1. Know your niche. Bayou A Shirt has been able to build its audience by keeping a tight focus on its brand – tongue-in-cheek, Louisiana-style humor – and using social media to its advantage. “It’s a small community, so it’s easy to echo through there when you have subject matter that’s applicable to them,” owner Logan Roberts says. “We’re not by any means the next Nike in terms of brand recognition, but we have a following because the stuff we put out is kind of funny.”

Jim and Erica Phillips, owners of Ink and Thread, sell a line of outdoor-themed clothing called Delta Range.

2. Use your expertise to your advantage. Your experience decorating for others will help you determine which apparel styles sell well and which techniques are most lucrative. The connections you’ve already made with suppliers can also be a boon. For example, Jim Phillips and his wife, Erica, who own decorated-apparel shop Ink and Thread, recently started a line of outdoor-themed clothing called Delta Range. “When we’re ordering apparel for our normal print jobs, we add in [blank shirts for Delta Range] along with it,” Jim says. “It can help us reach free shipping points and save $10 here and there.”

3. Don’t forget packaging. Custom tags and clever packaging go a long way to turning an ordinary tee into something unforgettable. Pasteurized Tees in Buffalo rolls up their preprinted shirts and boxes them in old quart-sized milk cartons, says owner Michael Bowen. Not only does it look cool, but all the cartons are barcoded to help keep the stock room organized.

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