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Sell shirts to Walmart?

by grey38
6 replies
Really any place that sells shirts. How would I go about selling t-shirts legitimately? I don't just wanna sell online and if it's a good idea, someone steals it and sells to walmart or kmart... Any ideas? This is just an idea i'd like to look into
#sell #shirts #walmart
  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    Wal-mart won't talk to you unless you prove that you can deliver manufacturing in volume. Most major chains look at it the same way. They need to know that you can deliver in volume, before they sign you up as a manufacturer.

    Like it or not, you will need to know your numbers inside and out, because Wal-Mart will not work with you unless they can slice your margin to pennies!!

    If you were serious about this, manufacturing is step one -- whether in-house or out-sourced.

    Then you would go to the purchasing manager for the corporate office for each retailer and work a deal for a specific amount of volume.
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    Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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  • Profile picture of the author grey38
    That makes sense. Do you have any ideas to sell shirts in a good amount. It really wouldnt be worth it if I don't sell that much. Or is the 2nd best thing to create an authority blog, create strong following, and sell, or creating a facebook using trending topics to build crowd and get t-shirts made from those topics? Perhaps both? I know that can work, but aside from that what can be done to make more money from tshirts offline?
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    Prove it by selling your designs now from your own site.

    With sales numbers in hand and conversion percentages, go to the major retailers and let them decide the size of their purchase order based on your sales figures.
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    Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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  • Profile picture of the author BloggingPro
    Basically I would find someone (they do exist) that has experience selling products to Walmart. This is not something that can simply be answered in a thread post on the WF.

    And before you jump whole-heartily into the Walmart pool... you should check out this article. It's dated I know, but it explains the squeeze that Walmart puts on suppliers and vendors to lower their margins to keep selling in their stores.

    Wal-Mart You Don't Know | Fast Company
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    You're going to fail. If you're afraid of failure then you do not belong in the Internet Marketing Business. Period.
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  • Profile picture of the author AceOfShirts
    What's wrong with selling your shirts online?

    Is it your original artwork? If so nobody should be able to steal it and sell it to Wal-Mart or Kmart.

    You should also do the research the other people have mentioned about dealing with Wal-Mart. What goes on behind the scenes to vendors is terrible. You will have much better luck if you get a table at a trade show for shirts. MAGIC is by far the biggest. Even then you normally need to have sales to show someone before they will carry your line, and you will probably have to get the sales from your website.

    Every time I think of a new line of shirts I think, "This is the one that is going to get me on Shark Tank". There have been several people on Shark Tank try to get them to invest in their line of shirts. Off the top of my head I can only think of one that an offer, and that was the "Hillbilly" line of shirts to Jeff Foxworthy. You should try to find some of the shirt pitches on Shark Tank. You can probably find them on YouTube.
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  • Profile picture of the author mosthost
    Make a logo and upload it to CafePress to see if your idea works.
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