HOW TO DESIGN EFFECTIVE SALES TEXT FOR CLOTHING

Nowadays, there are many businesses in the market that sell custom-printed T-shirts, especially custom T-shirts with text. A catchy message can help your product stand out from the competition. But how to make your text design unique and better branded? Follow our article below to improve your text design.

Incorporate a graphic element 

Combining your sales text with complementary graphics can enhance its appeal and convey your message more quickly. For example, a bold, inspirational quote paired with a simple icon or illustration makes a stronger impression than text alone. Remember, your graphics should support, not overwhelm, your message. Therefore, you should tailor your graphic elements to each piece of text: for long text, keep graphics simple to avoid clutter; use icons or small images for emphasis. Remember to align colors and fonts with your graphic style for a consistent look.

Ensure instant readability

The text on your clothing should attract immediate attention. Choose a clear, bold font and limit the number of words to maintain focus. Emphasize the message you want to convey by varying the font and size of some words. Contrasting the color between text and background also helps to increase readability: dark backgrounds should be used with light text to ensure maximum legibility, and conversely, dark text on a light background creates balance and increases visibility.

Select a unique theme

What do you want your text to express, and what emotion do you want it to evoke? Choose the appropriate font based on your needs and desires. Setting up a unique font will help you create more engaging and targeted text.

Top 10 Most popular fonts people love 

Helvetica

Didot

Bodoni

Baskerville

Garamond

Georgia

Futura

Avenir

Montserrat

Baskerville

Time for research 

Explore proven ideas that sell (without copying) 

First, identify your niche. For example, if you sell fitness apparel, search phrases like “workout shirts” or “fitness t-shirts” on Amazon to see what’s trending. Analyze top-selling designs and identify patterns, such as specific phrases, fonts, or styles. This will help you discover how other sellers are presenting similar ideas and innovating a little to differentiate yourself.

Additionally, Etsy is a goldmine for creative and unique designs. Search for keywords or phrases related to your niche. Take note of designs that have high ratings or sales—these are proven ideas that customers love. Use this insight to refine your own concepts.

However, this doesn’t mean you should go to Etsy to steal other people’s ideas. Think of Etsy as a source of inspiration, not a quick way to come up with profitable designs. 

Dive into a familiar topic 

Sometimes the best designs come from themes and topics that are already familiar to your audience. By choosing a subject they know and love, you create an instant connection. Here are ways to explore familiar topics: 

• Pop Culture References: Use quotes, phrases, or symbols inspired by trending movies, TV shows, or music (while avoiding copyright issues). 
• Shared Experiences: Focus on relatable topics like hobbies, careers, or life stages. Examples include shirts for pet owners (e.g., "Dog Mom Life") or fitness enthusiasts (e.g., "No Pain, No Gain").
• Holidays & Seasons: Leverage familiar events like Christmas, Halloween, or summer vacations. Seasonal designs attract buyers looking for themed apparel.

By diving into familiar topics, you can create designs that instantly appeal to your audience’s interests, emotions, and everyday lives.

Think beyond the shirt

You often think that to produce best-selling t-shirts, you have to look at the best-selling t-shirts and reverse engineer your idea from there. To find untapped or underserved markets, you need to start thinking beyond the t-shirt world.

• Book trends: This is a highly diverse product category, divided into several subcategories, each of which represents its own niche market. A quick search on Amazon could spark dozens of t-shirt ideas.
• Online communities: TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Behance, etc.

Hashtags and trends on TikTok and Instagram can provide hot phrases. For example: a popular phrase in the Gen Z community or meme trends online.

Various ways to acquire designs

DIY design creations

Making your own designs is a great choice if you are capable of doing so or have the capacity to learn. First of all, you will save a great deal of time, effort, and money by not having to search for the appropriate words to convey your thoughts and brief someone else. Additionally, it allows you to swiftly iterate and act on your ideas, which greatly accelerates your time to market and offers your innovations a competitive edge. Software like Adobe Illustrator or Canva makes it easy to bring your ideas to life. This approach is budget-friendly and ensures full creative control.

Hire a designer to create custom designs

If designing isn’t your forte, consider hiring a professional. Platforms like Fiverr and Upwork connect you with talented designers who can transform your vision into reality. An important thing to remember is that many designers know several design areas well, but they aren’t proficient at all things design. Before beginning your search, it is crucial that you have a clear vision of the kind of design you want and the abilities required to make it a reality.

Buy printing rights from a designer or agency

An alternative is purchasing pre-made designs or exclusive rights from designers or agencies. This saves time and ensures you get polished, professional work.

Copyright concerns 

The fact that text design t-shirts are so easy to steal is one of the most depressing aspects of creating a product catalog around them. Little to no graphical features, fonts, and common phrases cannot be protected by copyright; if someone copies your design pixel-for-pixel, you won't have much control. Therefore, even if text designs might be very profitable, it’s recommended to also invest a little bit more time and energy into developing truly original concepts that would enjoy the copyright protection.

Main takeaways

To stand out from the competition, it's important to invest some time and energy into developing captivating, eye-catching concepts because text designs can become lucrative ventures.

This can be easily done by experimenting with graphical elements, adding shadows, or playing around with fonts and colors.

It will take a lot of research and a little bit of luck to make a winning text design.