How to Start a Christian T-Shirt Business
Creating your own Christian T-Shirt business can be an ideal venture for someone who wants to promote Christianity, while at the same time being a great money earner for an individual. It can also serve as a way to raise money for your church or church group. You can start a T-shirt business with a bit of pre-planning and research into this market.
Create a business plan that you can follow both in the short term as well as long term. You should seek out information on how to create a business plan from reliable sources, including the Small Business Administration and SCORE (Senior Core of Retired Executives). It is a good idea to conduct specific research on the T-shirt business. Make sure that you consider your location, since this sort of business is best placed in a fairly quiet locale.
Brainstorm ideas for themes for your T-shirts. For example, you may want a children's line, or you may want to choose a line of scripture for your T-shirts. You may also want to use photographs for your T-shirts such as using a rainbow or God's rays shining through clouds or the smile of a child with text content that expresses a particular biblical sentiment.
Choose a method to create your T-shirt designs. You can develop your designs yourself using a program of your choice, or you can hire a graphics designer to create them for you. You can hire a graphic artist online through a site like Elance, or you can look for a local artist. Since creating your own designs is the most cost-effective, and not terribly difficult to learn how to do, this is generally the better way to go.
Create a Website to sell your T-shirts or open a shop with CafePress or Zazzle. You can also develop your site and link it to your CafePress or Zazzle store as well. Even if you are putting your T-shirts in Christian-themed stores, it is a good idea to have a website not only to sell shirts but to get the word out out about your shirts and listing the retailers where they can be purchased.
Market your T-shirt line on sites that reach the demographic group you are aiming to reach. For example, if your goal is to reach teenagers, then advertise on sites Christian teens tend to frequent. It is also very important to list your website with search engines like Google and Yahoo and to frequently use Christian-based keywords in your text.