# Best Way To Start Selling Your Shirts??



## OutstandingO

What's going on everyone. I'm really new to this whole t-shirt thing and I was wondering how most of you were able to start selling your shirts and what is the best way to sell your shirts? Is the "out of the trunk" method as useful and as productive as trying to find promoters and places to sell out of? What say you, T-Shirt Nation???

Thanks in advance.


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## Peargirl

OutstandingO

I'm pretty new to this too. My web site is going up this week.
I just got back from a confrence hosted by Mircosoft all about starting new businesses. The biggest message that I took away from it was get your name out there. Blog, write on the t-shirt forum, E-mail everyone you have every known.... Basically do everything you can to get your name seen. The more your name is seen the more chances people will click on it and discover what you are all about. 
I wish you well


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## KayHix24

Well, I'm fairly new also. A good way is to find an event in or near your town to see if you can set up. I hope to have my website up and running in the next couple of weeks. Just make sure you have your stuff protected properly.

Good luck!


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## ambitious

Yes advertise the hell out of your website,company,etc...The way i get my sells is by wearing my own t-shirts with a link to my website on my shirt. Hope this helps


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## khay

Word of mouth is a huge one, throughout my city word of mouth has sold us so many shirts. Also, promote on as many forums and whatnot as you can. Do link exchanges with other sites and things like that, anything to help get your company out there.

One thing we did that has helped sufficiently was when we decided to sponsor one of our local big DJs and that has gotten us a lot of customers as well. Good luck!


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## OutstandingO

You guys have got to be the greatest!!! I did however have a few questions. 
To Peargirl; What state are you in and how did you find out about this workshop?? I would love to take hold of something like that.

To KayHix24; What do you mean by having my stuff properly protected and how would I do so??

To ambitious; What other ways besides the ones you listed can I use to promote?

And finally to khay; That sponsoring avenue sounds like a rock solid idea. Is that route expensive, is there a going rate for that type of thing, and would you recommend sponsoring anywhere/anything else??

Once again, you guys are the greatest. Thanks in advance for your help.


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## khay

The route really isn't expensive at all. If you find a good DJ, skater or whatever it may be, they'll likely do it for free in exchange for free gear. So really, it's a cheap but good way to get out there though you'll lose a few dollars giving out free stuff. You can sponsor events and whatnot if you have the money as well.


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## KayHix24

khay said:


> Word of mouth is a huge one, throughout my city word of mouth has sold us so many shirts. Also, promote on as many forums and whatnot as you can. Do link exchanges with other sites and things like that, anything to help get your company out there.
> 
> One thing we did that has helped sufficiently was when we decided to sponsor one of our local big DJs and that has gotten us a lot of customers as well. Good luck!


You know we all have what we think or consider our "niche" in this t-shirt game, but the reality is ppl get nervous about whether someone is going to steal their idea/concept...possibly,(and I'm scared but hey) anywhooz...make sure you copyright/trademark as needed. United States Patent and Trademark Office Home Page is a good start.


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## OutstandingO

KayHix24 said:


> You know we all have what we think or consider our "niche" in this t-shirt game, but the reality is ppl get nervous about whether someone is going to steal their idea/concept...possibly,(and I'm scared but hey) anywhooz...make sure you copyright/trademark as needed. United States Patent and Trademark Office Home Page is a good start.


Thanks to you guys for all the advice. 
I'm not scared to share info if I have it. All the information that we are all sharing on this site has been used at one point or another by countless others, in one variation or another. This type of info is not ours to horde IMO, because at the end what works for you may not work for me.

Thanks again for the help and I wish you ALL the best of luck!!!!!


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## CUSTOM UK

*Hi. Sell EVERYWHERE you can, WHENEVER you can.*

*Never let an opportunity pass you by. Your best advertisement is people wearing your shirts.*


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## portiaxl

Wow, you guys all have great info to share. I am new to this, as of today actually, but already I can see the value.
I get my shirts out there! I actually give them to the food vendors to wear (I live in Portland, ME). My website is slow, but I am doing pretty well in the stores.
paula


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## SHELLY53

Selling Out Your Trunk Is A Good Start. How Many Millionaires Sold Thier Cd's Out Their Trunk?


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## Reckless Tees

selling starts with getting seen. We get seen by using google adwords (be careful with this because you can lose a good amount of money if you do it wrong), linking with other sites and relevant directories, search engine marketing, relevant advertising, this forum and other related forums, and the list goes on. Basically your first step is to define your customer. Who is craving your products and what do you know about them. Once you know this, you just need to put your ads/product in the places people are looking. If you want more detail, feel free to PM me.


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## michaeljeff

Great start to Selling out your trunk.


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## portiaxl

I have had good luck with putting my shirts on everyone I know. It is actually a cheap way to do marketing. The hot dog vendor looks mighty cute in her t shirt. We just had a huge soccer tournament here in Maine and Addidas had everything sewn up -- hard to get anyt-shirts in any venue. Frustrating.


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## 3rdfunk

portiaxl said:


> _*I have had good luck with putting my shirts on everyone I know.* _It is actually a cheap way to do marketing. The hot dog vendor looks mighty cute in her t shirt. We just had a huge soccer tournament here in Maine and Addidas had everything sewn up -- hard to get anyt-shirts in any venue. Frustrating.
> beagirltoday.com





DREAMGLASS said:


> *Hi. Sell EVERYWHERE you can, WHENEVER you can.*
> 
> *Never let an opportunity pass you by. Your best advertisement is people wearing your shirts.*


^^^These both sound like great ideas! ^^^


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## T2Green Shirts

Hello all! I'm new to this forum. I have been a T-dog for years and print and sell my own line of shirts for small town souvenir shops that can't buy big volume. 
Another way I got my name out was giving our local Dog Rescue 50 shirts for their staff to wear at adoption days. It has paid me back 100 times over. We also set up at the adoption day and do photo shirts for the people when the get their new pup.$20 bucks a pop. The rescue gets $5 bucks of that.I get great advertising and get to set up in petco for the day FREE.
The best thing to remember is that the same people that help out with the dog rescue do other things. They go to church,school functions,need gifts,own business etc etc. When they need church shirts guess who gets the call? When they need shirts for beta club, I get the call! 
You see the link now.. 
Give a little and you will get it back in many ways including in business. Good luck to all..


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## drummerstar

Great Info 2TGREEN!!!!!!!


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## CUSTOM UK

*Putting some of your profits to help the dog rescue centre, is a really nice thing to do JW.*


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## OutstandingO

T2Green Shirts said:


> Hello all! I'm new to this forum. I have been a T-dog for years and print and sell my own line of shirts for small town souvenir shops that can't buy big volume.
> Another way I got my name out was giving our local Dog Rescue 50 shirts for their staff to wear at adoption days. It has paid me back 100 times over. We also set up at the adoption day and do photo shirts for the people when the get their new pup.$20 bucks a pop. The rescue gets $5 bucks of that.I get great advertising and get to set up in petco for the day FREE.
> The best thing to remember is that the same people that help out with the dog rescue do other things. They go to church,school functions,need gifts,own business etc etc. When they need church shirts guess who gets the call? When they need shirts for beta club, I get the call!
> You see the link now..
> Give a little and you will get it back in many ways including in business. Good luck to all..


This suggestion is fantabulous!!! The combination of all the ideas that I've heard thus far are amazing. Since starting the thread and reading some of the responses I have been thinking of many ways to adjust and tweak what I've heard to fit me. You guys are the greatest!!!!


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## portiaxl

Giving back has a way of coming back to you ten-fold, it's just a good thing to do. My little company gives shirts and stickers when ever we can. Everyone benefits


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## thefantasyman

Getting in the car and going store to store is the best way to start!! You have to get your tees in a store with foot traffic so people are constantly looking at them. If a store pushes them properly and sells out...BAM!... you have sales!

Giving Tees to your friends, fam and everyone you know is great. Linking your site with others is great. Setting up at events is great.....but everyone is doing that stuff! Those are the things you should be doing now while your new so that it becomes automatic, you can do those things in your sleep.

Want to stand out? Find ways to be be the sponsor of the event and provide the shirts to the workers. Better yet... set up your own event of some kind. For example, use the Skater mentioned earlier. Set up a local skate contest, sponsored by you, and have all the skaters where your gear, have a display so people at the event could purchase that same gear, and then try to get local companies to sponsor the event along with you for the operating funds (and extra profit). Set up and run the event yourself and surround the entire thing with your brand! Its a ton of work, but if you can plan and organize, its not that bad.... but at the same time, your going above and beyond the norm of simple word of mouth and link exchanges, etc...which are all things you have to do anyway, but why not take it one step further?

PM me for more...


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## T2Green Shirts

OutstandingO said:


> This suggestion is fantabulous!!! The combination of all the ideas that I've heard thus far are amazing. Since starting the thread and reading some of the responses I have been thinking of many ways to adjust and tweak what I've heard to fit me. You guys are the greatest!!!!


To give is to receive! We should all do it anyway. I have 3 DTG's and can do short runs or larger orders.90 % of what we do is 48 or less orders. 

Another great idea that worked for me BIG TIME was I set up a 10x10 booth at the local Home and Garden Show. It cost me $350.00. My thoughts were that I could put my product in front of 6000 people and sample and give out info. GUESS WHAT? That worked well, But I sold the most to the vendors there. There were 400 + vendors such as Landscapers, pool guys, builders, supply houses etc..You get the idea! 
It was a gold mine of businesss and I had three days to market them. Most just came by my booth and said WOW! I can get a dozen shirts and no minimum reorders? They love it and one owned a rental company with 16 stores. Now my largest company! They do around 150 shirts per month, every month. Easy money and it pays the rent! 

REMEMBER... PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE,NO MATTER WHERE THEY ARE! They still need Tee's!


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## tigertiger

portiaxl said:


> giving back has a way of coming back to you ten-fold, it's just a good thing to do. My little company gives shirts and stickers when ever we can. Everyone benefits


100% agree


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## UBNICE

I started about a year ago and have to agree it's all about getting out there nomatter how. Have a giveaway contest or sponsor something but get it out there. UBNICE.


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## surgitech81

Great responses to all! Yes, get your name out there any and every way you can. Facebook, Myspace. My company is sponsoring some local Game Nights at Bars that use our shirts for prizes. Cheap way to get people into our shirts.....unless they use them to clean the toilet...LOL!


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## whittakerart

SHELLY53 said:


> Selling Out Your Trunk Is A Good Start. How Many Millionaires Sold Thier Cd's Out Their Trunk?


very true, everyone starts small.


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## SimplyTopUK

First sell to people you know, then start selling on ebay, make your own website or get a read ymade template, then do SEO on the site. If you want contact wholesale companies to sell tshrits to.


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## PrintsCharming

I don't know if everyone would argee with me here but starting out making money off your friends is not something I'm into. For me your friends are in it to help you out no matter what. Sure they might not mind supporting your business and buy your shirt wether they like it or not. I personally wanted my friends to be apart of the experience. By giving them free shirts of new designs that nobody has and having them wear it in public. The best part is when they come back and say how many comments they got on the shirt. They feel more attached and apart of your company then being no different then a customer. Causing them to talk more and highly of your cause. In order to create hype you have to be willing to take a loss. Though it's not always possible to give out free product, but when you can it only helps, because you'll have alot more shirts on bodies then if you were to only release them with a price tag.


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## Random Obj

Another way to sell shirts is to wear your shirts to events that your target-market may go to like concerts for example. Have your friends wear your tees to the event, have plenty of business cards ready... and shirts too if you can! Promote yourself like crazy!!!


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## ID Malien

Hey.. Facebook has driven a significant amount of traffic to our site. Try setting up a page for your company on there.. but make sure you set it up under your personal account, not separate. Contact me if you have any questions.


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## Adam Selene

I admit that I don't really get the facebook thing, although I can see how trafic there could drive trafic to your webstore.

Why do you suggest setting up a page in your personal account?


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## SimplyTopUK

ID Malien said:


> Hey.. Facebook has driven a significant amount of traffic to our site. Try setting up a page for your company on there.. but make sure you set it up under your personal account, not separate. Contact me if you have any questions.


 
What do you ean have it under personnal name and not serperate? 

Thanks.


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## vlcnmstr

love the idea of doing all the events, but what if you can't just drag the machine around behind you? I am getting close to buying one but it will reside in the spare bedroom (which means tipping it on it's side to get it in or out). and no big car to haul it. and just me, no helpers. so what do people suggest in these situations? just trying to start a business that could grow to supplement my income as retirement nears-- something I can continue afterwards.


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## ChapterTEE

I've tried facebook ad for couple months but it seem to be wasting my money.


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## vlcnmstr

my facebook is free-- 

you might try Artfire.com, or one of the other handmade selling sites


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## lala777

Hello we just put ours up and we have been using FB, Myspace and Blog. Hope this helps!


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## dd2

This is my first posting, so thank you in advance. Has anyone sold their gear at Flea Markets and if so any information would be greatly appreciated .


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## Eview1

THANK YOU ALL I plan on starting this today



lala777 said:


> Hello we just put ours up and we have been using FB, Myspace and Blog. Hope this helps!


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## pukingdeserthobo

i just started to use facebook. made a fan page but its not done. hope it drive more customer to me


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## lincolnapparel

Sell them locally if you can. Try contacting shops in your area and ask if they'll order some. Look for markets, shows, etc. where you might be able to sell your shirts. I didn't start to generate significant sales until I did this, and I was able to jump-start my line by selling locally.

The Internet is perfectly fine and dandy, but so many T-shirt lines are using the same marketing channels (Facebook, Twitter, trying to get within the first 20 results of Google, etc.) that it's very difficult to be seen even if you have a unique product. My website has been up for a year and only recently has it begun to pay for itself.


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## HippieGuy

Two of the Biggest and Greatest T-shirt success stories were started by, 'selling out of the back of the van'; "Life is Good", and the on-going saga of 'Jake', and Johnny Cupcakes...both succesful T-shirt vendors started from the grassroots of marketing.

I sell at festivals and a weekly open mart, 9 months out of the year..cheaper than a store front, yet equal exposure


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## stevenricherd

Is that possible that without checking the product the buyer will agree to buy stuff from my site, and how can i make a good impression on them.


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## BeautyBella

Hey....Great Info. 

Thanks a lot


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