# How Many T-Shirts do you sell?



## pablosanchez495

Just out of curiosity how many T-shirts do you sell a month on average and how do you sell them? Thanks in Advance


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## gruntstyle

about 2,000 a month, sometimes more. Its split up between online sales, event sales and wholesale.


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## BWigs22

good work grunt, what events do you usually go too?


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## gruntstyle

We have a vendor license at Fort Benning, GA. We are also looking into other events like Air Shows.


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## BWigs22

air shows would def be an interesting spot, let me know how that goes.. again great work, do you just take online wholesale orders or do you advertise for that? also are there vendor opportunities during the winter months? thanks so much keep up the good work!


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## gruntstyle

We just got into the Wholesale business. We are working with about 15 stores or so right now and are going to a trade show in Vegas this January for our genre of stores. So hopefully we can double our wholesale accounts there. 

As for vending, January to April are the slowest. But it's enough to pay the bills then we make most of our money after that.


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## BWigs22

great work man, very impressed as I am about to launch my own line, not your same niche though, mine are more political based. Your insight has been very helpful.. how did you go about getting your current stores to work with you? anything you could relay would be most appreciated, thanks again!


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## gruntstyle

You have to be selective about the stores that you'll sell with, but have goals in mind. Like 'whatever' stores are a perfect fit for you. Start with the smaller ones until you get the details and system down and know what sells the best. Then work your way up. You might have to consign them at first.


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## BWigs22

what aspect of selling would you consider most important, sales online from events or wholesaling?


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## dwntwn49

What is your niche grunt?


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## gruntstyle

event sales has been our biggest bread winner, bring up to $13,000 in one day (that's our best night, we average about $20,000 a month from events) , but theres not too much room for growth there. So our focus is online and wholesale. Those have the most potential for growth.

Our niche is obvious, military and patriotic apparel that looks super cool.


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## dwntwn49

That's awesome! It's nice hearing the success of others. Do you have many employees? Do you print in house? Sorry for all the questions...I tell my wife I'm at the age of couriosity!!


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## gruntstyle

We used to have eight employees and a small kiosk, but just recently moved everything to our house for personal reasons. We contract the printing out. I'm in the branding business not the screen printing business.

Ask any question youd like.


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## dwntwn49

It's much appreciated. Do you have a site and what is it? How long have you been in business?


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## gruntstyle

we have been in business for two years. Our website and Facebook fan page are in our signature below.


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## dwntwn49

Sorry about that. Am communicating via the app and it didn't have it.


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## gruntstyle

Grunt Style LLC - This We'll Defend!
Grunt Style - Armed Forces, Clothing Store - Fort Benning, GA | Facebook


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## BWigs22

thanks for all the info, much appreciated.. obviously you are trying to find events that match your niche most appropriately, just wondering which events you have gone to in the past and how you found these events, were they local or did you have to travel.. did you just google or did you have to contact people, thanks so much because I think events are def a good way to potentially make sales and spread the word as you well know!


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## rcmsellers

Like your site very much. As a former service member (E-8), I can truly say that there isn't anything for members to wear that are up to date with current styles. Well Done!!!



gruntstyle said:


> Grunt Style LLC - This We'll Defend!
> Grunt Style - Armed Forces, Clothing Store - Fort Benning, GA | Facebook


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## gruntstyle

Thanks rcmsellers!!


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## manninm5033

Also a former military member here & also do promotional items as well as clothing. LOVE your site, grunt, awesome! My husband & I will be in Vegas in January as well. Your wife coming with you?


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## gruntstyle

My lovely wife will be with me. Look forward to see you there!


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## manninm5033

Awesome! The 4 of us should meet up & talk biz.


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## gruntstyle

I'm game. Look for Grunt Style. I'll be the dude with the Drill Sergeant hat.


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## manninm5033

That may bring back too many bad memories...I may run from you instead!


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## gruntstyle

haha. No worries. I haven't been on active duty since May this year.


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## amandahansen

just checked out your fb page, good job !


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## treadhead

gruntstyle said:


> about 2,000 a month, sometimes more. Its split up between online sales, event sales and wholesale.


Nice designs Daniel.....


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## gruntstyle

Thanks treadhead!


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## BWigs22

Grunt, ,great stuff.. what type of events do you go to, im trying to figure out where i would find events/places to sell my stuff, not exactly sure how all that works, anything you could relay would be greatly appreciated, thanks!


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## manninm5033

Hey Grunt, what hoodie are you using that has the hidden zippered pocket?


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## erussell

grunt - I'm new to this. What tradeshow is in Vegas for this industry or what type of tradeshow. Thanks in advance.


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## gruntstyle

erussell said:


> grunt - I'm new to this. What tradeshow is in Vegas for this industry or what type of tradeshow. Thanks in advance.


It's called, J8973 – J America.


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## gruntstyle

erussell said:


> grunt - I'm new to this. What tradeshow is in Vegas for this industry or what type of tradeshow. Thanks in advance.


It's the Army Navy Military Expo, though I expect some people from the SHOT show down the street will stop by as well.


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## iamjack

hey grunt i'm new to the industry, what are some of the things that took priority when you were first starting out? get designs and a website up? get a business plan together? figure out how to articulate every part of your brand? thanks in advance!


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## Issie Ishiyama

I applaud you gruntstyle for your kindness and patience! Taking the time to answer all the questions and giving out the info on how you make things work and successful! Great 5 stars job! Continued success!


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## gruntstyle

Hello Jack,

The first priority of any business should not be websites, perfect products, legalities or entity formations, but should be answering one simple question. 

Will customers buy it?

So sell your product first, even if it's not perfect and see what your customers think. Our first products look like garbage to me compared with what we are producing now. But it's all in the mistakes and baby steps of getting there.

80% of your time as a start up should be in marketing and selling. If you're not selling, you're not in business, you're just busy. It's easy to get bogged down in everyday takes of website tweaks, product improvements, working on copy, but none of those things actually bring in money. Most of your customers aren't looking for a perfect product from a small company, they want a good product for a fair price. If you can deliver this and sell it, you'll have a business.

Once you know that your product sells, then spend some money on incorporating and fine-tuning your products. 




iamjack said:


> hey grunt i'm new to the industry, what are some of the things that took priority when you were first starting out? get designs and a website up? get a business plan together? figure out how to articulate every part of your brand? thanks in advance!


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## HisocietyInc

How Much was your total start up cost?


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## gruntstyle

i think I put in about 3k initially, but added more later.


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## HisocietyInc

thats cool, how long was it until you started seeing a profit?


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## gruntstyle

The very first month! However, as we grew our profit margin dropped. We have great months and we have down months, but if we keep to our core principles we're doing well.


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## HisocietyInc

and what are those?


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## BWigs22

hey grunt, very inspired by your story, was wondering how many people you started out with compared to how many people you have now.. if any.. as i am a one man show as of now thanks for all your great info!


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## gruntstyle

BWigs22 said:


> hey grunt, very inspired by your story, was wondering how many people you started out with compared to how many people you have now.. if any.. as i am a one man show as of now thanks for all your great info!


This might help, this is an article about me from a couple days ago. 

11 Businesses You Can Start in Your Pajamas | Inc.com


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## rcmsellers

Nice article. I thought you weren't doing it from your home. I thought you were contracting out everything. Over six figures in both years. Good Job Grunt.


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## pablosanchez495

Grunt,

nice article. I know this is a weird question but on that table in the picture from the inc article I see some of your t shirts. They seem to be wrapped in like a clear plastic type bag. Im looking for those and was wondering where you got yours. Again good article and congratulations


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## gruntstyle

Those are po bags you can buy for pennies from uline.com.


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## Obertor

Hey Grunt, great job.

I love how you said "will customers buy it". 

Your line is a great example of the power of niche branding. I think that most people on this forum are too production focused for retail or clothing lines. I don't think people realize how much more profitable and fulfilling selling at retail can be with the right vision.


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## gruntstyle

Thanks Obertor! I've done it all in the past two years, event sales, online sales, had a kiosk, wholesaling. So I know what has the most risk and what has the best returns... also what has the worst profits.. The only reason why I can succeed is because I've already made all the mistakes.


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## Obertor

gruntstyle said:


> Thanks Obertor! I've done it all in the past two years, event sales, online sales, had a kiosk, wholesaling. So I know what has the most risk and what has the best returns... also what has the worst profits.. The only reason why I can succeed is because I've already made all the mistakes.


I know what you mean...

I've been in online retail and web development for a long time now, so I've learned how to market and sell, as well as what people look for on the design and branding side of things.

Anyway, thanks for the inspiration.


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## chosenfew

Thanks for the info, I needed the pep talk. I have hoodies that you might be interested in
private message me if you would like to see some pics.


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## JamesD31

Hey Grunt do you use a local printing company? I am in need of finding the 'best' company that will suit my needs.


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## gruntstyle

I actually use several printing companies. I first looked at nearly 30 companies and matched the ones that I thought could really impress me with their creativity and quality. Then from there I keep about three active, just so I can have them compete for our business. It works out well. I have great printers and I keep my costs low.


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## chosenfew

Hey grunt, I am presently working on my website, I have been selling some of my inventory where I work, and i'm planning on going to the local trade market to get a booth, should I go ahead and sell the stuff I have at the trade show, and get more later for my web site when it's finish. It's pretty close to being finished.


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## gruntstyle

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Sell everything as fast as you can.


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## S14Shirt

Great job Daniel! Keep up the good work. Would you happen to have a picture of your booth set up at events?


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## chosenfew

Thanks Grunt, you are right.


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## John Albert

Great idea''


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## Slurgi

Good stuff grunt, learned a few things.


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## Coastside

Depends for us what events are going on. Our website isnt selling yet so all our sales are from events, bars and meeting up with people who show interest. We do car shows and sell maybe $400. Then maybe a festival and do $1,000. We have a festival in october we did $4,000 at last year. I keep plenty of stock and just move it around show to show or meet up with people right now


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## FrontRunners

^4,000 thats pretty good. Waiting for my first release of 40 shirts lol.. hope i selll them all


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## Coastside

I finally sat and read through everyones comments. Great story, insight and advice grunt. Hey are you using endicia.com? I see the label writer next to you that looks like the one i just got from them.
FrontRunners Good luck seling the shirts. Let me know if you need any ideas for selling. Im still learning a lot myself also


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## gruntstyle

Yes I am using Endicia. I'm pretty happy with them. I've used their customer support a few times and they've been quite friendly and helpful. The labels look very professional.


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## Coastside

It was funny when i was on the phone with them yesterday. I was having trouble getting it setup and asked if i could just go to their office and have them show me. He said "Wait where are you?" and then was laughing and said they couldnt do that if i just showed up. They're about 30 minutes from me.


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## gruntstyle

Haha. That's funny.


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## Coastside

Did you get the custom packaging tape from Uline? Im about to order some, think it would be great. Most of my sales are from events but im trying to get the online thing going. Do you use flat rate boxes or just regular boxes? I got a scale too with the label printer. So i can weigh it and print the postage without it being the flat rate price. Thanks


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## gruntstyle

Try using flat rate prices if you can. It's easier to predict costs. I ship everything priority mail because our customers like getting their stuff fast. We do get a lot of stuff from Uline. I think I ran out of tape though and ran over to the dollar store and got some quick backup.


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## ginja

hi GruntStyle, Thanks for sharing your story. Very inspirational. If you don't mind answering a few more questions for those of us starting out. How did you decide what designs and how many to print in the beginning? I have lots of high quality designs (am a schooled graphic designer) and am selling on Cafepress but want to do my own thing for better profit. Seems pretty risky to put lots of money into inventory and then not know if it will sell. Your inc. article says your sitting on over 100k of inventory which is fine now that your very profitable but what about in the very beginning? How to start?


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## gruntstyle

Let your customers decide that. I made a HUGE mistake when we started. I make 20 designs, because I thought it would help speed our growth. 20 designs would make us look like a fully operating company. Well, 20 designs with 5 sizes in each is 100 different products. This is very expensive. A very costly mistake. 

To gain control, I shrank it down to six or seven solid good selling designs and released one new one at a time and tested it to ensure that it would sell. This slowly increases our stock and inventory. You have to keep adding new stuff so that old customers that you worked very hard for will buy your new stuff. 

Another tip. Ask you old customers what they want. Or show them your new future ideas. I do this on our facebook fan page at least once a week.


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## ginja

Thank you that was the information I really wanted to know! another question: Did you hire someone to do a custom website or did you use a template in the beginning? I can probably put together my own web site but not all the shopping cart stuff. Any advice is GREATLY appreciated.


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## nypdofficer1

Truly inspirational Daniel. Thank you for the information but most of all for your service to this country. I salute you!


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## aggieeight

Great infor Grunt!


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## misterpeth

This is awesome. Good work Grunt!


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## Magic City Man

I know this is an old thread, but as many here, I am inspired by Grunt's story.

Grunt, what brand of shirts are you using and how did you settle on that particular brand?


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## gruntstyle

We use many different brands. It all began with testing which ones do you want to represent you. We charge a fair price for an excellent product.


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## gruntstyle

30K fans on facebook this morning! Hoowhoo!


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## manninm5033

You're so amazing Grunt! Way to lead by example, love it!


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## julianebecker

Looking for superior quality poloshirts? R-Polo shirt provides sporty and athletic design shirt.


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## tiw9

Wow! Fantastic information and just the inspiration I've been needing lately. Thank you for sharing your experience and thank you for your service to our country.

Tracy


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## cowboylife

This is an old thread but a excellent one! Awesome thread Grunt and thanks for all the advice to all of us just starting out. I have been working on my business for over 3 years now but I am not what you would call "a business", I am not selling yet. I have made ALL the same mistakes you have mentioned. Trying to figure out how to sell, i.e. at trade shows, flea markets, events, on-line, wholesale, retail, local shops etc.... I just can't get my head around it! 

Can you please give us "new businesses" some advice on how to do an event? I have tried to do one, and boy it was a disaster not to mention I lost a lot of money. Do you take your equipment with you, or do you take pre-printed shirts? How do you set up so the public can see what you have to sell? Simple answers for some I am sure, but I can't figure out exactly how to do an event... thanks in advance for you advice


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## gruntstyle

Social media is a great way to sell now. It's like you're at an event with a crowd every minute of every day. The trick is growing your crowd. It is very time consuming but absolutely worth it. We get a large percentage of our sales through Facebook. The cost is only your time (don't pay for ads) and you can sit in your home with just your boxers on until you grow into a professional facility.


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## cowboylife

I don't understand facebook very well but is there a way to add your business without using your personal name, etc... can you explain it? even private email me would be great!


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## tylerx

about 1000. word of mouth.


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## gruntstyle

cowboylife said:


> I don't understand facebook very well but is there a way to add your business without using your personal name, etc... can you explain it? even private email me would be great!


Yes. You can sign up and create a facebook page. This page is separate from your personal account. It's free to make and easy to setup. 

There are tons of information on the internet that shows you how to run your facebook page. Most of it is wrong or useless. But some of it is very helpful. 

Your goal on facebook is to grow your crowd so you have a larger audience. Do not treat facebook like a radio station, that is, a one way conversation. You should make it a two way conversation as much as possible. 

If you're stuck, then look at our page and do something similar to what we do.


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## gruntstyle

We actually don't go to any events right now. But always looking for opportunities. We are mostly selling online.


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## g0odfellas

@gruntstyle

Your an inspirational for us upcoming brand. Thank you first of all. My question to you is how do you gain more crowds on fb? I did a promotion and I gain 3k but most crowd dont even care about our products.

Would you also give us some advice
wws.viciousartclothing.com

Thank you-


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## gruntstyle

@g0odfellas, most people are just interested in the promotion, but might cross over. 

You should create content that they are interested in. Pictures and words. That's how you start branding your organization. People who identify with what you share will also share your posts with their friends. This is how you grow. It's a very time consuming process and it is not easy, but that's how it's done. 

Take a look at our FB wall as an example. We don't push product much. Maybe once out of every 10 or 15 posts.


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## conjurestyle

I am new here and i learned a lot from this forums. I spent the last few months getting ready to launch my brand and its getting closer. And I am starting to wonder how many tshirts i would be able to sell or any in the beginning And its awesome reading about gruntstyle's success but it seems like he is the only one who sells tshirts. I mean there has to be other tshirt online brand owners just like gruntstyle, I would like to hear from them


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## Artie1

I don't think there's anyone that can answer that for you. Every business is different. No one can predict how your business will perform because it depends on different factors. I guess the best advice to give you is to just not expect too much when you're starting out.

Good luck


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## conjurestyle

Of course nobody will be able to tell me how my busienss will do but the point of this thread was "how many tshirts do YOU sell a month? and how?" so far gruntstyle is the only one who gave the answer by saying how many tshirts he sells a month and how. i am sure there are other people who has their online tshirt business. It would be interesting to see how they do monthly wheter they have new brand or old brand. but then again again if they dont wanna duscuss it i respect that


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