the number of referals from other websites so after about 12 months you should start to see a profit.

 

[jamieh1989]

This is a good example of proving how the networking and the funding would make Jamie's idea workable.

That's a fantastic link, i will definately be using this website once i get sorted.

I can only assume i should be using the "Thanks" function right now?

Many thanks,
Jamie Hann

Since you will have an online store your customers will be searching the net for cool gear - so PPC is the only real option.

You can set up myspace/facebook pages but you've still got to get them there.

Advertizing in magazines still works but is very expensive and you need to keep going every month. An advert in GQ or FHM is going to cost way more than $500 but if it brings you in $5000 worth of custom then that could be worthwhile. But rembember, a visitor from FHM isn't going to want to see a $300 homemade website.

So it's back to PPC which is why I put the figure of $500/month. You can't just advertize for 1 month and hope this will sustain you for a year. If I buy a t-shirt from you this month it doesn't mean I'm going to come back next month. You need new customers every month so you need to keep advertizing every month. Remember as well that 1% of your visitors will convert so you will only make 5 sales for every $500 spent on advertizing. Once your brand becomes noticed the conversions will improve as will the number of referals from other websites so after about 12 months you should start to see a profit.

Very good and valid point. I think you will find my $300 custom made website will be of top-quality, i know that if a visitor doesn't like the look of a website they won't be staying there for long (flockey.com is where i'll be hiring a designer) not the style websites i'm looking for but the guy is definately capable of keeping visitors there.

Also another valid point on advertising, you're completely right i'll definately need a higher budget for advertisements, so i'll look into it, do you have a reasonable budget for advertising i should really be looking at having?

Thanks everyone.
Jamie Hann

 

[Logan]

Hi

We will launch our brand in a couple of months, and happy to give you some costs which you have never imagined...

-Trademark and logo (Around 300GBP)
-Website and other costs (If you can take care of them for 700in total, happy if you can do the same for me)
-manufacturing, which is the most important part, will give you a small ex. on that, manufacturers always has minimum order quantities, on textile, its around min 100 per model,50 per color, otherwise they can not produce that, for you to make your own collection, you will need at least 10 models and around 3 colors from each, which means 10x50x3 : 1500 pcs. and your cost will be around 5GBP each including delivery,tax etc. which means 7500GBP, of course these numbers can change,these are the ones that i have at the moment.

I will not get into the marketing expenses such as google adwords etc. as there is no limit on that... But you will spend at least another 500 on the top...

I do not know if you have space at home for storage etc. if you do not, need to add another 100 per month to store these safely...

 

[maria102]

Since you will have an online store your customers will be searching the net for cool gear - so PPC is the only real option.

You can set up myspace/facebook pages but you've still got to get them there.

Advertizing in magazines still works but is very expensive and you need to keep going every month. An advert in GQ or FHM is going to cost way more than $500 but if it brings you in $5000 worth of custom then that could be worthwhile. But rembember, a visitor from FHM isn't going to want to see a $300 homemade website.

So it's back to PPC which is why I put the figure of $500/month. You can't just advertize for 1 month and hope this will sustain you for a year. If I buy a t-shirt from you this month it doesn't mean I'm going to come back next month. You need new customers every month so you need to keep advertizing every month. Remember as well that 1% of your visitors will convert so you will only make 5 sales for every $500 spent on advertizing. Once your brand becomes noticed the conversions will improve as will the number of referals from other websites so after about 12 months you should start to see a profit.

I disagree with this, if you followed the fashionspace link, that is a networking site plus an online store and you can link to your myspace and facebook. The traditional routes of advertised are being challenged by the new wave of networking sites, and are probably more effective as this is more than likely where Jamies target customer is.

I do however think that the main cost would be the production of the clothes, and that is something I don't know how you get round.

 

[fisicx]

I think you will find my $300 custom made website will be of top-quality

Then you really have got yourself a bargain. The worrying thing is that don't seem to have a bespoke online store in their portfolio, that would concern me a little...

 

[jamieh1989]

Hi

We will launch our brand in a couple of months, and happy to give you some costs which you have never imagined...

-Trademark and logo (Around 300GBP)
-Website and other costs (If you can take care of them for 700in total, happy if you can do the same for me)
-manufacturing, which is the most important part, will give you a small ex. on that, manufacturers always has minimum order quantities, on textile, its around min 100 per model,50 per color, otherwise they can not produce that, for you to make your own collection, you will need at least 10 models and around 3 colors from each, which means 10x50x3 : 1500 pcs. and your cost will be around 5GBP each including delivery,tax etc. which means 7500GBP, of course these numbers can change,these are the ones that i have at the moment.

I will not get into the marketing expenses such as google adwords etc. as there is no limit on that... But you will spend at least another 500 on the top...

I do not know if you have space at home for storage etc. if you do not, need to add another 100 per month to store these safely...

Great, thanks for the input, I've spoken to a manufacturer in England and there prices seem to be around about yours, maybe a little less. I've asked them about quantities and they say after i'm happy with the samples then i can order as low as 10. I haven't yet got into how many i'll be purchasing it's not really something i've had a think about, at the moment i'm looking at information about what i need to look into (obviously quanitites ).

Thanks to the great response all the same.. Can i ask where you found this manufacturer please? If not it's not a problem.

Many thanks,
Jamie Hann

 

[jamieh1989]

Then you really have got yourself a bargain. The worrying thing is that don't seem to have a bespoke online store in their portfolio, that would concern me a little...

I'm not really worried about anything, he's got lots of testimonials and recommended people so i don't have to worry, Thanks though.

Many thanks,
Jamie Hann.

 

[Bizicycle]

$300 for a custom made ecommerce site? Who is supplying that?

That's either bargin of the week or mates rates imo.

 

[fisicx]

I disagree with this, if you followed the fashionspace link, that is a networking site plus an online store and you can link to your myspace and facebook. The traditional routes of advertised are being challenged by the new wave of networking sites, and are probably more effective as this is more than likely where Jamies target customer is.

Fair enough but how much traffic does this site get (noticed that it's still in beta)?

But if jamieh was targetting mid-20s males I'm not sure this is where they would look to find clothes.

 

[jamieh1989]

$300 for a custom made ecommerce site? Who is supplying that?

That's either bargin of the week or mates rates imo.

I think everyones got the wrong end of the stick, i'm paying $300 for a website design, to make it into a site where people are able to put clothes into a basket and order them it will cost around the $400 mark, so $700 altogether, which was stated in my first post - or have i got the wrong end of the stick? is $300 still really cheap for just the design?

Many thanks,
Jamie Hann

 

[Bizicycle]

$300 and $700 (if you are talking in $'s) are extremely cheap and if this person is reputable I'd snap their hand off if I were you.

 

[jamieh1989]

$300 and $700 (if you are talking in $'s) are extremely cheap and if this person is reputable I'd snap their hand off if I were you.

I got a quote to do the website design for $250.
Another $50 for the xHTML coding.
I haven't found a quote for someone to implement a payment system, i'm just assuming it will be around the $400 mark for what i wanted, what did you think it would be? Obviously i'm wrong

Many thanks,
Jamie Hann

 

[fisicx]

The go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. The actual shop is the website - all you do is make a pretty front cover.

As to payment systems, are you hoping for credit card sales? If so you need a merchant account and a method of processing the credit card. That then needs to be integrated into the account. And this will cost you between £10 and £100 per month depending on the number of orders to be processed.

 

[maria102]

Or you could just use Paypal where you will pay a fee on each sale? I don't think there is a monthly charge and of course no set up fee.

 

[jamieh1989]

The go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. The actual shop is the website - all you do is make a pretty front cover.

As to payment systems, are you hoping for credit card sales? If so you need a merchant account and a method of processing the credit card. That then needs to be integrated into the account. And this will cost you between £10 and £100 per month depending on the number of orders to be processed.

It's a good idea and i think i could probably use this once i know i have a nice flow of old/new visitors that visit the site often. I'm hopeing for credit card sales (which will mean i'll have to make a higher budget to make sure the site is as secure as possible.)

Or you could just use Paypal where you will pay a fee on each sale? I don't think there is a monthly charge and of course no set up fee.

I currently use paypal and yes they take out a fee (a very small one) from every payment that goes to and from your account (the fee being taken from the account that recieves payment, unless you were to withdraw it from paypal to your bank account, then there is yet another fee, unless you're taking out £50.00 or more i believe).

It's a very good system and i'll be using Paypal onsite without a doubt, I think they even have their own Merchant systems that i could also probably use so people can add stuff to the basket etc.

Please keep the posts coming if you have any information or suggestions.

Many thanks,
Jamie Hann

 

[ac1234]

Jamie - this post has been a lot about the logistics of setting up the company.

What is the brand though? Who is it aimed at? How will it be positioned? How will it be different to other t-shirt brands out there?

On another note you may want to test your t-shirts on cafepress.com - this could be a low cost way to test it.

 

[jamieh1989]

Jamie - this post has been a lot about the logistics of setting up the company.

What is the brand though? Who is it aimed at? How will it be positioned? How will it be different to other t-shirt brands out there?

On another note you may want to test your t-shirts on cafepress.com - this could be a low cost way to test it.

It has indeed. The brand won't be disclosed until i can officially launch the website.

The brand is aimed at the older teens/young men (16 - 25).

I don't understand your third question sorry (Just being honest).

I'm going for a simple style look, i really like how Diesel and Bench design there clothes (Simple but detailed at the same time) Not forgetting the Armani range. But what i'm really trying to do is make my t-shirt range a bit smaller in size and tighter around the arms and neck. Reason being is as i'm an older teen (18) i go to a lot of pubs and clubs on the weekends with a lot of teens around my age - ALOT of teens love to show off their muscles (this may sound silly to you, but i've asked a lot of people, i'm also looking to do a lot of surveys before hand). So instead of people having to worry about it not fitting when they're buying online, they're going to know that they will have something that fits them nicely around the arms and still be comfortable.

Now you may say that making the sizes smaller would be a stupid idea because then i wouldn't be catering for the bigger people, well i've been asking manufacturers and they've said about an Elastane material which basically (Hence the name) keeps the t-shirt tight to your body (with enough breathing space) so it can stretch to the t-shirts normal size if need be. So Small will still be Small, Medium will be Medium, Large will be Large etc. Then returns to it's normal size when the T-shirt is off. The t-shirt will obviously not be 100% Elastane but they've said a tiny bit of Elastane with a lot of Cotton does the job.

Thank you also for the link, i'll make sure i add it to my favourites.

Many Thanks,
Jamie Hann

 

[Logan]

himm

think we have another ed hardy-abercrombie like brand coming soon...

Muscle fit is the right word for you i suppose, a little strhecy in the arms and chest... And have to find some muscly models to show how it fits...

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Some thoughts:

Paypal online is okay, but be warned that they have been known to suspend accounts, not letting you withdraw any money, if there is a complaint registered. Although on the plus side, many people prefer to use that as it is more trustworthy than an onsite payment processor, particularly for a new company.

Think about selling some of the stock on eBay - it has many problems of its own, but you get access to a market of several hundred thousand users in the UK alone and it is a good way to get a brand and a website noticed. Similarly, have you considered selling these products in the 'real world'? A stall at an event (like a music festival, if you are targeting young males) might cost a bit, but is likely to get more notice than a website launch and is a great chance to leaflet the right people even if they don't see anything they like on the day.

SEO and PPC are likely to be a waste of money in your case since the clothing market on the internet is so huge it would take a lot of money/effort to get your site anywhere in the rankings for common search strings. If you do want to try PPC, I would recommend long tail keyword searches (ie. phrases of five or six words) otherwise you will be paying an awful lot per-click.

And the most useful (and too oft forgotten) tip for a new business start up - Don't expect to get rich quick. A business requires a lot of work and effort as everyone here will testify - keep your expectations realistic and you are less likely to be disappointed. Remember, Nike got started by selling shoes from the back of cars at athletics meets and it was six years before they made enough to open a single store.

 

[jamieh1989]

himm

think we have another ed hardy-abercrombie like brand coming soon...

Muscle fit is the right word for you i suppose, a little strhecy in the arms and chest... And have to find some muscly models to show how it fits...

Yes, i've got friends that are quite big and such posers.

Some thoughts:

Paypal online is okay, but be warned that they have been known to suspend accounts, not letting you withdraw any money, if there is a complaint registered. Although on the plus side, many people prefer to use that as it is more trustworthy than an onsite payment processor, particularly for a new company.

Think about selling some of the stock on eBay - it has many problems of its own, but you get access to a market of several hundred thousand users in the UK alone and it is a good way to get a brand and a website noticed. Similarly, have you considered selling these products in the 'real world'? A stall at an event (like a music festival, if you are targeting young males) might cost a bit, but is likely to get more notice than a website launch and is a great chance to leaflet the right people even if they don't see anything they like on the day.

SEO and PPC are likely to be a waste of money in your case since the clothing market on the internet is so huge it would take a lot of money/effort to get your site anywhere in the rankings for common search strings. If you do want to try PPC, I would recommend long tail keyword searches (ie. phrases of five or six words) otherwise you will be paying an awful lot per-click.

And the most useful (and too oft forgotten) tip for a new business start up - Don't expect to get rich quick. A business requires a lot of work and effort as everyone here will testify - keep your expectations realistic and you are less likely to be disappointed. Remember, Nike got started by selling shoes from the back of cars at athletics meets and it was six years before they made enough to open a single store.

Thanks for your fantastic input, i'll most likely be using Paypal online to start off with, then get a payment system of my own implemented when there are a nice flow of visitors that come to the website.

The stall sounds like a perfect idea, infact my local shopping centre have stalls that are available to rent often. I believe there are near on 200 shops and only one mens retail shop which is Burtons, so this could be highly worth it.

Ebay also sounds like a good idea, i've actually been searching lately on ebay to see what/how people are selling clothes there, could be worth a try, doesn't cost an awful lot to do either.

Thanks again for the input,

Jamie Hann

 

[jamieh1989]

Hi there,

Is there any other advice people can give me when dealing with suppliers and manufacturers.. what sort of information will i need to know to be able to manufacture my designs, is there any sort of courses/website online i can use to learn a little bit about it?

Many thanks,
Jamie Hann

 

[jamieh1989]

I apologise for replying 3 times in a row, but if someone could answer these following questions the best they can that would be a great help:

Would i need to pay for patents for designs of my own t-shirts/clothes?
If i were to sell clothes online without being a registered company would this be illegal?

Many thanks,
Jamie Hann

 

[fisicx]

You can't patent a t-shirt design but you can register your trademark. You can't prevent anyone making a similar product to yours but they wouldn't be able to put your label on it. Unless of course they own a factory in China.

If you have printed designs on the t-shirts, again there's not an awful lot your can do to stop someone doing something very similar - and unless you are a major brand it's likley that you would never even find out about it especially if they are selling the products at the local boot sale/market.

As to your second question: E-commerce and the law is a good place to start.

 

[Logan]

Jamieh

There are different ways to protect your desgins but you are far away from that point at the moment...

This process takes time and costs a lot of money which makes only affordable by big brands.

But there are some small hints that you can use to have rights such as sending your designs by post back to you and not opening the envelope and keeping it (Which you can show to court)

But anyway,i can find a design, have it manufactured in China, and start selling in Germany and in this period the real designer would never hear that so do not get stuck to that point

 

[jamieh1989]

You can't patent a t-shirt design but you can register your trademark. You can't prevent anyone making a similar product to yours but they wouldn't be able to put your label on it. Unless of course they own a factory in China.

If you have printed designs on the t-shirts, again there's not an awful lot your can do to stop someone doing something very similar - and unless you are a major brand it's likley that you would never even find out about it especially if they are selling the products at the local boot sale/market.

As to your second question: E-commerce and the law is a good place to start.

I understand, i want to make sure i know a bit about the business before i start, thank you for the link.

Jamieh

There are different ways to protect your desgins but you are far away from that point at the moment...

This process takes time and costs a lot of money which makes only affordable by big brands.

But there are some small hints that you can use to have rights such as sending your designs by post back to you and not opening the envelope and keeping it (Which you can show to court)

But anyway,i can find a design, have it manufactured in China, and start selling in Germany and in this period the real designer would never hear that so do not get stuck to that point

Yes i am quite far away but just want to know a lot before i start so if there is something that's going to stop me from processing my designs i'd like to know about it. thanks for the hints.

On another note, i've spoken with a UK manufacturer via email this last week and things are looking up and it looks like i'm a step closer to releasing my first collection. I know i'm still quite a way but things like this let me know that i can do it even if it will be hard work. I've got to ring them today/tomorrow and talk in depth with them, let them know what sort of materials and quantities i'll be needing for my first collection.

Many thanks,
Jamie Hann

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Sadly that self-post thing is little more than a shot in the dark, it has never been tested in court and is very unlikely to stand-up in court (you could open the letter after sending and put in the relevant documents, or even mail yourself an unsealed envelope).

 

[Logan]

If you accept to pay plane ticket costs, hope can consider your offer!

 

[jamieh1989]

Hi We, the Qiangde fashionable Dress Co.,Ltd, are all kinds of fashionable garment supplier in China, and we are supplying the garments with very good quality and prices.
We are now supplying all kinds of our products to the customers from America, and most of the countries in Europe. We sell them about 20 thounsands piece every month, Please see the website in my profile

Please don't hesitate to contact with me if you feel like to make OEM production or purchase finished styles from us.
Wish you all the best
Calvin
Sales Manager
Qiangde Fashionable Dress Co.,Ltd

I can't even read your website unfortunetly, thanks though.

If you accept to pay plane ticket costs, hope can consider your offer!

Can you re-phrase this please Logan

Many thanks,
Jamie Hann

 

[Phirefly]

if there is something that's going to stop me from processing my designs i'd like to know about it.

Hi Jamie, A couple of things to consider from a product point of view.

How much do you know about design for print? How are you intending to get designs on the garment? If you're considering screenprinting (the standard, but not the only way of getting a design on a tee) are you aware of the implications of screen separations, origination, screen set-up fees etc? With screenprinting, the palette is limited and artwork has to be carefully created to ensure it can be produced commercially. There are other methods, digital print, sublimation, transfer and vinyl/flock cut among others, each with their own benefits and limitations.

Have you thought about the garments themselves? What you're talking about is quite a specialised fit, which will make your product different, but being non-standard is likely to involve specialised pattern cutting.

I hope these are things you have either already considered, or are now planning to, and wish you every success.

 

[jamieh1989]

Hi Jamie, A couple of things to consider from a product point of view.

How much do you know about design for print? How are you intending to get designs on the garment? If you're considering screenprinting (the standard, but not the only way of getting a design on a tee) are you aware of the implications of screen separations, origination, screen set-up fees etc? With screenprinting, the palette is limited and artwork has to be carefully created to ensure it can be produced commercially. There are other methods, digital print, sublimation, transfer and vinyl/flock cut among others, each with their own benefits and limitations.

Have you thought about the garments themselves? What you're talking about is quite a specialised fit, which will make your product different, but being non-standard is likely to involve specialised pattern cutting.

I hope these are things you have either already considered, or are now planning to, and wish you every success.

I'll definately look into it more, i have a rough idea of how things work in the designing stages, they require 300/600+ DPI image formats for specific printing methods and similar DPI sizes depending on what printing method is needed/used.

I know i'll need to look into this more, definately things i haven't yet discussed with the manufacturer but will do and try to require as much information from them as possible, i know for a fact they do all printing/stitching methods though.

If something does go wrong or there are implications i can only accept it as part of the learning curve and will make sure i do it right the next times.

Thanks very much for your very informative post, will +thank you

Many thanks,
Jamie Hann