Starting a business is a dream for countless people in the UK. The problem is that doing so isn’t easy. According to recent surveys, the average new business in the UK needs at least £5,000 to launch and spends about £22,756 in its first year alone. That means would-be entrepreneurs have to put together a fairly substantial financial war chest before they even think about launching their dream business.
Of course, some business types have lower barriers to entry. One of the most popular among them is a branded T-shirt business. The reasons for that are simple. For one thing, it’s the kind of business you can operate as a sole trader, and all you really need to get started is a handful of clever designs.
Design Core Product Designs
The first thing you’ll need to do if you want to launch a T-shirt business is to come up with a few core product designs. You can make one of them a branded design that incorporates your business’s chosen trade name if you wish. If graphic design isn’t your specialty, you could opt to work with a freelance graphic designer to turn your ideas into ready-to-print shirt templates.
On average, you should aim for no more than 8 unique designs to launch your business with. Remember, you can offer each unique design in a variety of colors, styles, and sizes. Also, beginning with a limited product set will allow you to discern the tastes of your customers, which can inform subsequent designs.
Find an On-Demand Printer
One of the best things about launching a branded T-shirt business is that you don’t need to carry inventory. You can print small batches of each of your designs on an as-needed basis. That will limit how much money you’ll need to start your business. It will also help protect you from financial losses if one or more of your designs doesn’t sell.
If you want to limit your initial outlay even more, you can work with a company like T Shirt printing London. They offer on-demand, same-day printing services so you can place orders immediately after making sales. They’re even open 24/7 and on holidays, so you never have to worry about not being able to fulfill an order.
Set up an Online Storefront
Your next step is to set up an online storefront where people can browse and purchase your shirts. You can use templated site providers like Wix, Shopify, or Bigcommerce to do this. They make getting an eCommerce site up and running as simple as filling in some information about your business and uploading your designs and logo.
If you’ve already designed a logo to represent your T-shirt business, you should try to integrate it into your site’s design and color scheme. At the outset, don’t worry too much about making your storefront into a masterpiece. Once you start attracting a steady flow of customers, you can reinvest some of your profits into upgrading your site. In the beginning, all you need to worry about is ease of use and making sure there’s a short path to purchases on your site.
Build and Execute a Social Media Campaign
Although you could spend a great deal of money on marketing your new business, you don’t have to do that—at least not right away. One of the simplest ways you can get a T-shirt business off the ground is to take advantage of social media. You can use it to research your target audience and identify a few influencers that they respect. Then, you can target those people to get them on board with your brand.
Your primary goal is to get as many influential people within your target audience to wear your designs as possible. If necessary, you can partner with an influencer marketing agency to get you connected with the right people. Keep in mind, however, that working with an agency as you start up your business will cost you some extra money. So, if you don’t mind doing the extra legwork yourself, you can avoid the expense. It may just take you a little longer to gain some traction for your brand.
The Takeaway
The bottom line is that it’s relatively simple and inexpensive to start a branded T-shirt business in the UK. It’s something that any entrepreneur with a few good design ideas can do, and it doesn’t require much upfront investment. Plus, you can use it as a launchpad to fund other businesses if you don’t see a future for yourself in the T-shirt marketplace. All you have to do is ride your business to where you want to go and wind it down or sell it when you want to move on.