How to start a Clothing Company

Interview with Mark Capicotto of Glamour Kills

I had the opportunity to ask Mark Capicotto of Glamour Kills a few questions about starting a clothing company and this is what he had to say. Jon: How much money did you start your clothing line with? Glamour Kills: I started off with $300.00-$400.00. I really didn’t have alot of capitol to start [...]

We are going to launch soon!

It’s been a ton of of hard work and I still have a website redesign for our website and store, a photoshoot to do, and get everything in order before we launch. Here is a mockup of the design so far. Let me know what you think. It reminds me of the 300. This is SPARTA!!!! Thanks [...]

Printing it yourself VS hiring it out

My buddy David Murray over at SEIBEI wrote this great article about doing screen printing vs hiring it out. I get e-mails all the time from people who want to learn screen printing and start their own t-shirt line. It’s always a very tricky issue for me to tackle, because the way I came into this [...]

No spec please: why asking for spec work is bad

Here is a post that was recently on an online forum. I changed the name of the company to disguise their identity. Hey, you think you got what it takes to make a shirt or hoodie design for Paper Clothing? Then bring it!!! Email designs to paperclothing@gmail.com Looking for bright, hand drawn art that is intricate but compelling [...]

Art Direction

You need to be a part of your company and give proper art direction for a design to succeed. The worst jobs I’ve had were when the client didn’t really know what they wanted and couldn’t even answer my basic question about where they want the designs direction to go. The saying “I’ll know what I want when I see it” is very painful for a designer because they can be working hours on a design only to find out that it wasn’t what the client wanted.

How to properly contact an artist

I have gotten a lot of emails being a freelance designer myself and most people don’t know how to properly contact artists. The worst is when I get an email that say “how much for a design”. Really… that’s all I have to go on. I don’t even know who the person is, what their company does, or if I am even the right person for the job. Please don’t do this if you expect to get any kind of response.

Backflip Gone Wrong

Choosing the right business partners

I have individually headed the development of business opportunities, however, in others I have decided to work with partners. I will tell you upfront that I enjoy partnerships more than flying solo. If there is one red flag to mention about partnerships it is that some people get greedy and want all the rewards. Sharing makes a business work. The first piece of advice I am going to give is: Don’t just look at money signs, look at the pleasure you are going to get from building this business and seeing it succeed with the people you are sharing this adventure with. It is very important that if you are only focused on money you are missing out on the big picture of what will truly make you successful.

Giant list of T-shirt blogs and T-shirt sites

Getting traffic to your site is the most important task in order to have a successful online store. A great way to get traffic is through t-shirt blogs and rating sites. Here's a Giant list of websites you can submit to your site to.

How to choose between LLC, Corporation, and Sole Proprietorship. Taxes and fees for t-shirt businesses.

Originally posted by Binki on t-shirt forums I wrote this up several years ago but it might be of some help here on starting a business in the USA. It is weak in some areas but should be a [...]

Setting up your t-shirt site and e-commerce

This info is from manos at supermadolini. Ok, below is info based on my own personal experience and mostly in a form of notes for setting up the site. I acknowledge that this might not be for small budgets. 1. Buy a domain name. Any company of your liking will do – nowadays buying a domain name for x [...]

How To Get Your Cool T-Shirts Reviewed by a T-Shirt Blog

Getting your store posted on a t-shirt blog is a big step towards increasing the traffic to your site. This article explains the proper Etiquette in asking a blogger to review your store.

How To Start a T-Shirt Business – FAIL

How To Start a T-Shirt Business – Branding

Niche in the Marketplace Now that you have systematically analyzed your industry, your product, your customers, and the competition, you should have a clear picture of where your company fits into the world. My biggest strength is my ability to communicate ideas and my sense of humor. There are a lot of companies out there that do [...]

Johnny Cupcakes Interview

Johnny Cupcakes is a legend in the clothing business. He built an empire without compromising. You can check out his story on his website. This was originally posted from a post he made on emptees called “How I run some parts of my business / don’t be a whore . org.” “Grab some Sour Patch Kids [...]

Free stats with Big Cartel

Let me start out by saying I love Bigcartel. The guys that set it up have done a great job and it has opened up e commerce to everyone. One thing that I don’t like about big cartel is that to get the stats I have to pay $20 more a month. That’s three times [...]