By
Sarah Harris
When watching videos on YouTube, you may have noticed a merchandise section under the video viewer. Sometimes, this section has plushies, hats, or tote bags with the face or logo of the YouTuber. Most often, however, the items for sale are shirts.
Usually, these shirts aren’t sitting in a warehouse somewhere, waiting to get shipped out; instead, they are printed the moment you, the customer, click the order button. It might as well be a “print T-shirt on demand” button.
What Is Print-on-Demand?
Thanks to on-demand printing and fulfillment, creatives can offer shirts without stockpiling them. This process has transformed the way they can run their business. The way print-on-demand shirts work is exactly how it sounds. The shirts are literally printed when a customer orders one.
Print-on-demand T-shirt companies receive the graphics from the seller and print them on blank shirts whenever one is purchased. Print-on-demand shirts generally also have options such as size, color, fabric type, and sleeve length, depending on what the printer can provide.
As for how the shirts are actually printed, if the mental image you currently have is of a shirt running through an office printer, that’s not quite how it’s done.
A stencil is made on a mesh screen, and ink gets pushed through the screen onto the fabric of the shirt. This process lets the shirt remain flexible without an ironed-on graphic becoming separated over time. The result is an attractive, durable piece of clothing with interesting graphics.
How Print-on-Demand Allows You to Design and Sell T-Shirts Online
To make your own shirt, you would need to have silk screen printing equipment or be willing to paint/draw/stain the shirts by hand.
By relying on companies that specialize in print-on-demand shirts to do the hard work, all you have to do is come up with a design. Many companies, such as Print Bind Ship, also have designers on staff to make sure the graphics are as attractive as possible.
Benefits of Selling T-Shirts with Print-on-Demand
For creatives, small businesses, and other institutions or entities that are not flush with cash, the option of ordering large numbers of shirts all at once may not be financially feasible. With the option of “print T-shirt on demand,” there is never any inventory lying around, waiting to be sold. Nor are already printed t-shirts in danger of getting lost, being destroyed by accident, or taking up valuable space.
Sellers can also identify which sizes, colors, and styles sell the most and develop new product lines. For example, if long-sleeve shirts are the most popular, the seller doesn’t have to worry about a pallet of unwanted short-sleeve shirts. That way, they don’t have to discount or discard less-popular shirts.
When designs, sizes, colors, or styles don’t sell, they can be removed from the seller’s store with no other changes needed.
Print-on-Demand T-Shirts and Fulfillment
When your shirt printer is also a 3PL that can be in charge of order fulfillment, order logistics are far simpler. The shirts can be printed on demand, packaged, and shipped without your intervention. By having your storefront connected through the 3PL, order fulfillment is automatic. Even returns can be taken care of without troubling you.
How to Make Your Own T-Shirts
If you’re ready to get your shirts to customers, you just need to follow some simple steps. Print Bind Ship works with professionals around the world, printing and delivering shirts every single day to their customers.
Step 1: Fine-Tune Your Designs
If you’re not a graphic designer, but you know the basic idea of what you want, partner with a designer to ensure your design idea is possible. You’ll have to make sure the size, color, and placement of the graphics will work on a shirt. If you’re already a graphic designer, great! Just make sure your design is within the printer’s parameters.
Step 2: Send Your Designs and Ideas to Print Bind Ship
Get your digital file to us so that we can get it ready to go onto your customers’ shirts. Our designers are happy to offer suggestions or make tweaks to your design to make it the best it can be.
We integrate easily into your digital storefront so that you don’t have to become the middle-man, sending us order information and addresses for shipment. We will take care of that.
Step 3: Market Your T-Shirts Online
It’s up to you to find the customers, but we’ll handle everything else. We cover all the logistics of getting shirts to customers, including warehousing blank shirts, printing them with your graphics, packing them, and shipping them. We’ll take care of the returns, too.
Got an Idea that Belongs on a T-Shirt? Print Bind Ship Is Ready to Get it Printed!
Making your own T-shirt shop has never been easier. Until printing partners like Print Bind Ship came along, printing T-shirts wasn’t easy. Print-on-demand shirts have transformed the clothing industry. You’ve got the designs, and we’ve got the ability to put them on shirts so you can sell them.
Ready to make walking billboards with your logo? We’re ready, too. Contact Print Bind Ship today.
FAQ
Yes. The minimal investment required to begin makes starting a clothing brand easier than ever.
Sellers can expect profit margins of approximately 50%. If the combined cost of the shirt and printing is $15, sell it for $30. The exact profit margin may differ depending on your specific costs and ability to price the shirt for the most customer interest.
Print Bind Ship! We handle all logistics, from printing to storage to shipment. Our services will allow you to create quality shirts delivered quickly anywhere in the world.