How to Start a T-Shirt Business in Five Easy Steps
You see custom t-shirts everywhere these days. How often have you thought, “I have a great idea for a t-shirt?” Have you ever thought about printing shirts yourself?
Today, it’s possible to print professional, custom t-shirts in your garage, spare bedroom or living room. You can even do this in an apartment.
Heat transfers help anyone print t-shirts like a pro without a huge investment.
All it takes is a quality heat press and a smart phone or computer.
- No art skills required!
- You don’t have to be a business whiz.
- 5-minute learning curve—so simple!
Get Started with Heat Transfers
What are transfers? Transfers are designs printed in reverse on a release paper. You place them face down on a shirt, on a heat press. Close the press for a few seconds, open, peel the paper – and presto! Transfers are the quickest, cleanest, easiest way to print a shirt.
When applied with a heat press, transfers look and feel fantastic. And you can easily print a few or dozens!
5 Easy Steps
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Create your Own Design
It’s great if you already have an idea or existing artwork on your computer. You can upload it to have a heat transfer made. No artwork or no skills? No worries! Use a free online designer with layout templates. Customize a template in minutes with stock art, fun fonts and shapes. Then select your colors, choose your size and order your transfers.
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Order Your Transfers
A heat transfer is your artwork, sized for a shirt, printed with high quality inks ready for you to apply. Custom transfers ship to you in a few days and arrive ready to apply to any apparel.
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Buy T-shirts
Order blank t-shirts, tanks or sweatshirts. Yes, you can use shirts you have or buy from a retail store, but if you want a dozen or more of the same color, in different sizes, ordering wholesale or from your transfer supplier can save you money.
- Heat press transfers on shirts
You can press your shirts in as fast as four seconds per shirt! Simply follow the application instructions for time, temperature and pressure which come with the transfers. Sometimes there is an extra transfer included for practice. It’s a lot of fun to press and peel away the carrier. So magical! Once applied properly, you will have a professional quality t-shirt that can be worn and washed for years.
- You’re in Business!
See how easy transfers are to use? With transfers, you can bring any design to life and print shirts like a pro. There’s no mess and no clean up. Print on demand, quickly and sell for a healthy profit. Your customers, friends and family will love what you make as much as you’ll love making them!
See for Yourself
This video, featuring t-shirt printing expert Josh Ellsworth, has gotten over 1 MILLION views on You Tube since it was first posted back in August 2020. That’s really a lot of views and the number keeps growing. Comments on the post say it’s the best video out there on how to start a t-shirt business. Watch it for yourself. There’s a cheat sheet below if you don’t have time. It tells you where to find what in the video.
Video Cheat Sheet
Don’t have a lot of time right now? Skip to the parts that interest you the most.
01:23 – 5 Ways to Heat Press T-Shirts at Home
05:18 – What Heat Transfers to Use When
08:40 – Choosing a Start-up Heat Press & A2Z Overview
18:27 – Talking About ROI (Return on Investment)
19:22 – Choosing a Market & Type of Customer
25:07 – Other Resources to Grow Your Business