Starting a t-shirt company

[cambridge]

Hi guys,

I'm interested to find out peoples personal experiences with starting their own t-shirt companies, after giving it some thought these are the initial hurdles I think I would come across.

- Thinking up a brand (designs, target market, etc)
- Deciding which T-Shirt brand to print on
- Finding the right company to provide and print these shirts
- Deciding which colours, sizes and the quantity of each size you need printing.
- Funding and storing the initial print run of these colours + sizes
- Creating your own or deciding which online store to sell these shirts on
- Marketing your brand and getting customers
- Keeping up with demand (good problem to have) not being able to shift the initial print run you made (bad problem to have)

It would be good to spark up a conversation on how people got over these issues, have I missed anything? Are some of these assumptions incorrect?

Thanks in advance.

[blue moon]

as somebody who has been starting business for last 20 years, here's what I've learned (rather painfully for the most part).

short version:

FIND SALES FIRST! find somebody, or preferably multiple ppl that will buy your product first. If you can't find somebody to buy it now, what makes you think you'll be able to find them later after you've already made the time and money investment to start the business? Out of handful of companies I started or was involved with, the ones that had sales before opening the doors were the ones that did best.

long version:
worry about the business side before the other stuff you are asking. You'll need to develop a business plan and that will answer the questions you are asking. Figure out the market share, market size, investment requirements, cash flow, SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, threat) and so on. Sign up for a class that will help you develop your business plan. 'not sure where you are located, but here in US there are workshops offered everywhere that will help you with it. Pay $200-$300 for a 6-12 week class and by the time you are done you'll have a complete business plan. Having one makes it 10 times more likely that you will succeed.

pierre

[starchild]

as somebody who has been starting business for last 20 years, here's what I've learned (rather painfully for the most part).

short version:

FIND SALES FIRST! find somebody, or preferably multiple ppl that will buy your product first. If you can't find somebody to buy it now, what makes you think you'll be able to find them later after you've already made the time and money investment to start the business? Out of handful of companies I started or was involved with, the ones that had sales before opening the doors were the ones that did best.

long version:
worry about the business side before the other stuff you are asking. You'll need to develop a business plan and that will answer the questions you are asking. Figure out the market share, market size, investment requirements, cash flow, SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, threat) and so on. Sign up for a class that will help you develop your business plan. 'not sure where you are located, but here in US there are workshops offered everywhere that will help you with it. Pay $200-$300 for a 6-12 week class and by the time you are done you'll have a complete business plan. Having one makes it 10 times more likely that you will succeed.

pierre

Agreed with everything said here..

The list of things you stated that you believe must be done.. Are operational- objectives.. Meaning if you take these strategic steps your goals will be realized.

Most failure lies within in the implementation of strategy..  For it to be successful, you should have at least a comprehensive understanding of every step involved. So everything you listed that you think needs to be done, you got to be familiar with. This will   allow the tactics that you use, to execute your strategy, clear and deliberate.

Another area you find a higher rate of failure is a business lack of competency.. What is it that you're good at that you're bringing to the table? Are you a web developer that can build an app to compete with the competition? Are able to identify who you choose to be your competitors- Lot's of niches and all of them occupied. Are you a graphic designer that can conceive designs that will be desirable to your target customers? Are you a screen printer that has the ability to bring a product to market faster than your selected immediate competitors?

Figure out where you stand, know and appreciate these things and go from there.

Sent using Tapatalk