How to Make a T-Shirt Mockup Online

How to Mockup a Shirt Online

Have you got the perfect idea for a shirt design but don’t know where to start or how to make a mockup version? Maybe you have a business, and you want to create promotional apparel, but you aren’t sure how to accomplish this. Well, by using websites like placeit.net, you can have a mockup of your design done in minutes. You can get a professional-quality demo version of your shirt without any prior design experience.

How to Mockup a Shirt Online: Log onto placeit.net and access the apparel mockup generator for your desired apparel product. Upload your design image as a JPG or PNG or use one of the provided design templates and then select from the hundreds of available mockups. Choose the mockup that best encapsulates your brand and desired message.

Making a mockup of a t-shirt or other apparel is critical for anyone wanting to display his or her brand and show potential buyers what a product design will look like in person. It can also help you as the designer refine your image and make the finished product a true exhibit of your desired brand.

Mockups can help prevent a design that looks appealing in theory but falls flat in real life and allow a design to be tweaked to reach its peak potential.

Don’t let inexperience or lack of skill keep you from making an excellent apparel mockup. Placeit.net takes the guesswork out of mockups and lets you instantly create screenings no matter what your level of expertise. By providing thousands of design templates to kick start your project, there is nothing standing in your way to designing a perfect shirt mockup.

How to Mockup a Shirt Online

Websites like placeit.net make it easy for anyone to design a shirt mockup, even if you have little to no experience in making mockup designs. A mockup of your product can help attract potential buyers, so creating an appealing mockup is a critical step for any business trying to market itself. With placeit.net, simply log in or sign up to get started.

BONUS: Placeit was kind enough to extend a 15% off discount to All Free Mockups readers. You can find the coupon here.

With Placeit, you have the option to either buy per item or sign up for a subscription. After you have created an account, click on the “Mockups” section of the menu bar at the top of the website. From here, you can select for which type of shirt you want to design a mockup. Placeit.net offers a wide range of options, including t-shirts, hoodies, tanks, polo shirts, long sleeve tees, onesies, and sports jerseys.

Select the color you would like your mockup shirt to be by choosing a color swatch from the drop-down menu. Next, upload the image you wish to place on the shirt. Alternatively, you can take advantage of placeit.net’s extensive catalog of design templates. This is an excellent option for anyone who doesn’t have a graphic or logo already available to print or who needs a little inspiration to design a trendy new shirt.

The design templates can be browsed based on a number of categories, and once you have selected a template, you can change the text, the background, and even the graphic itself to best fit your intended design. Once you are satisfied, you can move forward by uploading your design. Be attentive to the size requirements of the image you are uploading; different shirts have different restrictions for image size.

Finally, browse the huge library of available mockups to select the version that best fits your brand. You can filter the mockup photos by gender, age, ethnicity, and a number of tags such as “activewear,” “gaming,” “musician,” or “yoga,” to name a few. You can then download the final mockup of your product and use it for all your marketing needs.

What Is a Mockup Image?

A mockup is a full-size model of a design, whether it be on a piece of apparel, a poster, a business card, a water bottle, or what have you, that gives clients and potential buyers an idea of what a finished product will look like in the real world.

A flat image of a design that is meant to be printed on a t-shirt may not have the same attraction as seeing the design actually on the shirt itself. Because of this, mockups can be a handy tool.

A mockup can also be useful for helping a business see how the desired logo will look across a variety of media. What may look fine on a small business card might look absurd when printed on a larger scale item like a shirt or a water bottle. Mockups can help designs be modified and tweaked in order to look the best on a number of potential items.

Most importantly, mockups help designs sell. Many potential buyers have difficulty visualizing a finished product. It is hard to look at a design and imagine what it will look like when screen printed on a shirt and in the real world. This is where mockups can take the uncertainty out of a client’s mind.

The mockup provides a visualization of the design in action, being worn, and modeled. By choosing mockups that fit in with the vibe of your brand and company, you can further build your reputation and personalize your company’s voice.

What Is the Difference Between a Mockup and a Prototype?

Some might use the terms mockup and prototype interchangeably, but these two words do not mean the same thing. According to careerfoundry.com, a mockup is “a static, high-fidelity simulation of the finished product that delivers the visual look of the product design, including typography, iconography, color, and overall style.” This means a mockup is an image, and it can exist without an actual product being made.

A prototype, conversely, is a working model or physical representation of a product. For example, if you had a mockup image of a shirt design, the prototype would then be the actual shirt itself, with the printed design. Prototypes are often used late in design phases as a final step to ensure a perfect final product. Prototypes often aren’t feasible for smaller design studios or companies working on a budget.

Some printing companies will allow prototype versions to be sent out for final approval before a large order is made, but more often, this is not the case. This is all the more reason why mockups can be incredibly helpful for designers and potential buyers. While prototypes can be expensive, a mockup is a relatively low-cost way to determine whether a design will look appealing to a product.

Why Should I Make a Mockup Shirt?

The reasons for creating a mockup shirt are numerous. It is an incredibly valuable marketing tool for anyone looking to sell more products. Have you ever been shopping online and see a flat image of a shirt and said to yourself, “okay, it looks decent, but I wish I could see how this looked on a real person.” You’re not alone. While the design might be appealing, it truly comes to life when you are able to visualize it in action.

A mockup allows for a design to be modeled on a human in a real environment. This can help you catch any flaws in the design itself, such as if the text wraps too far around the chest and is hidden under the arms, or if an image sits too low on the torso. Sometimes, a design may look stunning while it is a flat image on a screen, but it gets lost in translation when printed to a shirt.

A mockup will let a designer, thus, modify and tweak designs in order to achieve the perfect final product. It can help you visualize whether the design has an adequate visual impact you desire. The mockup then also serves as a great display of the final product. It gives buyers a real-life example of the shirt and design in action.

Seeing a shirt displayed on a model can help potential buyers picture themselves wearing the shirt, especially if the mockup image selected portrays a model similar to the buyer. This is why it is important to select mockup images with your intended audience in mind. By using image mockups that feature models that are relatable or aspirational to potential buyers, you are more likely to convert them into sales.

The bottom line is that mockups of apparel items help bring in more sales. By letting buyers see the finalized product without having to actually produce an expensive prototype, you are more likely to gain sales because clients will have a better idea of what the product they are purchasing will be. This means a much higher chance of purchase satisfaction since buyers will better know what they are buying in the first place.

What Makes for a Good Mockup Design?

Perhaps you are starting with little experience, or maybe you’ve designed a few shirts but haven’t been overwhelmingly satisfied with the results, either way, there are some helpful tips to keep in mind when designing a mockup in order to get the best result. While websites like placeit.net give you thousands of templates and options to choose from, it can be a little overwhelming if you don’t know where to start.

First of all, know the product you are trying to promote. Is this design for a company? Are you making a creative shirt that is an artistic expression? Perhaps this is a design for a particular client with specific requests. Ultimately, you need to know what message you are trying to convey and to be capable of expressing it in a way that vibes with the attitude of the brand or client.

For example, if you’re making a pro-vegan design, don’t place the image on a leather jacket mockup. If you’re creating shirts for a yoga studio, try to have mockup images of people who look like they just stepped out of a yoga class. You want your design to seem realistic and fitting, so make sure the mockup utilizes models that look like they could be expected to wear shirts with your design on a normal day.

Make sure the image you are uploading is of high resolution. If you choose to use one of the provided templates from placeit.net, this won’t be a concern since the templates are already formatted to be high quality. However, if you are uploading your own logo or design to use, make sure you are using an image of at least 300 dpi or better and make sure the size of the image fits the required sizing for the apparel design.

For example, for a hoodie design on placeit.net, you should upload a 750×750 pixel JPG or PNG file. This means that if all you have is a 640×800 pixel thumbnail image, your mockup is not going to look professional. Instead, you will have a blurry and stretched design image that will not be satisfactory as a final product mockup.

How Do I Make a Design for a Shirt Mockup?

Websites like placeit.net make it incredibly easy to create a design for a shirt, even if you have zero experience in designing apparel. No matter what you are trying to say with your marketing, placeit.net makes it simple by providing you with a massive library of customizable templates that will have you designing professional quality shirt mockups in a matter of minutes.

Log onto placeit.net and click “Designs” from the top menu bar. This will bring you to placeit.net’s template archive, and you’ll already see a selection of popular template designs on the landing page. From the drop-down menu at the top, you can select template designs based on category, such as “Family” shirts, “Retro” shirts, “Patriotic” shirts, or “Trendy” shirts. Selecting one of these categories can help you narrow down your selection.

You can then use the drop-down menu lower down on the page to filter the design templates that are displayed to help further curate your design. This menu allows you to filter based on options such as the newest or best-selling templates, as well as by particular tags that can get very specific, such as “Bachelorette” or “Acid” or “Nurses.” These filters can help you find specific templates tailored to the design you wish to create.

If you don’t find a template that is absolutely perfect for your imagined design, that is okay! You can modify and alter the templates provided in order to customize the design to your desired tastes. Select a template that is appealing, and you will enter a creative editor mode on the site. This will allow you to change almost every aspect of the template.

Use the text editor to alter the text to fit your needs or decide to delete the text altogether if that’s more appealing. You can shift the background color and any additional colored features such as shapes and banners. You can search through thousands of graphics or upload your own to change images on the template. These features allow you to easily achieve your desired mockup design in a manner of minutes.

How Do I Choose What Type of Shirt to Make a Mockup For?

You have a lot of options when it comes to creating a mockup image, especially if using an expansive website like placeit.net. For a new brand or designer, this can potentially be overwhelming. With so many options, how does one know where to begin? First of all, consider your brand and your intended audience. What sort of people are you trying to reach?

If you are a yoga studio looking to put your logo on products for clients, you probably want to look for mockups with models that look like they could be found in a yoga studio. This means choosing the image of the smiling, toned man in a tank top is probably a better choice than the pretty girl bundled up in a parka. You want the mockup to be an accurate representation of your brand and appeal to your intended market.

This can help you determine what sort of apparel to choose for your mockup. T-shirts are a great versatile, utilitarian item that is fairly fool-proof. Almost everyone, at some point, wears a t-shirt. When in doubt, a t-shirt works as a casual, universally appealing shirt option. Hoodies and sweatshirts can be a great option to introduce in chillier winter months or if your intended audience resides in a colder climate.

However, sometimes a company wishes to maintain a more professional appearance. In this case, choosing a mockup on a t-shirt or sweatshirt may not be the most appealing option. Instead, consider opting for a polo shirt to keep a cleaner, more work-appropriate presentation. Feel free to experiment with your design on several different variations in order to see what best represents your desired final product.

All in all, what sort of shirt you choose to make a mockup for will depend on what audience you are trying to reach and what you want your brand to represent. If you are aiming for a young, athletic crowd, select tank tops, sports bras, and hoodies, if you want a more clean-cut option, choose a polo shirt or long sleeve shirt. When in doubt, it is hard to go wrong with a classic t-shirt.

How Do Licenses Work with Mockup Images?

When you are working with an intermediary design site like placeit.net, sometimes it can get a little confusing to try to figure out what you can legally do with a mockup image. If you used a template from placeit.net, do you still have the right to sell the mockup you created?

Luckily, with a placeit.net subscription, you receive a license for the unlimited use of any content you create using the site. This means you can sell designs and mockups to other buyers, and you can put your design on any product you like and then sell that product.

So, in this case, if you use a template on placeit.net to design a shirt and then you have the shirt printed through a Print on Demand site like teespring.com, you can legally sell the shirts for a profit. You essentially have the right to use the mockup image in any way you like in order to obtain an ideal final product and to market that product to potential buyers.

You can also feel free to publish and display any content you create with placeit.net and even apply for registered trademarks for any designs or logos you end up creating.

What you can’t do, however, is take any content and distribute it as stock images or integrate it into another design tool application claiming it as your own. You also can’t use placeit.net images to build your own version of a mockup generator. Finally, you also cannot use a placeit.net mockup image in any way that depicts a person or another brand in a way that is considered derogatory or implies endorsement without permission.

What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Creating Mockups for a Business?

Mockups are becoming increasingly more common in any situation requiring custom design, but there are some inherent issues that can arise with using mockups. Most of these can be easily avoided with simply a little knowledge and foresight.

First of all, there are numerous advantages to using mockups for your business. It allows you as the designer to see any potential complications in the design’s real-world application and prevent future pitfalls in production. It also gives potential buyers a more tangible representation of the product they are purchasing. It helps drive sales by giving customers more confidence that they will be satisfied with the purchase.

There are some downsides to mockups if you aren’t approaching the process from a good business standpoint. Some may mistakenly think that simply creating a mockup will result in more sales or a better product, but that simply isn’t the case. If the original design is too generic or unsuitable, then a mockup will not overcome its flaws.

Most errors in mockup design are simply because the creator didn’t take time to create a product that is appealing to the desired audience. This may be because the mockup creator selected a mockup image that didn’t embody the intended clientele, or perhaps the design itself was inferior. The construction of the design itself can be easily remedied by simply using available tools such as the provided templates on placeit.net.

Using templates and browsing catalogs of designs can help give an indication as to what makes for successful mockup design. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking a mockup image will instantly solve any design issues and sell the shirt on its own. Take the time to customize a design that works for your business. Utilize the tools provided by placeit.net to streamline the process and take the guesswork out of creating mockups.

How Do I Design and Sell T-Shirts for A Profit Using Mockups?

If you feel like you have a lot of good ideas for unique t-shirt designs and want to make a profit off your designs, you can easily translate your ideas into sales through the help of mockups. The first step to starting your own t-shirt design business is coming up with a name for your company and establishing your logo. This will help customers recognize and trust your brand.

Next, simply start designing your shirts. You can easily use placeit.net’s templates to get started or upload your own novel images directly onto the website. If you need advice for designing your mockup, read above for tips on how to best utilize the service. Once you have your finalized design, you can move on to the next step of selecting a Print on Demand company.

Print on Demand companies will take your design and produce an actual product from it. Websites like placeit.net do not produce actual products, so in order to get physical apparel printed, you will need to submit your designs to a third-party Print on Demand company. Examples of these companies include Teespring, Redbubble, and Merch by Amazon.

Watch this full tutorial on how to sell your t-shirt designs on Print On-Demand websites.

These companies make it easy to upload your artwork, set a price, and they will handle the printing and shipping of your product. This means you don’t have to worry about having an inventory of unsold stock. Instead, the companies will print your design as needed based on purchases, and you will earn monthly royalties based on your amount of sales.

Mockup images can really help set your product apart on these websites. While most of these Print on Demand sites will offer a simple computer-generated image of your design on a piece of apparel, it is often unrealistic and simply a flat graphic that doesn’t bring your design to life. Entice additional customers by providing real-life examples of your products being worn by relatable models.