# starting a business as a 15 year-old



## vincent0524 (Aug 5, 2008)

Hey, I'm new to these boards and I'm going to try and start a little shirt business. I've got a few of my designs pretty much thought out. What kind of advice would you guys need? any negative or positive advice will be appreciated.
I have a few questions though,
1. What should I put on a necktag?
2. Can anyone steal my designs and make it as their own?
3. Do I need a copyright to not get them stolen and actually start a brand/business?
4. If I were to use a site to print my products like zazzle.com, would they be able to take my designs and start selling the same things?

ah...these are the only questions I can think of off the top of my head right now, my brain is fried from researching. 
Any help will be GREATLY appreciated


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

vincent0524 said:


> What kind of advice would you guys need? any negative or positive advice will be appreciated.


Not a big difference between 15 and 16, so...
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/general-t-shirt-selling-discussion/t56666.html



vincent0524 said:


> 1. What should I put on a necktag?


Everything that's legally required, and whatever else you want on there as well.



vincent0524 said:


> 2. Can anyone steal my designs and make it as their own?


Yes. Not _legally_ obviously.



vincent0524 said:


> 3. Do I need a copyright to not get them stolen and actually start a brand/business?


Does the law stop people being mugged? So no. But copyright is worth doing for other reasons.



vincent0524 said:


> 4. If I were to use a site to print my products like zazzle.com, would they be able to take my designs and start selling the same things?


Not unless you give them permission (read the terms and conditions when you sign up if you're worried, but the large fulfilment businesses tend to be legitimate).


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Welcome to the forums  I love when I see the young people really thinking productivly and what great questions you have.

To elaborate more on what to put on the label, here is a link to the federal trade commision with the requirements Clothes Captioning: Complying with the Care Labeling Rule. 

I wish that when I was your age I was thinking this way instead of wasting time  Its fantastic that you have drive to go after your dream. Places like Zazzle, cafepress and spreadshirt can work very well for someone like you, because you dont have to put any money out to create your shirts. However with those services you would not be able to add your own label, but maybe you can make some money with one of those services to invest into your venture, and eventually be able to have your own printed and labeled 

Good luck on your venture and please feel free to ask if you have any questions.


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## vincent0524 (Aug 5, 2008)

Thanks for the help guys.
I don't see why people cant steal my tees and relabel them if they're not copyrighted?

And

@sunnydayz: So I can't buy a customized tee from online sites and relabel them?


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Well you can buy them and have them shipped to you, and then you could relabel them. But you would be paying a retail price that way. Or you can have someone print your shirts for you, and you could relabel them that way. Zazzle and those places basically are a fullfillment company that print your designs on their shirts when the customer orders, and they ship them. So basically you load your designs on their store and they print and ship them for you to your customers. Maybe if you want to relabel your shirts, you might try to find someone local that does dtg printing, that can print your shirts for you in small numbers. That way you would not have to have a huge inventory of shirts and you would be able to relabel them and package them any way you want. 

The more you read here, the more you will find that you have questions for  But eventually you will come up with all the info needed to know what route you want to take on having your designs put on shirts


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## vincent0524 (Aug 5, 2008)

wow, thanks ALOT!!

i have a small silkscreen thing at home which i can print my own neck tags with, do you think that would be good?


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

vincent0524 said:


> I don't see why people cant steal my tees and relabel them if they're not copyrighted?


Every design you make is copyrighted from the moment it is complete in fixed form. In the US the official copyrighting process gives you further legal rights (basically expands your ability to sue people), but the basic rights to your work are secured automatically. No-one can legally copy it without your permission.


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## vincent0524 (Aug 5, 2008)

^^That was just what I needed, thanks!


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## vincent0524 (Aug 5, 2008)

if a design is already copyrighted, why do people bother going out of their way to still get their things copyrighted?


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

vincent0524 said:


> if a design is already copyrighted, why do people bother going out of their way to still get their things copyrighted?


Because the US government hobbled that theoretical copyright protection. If you want to actually sue someone you have to register the copyright. So the de facto copyright protects your moral rights (and theoretically legal rights) but not in any financially significant way. Plus if you want to sue someone you need to prove the design is yours, and registration with the US government is a very easy way to do that.


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## milka (Apr 22, 2007)

that's basically what WIPO is all about... but they can't be everywhere and as an international organization they provide the basic legal system to go for worldwide copyright infringements. then each country had it's own laws...


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