Online apparel. NOOB.

[ajkim]

Hey guys,

I'm pretty new to this forum, but it really caught my eye.
So.. I've always had this goal to create my own online apparel store but never went through with it.

I had many problems such as...

-I need a graphic designer (considering paying someone from the logo section on the forum)
-Creating a good site and getting hits (i used to know some html, but not any more. i don't mind learning it all over and messing around till i make my site just the way i want it, but there is so much I don't know about making an online apparel store)

So... I'm making this thread to ask for some help.

What is there that I need to know before starting this?
Is starting an online apparel store even worth it?

I would appreciate any and all wisdom and intel.
I am lost...
If you guys can set me in the right path, I would love to start my journey!

 

[kinlee]

I've actually found some good graphic designers on fiverr and some also work on website design as well.
If you don't want to go through the process of learning HTML again (I highly recommend that you do get the basics down at least) you can find really good wordpress themes designed for selling apparel.

These are some ideas to help you sell your apparel:

• You can try working with some individuals on youtube who are popular or fairly popular and offer to design a shirt for their niche or brand in exchange for some promotion to your store.
• Do giveaways or discounts for customers who take photos of themselves in your apparel to keep them coming back for more.

That's all I can think of right now, hopefully you'll get some ideas out of it.
Good luck!

 

[systematic]

I will just give you this one piece of advice. Find a direct to garment printer. Don't bother with holding inventory. This is the way the industry is going right now, so don't get left behind, especially when you're just starting out. If you need to, PM me when you hit this stage and I will hook you up with one.

 

[ajkim]

I've actually found some good graphic designers on fiverr and some also work on website design as well.
If you don't want to go through the process of learning HTML again (I highly recommend that you do get the basics down at least) you can find really good wordpress themes designed for selling apparel.

These are some ideas to help you sell your apparel:

• You can try working with some individuals on youtube who are popular or fairly popular and offer to design a shirt for their niche or brand in exchange for some promotion to your store.
• Do giveaways or discounts for customers who take photos of themselves in your apparel to keep them coming back for more.

That's all I can think of right now, hopefully you'll get some ideas out of it.
Good luck!

ooh not a bad idea. i like the picture one!

I will just give you this one piece of advice. Find a direct to garment printer. Don't bother with holding inventory. This is the way the industry is going right now, so don't get left behind, especially when you're just starting out. If you need to, PM me when you hit this stage and I will hook you up with one.

what exactly do you mean by direct to garment printer? i did research to find the cheapest site to print so i am considering them. i also know an actual printing shop that is owned by my friends dad. i won't get any hook ups but from what i've heard, it is pretty cheap.

 

[systematic]

Direct to garmet means they are going to print on demand. It means you aren't going to have to hold any inventory. So instead of having to hold S-XXL for every shirt and having to buy them in advance, you can simply wait until an order comes in. Then you send an email to your printer with the order details and they print and ship the shirt. This is the easiest way I've found to run an online t-shirt shop (and I own several.)

 

[ajkim]

Direct to garmet means they are going to print on demand. It means you aren't going to have to hold any inventory. So instead of having to hold S-XXL for every shirt and having to buy them in advance, you can simply wait until an order comes in. Then you send an email to your printer with the order details and they print and ship the shirt. This is the easiest way I've found to run an online t-shirt shop (and I own several.)

I've seen sites like this. I don't like the idea because then the customer will have to wait for the printing process and then wait for it to be delivered. but have any direct to links? and do you mind showing me your shops?

 

[systematic]

Your assumption actually couldn't be further from the truth. Most if not all direct to garmet printers are printing digitally. Meaning, there really is no lead-time. When an order comes in my printer usually ships out same day as long as it's not late in the day. If not same day, then 99% of the time the following day. Imagine an assembly line: every time he receives notice of an order from me he simply prints it, packages it, and puts it in a pile to be shipped at the end of the day.

T-shirts businesses are incredibly hard to make money at. It's hard enough to get a solid idea for a t-shirt line with shirts that people actually want to buy. Once you actually have a line that sells, you immediately run into the problem of trying to scale-up. Before you know it all of the money that you could be recycling into marketing is getting eaten up in inventory. Some shirts will sell, others wont, and others will sell intermittently. This leads to a lot of inventory sitting on the shelves and a lot of selling out of certain shirts that people actually want.

Direct To Garmet fixes that problem by outsourcing production of the shirts so you can focus more on marketing and customer service. Take it from a dude who's been selling t-shirts online since I got out of the womb, dtg is the way to go. PM'ing you one of my sites.

 

[ajkim]

Your assumption actually couldn't be further from the truth. Most if not all direct to garmet printers are printing digitally. Meaning, there really is no lead-time. When an order comes in my printer usually ships out same day as long as it's not late in the day. If not same day, then 99% of the time the following day. Imagine an assembly line: every time he receives notice of an order from me he simply prints it, packages it, and puts it in a pile to be shipped at the end of the day.

T-shirts businesses are incredibly hard to make money at. It's hard enough to get a solid idea for a t-shirt line with shirts that people actually want to buy. Once you actually have a line that sells, you immediately run into the problem of trying to scale-up. Before you know it all of the money that you could be recycling into marketing is getting eaten up in inventory. Some shirts will sell, others wont, and others will sell intermittently. This leads to a lot of inventory sitting on the shelves and a lot of selling out of certain shirts that people actually want.

Direct To Garmet fixes that problem by outsourcing production of the shirts so you can focus more on marketing and customer service. Take it from a dude who's been selling t-shirts online since I got out of the womb, dtg is the way to go. PM'ing you one of my sites.

I can't PM so here is my response to your PM. great info thank you!




Oooh interesting. Do you mind sharing what direct to garment printer you use?

And do you make a decent amount of profit?
What do you use to host your site? Seems most people here use gatorhost but im considering using one of those premade shops (bigcartel) and then maybe making my own site using bluehost but i don't know much about making a shopping cart and SSL etc etc.
Probably a better idea to use an actual site rather than a premade one right?

 

[ajkim]

Another quick question.Do you need a copyright for your own company even though it's small?

 

[systematic]

Talk to me on skype, it's a lot easier