# Startup costs: design by humans, threadless and other sites



## FranklinG (Mar 23, 2009)

I would like someone to help me out on my research. I would like to know what the startup costs were for companies like designbyhumans, threadless, and other big tshirt companies out there.

Hope you guys can give me some information and/or links.

Cheers,

Franklin


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

The startup costs for Threadless were about $200. Designbyhumans was more fully formed at launch, and had to exist in a more competitive marketplace (i.e. one with an established Threadless in it) so I'm sure their startup costs were a lot higher. I don't know how much higher.

Startup budget depends on what you're trying to achieve, what non-fiscal advantages you bring to the table to achieve it, and most importantly how long you are willing to take.

A success story like Threadless didn't happen overnight.


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## Titchimp (Nov 30, 2006)

Yeah the startup of DBH was going to be more expensive, their shirts were custom made and they have had to offer big prizes to get the designers in


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## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

FranklinG said:


> I would like someone to help me out on my research. I would like to know what the startup costs were for companies like designbyhumans, threadless, and other big tshirt companies out there.
> 
> Hope you guys can give me some information and/or links.
> 
> ...


I was quoted $25k from a small design firm when I asked approx. how much it was to program a website like threadless or designbyhumans. So, not cheap unless you can code and design everything yourself.


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## swagga (Jun 1, 2009)

I assume that the $25K quote you got from a small design firm was strictly for the website design and e-commerce setup (not sure if that included branding). What about the other costs like marketing, printing, inventory, warehousing, distribution, shipping, etc. that are associated with setting up an online store? I'm in the planning stages of an online contest-community driven concept myself and am working through all these things.


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## swagga (Jun 1, 2009)

I'm also looking for ways to differentiate myself from threadless and design by humans....any ideas?


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## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

swagga said:


> I assume that the $25K quote you got from a small design firm was strictly for the website design and e-commerce setup (not sure if that included branding). What about the other costs like marketing, printing, inventory, warehousing, distribution, shipping, etc. that are associated with setting up an online store? I'm in the planning stages of an online contest-community driven concept myself and am working through all these things.


That didn't include branding. I had to provide all branding and graphic layout. It was just for programming.

Threadless, designbyhumans, etc have such a huge following already, you need to be something bigger and better to compete with the big boys.


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## swagga (Jun 1, 2009)

Oh, I definitely plan on coming with the heat to eventually compete with them. thanks for the response


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## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

swagga said:


> Oh, I definitely plan on coming with the heat to eventually compete with them. thanks for the response


I could be wrong, but I think DBH has there own print shop?


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## swagga (Jun 1, 2009)

yeah, I think I have some connections on some of the supply chain pieces like printing, assembly, etc., so I'm hoping that helps my business model. Now I'm focusing more on the ways I can differentiate my site and experience for the customer/visitor from them to at least build a following (part of that will likely be to get designers to want to join our contests by dangling slightly larger prizes and other incentives)....thoughts or other ideas on how I might differentiate from the big dogs?


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## ramontayag (Apr 22, 2009)

I don't think you should be bigger than they; but rather offer something they simply cannot. Often times more money becomes a hindrance to your thought process.

And have a tighter niche. Would you rather buy shoes from Amazon or Zappos?


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## spider44 (Aug 20, 2009)

How are you progressing with your venture?


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## craigsanders22 (May 20, 2009)

swagga said:


> I'm also looking for ways to differentiate myself from threadless and design by humans....any ideas?


So you have no idea on how much it costs to set-up, meaning you probably have no idea how to control costs or operate effectively. You also don't know how you will differentiate yourself from existing sites.

I think the question you need to ask is why do this at all? There are so many that already exist and do a great job of it, why does the market need another? It doesn't appear that you have any qualifications or ideas that will be powerful enough to take market share from the existing sites, so why get in this business at all? Why not open a Subway franchise or an auto-repair shop? It seems to me that you are on a road to throw away a lot of money if you haven't already abandoned this idea.


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## onlineJ (Jan 11, 2010)

craigsanders22 said:


> So you have no idea on how much it costs to set-up, meaning you probably have no idea how to control costs or operate effectively. You also don't know how you will differentiate yourself from existing sites.
> 
> I think the question you need to ask is why do this at all? There are so many that already exist and do a great job of it, why does the market need another? It doesn't appear that you have any qualifications or ideas that will be powerful enough to take market share from the existing sites, so why get in this business at all? Why not open a Subway franchise or an auto-repair shop? It seems to me that you are on a road to throw away a lot of money if you haven't already abandoned this idea.


You probably work for threadless


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## FranklinG (Mar 23, 2009)

*Great!*

thanks for all your help


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