Custom T-Shirts, Anyone?

Here’s what I’m thinking:

I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who really like some designs I do. And they’ve asked (sometimes urged) that I make these designs into a T-shirt.

Thing is, though, is that actually designing a T-shirt and getting it printed takes a lot of time – and it’s not something I wanna do for the poops and/or giggles.

If I’m gonna’ make a T-shirt, I’m not doing it for free, ya’ dig?

But I also don’t wanna’ get bulk orders of 1000 T-shirts. A LOT of shirt printers will do this: their machines are only set up to print off designs in bulk. I just don’t have the storage space to house 1000 T-shirts that I’m not wearing.

I DO know a handful of printers who can print 1 to 10 shirts at a time, though.

So I thought, “What if I started offering to make custom T-shirts for people?”

This idea also came from a Vlogbrothers video, in which Hank Green has a shirt that says, “Don’t Talk To Me About My T-Shirt or I’ll Put Forks in You.” A Nerdfigher designed and printed the shirt for him, and it’s the only shirt in existence. That design was (to my knowledge) not mass produced.

I saw that, and I was like, “I could do that!”

The big issue would be pricing these shirts, and I imagine this is where people would get turned off by it.

Just by my rough math, a custom, one-of-a-kind “Fork-In-You” quality individual shirt would cost:

  • One of the commission rates for the design – likely $25 for a black and white design, $60 for the color.
  • $10 for the shirt itself.
  • $10 shipping and handling.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I know anybody who would be ok with forking over $80 at most (or $45 at least) for a single custom T-shirt. Even if they knew they would be the only person on Earth with that specific design.

What are your thoughts on the matter, though?

2 Replies to “Custom T-Shirts, Anyone?”

    1. Yeah, that’s the big issue about this that rears its head to me. Because of that, I don’t think I’ll make it a thing. But maybe there will be another nugget of an idea to move forward on on in the future.

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