You are viewing our Forum Archives. To view or take place in current topics click here.
Guide to Starting A Clothing Brand
Posted:
Guide to Starting A Clothing BrandPosted:
Status: Offline
Joined: May 02, 201112Year Member
Posts: 913
Reputation Power: 2075
PREFACE
I've owned a clothing brand with 2 other friends for 11 months now, we started out not knowing how to do much of anything, to now not having to do much of anything. I know a lot of people enjoy clothes and have even considered making their own. Im by no means an expert, I can teach you how to get started.
Getting Started
First with most things, you'll need a name. I'm not going to get to in depth with this, because im not the most creative person but for my brand we chose Phaases. We just thought it sounded cool and stands out, it poses the question- what is that? Curiosity is the tool we used.
Pick your name based off what your brand stands for. For us, its the phases of life, we don't always follow that but atleast once per drop we try to implement it somehow.
Creating your logo
Finding your method of creation
This is where I actually know what im talking about as this is what I do. As said above, Jagger draws the designs on paper. Well, we can't just take the paper and iron it onto a shirt. This is where I come in, I take his drawing [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
and I put it into Adobe Illustrator. From here I trace the image using the plug-in on Illustrator. I export it over to Photoshop where I actually do the work.
Unfortunately, I suck at drawing and our main designer isn't really into drawing on the computer, BUT if you can learn to draw in illustrator then I would highly recommend that.
Turning it into a T-shirt
There are TONS of websites that allow you to create your own shop, we decided to go with bigcartel, and at first used their domain. It's a simple website to use and there are tons of walk throughs online. You don't have to use bigcartel, but this is what we chose and what I know.
This is where the actual printing of the T-Shirts come in. At first we used Printful, and we still do for some of our designs, but its what I HIGHLY recommend. Printful is very simple and it connects with bigcartel which makes it extremely simple to just upload the file onto printful and bigcartel and be ready for selling.
Printful
Printful gets it's own little section because this is where and how your t shirts will get printed.
First you must create a printful account.
Go to File Library [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] and you'll want to upload your design
This is the most important part of printful and you will use this EVERYTIME you want to create a new product- The mockup Generator [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
Get to like this thing because this is your friend.
So once you've picked what you want to do, for instance a t shirt like this. I've picked the Bella + Canvas 3001 [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
First you must create a printful account.
Go to File Library [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] and you'll want to upload your design
This is the most important part of printful and you will use this EVERYTIME you want to create a new product- The mockup Generator [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
Get to like this thing because this is your friend.
So once you've picked what you want to do, for instance a t shirt like this. I've picked the Bella + Canvas 3001 [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
It's quite simple, you upload the file , I found that the dimensions between 2,000-3,000 pixels for length and width seems to work the best
You'll want to mess around with the DPI, if you go to high like [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] it will turn out looking really bad, so you'll want to go to where it says " Good " and the bar is green. Unfortunately you can only move your image in the confines of the box, this is the downside to printful.
You'll want to mess around with the DPI, if you go to high like [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] it will turn out looking really bad, so you'll want to go to where it says " Good " and the bar is green. Unfortunately you can only move your image in the confines of the box, this is the downside to printful.
Once you're done you'll want to hit Generate files, and save them to library and your computer.It'll save as a ZIP File and inside will have your original design, then the mockup of your design on the t shirt.
PRICING
I'll take this part to talk about pricing. Per blank t shirt the price varies but for the one I linked, it cost about $13. If you add a back print, its an extra $7. For a custom label, its an extra $2.50. We sell our t-shirts for $25. It leaves a decent profit margin of about $9 but, we usually have a back print leaving us only $3, another downside of printful.
If you're ordering the shirt for yourself, it will only cost you $13 if you order through " sample " ( Which you will want to do ). If you're just making a few shirts for you and your friends, you're done! You can just order straight from there! YAY! Read on if you're interested into making a shop!
If you're ordering the shirt for yourself, it will only cost you $13 if you order through " sample " ( Which you will want to do ). If you're just making a few shirts for you and your friends, you're done! You can just order straight from there! YAY! Read on if you're interested into making a shop!
Back to BigCartel
Now you'll return to BigCartel to the product page [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
At the top you'll want to hit add product and the page should look like [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
The pictures you got from printful earlier is the two you'll want to upload.
From here, you'll add your price and this is CRUCIAL- Under options this is where you add SIZES Like [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
Once you've added the cost and the pictures and the sizes, don't forget shipping! you'll hit done at the bottom of the page. Now we'll return to Printful to sync the items with the store.[/b
Printful! ( Again )
[b]
Don't worry we're almost done.
You'll want to go to your store link [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] Then hit SYNC.
If you followed my steps, you should have one product in there that has 4 unsync'd items. Click the item you're going to sync.[/b]
It should look like [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
From here, you chose product just like you did when making the Mockup.
MAKE SURE YOUR SIZE CORRESPONDS TO THE ONE IT SHOWS. IE: [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
You'll want to go to your store link [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] Then hit SYNC.
If you followed my steps, you should have one product in there that has 4 unsync'd items. Click the item you're going to sync.[/b]
It should look like [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
From here, you chose product just like you did when making the Mockup.
MAKE SURE YOUR SIZE CORRESPONDS TO THE ONE IT SHOWS. IE: [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
Once sync'd you're ready to go!
END
Now this was a guide on how to start your brand. I ran through the parts that people don't really know much about and thats where to get it printed and how to sit up a shop. There are tons and tons of other factors that one day if this gets a good response I'll make a thread on like social media, legal issues, promoting your brand, etc. I just wanted to help people figure out the most difficult part, which is how to go about printing for a good price and how to sit it up without issues.
If you need help or anything feel free to PM me and ill be very happy to help!
If you need help or anything feel free to PM me and ill be very happy to help!
The following 3 users thanked gec for this useful post:
#2. Posted:
Status: Offline
Joined: Feb 05, 201212Year Member
Posts: 415
Reputation Power: 20
This was a well put together guide. I'm sure it will help most! Good job
- 0useful
- 0not useful
#3. Posted:
Status: Offline
Joined: Jul 13, 20149Year Member
Posts: 5,592
Reputation Power: 61
Status: Offline
Joined: Jul 13, 20149Year Member
Posts: 5,592
Reputation Power: 61
You forgot the "How to hit retailers such as Pacsun" part
- 0useful
- 0not useful
#4. Posted:
Status: Offline
Joined: Dec 11, 201112Year Member
Posts: 1,621
Reputation Power: 106
After I finish College, I want to go into the clothing industry so this Guide is really helpful for me, Thanks man!
- 0useful
- 0not useful
#5. Posted:
Status: Offline
Joined: May 02, 201112Year Member
Posts: 913
Reputation Power: 2075
Nav wrote After I finish College, I want to go into the clothing industry so this Guide is really helpful for me, Thanks man!
No problem I hope you really do use it!
- 1useful
- 0not useful
#6. Posted:
Status: Offline
Joined: Dec 11, 201112Year Member
Posts: 1,621
Reputation Power: 106
Chigga wroteNav wrote After I finish College, I want to go into the clothing industry so this Guide is really helpful for me, Thanks man!
No problem I hope you really do use it!
I actually pulled this guide up today in College since I am doing clothing as my Major Project.
- 1useful
- 0not useful
#7. Posted:
Status: Offline
Joined: May 02, 201112Year Member
Posts: 913
Reputation Power: 2075
Status: Offline
Joined: May 02, 201112Year Member
Posts: 913
Reputation Power: 2075
Nav wroteChigga wroteNav wrote After I finish College, I want to go into the clothing industry so this Guide is really helpful for me, Thanks man!
No problem I hope you really do use it!
I actually pulled this guide up today in College since I am doing clothing as my Major Project.
Glad to hear its being put to use
- 1useful
- 0not useful
You are viewing our Forum Archives. To view or take place in current topics click here.