Design And Sell T Shirts Online India: Best Guide in 2024

Welcome to the ultimate guide to learning how to design and sell T shirts online India. In India, the opportunity to start your own online business has grown tremendously in the recent past.

Throughout the year 2020 and onwards, we’ve seen millions of Indians take their existing businesses online or start a new business online. At the same time, starting an online business selling t-shirts, especially selling custom-designed t-shirts has also grown exponentially. We also saw inspiring stores of many youngsters starting an online t-shirt business in India and earning 1 lakh to 2 lakh Rs. of profits online within a few months. 

It is indeed high time to start an online business in India. With more than ~800 million Internet users, which are growing at a quick rate and the e-commerce industry has grown to ~$60 billion in sales in 2021. People from all age groups, cities, communities, and interests are now joining the social media platforms. You can take advantage of this growth by launching an online t-shirt business that caters to their needs and design taste.

In this step-by-step guide, we’ll discuss in-depth how you can design and sell t-shirts online in India, that too at zero upfront investment in the business. If you read this guide and follow it, you’ll learn how to start, run, and grow your t‑shirt business in India.

What is an online t-shirt business and who can start it?

An online t-shirt business is where you create your own e-commerce website for your apparel brand and sell directly to the customers, without opening a physical retail store. In simple words, you can Design And Sell T Shirts Online in India.

An online t-shirt business has the following advantages over a traditional retail business:

• No expense on rent, electricity, maintenance, and staff.
• Your customers are not limited to the location of your store.
• You can start your online t-shirt business with 0 rs. in upfront investment.
• The risk is very low and the upside (profits) is high.

If you ask, who can start such a business? The short answer is “anyone and everyone”. Whether you are a student, housewife, working a full-time job, social media influencer (content creator), preparing for competitive exams, a designer or a developer, or someone with a passion for business, with a little technical understanding you can launch your online t-shirt business in India. In this blog below, I’ve coveverd how to start the t-shirt store using Blinkstore in 3 easy steps.

What is Print-on-demand t-shirt business?

As the name says, “print” on “demand”. In a print-on-demand business, the service provider (vendor) keeps an inventory of products ready in various colors with no designs on it. And the sellers create custom-designed t-shirts and list them in their stores to sell. As and when someone orders a product (in this case, a t-shirt), you send this order detail to your vendor. The PoD service provider prints the design on the t-shirt and delivers it to the buyer.

Here, you can read about the “Best print-on-demand websites in India“.

Scope of selling t shirts online

The surge in t-shirts as a branding medium and the rising demand for custom t-shirts featuring movie, game, and TV series slogans or logos are key drivers fueling the growth of the t-shirt printing market.

The t-shirt market in India is expected to grow annually by 4.18% from 2024 to 2028 (CAGR 2024-2028).

In comparison globally, the United States leads this segment, generating the highest revenue of US$10,780 million in 2024.

T-shirts are widely popular, making the market substantial. In the US, the t-shirt market is expected to reach nearly $50 billion by 2027. Showing significant potential for growth [US t-shirt market size].

The global t-shirt market is on the rise, projected to grow at a steady CAGR of 6.0% from 2019 to 2027. It began at US$ 206.12 billion in 2018.

Unlike traditional stores, it requires minimal investment. Print-on-demand services remove the need for inventory and upfront production costs. As you can see online T shirt is booming, creating an ideal space to design t-shirt and earn money India.

How much money do t-shirt businesses make?

In India, a new online t-shirt business can start making 5,000 Rs. to 50,000 Rs. per month in 5-8 months of marketing effort. If you are also planning to design t-shirt and earn money in India, then plan no more and start executing it soon. Although there’s no limit to how much money you can make in this business, it all boils down to what’s your profit margin and how much is your marketing expense.

For example, if an online t-shirt store is selling at a profit margin of Rs. 100 per t-shirt and sell roughly 100 t-shirts in a month. The total profit will stand at Rs. 10,000 per month. From this, you’ll need to deduct the money that you’ll spend on paid marketing and tax.

T-shirt businesses like Bewakoof.com have yearly revenue of Rs. 200 Crore in India. So we can safely say that on revenues, the sky is the limit.

Is Online t-shirt business profitable?

Yes, most online t-shirt businesses are profitable in India. With careful planning and creative marketing, you can also create a profitable business out of selling t-shirts online. The range of profit that you can keep on your t-shirt designs can be from Rs. 50 per t-shirt to Rs. 500 per t-shirt depending on how valuable your designs are, how well you establish your t-shirt brand on social media, and how creatively you promote your store.

How does print-on-demand t-shirt business work?

A print-on-demand store prints the product design that a customer has ordered online in real-time and delivers it. This method allows you to do business without pre-ordering your products in bulk. and you can sell shirts online without inventory. It not only saves you money in the upfront investment but also saves you time and losses in unsold inventory.

But don’t assume that PoD is only possible with only t-shirts. In fact, on Blinkstore we do print-on-demand for more than 30 products including t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, crop-tops, crop hoodies, bottles, coffee mugs, posters, cushion covers, mobile phones, etc. So you can start your own t-shist store, and as it starts doing good sales, you can launch many more products on the same storefront.

How much does it cost to start a t-shirt business?

It costs anywhere between 0 Rs. to 5,000 Rs. to start a t-shirt business depending on how smartly you start it. I’d explain both ways, the free-of-cost method and the method which requires some upfront investment.

I. Starting online t-shirt business for free:

With Blinkstore, you can create your e-commerce store, design t-shirts (and many more products), and start selling within 5 minutes with your own profit margins. And we manage the inventory, print-on-demand, payment gateway, delivery, and tracking for your business. You can withdraw your profits anytime easily. This method is further explained in this blog below.

II. Starting with 2,000 to 5,000 rs. Investment:

The other way around is to create a Shopify store and link with a print-on-demand service provider. Shopify costs $29/month in the basic plan and you can find a list of best print-on-demand services here.

Steps to design and sell t-shirts online

For selling, you need a mix of organic sales and paid sales methods online. You’ll need to start with market research, figuring out the channels you want to leverage, design content & creatives to use in your promotional material, and set a little bit of money aside for paid marketing expenses.

1. Target your audience and choose a profitable niche for selling t-shirts online

You need to decide and narrow down on what’s your unique idea behind your t-shirt designs? You could be designing funny and funky t-shirts for college and school students. Youngsters like t-shirts with quotes, funny illustrations, minimal-looking cool designs, etc.

You can also design and sell t-shirts for an audience of a specific region, for example, a t-shirt brand for people who live in Delhi. They might enjoy t-shirts with designs that show their personality.

Your t-shirts designs can be targeted to a variety of audiences. For example, t-shirts for medical students, t-shirts for cricket fans, t-shirts for Bollywood fans, t-shirts for kids, t-shirts for pregnant women, t-shirts for couples, etc.

Below are some examples on who you specify your target audience (niche) and create designs according to their taste —

Example of t-shirt design for Delhi people:

Example of t-shirt design for engineers and programmers:

Example of t-shirt design for medical students:

Example of t-shit design for anime lovers:

2. Find a best supplier and test the quality of the products

When looking for a supplier for your custom t-shirt business, focus on reputable print-on-demand (POD) or fulfillment services that meet your needs. Seek services known for quality printing, efficient packaging, and reliable shipping to ensure customer satisfaction.

Before committing to a partnership, it’s vital to assess sample products from potential suppliers. Evaluate printing quality, fabric durability, and overall craftsmanship to ensure the final products meet your standards and reflect the quality you aim to deliver to customers.

3. Set up your online store to sell custom t-shirts online

Choosing the right e-commerce platform is crucial for your online t-shirt store’s success. Consider platforms like Blinkstore, WooCommerce, or Shopify based on your budget, technical skills, and desired customization level.

These platforms offer customizable templates and user-friendly interfaces that simplify the setup process. Customize your online store to effectively reflect your brand identity. Use high-resolution images of your t-shirt designs and write engaging product descriptions highlighting unique features or benefits.

A visually appealing and informative store enhances customer engagement and boosts conversion rates. Implement secure payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, or Square to ensure smooth transactions and build trust with customers.

Additionally, optimize your online store for search engines (SEO) by incorporating relevant keywords in product titles, descriptions, and metadata. This optimization enhances your store’s visibility in search engine results, driving organic traffic and potential sales.

4. Way to create your t-shirt designs

There are a few simple ways to design and sell t-shirts online free available on the Internet that you can use to design t-shirts. People with creative ideas would find this step easy and interesting.

But there’s a lot of research that goes into design t shirts and sell online on the Internet. You also need to decide who is your target buyer and what kind of t-shirts they’d like. A shortcut to this is to design t-shirts that you yourself want to wear. 

I. Find t-shirt design ideas

Go to Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Bewakoof, and Pinterest, and search for t-shirts. You’d see the most popular and top-selling t-shirts on these e-commerce websites. You can take inspiration from there and look for common patterns that people prefer in t-shirts. It could be minimal designs, meaningful designs, quotes on t-shirts, or illustrations. You don’t want to copy these designs but take inspiration for t-shirt design ideas. So that when you finally sit for designing, ideas come easily to you.

II. Canva

Canva is a freemium design tool. You can simply go to Canva.com and signup for a free account using Google. Canva has inbuilt design elements, design tools, stock images, and text formatting with a huge collection of fonts. It is an easy-to-learn design tool. And you can make decent designs for your t-shirt business without prior experience in design. You can download your designs in JPG, PNG, and more formats.

You might need to remove the background from your designs in some cases before uploading it on t-shirts. You can remove the background in Illustrator or Canva. So for that, you can use a free background remover tool www.remove.bg.

III. Photoshop

People with hands-on design experience with Photoshop will find it easier to make their designs in Photoshop. It is a very versatile design tool and will give you a large canvas to play with for t-shirt designs. Photoshop is a paid tool.

IV. Figma

Figma is a free web-based design tool. It is widely used for UI/UX design but it is adequate for making designs for t-shirts. You can export your designs from Figma in image format as well. The best part about designing in Figma is that it allows you to easily collaborate with others on the same design file. So you may try it out for t-shirt designing and then share the link with your friends to suggest edits and make edits.

V. Hire a designer

While hiring a designer is a costly approach for designing t-shirts for your online business. But if you are serious about your business and yourself can’t make decent initial designs, then this is a good option. You can also hire an intern or a designer on a contract/part-time basis based on your work requirements. Some places that you can explore for hiring a designer are Behance, Dribbble, LinkedIn, Fiverr, etc.

5. Create best mockups with your designs

When your t-shirt designs are ready, customers will want to see how they look on real people.

A mockup is a preview or model of a product that allows for design review before the actual item goes into production.

Upload your designs with Mockey or Canva in PNG or JPG format. Ensure that you use transparent images for professional mockup results.

You can use the editor to easily drag and drop your designs, incorporate AI-generated background images, and customize the mockup according to your specific requirements.

Use the editing features provided by the platform to customize the mockup, such as changing t-shirt color, adjusting placement, and adding additional elements if needed.

Download free professional mockups suitable for social media, advertisements, e-commerce platforms, or your project. Enjoy unlimited free downloads with no restrictions.

6. Put link to your t-shirt store on all your social profiles

If you do not intend to keep your t-shirt business, then you can start putting that long on your Instagram bio, Facebook profile, Pinterest, YouTube channel, personal website, your about.me profile, etc.

This will allow Google (and other search engines) to crawl and save your store’s link in their database. You can also create a LinkedIn and AngelList profile for your t-shirt brand and show it on the Internet as a clothing brand. These are basic steps you can take to give some visibility to your online t-shirt business.

7. Promote t-shirts designs on Social Media

You can either create separate social media accounts for your t-shirt business or use your personal profiles. Or do both. I’d suggest that creating separate profiles helps you establish a t-shirt brand online. And opens up the possibility of creating content and creating organic growth around it.

If you happen to be a creator or influencer yourself, then you’d find content creation a little easier for promoting your brand. Post the t-shirts on your social media and showcase what t shirts you are designing under your brand.

Create Instagram reels, style guides, content to share style tips, memes, YouTube shorts, or promote your own brand as a creator on social media.

Creating content that grows and brings engagement organically is among the best ways to promote your t-shirt business. Leverage platforms like Quora, Pinterest, Twitter, and blogging platforms to promote your brand.

Pro Tip: [Organic content idea] You can create video content on your journey of creating and launching your own t-shirt business online and share it on YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. People would love to watch such content and would checkout your brand to see what are you up to.

8. Sell t-shirt designs among friends and Family

Your friends and family can be the first buyers of your brand. This is definitely not scalable, but the kind of feedback and word-of-mouth marketing you can get from your friends, friends of friends, and family members can be good enough for making the first 5 to 10 t-shirt sales. This will also allow you to check the product quality, how to designs look in real life, and maybe use them for product shoots.

You can ask your first few buyers to write positive reviews about your t-shirt brand on social media and tag your brand page. This will not only increase the reach but also help you gain trust among potential buyers.

9. Run a brand awareness giveaway

How to run a giveaway on social media to promote your brand:

• To participate, people need to do a simple activity. For example: Tweet a word that rhymes with your t-shirt brand OR share a post on Instagram with your favorite t-shirt on.
• Tag/mention your brand in the social media post, follow your social media pages, and tag 3 friends in the giveaway announcement post.
• 1 or 3 lucky winners will get free t-shirts from your brand.

Designing and selling t shirts online takes time, but well-planned, timely, and interesting giveaway contests can put your brand in front of thousands of people in a few days.

10. Social media influencers and partnerships

There are many ways to collaborate with social media influencers for promoting your t-shirt business. If you are a creator yourself with a decent following on social media, then you can do a collaboration with your friends who are also content creators. And do photoshoots, reels, shorts, etc. that you both feature in together with the t shirt designs of your own. You can share a percentage of your profits in exchange for the collaboration.

Here are three types of social media collaborations you can do Design And Sell T Shirts Online In India:

🤝 Barter collaboration —

In a barter collaboration, you barter the product in exchange for the promotional posts by the influencer (creator). A barter collaboration is well suited when the creator is also a potential buyer of your t shirt designs. This makes the content resonate with the audience of the creator and has a positive impact on your brand image. Barter collaborations usually work well with creators who have got a tight-knit audience of 1000 to 20,000 followers. It costs less and has something for everyone involved in the promotional activity.

🤳 Content collaboration —

When your brand’s social media page of your personal social media profile itself has a decent number of followers (audience), you can do a collaboration with creators who are at your stage without product barter or money exchange. The upside in a “content collaboration” is that audience of both the creators get to see a new person, their content, and an engaging piece of content. You can do a t shirt photoshoot, video shoot, etc. where two creators appear together in a post and mention each other in the tags and caption.

💰 Paid collaboration —

The most straightforward form of collaboration on social media is where you pay a creator and in return, they post content showing/wearing your t-shirt. This kind of collaboration would give more conversion if you also launch a limited-time coupon/offer along with it. 

I’d suggest that in the early days of your t-shirt business, build organic growth channels, brand awareness, and focus on making your t shirts designs appear at many places on the Internet. And later on, spend on paid collaborations. Your goal should be to cover the marketing expenses from your own revenue.

11. Social Media, YouTube, and Google Ads

All online e-commerce and D2C (direct to consumer) brands depend on paid online advertising for generating sales. Running an ad campaign comes in a brand’s journey at different stages depending on their target audience, budget, and profit margins.

The most popular platforms to run digital ads are Facebook (Instagram) and Google (YouTube, Search, and Banner Ads). We’ll need a separate step-by-step guide on running online ad campaigns.

But for this article, we’d say that you should only start paid advertising when your online t-shirt business is consistently selling a few pieces every week and you’ve some money set aside for experimenting with paid ads. At the same time, if done right, promoting your t-shirts via ads can be the best way for generating sales.

How to Start Selling T-Shirts with Blinkstore in 3 Steps

Blinkstore is the easiest and best platform to design your own t-shirt online in India. In just three steps you can create your own e-commerce store, design t-shirts online, and start selling, all it takes is 5 to 10 minutes of your time. Blinkstore is a free merchandise store builder, meaning that the cost of running your online t-shirt business with Blinkstore is zero rupees.

Step 1: Create t shirt store for free using blinkstore

Go to seller.blinkstore.in and sign up using Google (continue using google). On signing up on Blinkstore with Google, you wouldn’t need to create or remember any password. Once you sign up, click on “Create +” on the top-left corner and select “New Store”.

You’d be prompted to name your store. Whatever name you write will also become the subdomain of your store. 

For example:

You write the name of the store as “snaccx” (my home store t-shirt design), then your store’s Url (link) will be snaccx.blinkstore.in. If your store’s name is “my business”, then your store’s Url will be my-business.blinkstore.in.

Later you can also link your own custom domain free of cost to your Blinkstore. Once you name your store, click on “create store”. That’s it! Your store is now live. Next, you can customize the theme, banner, logo, favicon, description, social media, etc. of your store. And design as per your brand need. You can also link Facebook and Google analytics to your store from the left panel.

Step 2: Design And Sell T Shirts Online India

To design t shirt, click on “Add/Edit New Product” on the left panel. From there you can select a t-shirt to design. The t shirt editor of Blinkstore is very easy to use and intuitive. You can simply upload the t shirts designs you make on Canva or Photoshop and upload them here. You can adjust the position of your design and select the color of the t-shirts. You can also make the same t-shirt design available in multiple colors.

In the next step, you’ll need to write the t-shirt title, description, and entire profit margin. Remember that the shipping cost is already included in the base price of the product. And Blinkstore will take care of printing and shipping. So all you need to do is design amazing t shirts and choose a suitable profit margin for your business.

Once your t shirt design is done, publish it in your store. That’s it! Your t-shirt designs are now ready to sell. You can start promoting your t-shirt store online and start earning money.

Step 3: Withdraw your profits to your bank account

After all this hard work, now is the time to reward yourself with some sweet profits of your t-shirt business. Blinkstore processed the profit withdrawal via UPI so that no transaction charges are incurred. Also, there’s no minimum limit on how much you can withdraw as of now.

Blinkstore Demo Video: Create and Launch Your T-Shirt Store: A Step-by-Step Process

If you face any difficulty in understanding the above mentioned 3 steps, you can watch the following video on how to use Blinkstore.

Conclusion

It is fairly easy to Design And Sell T Shirts Online In India. With the options like Blinkstore, Shopify, and dozens of print-on-demand service providers, the best time to start selling t shirts online is now. Given that the cost of starting it is zero, one should give it a second thought before trying out the business.

India is growing, more and more Indians are coming online, using smartphones, and are shopping online. In the next 2-5 years, the apparel industry is expected to grow more than 30% in CAGR.

All the upcoming demand for t-shirts and apparel needs to be fulfilled. And our bet is on homegrown small businesses that’ll dominate the t-shirt and apparel industry. Blinkstore would be cheering and helping you grow your business by building the best technology, tools, and shipping high-quality products quickly.

FAQs on Design and Sell t shirts online India