How to Create High Quality Brand Merch and Sell it Online

Merch is one of the best and easiest ways to monetize your brand. People love T-shirts, and luckily for you they're not super hard to make! But there a are few pitfalls that can trip you up along the way. So, before you get started, here are a few things to think about that'll make the process go as smooth as silk (screening).

Lets take a look at how to produce and start selling t-shirts online.

What is the shirt gonna look and feel like?

So, in my opinion, the first and most important thing to consider when creating a t-shirt is the look and feel. Too often, people only consider the design that's gonna go on the shirt, but not how the finished product will actually be once the design and shirt are combined.

Considering the look and feel of the shirt, there are 3 major components:

-The Cut: This is the actually shape and dimensions that the t-shirt is cut and sewn into. There are many different fits for a t-shirt, but in general, most of them fit into either a tighter fit or a looser or 'oversized' fit category. Of course, the buyer can always buy a size up or down if they want, but you should consider how you want the baseline fit to turn out.

-The Fabric Weight: Some people like their shirts thin, some people prefer the heavier feel of the thicker cotton. Think about what best fits your design aesthetic and pick the best one for your print run.

-Printing Method: The printing method has a huge effect on how the design will look once its actually printed out to the real world. DTG or DTF will give you the ability to do prints that look more like Giclée (Normal Art prints that you'd see of like, paintings and stuff). This might be better for detailed artwork like high res photos. Then there's the traditional silk-screen printing (or serigraphy) that you'd want to use if you want a more traditional t-shirt print look. Then within screen printing, there's the option to use something called plastisol, which usually has the rubbery or plasticky feel to the print surface, or water based which tends to seep into the fabric more like dye. plastisol stays fresh looking for longer but doesn't breath well and isn't great for the environment. Water based inks on the other hand are not as harsh on the environment and breath really well on the fabric, but will have a 'washed out' look after only a couple of washes. (This can be a good or a bad thing depending on the feel of your design though, just be sure to consider it.)

• The print size: chest pocket? Full front, full back, all over print? Consider that back prints usually allow for larger artwork, but lets be honest, they only really look good from the back. Anyway, it'll pay off to think of the final size of the print before getting started on the design as that can have a huge impact on how it comes across. As long as you work in vector graphics or really high resolution raster images, you should be good on the final image quality but definitely keep that in mind as well.

• The Design: One thing with T-shirt printing that commonly catches people off guard is that there are multiple different types of printing methods, for example, screen printing, vinyl heat transfer, Direct to Garment Printing, etc. Which method you choose should depend heavily on the type of design you plan to print. If you've got a minimal amount of colors in the design and a lot of blocky shapes, traditional screen printing (aka Serigraphy) might be the best option. If you've got artwork that relies heavily on colorful photographs and you want to keep as much resolution and color range as possible, printing directly on the fabric of the t-shirt with a DTG (Direct to Garment) printer might be the way to go. Aside from the print, you can also experiment with techniques like acid washing and tie dye.

Print Run Production Options

There are generally 3 options you have when actually bringing your t-shirt ideas into physical reality:

1. Print-on-demand (POD) services: This is going to be the easiest option. If all you've got is a design and you wanna see it on a shirt, this way is going to get you there the quickest and with the least amount of money, and without having to store any inventory! Awesome! Right? Well... yeah, but there are a few downsides. First of all, the cost per piece is usually pretty high compared to what you'd pay with something like screen printing, DTG (Direct to Garment Printing), or even heat transfers, so it can be a bit tougher to turn a profit. Also, because you generally can't communicate special requests directly to the people doing the printing, there's less creative and quality control possible in the process.

2. Screen printing with a local printer: In my experience, this is the best way to go if you want reliable results. The main reason is that you can usually actually visit your local printer in real life and see for yourself the past work they've done and get a feel for the types of blank shirts they have available to print on - They usually will allow you to bring in your own blanks have them print on those if you prefer too. The pricing will be better per piece than what you'd get with a print on demand service, but there is a minimum (usually around 12 shirts - because of how arduous the screen printing setup process is, its just not economically feasible to do it for one shirt). Overall, because screen printing is being used and you have more control over how the finished product comes out, this way almost always produces the best quality results, especially for orders of 25 pieces or more.

3. Printing them Yourself: Ok, so right of the bat, I'm gonna tell you that I wouldn't recommend this approach unless you have a VERY specific concept that you'd like to create and it would be prohibitively expensive to get it manufactured OR you prefer a more DIY aesthetic. The reason is because, you'll quickly realize you need to buy more equipment and spend time learning how to use it than you probably originally intended. This isn't necessarily a bad thing except for the fact that it might be detracting from some of the other tasks you need to be doing to get these shirts selling!

Quality Control Tips: Make Sure your Quality is on Point

1. T-shirt blanks: Before you commit to purchasing your blanks in bulk, order some samples of them so you can see which fabric cut, weight, feel, and color you like best. Test multiple weights (4.2oz vs 6oz) for your design. The heavier the weight the thicker and more premium the fabric will feel, although you might be going for the thinner feel of the lighter fabric, in which case you'd wanna choose that. There are tons of premium brands to choose from but a good place to start looking would be at brands like Bella+Canvas, Next Level, and American Apparel. Also consider ringspun cotton for softer feel.

2. Print quality: When selecting printing companies, visit in person to see some examples of their past work, or request print samples if they're too far to stop by. Its best to know what to expect since there are a lot of different types of printing inks and techniques. Before shipping shirts out to your customers, its a great ide to check wash-fastness by doing a few test washes. This will catch any issues with ink not being fully cured (which will ruin a shirt once its washed). Last but not least, make sure the printer uses a proper underbase technique for printing on black or dark colored shirts. For example, if you want to print a yellow design onto a black shirt, you'll need an extra layer of white under the yellow for it to stand out properly. Most printers probably already know this and will explain it to you (since the extra white layer costs extra), but its just good to know what to expect before running into that issue.

Common Gotchas

1. Sizing issues: Order size samples from a few different brands to see what you like best. Include detailed size charts in your product descriptions to help customers better gage how it will fit them. Consider offering an exchange or refund program for people who end up with the wrong size.

2. Color matching: Our eyes perceive color differently depending on whether or its light emanating from a screen or is a real life surface that reflects light. Account for screen vs print differences during the design stage. Also keep in mind that you make different color combinations by printing on different shirt colors. Make sure these color combinations work well together. The safest bet is to get color swatches from the printer so you can know exactly how the colors will turn out.

3. Inventory management: Try to keep up with what you have in stock at any given moment to avoid overselling. Start small to test designs, then move on to larger print runs if they have demand. Track bestselling sizes so you know what to order more of. Consider seasonal demand. T-shirts might sell better in warmer months where you live while hoodies and sweatshirts might be more sought after when its cold.

Sales Channels

Once you have the product and its ready to sell, its time to post it online for people to buy! The main two options that you have are, your own website and marketplaces.

1. Your Own Website: There's no better place to do that than your own website. With your own website, you have much more control over the branding than you do on marketplaces, and keep more profits. Maintenance is a bit more work than with marketplaces, but its definitely worth it if you want more control over your brand experience.

2. Online Marketplaces: Think sites like Etsy, Amazon Merch, Facebook Marketplace, eBay, etc. These sites are all great for selling things in specific niche categories, but can kinda pull focus away from your brand if it doesn't have an identity outside of the platform. On the flip side, marketplaces can be great because they're super easy to get set up and running and come with a built in audience. It can be challenging to drive traffic to your own website.

T-Shirt Product Photography

If you want it to sell, you've gotta make it look good! Well, you've technically already done the work to make the product look good, now you want to be sure that its presented in the best light possible, literally. And since that is the case, if you don't have a professional photographer friend to help you out, here are a few tips to get the most out of your product photos:

1. "The best camera to use is the one you have with you": Not sure where I heard that quote from, but its true. Don't obsess over camera quality as long as you've got something decent. Just make sure everything is as well and evenly lit as possible and the photos will turn out great.

2. Use both flat lays and on-model photos: Show how the shirt looks just laid out on a flat surface so the viewers can really focus on the design and how it looks when actually on a model so they can get a feel for how it will look on them. Of course, its great if you can hire models and photographers, but you can easily find blank t-shirt model photos online and overlay your designs to come up with these types of images.

3. Show detail shots of print quality: Don't stop at just showing full photos of the shirts. Take some pics where you zoom in on cool parts of the print to give the viewer a closer look as if they were shopping for the shirt in person.

4. Include lifestyle shots for marketing: If you can, go a bit further than just showing pics of the shirt and a generic model wearing it. Get some photos of the actual type of people who would wear it and what they're lifestyle is like. This can be you and your friends.