Wanting to start selling your Art on clothes but don’t have much upfront cash? Try Print on Demand
I’m an artist, I create abstract Psychedelic work exploring trippy patterns and creating colourful Worlds. You can check out my work here and here. For what felt like years people told me that my work would look good on tshirts and this had been a goal of mine since perhaps 2015. The issue I always came up against was trying to save up enough money to buy stock in the first place and never feeling like i’d sell enough to recuperate my money. As an Artist I also found it difficult selling and promoting my work. In June 2020 I opened my online store and am slowly trying to build a customer base.
First things first, i’m not an expert on selling clothing, these are just some things i’ve observed and learned along the way.
If you were to sell you Art on clothing using a traditional method you would probably find a company that will print your work, consider how much stock you can afford to buy and then buy a first run amount. The issue that comes with this is that you’d have to estimate what might sell and you may only be able to afford 1 or 2 designs. So for example you’d buy 25 items, split into different sizes and colours. Lets say as an example : 10 x small, 10 x Medium, 5 x Large. You’d then maybe want to split this into different colours as well and then also buy enough for Male and Female sizes. After you’ve considered this, you then need to sell enough stock to make your money back. Depending on how good you are at selling, this could be problematic and expensive.
The modern solution to this problem is Print on demand (POD) this works on a different model. With POD an item is only made when somebody buys it, usually from on online website. This means you don’t have to purchase any stock upfront. The cost of the production of the item comes out of the sale of the product. So for example if a Tshirt sells for £25, the cost would be taken out after and you’d make maybe £9. Another great thing about POD is you can make a professional looking store with loads of different products without having to spend much. From a sustainability angle POD is also better as there is less waste from unsold stock.
There are countless POD sites offering many different things. You can find sites that will put your Art on various products, including leggings, walk hangings, mugs, you name it. I’d recommend doing your research into which company works best for what you are doing and have a think about how much money you’d like to make per sale, as this can differ substantially between different sites. Some sites can be linked to ecommerce sites like Etsy and Shopify, so you can then sell from those platforms too. If you’re a tech wizard you could probably even link up a few different suppliers and sites together.
For my designs I use a website called Teemill, who are based in the UK. Eco friendly materials and production is a very important factor for me, which is what lead me to Teemill. All of their clothing is printed using organic cotton, with vegan inks in a renewable energy powered factory. From searching the web, this was my best choice by far for my situation. As mentioned depending on what you are after, they may or may not be the best fit for you. The options with POD are extensive.
POD can come with some costs though, the profit margins can be quite slim depending on who you use. I originally started out with the free version of Teemill and for a shirt that sold for £21, you only got around £2.90. After selling a few tees this became frustrating and I upgraded to the paid version of Teemill. This costs £10 a month and lets you set the costs of clothing to raise your profit and also gives you other features. It’s worth having a good read of different sites and comparing how much they cost and which is best for you.
In addition to Teemill I could also recommend Printful and Threadless, though there a many many more. I’ve listed these sites as i’ve found their environmental impact to be low. From the sustainability angle, some sites are still pushing the ‘Fast fashion’ narrative of ‘sell as much as possible regardless of the impact’. I would advise to steer clear of these, though this is just my personal angle. You can read more about my thoughts on Fast fashion on this blog or from the links at the bottom of this article.
If you are an Artist looking to get your Art on clothes, I recommend trying out POD. If you have minimal funds the limited upfront costs can be a great way to get going with your business. Certainly have a browse of more traditional clothing printing sites too, where you buy your stock and sell it as this can give you more control. The issue i’m currently facing is that POD is an online store that requires constant updating and marketing to draw people to your store, but that’s a story for another time!
If you’ve got any thoughts about opening a store or tips leave a question or comment and i’ll get back to you, I read an reply to all comments.
Links
https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/fashion-clothing/what-fast-fashion-why-it-problem
Check out my store : https://moderation-is-key.teemill.com/
Sareth Gavage Art blog 