Making Your Own Custom Slogan T-Shirts
Keeping an eye on what’s trending in the world is important in the custom apparel business, and slogan t-shirts are becoming more and more popular as social media has grown. With the advent of white toner printers and huge return on investment they can bring it’s no surprise.
Specifically, you may want to want to keep up with what’s happening politically, socially, and environmentally. The reason is because people love to identify with the ideals the believe in. And that plays out with the popularity of slogan t-shirts that are now showing up everywhere.
When we look at people 20-40 years old, they’re wearing clothing that reflects their view of the world. Slogans are a great way to share their opinions. Custom t-shirts are in huge demand to reflect those unique opinions.
Here are a few of the categories, as a custom t-shirt business owner, you can look into, and decide which one(s) might fit into your business:
- Local / National Politics
- Pop Culture
- Pride
- Cultural Heritage
- Quotes
- Education
- Funny Memes
- Environmental Issues
- Endangered Animals
- Police / Fire / Military
- Charitable Causes
Figure out what will benefit you and the community you serve. Check out the local events that are happening in your community. Engage with locals and pay attention to the news.
What are some of the benefits of creating slogan t-shirts?
First, let’s dig into the numbers. Buying shirts from a wholesaler will run you about $2.10/each. You will typically buy plain t-shirts that have top reviews.
For this example, we’re going to use vinyl as our substrate. Let’s say we do lettering and designs on about 10 slogan t-shirts. That will probably run you under $20 for all 10 shirts.
Bringing the cost of the materials to:
$2.10 x 10 = $21 (shirts) + $20 (vinyl) = $41 or $4.10/shirt.
We can’t forget the cost of labor.
If a customer comes to you with a design, you may be slightly ahead of the game. However, you still have to get it into your software.
Art Creation: 2 hours
- Gathering art and letters. Working on placement and design. Includes discussing final design with the customer, making changes, picking apparel, etc.
Cutting: 45 min
- Laying out lettering and designs to maximize the use of vinyl.
Weeding: 3 hours
- Weeding all designs for 10 shirts.
Prepping: 30 min
- Laying out the designs to ensure nothing is missing.
Heat Pressing: 1 hour
- Placing the slogan t-shirts and vinyl on the heat press.
Total time: 7h 15m
This project takes approximately a day’s worth of work.
(Faster or slower depending on your familiarity and expertise with working with vinyl).
For this example, let’s assume your hourly wage is $20/hour.
25 x 20 = $145
Cost of labor per slogan t-shirt(s)= $145 ÷ 10 = $14.5
Total cost per shirt = labor + materials = $4.10 + 14.50 = $18.60
What is the profit?
In retail similar shirts run approximately $29/each.
Your profit = $29 – 18.60 = $10.40/shirt or $104 for the whole project.
What if you hired someone else to help with the project?
Hiring someone else to help with the business can be more profitable than first expected. Let’s say you hire someone to work 4 of those 7.25 hours. And you hired them at $15/hour.
- $15 x 4 = $60
- $20 x 3.25 = $65
- Total labor = $125
The new cost of labor per slogan tshirt(s) is $12.50 and brings the cost per shirt to $16.60.
New profit = $12.40 / shirt or $124 for the whole project.
Over the course of a month, those numbers add up. Especially as you can be using those 4 hours to drum up new business or have two orders being completed at the same time.
Let’s say you just work by yourself, and you can complete 5 orders a week, 20 orders a month. That’s $2,080 profit each month.
If you hire someone else to work part-time, perhaps you can increase your orders to 8/week, 32/month. With the increase in orders and the profit per order, you could nearly double your profit = $3,968.
Popular Methods of Printing
The above numbers demonstrate the profit of working with vinyl, but there are other options when it comes to creating custom t-shirts, such as heat transfer and DTG.
Heat Transfer
A great choice here at a low startup cost is the Digital HeatFX i550. This printer is great for any home-based business or custom apparel business that wants to add DTG to their lineup.
That’s because it’s compact and fits onto any desk (16 inches wide). Even though it’s compact you can still print on A4 sized transfer paper for full-size t-shirt prints.
The i550 prints on to transfer paper, which you can then use a heat press to apply the design to your shirt.
DTG - Direct to Garment
DTG Printers use a special ink that prints onto your t-shirts just like a home printer.
If you’re doing slogan shirts for larger markets and need something that will help you work faster, the DTG M2 will print directly on 2 shirts at a time.
It will also allow you to easily make small changes to each t-shirt, such as printing employee names.
Vinyl
Vinyl t-shirt transfers can be a fun way to customize shirts. And the best part is that there is a wide variety of vinyl to work with.
You can get everything from basic colors to neon, glitter, and patterned vinyl.
If you already have a heat press in your business, you can use that same press. No need for an extra machine. So, the startup cost on vinyl is low.
Build your own business
One of the biggest reasons we see people starting up a custom apparel business is because they want to be able to control their own time, energy, and income.
A custom apparel business can start out as a side project to earn a little extra. Or a passion project to create apparel using your own designs.
When you tap into the right markets and connect with people it can become a full-time business. As you can see with the number estimates we used above it can be a profitable full-time business.
Slogan t-shirts and apparel are just one of the markets that you can step into to help you get orders and move product.
If you’re looking for more advice on how to start up a custom apparel business, read some of the ColDesi Success Stories. Hopefully, you’ll get inspired and get some tips to help you build your business.
Summary
Whether you’re just getting into the t-shirt business or are looking for ways to expand your business looking at current events slogan t-shirts are a large market for you to tap into.
You’re helping people share what they’re passionate about, what matters to them. All while building a successful custom apparel business.
If you’re also passionate about a cause, slogan t-shirts are a great way for you and others to show your support.
If you’re looking to stop working for someone else, why not let the team at ColDesi help you get the right equipment and the right support?
