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Designing t-shirts is not incredibly hard, you simply have to know what is trending and what’s going to sell the best. If you stray from the type of shirts that sell the best, you risk not selling your design and being out a ton of money.
However, if you are creating a t-shirt for a purpose other than just to make money, there are still a few key things you need to pay attention to so that your shirts sell well. Chances are, you will be hard-pressed to find a shirt that won’t sell, however, it has happened before. Put a nice design on a soft comfy shirt and you shouldn’t have any problems.
Consider using t-shirt design templates to make the brainstorming and designing process a lot faster. Placeit.net has the most popular t-shirt designing templates on the market today, we recommend checking them out. Let’s get started!
1. Band T-Shirts
Music is eternal, it can connect people regardless of race, wealth, language, and hobbies. Since music is so impactful, band t-shirts are top sellers. No matter if it’s at a concert or in a retail store, people want to wear shirts that advertise their music choices.
Supporting your band, through listening and wearing merchandise is part of enjoying and immersing yourself in their music. Any band could put their album cover, name, or picture on a t-shirt and chances are people will buy it.
(Source: 99 Designs, Designs For Screen)
2. T-shirts For Events Or Conferences
Chances are if you have an event or conference that someone is willing to purchase a ticket for, they are also willing or even desiring to buy a t-shirt from the conference. Most people are proud of how they spend their time learning and growing at conferences and a t-shirt is a great way they can advertise that.
Not only is a shirt great for attendees, but it is also free advertising for the conference or event if it happens regularly. If someone attends an annual conference and wears the shirt all year-round, they are advertising the event without even realizing it.
(Source: 99 Designs, Designs For Screen)
3. T-shirts For Clubs and Organization
Clubs and organizations are regularly making t-shirts for competitions or big events, but when those things aren’t happening, usually there are general t-shirts you can purchase in support of the club or organization. Usually, the proceeds go towards whatever next event or competition is happening, but wearing your shirt helps advertise the club for possible new members.
People want to feel included in things, it’s a normal part of human existence, so selling shirts that include you in any organization or club are almost guaranteed to sell well. Most of the time, if there is a clever design or phrase that goes along with the club, the shirts usually sell better.
(Source: 99 Designs, Design)
4. Sports T-shirts
People are extremely passionate about sports, no matter the type of game played, or their specific team, they want to be on the winning side. Thanks to the huge desire for people to support their teams when they attend games, or just watch them at home, usually sports t-shirts are huge sellers.
In larger college towns, before huge games, most of the stores are wiped clean from the sports t-shirts due to people needing to wear their team colors. While you could mostly just spit the team logo on a t-shirt, in the off-season it would be wise to be more artistic with the logo or graphic to ensure your shirts would sell. People want to wear their team colors, but they also like having different t-shirts than others.
5. Vintage T-shirts
Anything vintage is incredibly popular in the young adult and teenager age group. Anything that can be considered older, impactful and important can be vintage so you can create shirts for anything from bands and musicians to tv shows and food.
No matter what decade you decide to create content from, 60s-2000s, you will have an audience that wants what you have to offer. Nostalgia sells well and vintage t-shirts create the perfect opportunity to help people feel nostalgic while also wearing fun clothing.
(Source: Placeit.net, Design)
6. Graphic T-shirts
Graphic t-shirts are pretty easy to sell as long as you create something that is easy on the eyes and well liked. You could put a cute multicolored panda on a plain t-shirt and manage to create a huge push for that shirt. In all reality, graphi t-shirts sell incredibly well because there is always someone in the world that wants what you can create.
If you are just starting out, stick to things you know people like such as plain t-shirts with clever words or cute animals, once you get the hang of things, you can be more creative and still sell quite well.
(Source: Placeit.net, Design)
7. Fundraising T-shirts
Fundraising t-shirts are quite easy to make and sell considering they have a purpose beyond just wearing. People generally enjoy supporting a cause they can’t fix or solve and having them wear a t-shirt for it also raises awareness for the cause.
Fundraising t-shirts simply need to be simple and to the point. If you require too much from the printing company, you will pay far more for the t-shirts that you can reasonably sell for and you won’t raise money, however, if they are too simple, people won’t want them. A simple name of the fundraiser and a phrase on the back are enough to raise awareness and include people.
(Source: Designs For Screen, Design)
Final Thoughts
Designing and selling t-shirts doesn’t have to be a rigorous, rough process. If you can keep up with the current trends and understand the t-shirt selling trends over the past years, you can create a shirt that everyone wants.
Any graphic that has a meaning to a larger group of people or any shirt that will raise awareness about an issue people are passionate about will sell once put on a t-shirt. Simply find a topic that is popular and put it on a t-shirt, as long as it looks nice and feels good enough to wear. No one wants an uncomfortable shirt, no matter how cute it may be.
