We’ve been talking about t-shirts for a very long time and promoted a lot of independent brands and artists. We figure many of you who visit the blog are or want to become full time illustrators, t-shirt designers, or all around creatives. You can either practice your talent on paper or on digital format or both. Although we must encourage you to eventually transfer your paper based creations into the digital medium.
You can either do it based on an innate calling or because you’ve formally studied graphic design. In both cases this post is just for you if you are considering the financial side of things, as well. You can turn your creativity into a lucrative job, but not in the traditional sense of the world since you decide when, how and where you sell your works.
The digital era and the internet is an oyster for freelancers, so you should be aware of the many possibilities, the many sites that are open platforms for artists to submit their work easily, to create personalized shops which also promote said works for higher earnings, without the artist worrying about printing or shipping.
This post will largely focus on sites that sell pop culture t-shirts, but we will also mention sites where you can sell other printed products, such as phone cases, wall art, shower curtains or stationery. Let’s begin:
17 sites to sell your pop culture designs
1.TeePublic – you can upload as many designs as you want after creating an account, they handle shipping, printing of course. The file needs to be a 150 dpi PNG file and in the first 72 hours the design will be on sale (with $2 commission per t-shirt sale) so that’s a high time to promote your product. After this period you get $4 per t-shirt sale and you can also choose tanks, hoodies, canvas prints and more, for up to $12 – $21 in commission per item sold.
2.Zazzle –The things are pretty plain in here. You`ll have to publish your designs on thousands of product and set your own royalty rates. They don`t even require design experience!
3. . DesignbyHumans – here you can open a store and get a $3 profit for each t-shirt or even more for other products, like cases, tank tops, stickers, art prints etc. You apply for a shop, get approved in 24 hours and then can start uploading and promoting your shop.
4. RedBubble – you decide how much you want to earn for each item sold, and apart from t-shirts, you can also choose to sell your art on stickers, cases, posters or pillows, bags and legging, to name but a few. You keep the rights to your designs and everything else, like printing, delivery and issues is handled by RedBbubble.
5. TeeFury – the perfect place to start monetizing your pop culture inspired art, this site offers $1 commission per shirt in the first 24 hours, when it is featured on the homepage and later $2, when they move it in the gallery. There are some technical restrictions but nothing too complicated.
6. RIPT – after you submit the work they will reply in 5-7 business days to tell you if they will print your design or not. You receive 10% of every item sold during the sale period and get paid in 3 business days of the sale date. The submission is in the form of a 800×800 jpg or png mock-up graphic, by using the provided RIPT kit.
7. ShirtPunch – a daily tees site, gives you 10% of all sales in that 24-hour period. They handle all promotion so you get massive exposure. They work with top licensed brands such as Cartoon Network, Star Trek, Adventure Time and can get your designs licensed too. You can submit a smaller size design, not the printing file, and they inform you if you are chosen for the site, which is when they actually ask for the hi-res design.
8. Neatoshop – they don’t give many info about it since you need to contact them by email for a collaboration, but will offer royalties for each sale.
9. OtherTees – after login in you can use your 800×800 jpg or png file with the Design kit; the limit is 5 colors, with halftones. They contact you if they decide to print the design and on how many tshirts. You retain ownership but they will add small changes to prepare it for printing and use it for promotion. They give you $1 for each product sold during the 48 hour sale with your design and guarantee at least $20. If it chosen for the shop, you get $3 per clothing item and $1 for each mug sold.
10. TeeVillain – you can send them anything as long as it is original. Designs are limited to 6 colors plus the color of the shirt and a size of 11×17 inches. You receive $1 for every shirt sold but they have a rather long response time, up to two weeks, until you know if you get printed. And the design is limited edition indeed, with only a 24 hour sale feature. You can also sell posters ($2.00 commission), Stickers ($0.10 commission), or Jumbo Stickers ($0.50 commission). Payment is via PayPal usually within a week after the sale ends.
11.The Yetee – here you get $1.50 per shirt sold, 3 free shirts and you retain the rights to your artwork. designs are limited to 6 colors, front chest printing and 14″ x 17″ at 300DPI. Again, they answer in maximum 2 weeks, and to submit a design you need to create an account and follow the submission form. Your design can be printed for a very limited time in the daily offer or can move to the Yeteemart, for a longer time.
12.Snorgtees – here you can email the design you want to sell at [email protected], and if they see it fit for the site they reward you $150 and 7,500 Snorg Points worth $75.00 of Snorgtees Merchandise.For a freelance collaboration on long term you should send an email at [email protected].
13. Society6 – the profit is individually set for each product and it may vary depending on size and quantity. You handle promotion of your shop and the payment is done every 1st of the month via Paypal, with a 30 day per purchase grace period from date of sale.
14. Threadless – you have two options to get printed at Threadless. You can either open an Artist Shop or submit your design in a themed contest/challenge. For the Shop your design file should be a 4200x4800px 300dpi transparent PNG and choose from a great variety of products, apart from T-shirts. Your profit is added to a base price, which is $15 for t-shirts.
As far as challenges go, your creativity is guided by a theme, the community votes on it and it is popular, your design is printed and you earn cash, Threadless gift codes and receive a commission for each printed t-shirts. The exact numbers vary depending on the contest.
15 Shirt.Woot! – your design is picked by the site’s team for daily contests, which is faster; or by the community for the weekly contests or derbies, as they call it. The selection is done by voting as well and payment is a flat fee for a daily t-shirt and after that a commission for sale. The details are mentioned on this page – prepare for a long read and just jump in and create an account for exact sums.
16. Teespring – You earn a commission based on the amount of shirts sold, the price and how big of a goal you set minus the production cost. You only get paid if you reach your minimum number of t-shirts ordered and after the set date the items are shipped to the customers. If you don’t reach the minimum number set, nothing happens. The process is a bit more complicated, since success depends a lot on reaching the right audience, while other daily sites will do the promotion for you.
17. Once Upon a Tee – You submit the artwork and get an answer in maximum 5 working days. If you are a winner, the design is featured for one week and you receive $1 for every item sold and payments are sent out within 1 to 5 business days.
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