Don’t start a clothing company

Tue, Oct 11, 2011

Starting Out, Uncategorized

Let me first say that starting a clothing company has been an amazing experience for me personally. I have met tons of amazing people in this industry and had tons of positive customer feedback and I wouldn’t change anything. This post is just meant to make you cautious about getting into this industry.

First of all the t-shirt market is over saturated. If you think you are going to become the next quicksilver, Johnny Cupcakes, or Marc Ecko you are in for a rude awakening. It is so much harder now to break out in this market because so many people are doing the same exact thing as you. I get around 25,000 unique visitors to this site every month. That’s 25,000 people wanting to start a clothing company.

It’s expensive. Paying for quality designers, screen printers, and shirts are expensive.

Shirt costs

  • designer: $200-300 (you’re going to have to pay at least $200 if you want a decent design)
  • shirt cost for 50 screen printed shirts on AA: $400- 500

each shirt costs $12-16

You would have to sell 35 shirts at $20 just to break even. This is why starting out is hard. You are trying to compete with the big companies on prices and quality but won’t be able to turn any real profit until you grow bigger and can  do higher print runs. In the beginning it’s all about cash flow. If you can get sales constantly coming in you can make a business out of it and grow.

It’s tons of work.  You need to constantly be coming out with new designs. Contacting blogs about sales and engaging your customer to maintain your shop. Ship out products or hire someone to do that for you. All of this requires a lot of work.

There are a lot of other ventures you can do besides starting a clothing company that would probably be easier. I applaud anyone that takes that leap of faith and goes for it. For me it has all been worth the journey .

threadsnotdead Dont start a clothing company

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Thanks,
Jon Kruse

This post was written by:

- who has written 135 posts on How to start a Clothing Company.

Besides running this blog I also own two clothing companies, Mediocore Clothing and SHRED. I also run Double Dragon Studios with a partner and we do a lot of work for clothing companies making stores, blogs, and myspace layouts. Please send me an email if you have any questions, want to hire me for work, or just want to say thanks.

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  • http://twitter.com/colushavenga colus havenga

    Good article Jon. You are exactly right…everyone and their hamster is trying to get a shirt business going. Its a tough market, period.

  • kalva

    For all of the informative posts on this website, this is the most counter productive of them all. Is the a reminder on the tough reality it is starting a clothing company? Were these words in cynical wisdom or frustration?

  • designerscounty

    Apart from the cost and hard work , as you mentioned in the post, are there any other reasons why you think starting a new t-shirt selling website is not a good idea?
    My partner and I are starting with a new t-shirt selling website. We have enough start-up capital and are willing to in-fact looking forward to working hard :) .

    Love your blog. I think this is a must read for anyone planning to start a clothing company.

  • jonkruse

    It's just a reminder that what your doing is probably harder then you thought.

  • jonkruse

    Do it! Just words of caution.

  • designerscounty

    Much appreciated.
    As awesome as it is, your site is such a productivity killer :) . I start reading an entry and then click on one of the related entries and then another and just like that a couple of hours have passed. Each and every one of these entries is a great read.
    Thanks for such a great resource.

  • http://twitter.com/scaredpanda Scared Panda

    +1 for telling it like it is. If it were easy to start a t-shirt company it wouldn't be worth doing it. Good luck guys!

  • Guintobaz

    Not everyone is cut out to start and own a clothing line. It takes time to really develop and on top of that, getting into good quality material is way more expensive than $500. I'm on this rocky path and I'd drop $10,000 out of my pocket in a heartbeat to get this thing going. When it comes down to it, some people want it more bad than others. Ecko was in debt before they got famous. They risked million+ dollars in debt, plus they had shitty material. Alot of other brands took around 10 years to develop and get into the mainstream market. Fortunately. they found their path and actually started making money. All it took for me to understand what I'm getting myself into is the speech steve jobs gave at stanford a few years back. I love what I do, and I'm a huge fan of this site, keep doing what you're doing. People are listening.

  • http://twitter.com/Neverltd Shane Kelly

    I agree with everything you say in this post.
    In my own endeavors I am still in the start up stage and competing with hundreds if not thousands of other small operators let alone the larger labels who have massive buying power.

    On top of my full time job I spend practically all my evenings working on new designs, business plans, marketing (on almost no budget), maintaining a website, (as well as facebook and twitter accounts).
    Bus trips to and from work are spent brainstorming and developing new ideas.
    This is only a few of the things that keep me busy. There a huge number of factors that go into making a label successful.

    BUT
    I love it, It's a crap load of time and effort but I bloody well love doing it!

    Shane K.
    neverltd.co.nz

  • Stubborn Adventure

    I agree with you… I just started a clothing line called Stubborn Adventure in July of 2011. It has been very difficult. Finding the right screen printers, finding quality shirts, having great designs, and finding time to keep up with all of the social networking is a difficult task. I also am a full time math and science teacher and I have a family of 5 to care for. The one edge that I have is that I am doing it because I love to design and create. Money is not my drive to create which I feel helps me stay loose and creative. I am not too worried about sales, rather my concerns are to provide something awesome for my fans. I have no real control over weather or not my designs are liked by others. I just keep doing what I love which is all the difference. My advice to others who read this is to stay loose and have fun… Stubborn Adventure!

  • jonkruse

    Sorry

  • jonkruse

    Most of the people that succeed are just the ones that keep on staying in the game. Ecko is an interesting story because they just weathered the hard times. I've got a good rocky quote I'll put up tomorrow that talks about this.

  • Casey

    agreed. i thought doing this would be much easier than i thought lol. i design everything myself so I dont have to worry about paying someone, but it is very expensive finding competent screen-printers and also to print high quality images on high quality shirts. i've only been doing this for a 2-3  months and have made sales but i've also made alot of mistakes and wasted alot of time/money but i still love it. this article isnt really meant to discourage anyone but to give people a reality check.

    i think alot of people want to start selling clothes as a get rich quick scheme when thats not the reality at all.

  • jonkruse

    I was a designer to. I found that even though my shirt designs were pretty good I knew so many other artists that were better then me. For you there is also the costs of getting web designer to help with the site. I've seen many designers butcher their site because they don't understand the fundamentals of web design.

    Also I think you should think differently about how you “made a lot of mistakes and wasted a lot of time/ money”. These mistakes and money were necessary for you to learn what you have. As entrepreneurs we just need to limit the costs and time of these errors and push on as fast as we can.

  • jason_belts_and_buckles

    Agree mate. It is tough, it is hard and it is expensive. Balance that against the joy of seeing someone you don't know walking down the street wearing one of your t-shirts when you want to scream “I did that”.

    That's why I do it!

  • Phong Vu

    i would like to start saying some easy fundamentals of starting a tee biz, is began with the city law, go into ur designs and if it a passion starting getting permits, now if ur confidence about this biz thriving and your motiviation going is to now build site from site generators and there free and use free trial software to build desings and start snapshot pics of clothes and images together and create a prototype. from here marketing word by mouth, family assistant u know get it going, then money is ready to spend , start buy merchanding with 3-5 dif designs and bam se wat eye catching visitor r looking for. and repeat and continue the perms and if get rich in a yr, open a store OR work long and hard at the flea market, or street vendor. GO GET TRAFFIC AT SKOO and Converts and your neighborhood. thats my concept. goodluck ! i 4 got to mention supplies, yeah everyone is doing it, im doing mines hobby lobby and walmart and find cheap alternative ways to get banners and business card and home print flyers and use fb and tweet about sales and get coupons from ur sources..

  • http://thatgoodlife.com/ That Good Life

    The problem hardly anyone puts any thought into the t-shirt making process any more. Some companies are just looking for a get rich quick scheme.

    Thanks for being insightful and writing a helpful and meaningful post. I'll close by saying this quote by Bobby Hundreds:

    Just work hard its not hard work.

    -Bobby Hundreds

  • Mcarvajal71

    Thank you. For this article. It has inspired me to work harder for my goals. Also
    I have a question for you. What are other routes that I can take with my design?

  • jonkruse

    other routes?

  • http://www.getbetterclothing.com/ Alex

    Great article. 
    The main reason I started mine was a platform for my illustrations. I keep costs down by designing everything (including the website) and running it all myself, I also print the tees at uni. The photography and modelling is done by mates who have been great, and I also helped raise some funds from a launch show which was great for a bit of cash and promo.So it is a lot of work, but so far in almost a year I've sold out of the first line (40 or so tees) and the new one is on the way. 

    All the profits from the first line have gone into the second one so it's all going pretty well!Hopefully this could be a bit of help for anyone considering starting up!

  • Jorge

    I think that anything you ll do in life is hard, and requires a lot o hard work. So how do you differentiate yourself, that is the main focus.
    My company, BUBU, we don't sell shirts, we do not focus only in promoting our products, we spend more time promoting our lifestyle, what we belive in, because at the end of the day, people can buy shirts anywhere in the world, at even better prices, people buy for themselves, so why should they buy my shirts or your shirts? The difference is in the meaning behind each thing you do.
    For us, is because every person should be unique by being themselves, that's what we battle everyday, the dogma that you should follow. Instead, try to lead once in a while.

    So why do you do what you do?

  • Peter

    hi i have been thinking about starting a clothing company for sometime…i have a very specific demographic for my designs…i am not an artist, but i do come up with the concepts then have my artist do the drawings. i am willing to put in the time,etc. and have had several successful businesses in the past. My last one we grossed on average of 3 million per year and had extremely high margins. But, I have never sold a tangible product. I have a phenomenal biz consultant, but need someone to take me from point a to b as fast as possible. Again, I have very specific demographics…any advice would be greatly appreciated. Can I sell the concepts to an established outfit? I have to say they are good, but for a target market. If you would like to talk feel free to email me at pmaz@hotmail.com  My name is Peter. Thanks.

  • Ryanm

    I love this post. I did a tracksuit line for 3 years and it was 1 of the biggest mistakes of my life. If I had put the money (into the biz that Im in now) that I put into my tracksuit biz, I would have been WAYYYY ahead than I am with unsold tracksuit inventory.
    At the end of the day you can spend X amount on samples and making inventory to get a price break but if the store buyers dont wanna buy what you make, your screwed!
    I have customers that buy my products at wholesale price but dont wanna pay the retail price, so Im opening up my own store to blow out my merchandise.
    My customers will gladly pay $40 for a hoodie but not $90 at the stores I sold to.

    LONG STORY SHORT, skip the clothing line, you just cant compete with the big giants out there. End of story. Put your money elsewhere, you wont be sorry!

  • Thatgirlme007

    when using fabrics with patterns, can you simply buy large yards of fabric from anywhere or does the fabric pattern have to be your own deisgn??

  • http://www.soldoutcreations.com Scoota Watson

    I decided to not do a clothing line I will just customize clothes.  If my business name blow up O I take my clients idea an make just what they want.  I find it my clients are more happy to spend big bucks on custom printed clothes with no limitation to the creativity.  I don't give my clients a limit…  I don't give my clients a certain amount of colors they can choose from.  I still find it they are willing to spend $40-$60 on a shirt or jacket that customized as they requested.  Those are the highest that clients have paid so far.  I was only charging $10-$20 a jacket.  Clients pay those prices with ease so I am going up on my prices sometime in 2012 once I get time to calculate some new numbers an figure out how its all gone going to go.  I have been making customers aware of price changes Oct.  I no they will be just fine with the transition!  Ppl will pay for what you want if its as they want it an thats what I do over here at Sold Out Creations.  Most designers think of they're own designs to sale.  At Sold Out Creations I design what clients want!

  • I did it

    I started my company a year ago on NYE using info from this site… I'm glad I didn't see this post until now…. In the short year we have been on a roller coaster of an adventure…. we went from being rejected by every boutique in our area to being begged for our product in less than 7 months…at first it was discouraging but we just kept thinking our way out of the box…honestly it helps to have a good team and helps to go to college learn key parts of your biz and socialize (most of all). Building a network of people who care about you will be what keeps you a float if you want it more than the next brand you will be seen and heard…. be everywhere u want to be and then a few more places and keep working….we have  had our gear on tv show as wardrobe, on musician in videos etc without paying to be there or giving away free merch…  be resourceful and keep it pushing!

  • Jake Olshan

    Sort of confused on why someone would write an article about not starting a clothing company on “howtostartaclothingcompany.com“…?

  • jonkruse

    Good quote

  • jonkruse

    Maybe to give a wake up call to those that think it's going to be easy.

  • Rhettruss

    your pricing examples are bogus!

  • Anonymous

    Enlighten us all with the correct information.

    Of course you can get shirts done for cheaper. You can get a shit designer for $50 you can get a crappy screen printer for cheaper to. These prices are for if you want to compete with the best on design and product.

  • Joshuagutierrez89

    i wanna start a compny i haveever since i was in 6th grade. i wanna get to know the business first and wanna get into a shop where i can see the process that goes with running ur own thread shop.. whats the best way to go about just getting a foot in the door.?

  • armyguest

    I like this. There are too many so-so clothing companies, and also a lot of them do not seem to care about quality of products. It is scary to think about starting a business, not to mention a business based in a market that has soooo many large companies, that make all different kinds of products. But it is still something I would like to pursue, but i would not want to go in blind. So I will definitely be visiting this website more

  • Q Steverson

    i want to do what you do, but im not sure how. I mean i customized hoodies and shirts for people, but i want my own website for it. How do i get started with that. My name is Q by the way

  • Rashon Bus

    I am very interested in more details on how you got your business off the ground. If possible, can you email me some useful material for my endeavor!

    rashon.bus@gmail.com

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