How to Design for the Apparel Market

There is a simple rule that you have to keep in mind while designing for wholesale T-shirts market; people appreciate simple, easy to understand, recognizable, and generic ideas. Very arty and complicated ideas don’t work well with the wholesale apparel consumer market. Impenetrable ideas, subjects, and executions are usually a big no for the T-shirt industry.

Let’s take the example of Death on a Pale White Unicorn, a best seller at www.shirt.woot.com. The designer of the shirt was able to design it in one and a half hour only. But the concept behind the death on a unicorn was very simple and easy to understand. Hence, was well received by the blank T-shirt industry. We have many examples of complex T-shirt designs that don’t do well in the wholesale markets for apparels and T-shirts. Complex designs don’t work for the mass market, at all!

Then there is this argument that certain whole T-shirt websites work in a vacuum where the consumer preferences are extremely specific, but this is not true. We have seen wholesale T-shirt websites that attempt to introduce extremely artistic designs but tend to lose their market share ultimately. We can generalize this by saying every wholesale business attempts to edict its theoretical market, but the ultimate consumer authority put them into a niche.

When we look at the sale patterns of wholesale T-shirt websites, which offer a wide variety of genres and sell a different shirt every 24 hours, the pop culture related T-shirts still emerge as winners there. Looking at sale patterns of various Blank T-shirt and wholesale websites we know that the designs with a reference to pop culture are a hit everywhere.

So, we can say that artsy designs work for niche markets only. The mass market doesn’t have the ability or want to understand these complex designs. When designing for the wholesale market you have to keep in mind that most people want to wear something that communicates a positive message to the rest of the world. We live in a world where symbols connote different meanings.  People here don’t want to feel alienated and seek acceptance. So, they opt for designs that are easily understood or convey a positive message.

Artists, if they like, can try to introduce new symbols, but it is important to spread awareness about them first. So, that they are accepted around easily.  Currently, the designer either has to come up with designs that use an existing symbol or introduce new symbols and work for their acceptance. The second option is indeed very difficult.

Here, let us highlight this finding for you that the generic themes like landscapes, abstracts and portraits remain the most selling themes even for the gallery art. We are certain that you know now what design path you ought to follow in order to be successful.

Your selection will mainly depend but you can also generalize the concept by looking at the existing market trends.  When you study the blank T-shirt market carefully you will find a bend toward a specific topic or an issue, consistency, as well as explicit design rules. Like references to pop culture are a big hit currently.