A large part of the “American Dream” is owning and running a business. Getting started is the most difficult aspect.
When it comes to apparel creation and aligning with the right people and materials, standing for what you believe in and applying that to your business model is a great place to start. Shirts and other apparel are an excellent way to raise your company’s visibility and share your ideas. Unfortunately, without positive actions, an idea will not produce anything tangible.
After coming up with a product idea, the first step is to make a budget. “If you can’t afford it twice, don’t buy it once,” is a rule of thumb for purchasing. When it comes to budgeting, consider your target audience and what they can afford. The average MSRP for custom shirts is around $25.
Goal of Selling Product
The goal of selling a product is to make a profit or at the very least break even. Our personal expectation is that you will get a 30-50 percent return on your investment, which will cover your operating and marketing costs and help you further your efforts. The goal for a garment that will sell for more than $25 is to make a shirt that costs around $15. Higher-quality shirts can cost up to $50, while high-quality hoodies can cost up to $100. Your budget will determine how creative you can be with your project, how many units you can produce, and how technical you can be. Incorporate multiple colour prints, multiple locations, and multiple designs into your orders, for example.
Order Rate
Most of our customers should consider forecasting for a quarter of a year so that they can take advantage of price breaks and save money by avoiding reorder setup fees. To take advantage of our first price breaks, I strongly advise budgeting for at least 50 garments per order. This also allows for a healthy size spread across several sizes (S-XL). We try to make the size distribution reflect a higher percentage of mediums and larges per order and a lower percentage of smalls and extra larges.
Design Your T-shirts
After you’ve budgeted, you’ll need to put your plan into action with artwork. With our in-house graphic artists, we can turn your ideas into reality. We can usually complete a full conceptual design in 3-4 hours of design time. We can usually finish a simpler vector design in about an hour if you have artwork that just needs tweaking. Full concept art costs $85 per hour, while recreations cost $35 per hour.
If you already have artwork, all that remains is to ensure that it is print-ready Files in Illustrator (AI) or Photoshop (PSD) are required. Starting simple saves money, and I emphasise the importance of limiting colours at first. It is preferable to have something tangible that people can touch and see at first, rather than a more expensive product that is more difficult to recoup your investment.
Print Mock-ups
We’ll create digital mockups for your approval once the artwork is submitted, print locations are determined, garments are chosen, and quantities are confirmed. To hold the shop floor for your job and order any blank garments that we source once the mockups are approved, we require a downpayment of 12% of the job’s cost. Within 7-10 business days of receiving the downpayment, we will produce your garments based on the approved digital mockup and contact you when they are complete.
After we finish your project, the rest is in your hands. The majority of our customers grow their businesses by pushing themselves to share their ideas with the rest of the world. We are simply a means of assisting you in realising your vision. Our “Embpunch” goods should meet your customer’s exact needs if you have the right metrics in place and a way to connect with them.
Conslusion
Running a clothing store, like any other business, is difficult and not for everyone. It is extremely rewarding for those who take the risk of venturing into the unknown. The most important thing to do after you’ve created your tangible goods is to focus on creating a demand for them to be purchased and worn. Promotions and targeted marketing will assist you in determining what to do next with your company. Take to the streets and the internet to share your style with the rest of the world!
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