Interested in starting your own clothing line? Or maybe you just want to get an edge on some of the other designers on the major social t-shirt sites. Either way, there is a world of resources to be discovered that can help you do both.
This post will help you find all the tools and resources you need to start your own clothing line. By doing so, you will be entering the ranks of such super stars as P Diddy, Martha Stewart, and that model who sells clothes at K-Mart.
In the links below you will find resources for t-shirt designers all across the web. While a number of the tools and tutorials can be found right here at Go Media, we have also included a great number of other off site resources. After all, this wouldn’t be the ultimate resource for t-shirt designers if we just stuck to this site now would it?
Well, maybe it would, but that’s for another day. So, here you go, the ultimate collection of resources for t-shirt designers.
Books
This collection of books and e-books can teach you just about everything you wanted to know about printing shirts, cutting shirts, selling shirts, and more.
Full for Design (Website: $37)
One of the most up to date e-books about starting your own online clothing line.
Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt (Amazon: $10)
Teaches you a bunch of really cool ways to cut up your shirts to make them even more unique.
300% Cotton: More T-Shirt Graphics (Amazon: $20)
The third in a series of books that showcase the art of t-shirt designs.
Simple Screenprinting: Basic Techniques & Creative Projects (Amazon: $20)
Includes over 20 different screen printing projects on shirts and other surfaces to help you learn how to screen print.
T-Shirt Factory (Amazon: $17)
A showcase of over 300 outstanding t-shirt designs.
Vintage T-Shirts: MORE THAN 500 AUTHENTIC TEES FROM THE ‘70S AND ‘80S (Amazon: $17)
A celebration on popular vintage t-shirt designs from the 60’s and 70’s.
Vintage Rock T-Shirts (Amazon: $20)
Showcases fan made and non-commercial use t-shirt designs used to promote singers and bands.
Print Liberation: The Screen Printing Primer (Amazon: $17)
The complete DIY guide for learning how to make your t-shirts.
Photoshop CS3 for Screen Printers (Amazon: $30)
Teaches you how to use CS3 to create better images for screen printing.
Do It Yourself Screenprinting (Amazon: $8)
Uses drawings and illustrations to teach you step by step how to screenprint.
How to Print T-Shirts for Fun and Profit (Amazon: $40)
The best book on the business of starting your own t-shirt company.
Where to Sell Your Designs
Social t-shirt sites are popping up all over the place these days. This is great for both professionals and wannabe professionals because it offers more outlets for you to sell your designs. But, which of these t-shirt sites are worth getting involved with? Below are some of the more popular t-shirt communities.
Threadless
One of the original t-shirt community websites.
Design By Humans
T-Shirt community site that works on public voting.
Red Bubble
Artistic community where you can upload your design and Red Bubble takes care of the rest.
Cafepress
Upload your design and Cafepress will market, sell, print, and mail your shirts for you.
Big Cartel
This is a cool site that lets you create a really nice online store in just a few minutes. I highly recommend this one.
Spread Shirt
This is another site that is extremely similar to Cafepress.
Odicca
No public voting here, Oddica gives artists 41% of each shirt sold.
Tee Tonic
Allows you to submit your design to be voted on.
La Fraise
This is kind of like the French version of Threadless.
Enclothe
These guys don’t accept unsolicited designs, but they are always on the look out for new artists. Feel free to send them a link to your portfolio.
Blank Clothing, Vectors and Templates
Spend any time looking for these online and you will realize just how hard they are to find. Luckily we’ve created an awesome blank t-shirt pack. If you have happened to miss this, you should seriously check it out. Aside from the product shout outs, there are also some round ups of free t-shirt vectors and more.
Included in this list are some great site for finding quality vectors, both free and paid, for helping you create your killer design.
- Free Blank Vector Clothing
- T Shirt Templates: Free and Paid Blank T Shirt Templates
- T-Shirt Template Freebie
- Free Blank T-Shirt Template
- Go Media Vector Files
- Realistic T-Shirt Templates
- Vecteezy
- T-Shirt Factory
- Free vectors.net
- Vector Stock
- Vector Vault
Inspiration
Are you having a tough time coming up with an idea for your next t-shirt design? Then check out this collection of some of my favorite t-shirt designs. These designs have come from a variety of designers and websites. Hopefully they will get your creative juices flowing.
Tutorials
Looking to up your t-shirt design skills? Or maybe you are just learning the ways of the business. In this collection of tutorials everyone from the advanced designer to budding newbie should be able to find something interesting.
- Photoshop T-shirt Design
- DIY vintage T-shirts
- Create a Custom T-Shirt Stencil Design
- How to Create Awesome T-Shirt Mockups Like Jimiyo
- How to Win at Design by Humans
- How to Create Photorealistic T-Shirt Mockups
- How to print giant designs onto shirts
Add to the List
What do you think? Do you have or know of any other great tools and resources for t-shirt designers? If so, lets us know by leaving a comment below.
Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:51 pm -
47 Essential Resources for T-Shirt Designers (GoMediaZine). Books, Sites, free vectors/templates & Inspiration. http://is.gd/8OAG
November 24th, 2008 at 12:57 pm -
Thanks for taking the time to compile this resource Adam. This is will a valuable resource especially for designers new to t-shirt designing.
November 24th, 2008 at 1:07 pm -
Great resources!
November 24th, 2008 at 1:17 pm -
great info !
November 24th, 2008 at 1:28 pm -
Thanks alot! I’m currently designing a t-shirt for a couple of friends and I and this will come in handy for sure!
November 24th, 2008 at 1:35 pm -
Awesome post! Gonna look these up ASAP
November 24th, 2008 at 1:37 pm -
t-shirtforums.com- Great resource forum for everything related to the t-shirt industry.
November 24th, 2008 at 2:59 pm -
I’d love to see a tutorial of how you guys design a t-shirt from start to finish. Concept to creation to production :)
November 24th, 2008 at 3:15 pm -
Thanks so much for this, it’s a great list of resources. We’re wanting to do some t-shirt designs along with the snowboards for Dead Wings Designs and this will be so helpful.
November 24th, 2008 at 6:51 pm -
I can recommend 300% Cotton as I am in it. :) Check out the section on Penny Arcade. T-shirt 360 http://www.amazon.com/T-shirt-360-Pedro-Guitton/dp/1584232404/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227570542&sr=8-1 is also a handy little book to keep lying around.
November 24th, 2008 at 6:53 pm -
what a great post!! thank you!
November 24th, 2008 at 9:34 pm -
Great list!
We have a few good tutorials that would probably be useful to designers and store owners:
How to Make Your T-Shirt Shop Stand Out and Sell More
http://www.popculturetees.com/2008/11/18/how-to-make-your-t-shirt-shop-stand-out-and-sell-more/
Gradients and Halftones in Screen Printing
http://www.popculturetees.com/2008/09/17/gradients-and-halftones-in-screen-printing/
November 25th, 2008 at 2:42 am -
Hey Adam,
I am by no means new to T-shirt design, but what a great compilation! I can’t wait to go through all of these links tomorrow! I also LOVE that Old Man and the Sea t-shirt- the hand-drawn feel rocks my world! I would be honored if you guys would take a look at my own portfolio site and send feedback!
-Maren
http://www.marenkellydesign.com
November 25th, 2008 at 5:01 am -
great resources! thanks for putting up my Old Man in the Sea design up!
November 25th, 2008 at 9:52 am -
Great Post. Thanks!
November 25th, 2008 at 12:04 pm -
Hi. thnks 4 the info.
im a tshirt designer and my problem is that i cant find here in mexico a scrint printer who whants to go over the edge. i mean
they only can prin a tabloid sice, no gradient, and the ink looks just no good. i love tshirts and how they look when its a good print work.
please help!!
November 25th, 2008 at 12:22 pm -
(1) 47 essential resources for tshirt designers
Books, blank suppliers and inspiration – great post!
http://tinyurl.com/5rj2t9
November 25th, 2008 at 3:14 pm -
Thanks for the compilation :-)
November 25th, 2008 at 5:18 pm -
awesome. found some interesting new links in there. thanks a bunch XD
November 25th, 2008 at 6:40 pm -
“Full for Design” Funny. That is a type i would make. Thanks for the great post!
November 26th, 2008 at 4:44 am -
Another website that is similar to CafePress and SpreadShirt is Zazzle.com.
November 26th, 2008 at 11:33 am -
I noticed that a few websites where you can post your design have templates :-)
November 26th, 2008 at 5:07 pm -
must see resource list for t-shirt designers http://tinyurl.com/5rj2t9
November 26th, 2008 at 10:50 pm -
I want new icons,sample new design sites,flash animations,new brushes
November 28th, 2008 at 6:13 am -
…para quem gosta de camisetas..http://tinyurl.com/5rj2t9
November 30th, 2008 at 12:38 pm -
Lindsey, you listening? here’s a link just for you… http://tinyurl.com/5rj2t9
December 1st, 2008 at 5:31 am -
Very good list. Thank you.
December 1st, 2008 at 9:15 am -
Aanvullende resources voor #soc09 http://tinyurl.com/5rj2t9
December 1st, 2008 at 3:00 pm -
47 resources for t-shirt designers http://tinyurl.com/5rj2t9
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:15 pm -
WONDERFUL LIST!!
December 5th, 2008 at 11:03 am -
http://www.camiseteria.com
December 5th, 2008 at 9:36 pm -
awesome resources, ill be looking into purchasing some of these books
December 8th, 2008 at 1:14 pm -
i.
December 9th, 2008 at 11:50 am -
Can we start a i said no skulls campaign as well as a i said no slimy text and bright colors with cartoon drawings campaign?
December 21st, 2008 at 10:47 pm -
thank you sooooooooo much!!
I’ve been a member of threadless for more than 2 years already (and DBH about a year), but I still have no wins. It’s reallly competitive in these sites. However, despite submitting tons and tons and tons of work, you see no effort rewarded. Sometimes I have an aversion on these kinds of sites, where popularity and profitability is emphasized, without rewarding effort and time spent in making these designs.
December 24th, 2008 at 2:39 am -
This is awesome too! Cool Shirts and you can sell it there too!
http://www.advancedminority.com
January 10th, 2009 at 12:41 am -
This was really nice – keep it up! One suggestion however – when you talked about the free vector shirt templates, you accidentally spelled shirt wrong and wrote sh– (at least I hope that was by accident). You should try changing that. Btw, keep it up! :)
February 25th, 2009 at 5:08 pm -
That is a great post! I’ve been thinking about starting to design my own rock tee shirts but I wasn’t sure where to start. Thanks!
March 4th, 2009 at 1:11 am -
amazing resource for a person to start with its own clothing line.
lot of information can be collected in and through the site. thank you for making things esiar for me.
March 12th, 2009 at 11:17 pm -
You should add this to your list, they have Free vectors for designers, http://ww.bigvectors.com
May 10th, 2009 at 5:27 pm -
You forgot http://www.t-shirtforums.com/.
June 8th, 2009 at 1:34 pm -
Hey man I really appreciate this amazing resource! its funny cause i was looking around for exactly this info, and was trying consolidate a bunch of different things from other sites. In short… much thanks
June 8th, 2009 at 2:34 pm -
Hey man I really appreciate this amazing resource! its funny cause i was looking around for exactly this info, and was trying consolidate a bunch of different things from other sites. In short… much thanks
June 26th, 2009 at 3:51 pm -
I am starting a T.shirt line and i'm looking for designers who are interested in designing for me. Get in touch ASAP. Thanks.
June 26th, 2009 at 4:51 pm -
I am starting a T.shirt line and i'm looking for designers who are interested in designing for me. Get in touch ASAP. Thanks.
July 31st, 2009 at 9:00 am -
Hi Guys,
Good resources… This one http://www.yougraph.com is a good resource for you use eith your creations.
Klaus
August 20th, 2009 at 8:12 pm -
Great Resources, awesome tshirt inspirations. I'm starting my own online store, can someone point me to the right direction, looking for a flash template to create the t shirt selling layout, I have the product, the models modeling the product, now i need to start on finishing the puzzle, thank you, much luv from Southwest Detroit, MI
-Casual Dreamers
November 25th, 2009 at 8:22 am -
I have a designer for you. How do I (we) make contact.
November 26th, 2009 at 7:48 am -
If you have an artistic edge and you like to design t-shirts, http://www.lsdink.com provides the perfect platform for you to showcase and flaunt your creativity. Submit your designs for the voting and design that gets the highest number of votes is displayed on out site for 69 hours. The t-shirt that gets displayed are limited versions of t-shirts which make them more exclusive and desirable and a symbol of pride for the owner. Lsdink also works on the revenue share model, where the artist gets the share in the sale of every displayed t-shirt.
December 17th, 2009 at 5:50 pm -
I agree, there are some wonderful books listed here. I love the tutorials, but I've been using InkStyle to create shirts for our son's youth group and have no complaints! http://www.inkstyle.com.au
January 24th, 2010 at 11:12 am -
If anyone's got any t-shirt designs, then check out this site: http://www.tee-wolf.com.
May 5th, 2010 at 5:04 am -
Excellent job..
dizi izle