can anyone help

[phillipwardlaw]

I have the slogons around 40 t shirt ideas and a artist friend willing to draw my ideas.And a shirt printer who said he'd do the shirts.I've researched a bit.But the legal stuff is what i don't know much about.copyright(s),trademarking.I know i'll need a Tax id and a Doing business as form.And later a LLC.
But other than that i'm clueless.Surch as start up cost,web design legal fees for lawyers.How many shirts to start with and how many of each sizes etc.
Any help I'd be happy to have.Thank you in advance.

[StuJohnston]

If you've seen it somewhere else, it's copyrighted. If you stick to that rule of thumb, you will generally not run afoul of legality regarding copyrighted material. Also IP gains copyright the moment it is created in case you are wondering about the work that you are going to produce. Copyright isn't terribly complicated unless you are trying to fool with it in some way that involves someone else's work.

You might get a better response regarding the rest of your questions on the t-shirt forums. While I may be wrong, as I was when I guessed that there was only one German on this board, I don't think that there are many, if any people who don't print their own shirts or create their own artwork among the members here. I suppose there are at least few brokers on here, but that's a totally different ball of wax.

If you want to go further than the internet, you could check out your local small business association and they can help you with the DBA and LLC stuff. Business licensing and fees tend to be local so it is important to seek advice from someone who knows your area's rules and regulations.

If I were you and had a burning desire to sell novelty shirts, I would figure out a way to do everything possible to make the product myself rather than paying a load of people are trying to make a profit as well. I suppose I have a different view being a printer and designer though.

[Inkworks]

My 2 cents.

Selling a shirt/clothing line works at two sizes.

#1 - Small/hobby guy, print a few sell them direct, make some money.
#2 - Huge company with great products and "mountain" of inventory. You don't want to be setting up a 6 colour back and 3 colour front just because someone ordered 8 shirts, so you really need them in stock. You also need to do large enough runs (Think 250pcs. minimum of a design, and more realistically 1000+pcs) so complex multi-colour prints are still cheap to keep your margins high.

Getting from #1 to #2 is the trick. Having success at #1 is relatively easy if you've got good ideas/art. Building a few hundred thousand dollars of inventory and developing distribution while retaining a decent profit to get to #2 is beyond the abilities of 99.9% of people out there. If you're a creative type, #2 probably isn't for you. People who get to #2 are business types with money and connections, they employ creative types.

Good print shops will make people "starting a t-shirt line" pay cash up front because the vast majority don't work out, and someone gets left holding the bag.

I don't know too many people who:
1 - Can run a large, effective production screenprint shop and,
2 - Have the creative and artistic ability to produce artwork that will be in demand and,
3 - Have the business savvy and connections to build a large and effective network of dealers/distributors, and
4 - Have deep pockets to build stock so it's all ready to ship at a moments notice.

#1 guy can make $10 -$15 a shirt if they have their head screwed on straight, but will be limited by how much they can sell because they are doing it all themselves.
#2 guy will probably realize $2 -$4 a shirt after paying all the employees, advertising, marketing and overhead. Remember most people along the line will want to close-to-double their money, so a $25 shirt on the shelf will sell to the shop for $10-$15, and sell to the distributor for $5-$7.50. Take out the $1.80 - $3.00 for the cost of a decent shirt if you have case-lot pricing from a wholesaler, then take out the cost of the printing (say $1.00 - $3.25), and what you have left is your profit, and every link in the chain has to be solid, anything breaks down and that inventory can sink you in a hurry. Inventory costs you money just sitting there, it costs a lot more than most people realize.

[Frog]

I think that a lot depends on the model used to sell the shirts.
Next comes decoration processes available.
Keeping stock in all sizes of 40 designs, is costly.
Finding someone who will screen print small orders as needed, even if only one color can be tough, and/or costly.
Direct to Garment, as a small order alternative, works better with full color and/or photo realistic designs that broad patches of single color.

So, what do you have going so far?

[phillipwardlaw]

First thank you all for the advice.I wasnt thinking of doing all 40 plus ideas at once.I have a artist friend willing to help with the art work for around 20$ each design.I heard of sites like kickstarter.com etc.
I asked the county clerk and she said she'd get back to me.But the local tax premit is $20 she said. i know I need a tax id.I contacted the small business asscation.And they send info.I know for copyright each one is 35 $ a piece.Trademarking your company logo is 3 to 400$.Anything i left out feel free to ask.