List of T-shirt Companies That Pay You for Your Designs

Make Money by Turning Your Designs Into Cash

This is one for the graphic artists out there. Here is a list of T-shirt companies that you can submit your designs to and, if they are chosen, you will get paid $$$.

1.

jinx.com

jinx.com

"Design a shirt: it should be inspired by video games and/or geek culture, and... well, that's pretty much it. Make a cool t-shirt design, submit it to the contest, and let the J!NX Community vote! If a particular design has a high number of positive votes, the design moves on to the Final Judement(TM). An elite squad of J!NX judges will cast their righteous votes."


Pay: Selected designs win up to $750 cash + a $250 J!NX gift certificate.

2.

threadless.com

threadless.com

"If your design is chosen for print, it could end up for sale as a real product that people all around the world can have!" Threadless offers themed challenges with cash prizes.


Pay: Prizes at time of publication shown ranging from $2,000-$2,500

3.

6dollarshirts.com

"Create a T-Shirt design (maximum of TWO ink colors) that you think the world would like to wear.

6dollarshirts.com

The Subject of your design can be anything (ex. Funny or topical slogans, pop culture and political references, or strictly artistic designs)."


Pay: Winners receive $400 Cash + $100 store credit

4.

designbyhumans.com

"The ongoing contest at DesignByHümans consists of two (2) awards, Shirt of the Day or Rock Star

designbyhumans.com

Awards." Original designs are submitted to the DBH website and voted on by the DBH world community. The winning shirt becomes available for purchase through DBH.




Pay: Shirt of the Day – $1,000.00 USD + six (6) units of the artist’s design.
Shirt of the Day is awarded Monday – Thursday to a new artist.
Rock Star Awards can pay up to additional $5,000.

5.

teefury.com

teefury.com

Submit a design. If it is selected, it will be featured on the teefury website for 24 hours.



Pay: $1 per shirt sold and the artist retains full rights to their design.

6.

tshirtfight.com 

tshirtfight.com

Download their submission kit. Save your .png file on their template, and upload it using their form. Featured designs go into a head to head competition against other shirt designs.




Pay: $1 per shirt sold and the artist keeps full rights to their design to do what ever they want with after the Fight has ended. (Artist also gets a Free T-shirt with their design on it.)

uneetee.com

7.

uneetee.com

Simply submit your design. If they decide to print it, they pay.




 Pay: $250

Google Trends: Public Interest in Digitally Printed Shirts Shows Growth

Screen Printing, Embroidery Losing Steam

The digital t-shirt printing business is still relatively new to the clothing industry. While the over-all interest for the digital solution is small in comparison to other garment decorating methods, such as screen printing, trends still show growing public interest in digitally printed shirts. The following graph reveals a mostly steady search volume for three similar terms which are all related to what is commonly referred to as "Direct to Garment", with a slight upward tick:

Digital tshirt printing, direct to garment printing, and digital shirt printing compared

While August of 2008 saw the highest spike in volume of these three searches, spikes have continued to reach near that point since. While peaks and dips appear throughout the graph, the year over year trend shows growth. June of 2013 saw an average 7.7% rise over June of 2012 in the three search terms.

The next graph shows the search volume trends of both screen printing and embroidery. For both decorating mediums, the highest peaks on the graph occurred prior to 2005, and the trend of interest has continued downward.

Screen printing and embroidery compared

This final graph compares all the previous search terms, and displays the fact that, compared to both embroidery and screen printing, digital printing does not even register a blip in search volume.

Digital printing compared to embroidery and screen printing

The upward movement of interest in digital printing, while not yet significant in view of the industry as a whole, is still a positive sign. The relatively small level of interest is not the story, since this is to be expected while the technology is in its infancy. The contrast between digital and traditional methods of garment decorating is a sign that digital has a different appeal. One could speculate that digital's ability to be utilized for printing short runs and "one off's" at a lower cost than screen print could be part of the reason for it's growing popularity. Another aspect of digital garment printing's charm is it's ability to create high detail, customized images with ease. The simple integration of digital technology means that embroiderers can begin offering a printed product that sells at a similar price point to embroidery. An Anajet.com article points out that in SGIA's 2012 DTG Benchmarking Report, 78% of DTG owners also own embroidery equipment. Finally, digital represents a leaner means of production and sales. No longer do companies have to keep large stock of single prints in inventory, tying up valuable capital with the risk of over purchase. Shirts can be left blank until the order is made, and the order does not have to be enormous to be worthwhile. Whatever the reasons, the outlook is positive for companies who are looking at adding the Direct to Garment technology. There is still more than plenty of room for growth as companies find new ways of leveraging digital's strengths, and consumer demand for it's unique product offering increases.