Starting a T-Shirt Brand

Article by guest author Peter Brooker

I want to start a TeeShirt brand. I know, everyone who has had half a decent idea in their head about what would make a cool tee shirt, thinks they can start a tee shirt brand. And everyone will think that his or her idea will be loved by others.

The trouble is, and I've fallen foul of this myself in the past, you wind up buying a lot of boxes of tee shirts because it's the only way to get them on the cheap, and those boxes just go to rot in your Mum's garage. I swear I still have a couple of boxes of my tee shirts from 20 years ago gathering mold, dust, mold mites, dust mites, you name it.

Then there is print on demand. The UK print-on-demand market is forecast to grow strongly, with one market estimate putting it at about $850m in 2026, rising to more than $3.6bn by 2033. According to Grand View Research.

But is a TeeShirt brand the best profit-arm for a print on demand business? According to: Precision Proco;

Brands are moving beyond T-shirts and hoodies. Pairing apparel with accessories, home décor, drinkware, or stationery creates multiple touchpoints with customers, increasing average order value and boosting brand loyalty.

I'm a huge James Bond fan. I have a website where I sell London Bond Maps and prints, and I'm wondering if adding a white label t-shirt category will be worth my while. Just look at how cool this tee-shirt of Bond holding the N64 control pad is.

That said I know how crash hot the powers that be over at James Bond HQ are with their intellectual property. I've had two friends that have had their merchandise store closed overnight. I've also had a red letter from them in the past and it's not very nice.

I'm currently looking at a tiny investment into a small batch of stock. However, even on sites called CUSTOM CLOTHES which will print 15 tees, with my design, for a price of £192 inc delivery. That means those tees roughly cost £12-£13 which means I would need to sell them for £25 to recoup any kind of interest.

Is it worth it? Even if I sold them all I'd gain £150 max. Also what sells the most, Print on Demand? Tee Shirts or Artwork?

According to Chayaani, a T-shirt might sell for £22 and leave you perhaps £5–£9 after production and marketplace costs.

A good poster/art print might sell for £20–£35 while costing considerably less to produce, particularly if you're selling unframed prints. Some 2026 POD analysis puts posters/wall art at higher percentage margins than T-shirts, although the exact numbers vary enormously by supplier, size and marketplace.

CONCLUSION

I still can't find a white label producer that will make tee shirts that will afford me a decent margin.

The teeshirts out there are actually terrible. Just look at the majority on the 007.Com site for example.

'Cool' tee shirts and generic funny tees, is a hugely saturated market. If I were to do it, I would need a very specific angle for my already very specific niche. TBC.

Photo by Cristofer Maximilian on Unsplash