# How to approach businesses with the idea of printing & selling designs for them online



## chicagoshirts (Jun 5, 2009)

We want to look at marketing on-line some of the very unique and colorful T-shirts we print for other businesses, sports teams, sports events, etc. I have lots of questions.


-1- Is there a term for this?
-2- How do I approach these businesses, sports teams, etc. with this idea?
-3- I guess we would have to initially pay for the shirts and printing. ??
-4- I am assuming we would also do the inventory, fulfillment and mailing. ??
-5- If they approve, what profit split or percentages would be reasonable in view of us doing everything and carrying that cost?
-6- What companies do this already? 
-7- Any and all advice and ideas would be welcome and appreciated.


Thank you for any input.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

*Re: ow to approach businesses with the idea of printing and selling designs for them online*



> 3- I guess we would have to initially pay for the shirts and printing. ??


Do you plan on doing the printing in house?



> 1- Is there a term for this?


It's not exactly clear to me what you're trying to do. Could you clarify some?

Are you coming up with cool designs for existing businesses (like professional sports teams, bands, etc) and you want to print and sell those designs and split the profits somehow with the business.

If so, I'm not sure this is something that businesses usually get involved with because it usually involves letting go of some of their intellectual property (band name, trademarked company name, pro sports team licensing) at the whim of someone else's creativity that they didn't hire.

With bigger companies/teams, you may have a harder go at it, because the trademarks are carefully licensed and handled by certain distributors and licensees.


With smaller companies (like your local cool diner), they may be interested in from the angle of a new revenue stream and a way for their loyal customers to sport cool merchandise with their favorite restaurant name.

There are companies that do work with official license holders like Star Wars, Family Guy, Disney, etc and do printing and fulfillment for them. Big print on demand places like Zazzle and CafePress have official license agreement with a bunch of top brands/bands. I'm not sure who provides the designs though and what the approval process is like.

In those cases though, I'm guessing it's a bit of an easier sell. Those POD companies are well established, have deep and detailed tracking and statistics setup. They have a proven track record and for the trademark holder, there's almost no downside. They don't have to pay any upfront fees (I'm guessing), no monthly fees (I'm guessing), no printing fees beforehand (I'm guessing), no inventory control issues (everything is produced only when it's sold). They basically get to "put it out there" and get paid only when the products sell.

Hope this helps some  Maybe others with experience will have some more input


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## chicagoshirts (Jun 5, 2009)

*Re: ow to approach businesses with the idea of printing and selling designs for them online*

Maybe I should have been more clear. We are a printer with a 14-station 12 color Progressive Falcon auto press. Some shirts we print are really neat and we might want to approach the restaurant, sports club, MMA business, etc. to offer to sell their shirts on-line as an additional revenue stream to them (and to us). We would have to pay for and build some inventory of printed shirts and do all the marketing, fulfillment, shipping and detail record keeping. This would NOT be POD as we only have the one press.

I know it seeme like a lot of $$ investment but it's just a thought I'm trying to research through. Maybe this only makes sence for a DTG operation.

If these businesses having these neat T-shirt designs approve, what profit split or percentages would be reasonable in view of us doing everything and carrying that cost? 

What companies do this already? All ideas appreciated. Thanks.


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## kimura-mma (Jul 26, 2008)

If you are already printing t-shirts for these clients, then it seems they already have distribution channels for their t-shirts. You can approach them with your idea, but they may prefer to just treat you as a retailer and sell you product wholesale for you to resell.

Generally speaking, it seems like what you want is to become licensed by these companies to use their names and logos on t-shirts that you intend to produce and sell. Chances are, any company interested in this type of business already has licensing agreements in place that you could apply for. This would detail what you are allowed to produce and where you could sell it. It would also detail the financial structure, which probably includes a yearly fee plus a royalty percentage.

Any company that is small enough that they are not already licensing their intellectual property, you could probably just approach them with the idea. You should still expect to pay yearly dues plus royalties. Even though you are doing all the work, they are providing their registered marks. If you didn't need their marks, then just produce your own original art. But to use their marks, you will need to pay them for that.

Do you already have mass distribution channels? Or do already have a website attracting enough unique visitors per month to make it financially beneficial to the companies you want to approach?


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## chicagoshirts (Jun 5, 2009)

Good information. The shirts we might want to sell are just neat 8 Mile Family Fun Run shirts, a restaurant shirt design who only sell in restaurant, etc. none of these are big time organizations and i don't think they have any type of intellectual property contracts in place.

What do you think a profit split or percentages would be reasonable in view of us doing everything and carrying that cost? 

I saw an article few yrs ago about someone doing just that or almost that but can't find details now.


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## gearbranders (Oct 16, 2009)

Are you talking about doing an online company apparel store? Like for employees or customers to order various items with the company logo/design?


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## chicagoshirts (Jun 5, 2009)

No not at all. We see some nice designs on shirts we print for our custommers that the general public might want to buy. Even tho the potential buyer did not get a shirt because they did not enter the fun run, for example, they like the shirt because it has mountains, streams, lots of color, says the name of the race and year, etc. It won't say "Finisher" or "Volunteer" etc. like some event shirts do. A shirt we print for a local pub, soccer team, hospital, etc might be others.


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## kimura-mma (Jul 26, 2008)

chicagoshirts said:


> What do you think a profit split or percentages would be reasonable in view of us doing everything and carrying that cost?


I can throw out a random split like 60/40, but that doesn't really help you much. You need to figure out all your costs of operating this business and forecast how many you can sell and at what profit margin. Once you know that, you have to figure out how much of your profit you can give the the company and still be happy with your own profit. Then you can go into a negotiation knowing exactly what you can afford to offer. The last thing you want is to enter an agreement and then find out you agreed to a % that doesn't allow you to profit.


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