It turns out that how to start a t shirt business is an incredibly easy question to answer. This means that in the history of people having egg on their face, I win. In fact there is so much egg, that my face has become invisible (a shout goes up from the small crowd ‘good news, you always were an ugly git’). So, if you see a man walking around whose face looks like a massive omelette, it’ll be me.

Shopify – how to start a t shirt business

We now know that how to start a t shirt business is a case of hooking up with our friends at Shopify, and then standing by and waiting for the cash to roll in. The biggest expenditure and hardship may be having the size of your letterbox enlarged to receive all the loot which will be bursting through it. When that’s finished, you may also need to have your driveway re-tarmacked and widened, to accommodate the delivery vehicles which will be distributing your t shirts on a global basis.

Easy
So how come it’s all so easy? As you will see from the really true and useful Shopify video, by the end of the film you will have created an online store with no design or coding experience. So I can be completely clueless on all matters of design and internet marketing? Yes you can – you can be a total and utter dollop in both these departments, and yet still go from buffoon to tycoon in a matter of minutes.

Good advice
Shopify start their video by giving you some really good advice on how to start a t shirt business, and generally saying a lot of great things. For example, they have figured out that if you want to build a solid brand, you need a ‘strategy’. News to me, but sounds true enough. But they go on. You need to have a ‘niche’. So they advise for example not to just make ‘funny t shirts’ but to make funny t shirts that relate directly to the fitness market. So presumably you’re narrowing your market down a bit, getting less competition and so make a lot more cash. That’s nothing short of, fiendishly clever. But they don’t stop there. Apparently, it’s also a good idea to create designs which connect with your audience. Good job they pointed that out of course, or you would presumably have been creating designs which your audience wouldn’t even use in the dog basket.

Product
Shopify then move on to advise you on how to choose your product. It’s a bit left field, but their take is that you should be selling products which are ‘good quality’. Ok, if you say so. They point out that not all t shirts are the same (really?) because, and their words not mine, they vary in fit, sizing, material, softness and weight. So that clears up what you need to do with product, pretty straightforward – so now what?

Print methods
According to Shopify, there are only three print methods, probably because some of the other options have been banned I expect. They are: screen print, which will of course only print simple designs (?); heat transfers, which they rightly point out are awful; and DTG, which stands for Direct To Garment. The latter seems to be their favourite, because it means you don’t have any set up costs, or need any stock. So basically I don’t need any money at all? Yes, that’s right! Great isn’t it!

Design
There is one piece of bad news however, in that according to the nice chap in the film, you will have to do a thing. And that thing is that once you have ideas, you’ll have to design them (unless you just download one from a recommended site). Really? I need to do something? I was rather hoping to do absolutely nothing until I started buying sport scars. Well yes I’m afraid so, it’s a tough old road this business success thing you know. On occasion, you may need to even get out of bed – if you do though, you can of course always consider falling over a bit and putting in an insurance claim. It doesn’t say that in the film.

Validating your designs
Not that it’s a worry, because you won’t be investing in any stock, but you may want, they advise, to validate your designs. You can do this on social media, but as they rightly point out, be careful if your friends say your stuff is really great, as they may just be being nice.

Summary
The Shopify summary as we understand it then, is that there is no risk, no set up fee, no minimum order, no inventory, and all that remains is for you to go to the Shopify store and create a really beautiful website. We couldn’t see the bit about how sales are driven to your site, or the genuine accounts of businesses who were making serious profits, but it’ll be in there somewhere, we probably just missed it while laughing too hard about our impending success.