Via: Autism United

We’re seriously missing out with American TV. Clearly Brazil has the best television shows on the planet. Half naked girls, blindfolded pouring water on each other? Emmy Award winning wet t-shirt tv. Hit the video here.

Shop URL: http://www.tshirtgrill.com/

How long have you been selling?
10 Years Online

Give us an overview of your shop. What kind of merchandise, style, theme, etc.
A nice mix of fashion,music,film and funny t-shirts inc our original range of As worn by designs (started in the 90’s)

How did you get started?
Always designed t-shirts since 1988. Seemed natural to start selling them online.
Tell us about the creative side of your business? What inspires you? Are you a designer yourself, or do you hire designers?

Always looking for inspiration from all kinds of sources. We design all our tees in-house.

What are a couple of important things you’ve learned that have help you successfully grow your business?
Employ good people and offer a good quality product with quick delivery.

Any cool plans for the future? Are you planning on growing your product line to other types of apparel?
Always growing our range on a weekly basis.New ideas for new websites always on the go. We’ve recently started offering our designs on hoodies and other garments.

What celebrity would you most like to see sporting one of your tees?
Beckham or Grohl either we are not fussy!

Shop URL: www.tshirtoutlet.com/

How long have you been selling?
Since 1996. 15 years.

Give us an overview of your shop. What kind of merchandise, style, theme, etc.
Primarily a humor driven t-shirt site. So, mainly funny t-shirt. We sell into the wholesale novelty market as well. Many of our designs can be seen in catalog companies and “brick and mortar” stores around the country. We also sell licensed designs, mainly entertainment. All of our designs come from our parent wholesale company.

How did you get started?
We started as a wholesale company in 1990 during the t-shirt gold rush days. It just made sense to launch an online store. Back in the late 90′s I was building, developing product, and managing online stores for illustrators/animators like Camp Chaos, Romp.com, Angry Little Girls, and Joecartoon.com (that’s old school, I’m guessing most of your readers don’t know who they are.).

Tell us about the creative side of your business? What inspires you? Are you a designer yourself, or do you hire designers?
Creative? There are three of us that do design work for the wholesale end. As the Art Director I get to hire freelance designers too, which keeps the creative from going stale or having the same look over and over again.

The wholesale end is a traditional screen-printing business so we are pulled in a bunch of different directions. At this point we design for Resort, College, Entertainment properties, and Novelty. We also do a decent amount of contract and custom work.

What are a couple of important things you’ve learned that have help you successfully grow your business?
I can speak to both wholesale and online but I will focus on the online side.

1. Never stop the hustle.
2. Invest time and money in Social Media. You get what you put into it.
3. Don’t put faith in SEO but do get your linking up.
4. PPC/CPC works for some but it takes $$ and you better have something they want.
5. The most important thing. Take care of your customers. Do special things for them. Upgrade shipping. Discount the order when they buy a bunch of shirts. They remember.

Add smile when you are answering the phone. It makes you sound different to the customer on the other end.

Any cool plans for the future? Are you planning on growing your product line to other types of apparel?
We are going to be adding a few new licensed properties that I am working on for the wholesale. And of course more humor. Definitely more garments. Dark shirts sell better then lights so we are going back to that.

What celebrity would you most like to see sporting one of your tees?
I’d be stoked if anyone from the cast of Community would wear our shirts.

Give us a of your favorite or best selling products.

Shop URL: www.geekygeneration.com

How long have you been selling?
Established since April 2011 but officially started trading 1st October 2011

Give us an overview of your shop. What kind of merchandise, style, theme, etc.
Geeky Generation is a fresh independent, environmentally conscious clothing brand founded in 2011, based in London UK. The designs are limited and will only be printed once. This will assure people retain their individuality and confidence in their own unique way.

Currently Geeky Generation is trading only online but aims to expand and open their first retail outlet starting in London.

How did you get started?
During College days and University, Goranka always had thoughts in her mind about having her own business. Something which she can make decisions over and create things which not only herself but others would love. After months of thinking what she could do, she came up with an idea of creating T-Shirts!

After her honeymoon she finally decided to register her company and start focusing of the business idea which has been running in her head for years.

6 months after reading, designing, learning and not sleeping, Geeky Generation was born and was officially open for business.

Tell us about the creative side of your business? What inspires you? Are you a designer yourself, or do you hire designers?
The brand is run by me, Goranka Kelic, who is responsible for every aspect of the business, starting from the brand name to sending off the orders and everything else in between to ensure the best product and service to my customers.

The idea of the designs came from the highly fashionable society we live in now and the ever changing world of fashion. Fashions change by the week, but a person remains the same. I wanted to create designs which will reflect people in their every day lives but yet keep them looking fashionable and trendy. The “Geek” look, has been with us for century’s, all over the globe and by using powerful Geeky ideas, I hope to implement this idea into all aspects of the business.

One important aspect of Geeky Generation is the passion and love that is put into the brand. From smaller things such as the paper quality to the actual creation of the garment, every detail is looked upon, in order to create a brand that will last.

What are a couple of important things you’ve learned that have help you successfully grow your business?
Considering Geeky Generation is a very new brand out there, what I have learned from this experience of the first launch line is that you have to be consistent. Hard work and a lot of time have to be spent on researching and working towards your goal.

One thing that I would have done more, if I knew, is to research into your suppliers. Just because something is cheaper it does not mean you will save money, it only causes frustration and time to get things back on track again.

Marketing wise, no need to spend a lot of money on it. The society we live now in, everything is online. Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook is a great FREE way to advertise.
Any cool plans for the future? Are you planning on growing your product line to other types of apparel?
I have loads of plans for the future!!!

At the moment we have on our website 3 T Shirt designs and few accessories such as badges and magnets. However, as this is just the start, I am hoping to release designs every 2 months. This will include apparel such as jackets, shirts, caps, trousers, under pants, glasses etc.

Currently I am in contact with some jacket suppliers for a Geeky Generation varsity jacket, which is going to be awesome

What celebrity would you most like to see sporting one of your tees?
David Beckham

What are a couple of favorite or best selling products. What’s hot now we should know about.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/geekygeneration

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/geekygeneration

PLUS. Special offer for our T-Shirt Watch readers, use code “WELCOME” to get and extra 10% off everything!

Shop URL: www.betterthanpants.com

How long have you been selling?
Since 2008

Give us an overview of your shop. What kind of merchandise, style, theme, etc.
We sell funny and sometimes offensive shirts. We have more options available for customization than anyone else online. We have over 600 designs and sell them in over 10 colors and 10 styles in sizes small-5XL.

How did you get started?
After kicking around many different online business ideas we settled on funny t-shirts. We felt it was a good fit for us as a group because most of us had online experience with humor video sites. So funny t-shirts was just another avenue to express ourselves.

Tell us about the creative side of your business? What inspires you? Are you a designer yourself, or do you hire designers?
We like to use pop culture and current events to inspires us. We try and and create a design for any new current event that makes headlines. We have one in house designer and receive ideas and artwork from our fans too.

What are a couple of important things you’ve learned that have help you successfully grow your business?
Know your customers! When we first started out we were unsure of what we wanted to be. There are a ton of shirt sites out there so you need to differentiate yourself. For us its the ability to create designs on a whim. We pride ourselves on being on the ball for new, original designs. We are always tracking current events/pop culture days, nights, weekends.

Any cool plans for the future? Are you planning on growing your product line to other types of apparel?
We recently launched a new version of our site that runs smoother and faster than before, and added a new blog section to inform our fans and customers on new sales, ideas, etc. In the future we may carry related products that you can get all of our designs on (like mouse pads and koozies)

What celebrity would you most like to see sporting one of your tees?
Mila Kunis

What are a couple of your favorite or best selling shirts. What’s hot now we should know about.

Shop URL: www.jam250.co.nz

How long have you been selling?
3 months

Give us an overview of your shop. What kind of merchandise, style, theme, etc.
Limited edition designer Tee shirts sold solely over the web.We came up with the idea of only doing limited runs of shirt designs rather than the mass produced normal stuff and to make it all a bit different.
We only print 250 of any design, indivdually numbered. Also the designer gets the chance of earning some cash for their trouble. Up to $1,000.00 nzd

How did you get started?
Vinnie started the ball rolling a year ago, he’s really pasionate about design and also a bit keen on his fashion as well. Then I rolled up with the boring stuff like company stuff and bank accounts blah blah, was also really keen on the idea being a designer myself it all just seemed to fit. Then Robby decided he didn’t have a hole lot going on at the time, thought the idea was awsome, loves a good Tee and before you now it we had a pretty good plan and the rest is history.

Tell us about the creative side of your business? What inspires you? Are you a designer yourself, or do you hire designers?
We have 3 directors that have been involved in the design field for too many years to add up. Our experience spans from architecture, landscaping and metal fabrication.?We have all loaded up a few designs of our own to the site.?The new urban street style of design it what really grabs us, with its easy look and comfy fit. Its all indivdual style and wearing cool stuff and there are some really interesting designers out there.?We also want other designers to send in their designs and ideas and give them the chance to earn some money. We now a couple of guy’s that are really cool designers just starting out and its pretty rough going, so we thought this could be our way of helping out a bit.

What are a couple of important things you’ve learned that have help you successfully grow your business?
I suppose the biggest thing that we have spent the most time on is advertising and trying to get the brand/name out there. Trying to get the best bang for your buck. Really do your home work on your target market and where they hang out and also what they want. Try and iron out all the systems before you go live… Really this is time well spent.

Any cool plans for the future? Are you planning on growing your product line to other types of apparel?
Aahh the future not to sure really, always looking at growing. Everyone tends to get into the hoodie side of things and we don’t really like following like sheep We have some things burning away slowly on the side at the mo but you will have to wait and see what happens in the future.

What celebrity would you most like to see sporting one of your tees?
David Becham

Give us a couple URLs of your favorite or best selling products.
Trade me and ebay at the mo really into the whole less rubbish side of things, reuse rather than buy new, trying to help the world one small bit at a time.

www.wearingsocial.com

Give us an overview of your shop.
WearingSocial is a new synthesis of social media and fashion. Each wearingsocial tshirt is personalized using YOUR on facebook or twitter pages. WearingSocial allows you to wear your facebook friends or twitter followers. Create a qr code that brings you directly to your facebook or twitter page among other designs.

How did you get started?
My friend wanted a shirt that could show off how he reached ten thousand facebook friends and we couldnt find one. An idea was born. We decided we would fill that void and set out creating different designs to show off social media.

Any cool plans for the future?
Yes, hopefully will have sweatshirts and be able to create shirts for conferences as well.

What celebrity would you most like to see sporting one of your tees?
Asthon Kutcher.

URL: www.backbonethreads.com

How long have you been selling?
2 months approx.

Give us an overview of your shop.
Many people hear “Christian shirts” and think, either they’re cheesy or they suck. Backbone Threads are definitely cool Christian shirts . We have some overtly Christian shirts for those who want something bold, and we have some subtle shirts that just touch on faith.

We have two designers, one does mostly typographic shirts and one does hand-drawn, graphically intense shirts. We print on Bella for girly and Anvil 980 for guys. In-collar printing, custom packaging and extra freebies in the mail, too!

How did you get started?
Our founder, David, has talked about making shirts for over 15 years, but it took meeting our lead designer, Zak, to get things rolling. Add some major life shake-ups and Backbone Threads was born almost out of necessity.

Tell us about the creative side of your business?
We like to say that our shirts are “woven with the fundamental principles spoken by God through His living word.” Each of our shirts have a Bible verse that is either the inspiration for the shirt or chosen to fit the shirt’s message.

Our founder, David, is the inkwell and our designers Zak and Jerry are the pens. Some of Backbone Threads’ Christian shirts are actually designs from David’s decades old notebooks. We will be introducing some new shirts in the months to come, and a few of these are some incredibly awesome designs of Zak’s.

What are a couple of important things you’ve learned that have help you successfully grow your business?
Well, we’re relatively new ourselves, but social networking is huge. And there is no shortcut for hard work!

The T-Shirt Forum is also a massive wealth of information. We scoured that site daily for months before we launched. There were no, zero, questions we had that were not already answered on that forum. Incredibly helpful (thanks Rodney and gang!)

Any cool plans for the future?
We definitely have some things up our threads! We’re planning some hoodies and hats for the autumn line. We’ve got some pretty cool networking stuff going on with some Christian musicians and such. And we’re considering adding some fan participation (voting for new designs, etc.)

What celebrity would you most like to see sporting one of your tees?
LeCrae!!

Check out these tees: Sinner for men, and women. And Living Creatures - It’s an incredibly detailed hand-illustrated shirt taken from the apocalyptic book of Revelation. Available now in Storm, we plan to offer this in several colors soon.