Your Guide To a Fantastic Political Campaign T-Shirt
09/10/2020 by Adriana Spicuzza

Every election campaign needs good branding. And merchandise plays a big part in that. Do you know what your campaign t-shirt will look like? Whether you’re running for City Council or Student Government, and don’t know where to start on creating an iconic campaign shirt, this is the guide for you.

Why Use T-shirts and Apparel for Campaigns?
It seems like every major political campaign uses merchandise, and specifically t-shirts, as part of their marketing and fundraising strategy. But why? The answer goes beyond “that’s how it’s always been.”

Campaign T-shirts Engage Small-Dollar Donors
As we’ve seen in recent election cycles, small dollar donations are getting more news coverage than ever before. Part of the reason behind this is that it coincides with the public’s growing disdain for candidates who finance their campaign by taking big money donations from a relatively small number of wealthy donors.

The line of thinking goes that a politician funded by wealthy people will do the bidding of said people; by contrast, a politician funded by a large number of small-dollar donations will better represent their constituents as a whole. But how does one maximize the number of donations they receive?

In a word: incentivize
Yes, one could argue that policy should be enough to mobilize the masses, but we all know it’s a little more complicated than that.

Giving them a gift, like a T-shirt, in exchange for their donation makes for a tangible give-and-receive transaction that satisfies our innate desire for instant gratification. It’s a way to convince folks to donate when they would otherwise not.

Walking Advertisements
Once the t-shirt is in the hands of the donor, there’s only one thing left for them to do: wear it! And that’s a boon for any political campaign. Just because it’s a simple concept doesn’t make it any less true– branded T-shirts are a “walking billboard” for the organizations that make them.

Struggling to be heard? The right t-shirt design can make all the difference.  If you’re running for office, or organizing some other sort of political campaign, I’m sure you’re painfully aware of your team’s marketing budget. This is a great way to stretch said budget. If you have to give something away in order for people to literally buy into your campaign, you might as well make it something that helps spread your message.

Unifying Symbol
Every politician wants a groundswell of support. If you can give the impression that you’re “starting a movement,” you might just be able to sway those fickle undecided voters. While most of us will agree that you can’t rely on t-shirt sales alone to determine the level of support you have, there is something to be said for the optics of it.

Because like it or not, we live in an era where politics are treated like team sports. And you want your team to look bigger, more unified, and frankly, cooler than your opponent’s team. That means having apparel like t-shirts, hats, and hoodies available for your ‘teammates’ to show their true colors.

The t-shirt is a bonding force
It tells the wearer “you’re one of us now,” while signaling to everyone else exactly where they stand. They won’t want to flip their vote after pledging their allegiance to you, or else they would look like a turncoat.

Content Generator 
The unifying nature of a good political campaign T-shirt makes it a virtually limitless fountain of content for your social media presence. The sense of community that comes from this “uniform” goes hand in hand with the sense of community you’re trying to foster with your social media strategy.

Marrying these two elements could be as simple as regularly posting photos of a group of folks wearing your t-shirts. Or it could be encouraging shirt buyers to snap a photo of themselves wearing the shirt and posting it to social media under a custom hashtag of your choosing.

Again, it’s about doing what you need to do to signify that you’re leading a cause that’s far greater than simply winning the election– namely, that you’re going to represent the people.

Collect Donor Information T-shirt sales take on added importance when you consider the amount of information needed just to send the shirt to the donor. In order for it to arrive safely at your door, they need to provide their name and address at the very least, and will most likely also have to give their email address and phone number. That’s not nothing!

The fact that they gave you this much info, along with a payment, indicates that they have more than just a passing interest in your campaign. That makes them the most invested portion of your voter base; the people who will talk positively about you to others, post about you on social media, and ultimately vote for you on election day.

These are the folks to stay engaged with! Use the info they’ve provided you to communicate with them the points you want everyone to hear, while perhaps also appealing to some of their more niche concerns. Each T-shirt sale opens that line of communication, without feeling invasive, or like an unequal trade.

Remember: the point of a campaign shirt is to get votes.

Have a Great Slogan.
If you look around at the merchandise of big-time political campaigns, most are using some for of catchphrase to decorate their wares. You don’t need a political science degree to understand why: a good slogan summarizes what your campaign is all about, and is memorable, too.

But you can’t just string together a few words and expect it to resonate with people. If you’re struggling to develop a catchy slogan, remember the following tips.

Keys to a Great Slogan It’s short. You want your slogan to be memorable, and look good on a shirt. Go with something six to eight words– at most. Less is more here.

Highlights a benefit. What will people get if they vote for you? Don’t go into policy here. Lead with feelings.

Explains commitment.  Now more than ever, a candidate needs to show they will serve the people if they win. Your slogan should acknowledge that, again with an appeal to emotion.

It has a ring to it (or rhythm, or rhyme). Pop songs are so catchy because the words are designed to stick in your head. Your slogan needs to do the same thing.

It’s honest. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. That probably takes “I’ll give everyone a million dollars” out of contention as your slogan.

Fortunately for you, this is not the first time someone had to come up with an amazing slogan that’d look great on a shirt. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s ‘I Like Ike’ belongs in the Hall of Fame of good slogans. It rhymes, for one, and it gives supporters something easy to say when the presidential question comes up in casual conversation. It doesn’t exactly highlight benefits or explain commitment, but its ring cannot be denied. Sometimes, you have to break the rules to take advantage of something really great.

Barack Obama’s “Yes We Can” catchphrase might be even better. It’s three chantable words offering a can-do attitude that places not just him as a leader, but voters as part of a team.

Tread carefully if you choose to make a pop culture reference. Meme-adjacent jokes are definitely en vogue today, but they’re fleeting. What’s hip one day is  Duck Fodder the next. And while I get the phenomenon of screaming “yaaas queen” as much as the next Extremely Online™ person, this shirt from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign feels pandering, to say the least.

Strike A Balance Between Bold and Restrained
Running for political office is a bold decision, and the artwork used during the campaign should match. When creating a campaign shirt, go for a look that makes a statement.

What will that statement be? One of strength? Progress? Pride? A return to sanity? It’s important to use iconography that matches the sentiment you’re trying to convey with your campaign.

Why was Obama’s “Hope” poster also such a popular T-shirt? Because of its bold portrait of the man himself. This is not to say that you should commission your own portrait (at least, not until you’re running for president). But remember what Obama represented to his base in the lead-up to the 2008: change, progress, intellectual leadership. Potential and, well, hope! His stern countenance in that portrait suggests that while bold action was needed, it would be done with careful forethought.

Compare that with this (admittedly non-official) design from Herman Cain. It’s a portrait of him, sure. It even has bold font and patriotic colours, just like the Obama shirt. But does it convey anything, aside from a complete lack of understanding basic design principles? Maybe that Mr. Cain has great teeth? The design muddles the message, literally. Apparently it’s supposed to say “Proud to Be an American/ Herman Cain for President.”

The fact that you can’t even read his full name anywhere on the shirt is another problem that you absolutely must avoid. Fortunately, that’s not too hard to do. Remember that if you’re going to emphasize one part of your name, embolden the last name. That’s how it appears on the ballot, after all!

CHOOSE QAULITY SHIRTS FOR YOUR STORE – Hey ! Thats us @ DesignPosse.co 🙂
This element is pretty straightforward. People don’t want to buy crap, even if it’s to help a person they believe in.

When it comes to designing t-shirts for an audience, you want it to become the buyer’s new favourite one. While a great slogan and wearable design can go a long way to this end, comfort and fit are really what can sway things in your favor.

Perhaps most importantly, you want to give a shirt that won’t shrink. Shrinkage makes shirts completely unwearable, nullifying the ‘walking billboard’ element your t-shirt needs to offer. But you also want a shirt that’s flattering and feels good to the wearer. Put together, those three things can come in opposition to one another: a shirt that doesn’t shrink may be too boxy looking for some women’s tastes; a ‘fashion cut’ shirt might look shrunken on stockier guys.

 

That’s why it’s key to offer different shirt styles, if your budget allows. It’s important to make sure that your designs look good on each type of shirt you offer. That might mean you have to simplify the design to allow for the maximum number of shirt styles. Don’t be afraid to do this! Sometimes simpler is better.

After all, that’s why you’re going with a T-shirt. It’s comfortable, versatile, and in everyone’s wardrobe. You’re not picking something with limited utility, like cufflinks with a tiny picture of your face in the middle, or a Himalayan salt sculpture of your face.

I’m not saying that if you employ these elements into your political campaign t-shirt, you’ll be a shoe in to win. But you will be able to walk away, be it as a winner or loser, without regret about how you presented your platform.

So at Design Posse, we got you covered Brothers and Sisters of Change.

Design a Shirt Today ! – and change the world….

What makes a good T-Shirt design?

Sometimes it just feels like, well, you know it when you see it. But how do you quantify that feeling?

Despite a good, solid understanding of design, many are stumped and come looking to Jeff Finley, partner here at Go Media and author of Thread’s Not Dead, The Designer’s Guide to the Apparel Industry, for answers.

Jeff shares some not-so-obvious fundamentals of great t-shirt design in Thread’s Not Dead, so we’ve decided to share some of them with you today.  We’ve also asked a few of our friends, t-shirt greats Brandon Rike, Dan Mumford, Glenn Jones and Anthony Hall to weigh in.

KEYS TO GREAT T-SHIRT DESIGN:

Wondering, how do I design a great tshirt?

1. HIT YOUR TARGET.

Brandon Rike | Beastie Boys Train Shapes Tee Design

“The bottom line is that a good t-shirt design is one that catches the idea of the intended target so much that they want to wear it. Not only will they wear it, but they will love it so much that they will never throw it away.” – Brandon Rike

“The great thing about t-shirts is that everyone has different taste so you’ll find a market in whatever you create. You just need to link to the audience.” – Glenn Jones

Glenn Jones, creator of T-Shirt brand Glennz tees

2. DESIGN FOR YOUR CLIENT.

“I design for the audience, no questions asked. Designing with your own agenda is only your way to let the client know that their needs are secondary, and you’re gonna do whatever you want to do with the project. This wastes your time and theirs, and is disrespectful to the people offering to pay you for your services. It takes a better designer to work with the client, and make sure they are happy, and get out of the exchange with a better end product than they had anticipated. If you can’t design within someone else’s parameters, then I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood your occupation.” – Brandon Rike

Mumford & Sons Pistol Label Tee | Brandon Rike

3.  COLOR IS KING.

“Colors sell, first and foremost. Whether it’s a one-color white graphic on a black tee, it’s that initial connection that the buyer wants to make. Some people like plain t-shirt graphics, some want super colorful graphics, some want a vintage look. Either way, knowing who the target is, and predicting what they will be drawn to is of utmost importance. While this information is heartbreaking to designers and illustrators, the design itself is secondary to the colors it’s presented in. Many designers spend so much time on an impressive illustration, only to cloak it in an uninspired colorway at the end. We have to look at t-shirt designs as the whole garment, as opposed to just the graphic printed on it. Will the ink cover too much of the shirt, making the garment feel heavy? Does my illustration work better as a print than on a t-shirt? Do the focal points of the design draw your attention to odd parts of the torso?” – Brandon Rike

Dan Mumford

4. COMPOSE YOURSELF.

“Its all about composition, especially when you have a tee design with a lot going on it, like most of my designs. The lines have to flow nicely together and the type has to fit comfortably all within the design, if the basic shapes and outlines work nicely together then I know I have a good tee design, its only then that I will fill in most of the detail. When it comes to colour, you have to know how to use it sparingly, especially with screen-printed tees, being able to work with a limited palette is an incredibly powerful way to get the most out of a tee design.” – Dan Mumford

“My idea of what is ”good t-shirt design” has changed as I’ve improved as an artist. Generally speaking, for me, a good design usually involves keeping the weight of the design near the top/center of the shirt (more flattering on a customer), keeping my colors balanced and limited, and using the shirt color as a part of the design.  I know I’ve got a good design on my hands if I can revisit my finished design after a couple of days and not see any flaws or things I’d want to change.” – Anthony Hall

Jeff Finley | WMC Fest 4 Shirt

4. CONSIDER WEARABILITY.

This is a simple, but important question to ask yourself.  “It’s a pretty simple concept and I know it doesn’t apply when you’re designing tees for a client whose audience might be twice your age and of the opposite sex. But as a rule of thumb, ask yourself “would I wear this?” Put yourself in the wearer’s shoes and try to imagine what it’d be like to wear your shirt.” – Jeff Finley, Thread’s Not Dead.

Heretic | Dan Mumford

5. THOUGHTFULLY BRAND (DETAILS MATTER).

“Branding is important throughout, if you have a tag or a logo that can be found on everything you do, then it will get imprinted on people that see your work, and it also starts to become a brand of quality. I try to have my small ‘M’ icon on most pieces of my work, its nothing special, but it definitely holds everything together under one larger umbrella of work.” – Dan Mumford

6. CONSIDER THE COSTS.

“I try to create designs with a 3 color max. Many bands watch the cost of a tee go way up as they add more colors, thus, watching their profits go down. Since I was fitting the bill for the very first tees that I designed, I try to be realistic about costs of printing. While the color choices are of utmost importance, simply adding more colors does not make a tee better. Challenge yourself to make 1-3 colors go a long way.”  – Brandon Rike

“I think just having a good idea of how screen-printing works is the most essential thing. Being able to separate colours for print means you can supply things print ready, not only does that make you easier to work with for the clients, but it gives you an edge over designers that might not know much about the process. As far as detail goes, its again just about being able to provide clean files that are easy to work with.” – Dan Mumford

7. BE INNOVATIVE.

“These days, the trends in graphic tees are getting more and more loose. You can find anything printed on a tee. Whereas when I came into this industry, we were trying to create solid graphic lock-ups that would sit in the middle of the chest, you will now find a single photo covering a tee, or one word filling up all of the space. Any tangible trend has completely disintegrated, and now, frankly, anything goes.

For me, it’s exciting to see where my skills are and know how fit into these trends. While I would prefer to concentrate on more concrete graphics, I know how to make a good t-shirt, even if that means using the right photo or word to completely cover the shirt with. It’s become less about the skills that I have, and more about being creative in general, and being able to apply it to what I’m doing.” – Brandon Rike

Bold is Beautiful | Jeff Finley

“Good design will blaze new trails in what people are wearing. Adding foil into your design wasn’t something your average designer six or seven years ago thought of. Foil or printing a full color image isn’t really cost-effective but it might be worth it if that’s what people are buying. A good design pushes boundaries and does things differently. It starts new trends, forges new printing solutions, and advances the industry. A good example of this is the Bold is Beautiful shirt that I designed that people said could never be printed. The design featured a full spectrum of colors and took up a large area on a black shirt. I imagine it was costly to print, but the team at DesignByHümans pulled it off with flying colors, pun intended.” – Jeff Finley, Thread’s Not Dead

8. CREATE SUBSTANCE.

“A good design has a solid idea and purpose behind it. Sure there are top selling t-shirts that exploit the popularity of stylistic trends like ornate flourishes or SFSS (skulls for skulls sake). But the point is, designs with a solid idea that mean something to your client or customer favor better.” – Jeff Finley, Thread’s Not Dead

“As far as putting meaning behind my designs, I like problem solving; I like to come up with gadgets, or solutions to problems that don’t really need solutions. If that makes people laugh too,  thats a bonus.” – Glenn Jones

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Great design is really made up of so many elements.  Not only do you have to have a solid grasp on design principles, but also understand your audience, wearability, cost effectiveness and the importance of branding.  Combined with pushing the envelope, you as a t-shirt designer have a huge hill to climb.  Cultivate good instincts, as outlined by our experts, and your chances of success will increase ten-fold.

Heart and passion, too, can go a long way.  If you love your design, chances are your audience will too. Hall sums it up with one last thought: “Honestly, I have no ability to predict how popular a design will be. I just make shirts about things that I really love, and hopefully customers will be on board with whatever I designed. The worst thing that can happen is that you made a great design that you’re really proud of.”

Well you’ve come to the right place!

T-shirts are a staple part of wardrobes across the globe. Furthermore, the global market for the custom T-shirt printing industry is expected to cross 10 billion USD by 2025.

Clever entrepreneurs, like yourself, have identified the popularity of this product and have started thinking about beginning their own T-shirt businesses. Starting an online T-shirt business is a popular choice for both beginner and veteran ecommerce entrepreneurs. As an ecommerce store, T-shirts are cheap to source, have universal appeal, and are relatively simple to customize.

If you’ve been thinking about starting your own online T-shirt business, it’s important that you’re aware that it’s a competitive field in ecommerce. If you want to succeed, you’ll need to make sure that your store stands out from the rest. To ensure this, it’s important that you source high-quality products, have your own T-shirt designs, and learn how to brand.

This may sound like a daunting process, especially if it’s your first time starting an ecommerce business, but don’t worry — we’re here to help you and on Design Posse you can create your store within minutes !

STARTING YOUR DESIGN POSSE ONLINE T-SHIRT BUSINESS

If you’re looking to start your ecommerce journey and you’ve been looking into opening your own online T-shirt business, you may have noticed that it’s actually zero cost and simple to get your Design Posse store up and running.

Starting your own T-Shirt business with Design Posse is a simple process. You’ll also have continuous support from our Team, both when starting your store and during the process of running your store. It’s the ideal solution for ecommerce entrepreneurs.

IS AN ONLINE T-SHIRT BUSINESS PROFITABLE?

As we mentioned earlier, everyone owns at least one T-shirt regardless of age, gender, and so on, which is exactly why a T-shirt business can become profitable in a very short amount of time. What’s more is it can have low startup costs if you plan your business model correctly.

Some examples below, but if you can profit up to $19 on a sale of a Tshirt and you sell only 20,? You can add up right?  And it cost you ZERO to get started.

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HOW TO START AN ONLINE T-SHIRT BUSINESS

Here are a few steps that you can follow to start an online T-shirt business now:

1. FIND A NICHE FOR YOUR ONLINE T-SHIRT BUSINESS

As an ecommerce entrepreneur who is looking to start a successful online T-shirt business, it may be useful to find a niche for your store. If you create a T-shirt store that is truly unique, either in terms of brand image or the products that are available, your chances for success will be considerably higher. It could be Rock Music, Political satire, Dad Jokes, or Save the Planet motifs.

Take your time, and do your research if you decide to create a niche store. Look through other online stores that you like, and use them to brainstorm T-shirt ideas for your own business. Jot down anything that you think is impressive, and then take some time to think about how you can make your online T-shirt business even better. Ultimately, you can target any niche that interests you. If you think that there is an untapped market, take advantage of it. It’s easier to stand out when there’s little competition, and it’ll be much cheaper, too!

After Australian Prime Minister in 2019 took an untimely trip to Hawaii during a National crisis, a lone guy in Sydney sold $100,000 worth of shirts. In this case he did donate the profits to to the Bush fire Charity. But use your imagination. There are topical news stories all the time to take advantage of

2. DESIGN YOUR OWN T-SHIRT

When you’re trying to launch a successful online T-shirt business, your design ideas are critical. If your T-shirts have great designs, you’re already ahead of the game. Your products will act as a strong foundation for your store’s success.

It’s much easier to market great products, so try to nail this part. Be creative. Don’t be afraid of thinking outside the box. Try out various T-shirt design ideas that relate to your brand, and see which ones fit best with your audience. Use the DesignPosse design tool and test your designs out with your firends

If you don’t feel confident in your own ability to design awesome products for your online T-shirt business, seek help from others. You can contact local designers for their services. You can also take advantage of online freelance platforms, like Upwork and Fiverr, that you can use to liaise with freelance designers. There are a variety of ways that you can source high-quality design work at an affordable price point.

3. VALIDATE YOUR T-SHIRT DESIGNS

Once you’ve assembled a few solid design ideas for your online T-shirt business, you’ll need to seek validation from others. You may think that the designs that you’ve come up with are ready for printing, but others may point out some vital improvements that will help your products in the long run. It’s also important that the feedback you receive for your designs is unbiased. You can achieve this by posting your designs on some forums (make sure that you watermark your designs so nobody can steal them). You can also receive some professional feedback by getting in contact with some local consultants – they will provide you with professional, unbiased opinions.

Online discussion platforms, like Reddit, can prove to be a vital tool when you’re gauging the success of your T-shirt business’ designs. You can create T-shirt mockups and post your prospective designs onto the relevant sub-reddits, and you’ll receive honest feedback from people who are interested in your products. If you receive positive reactions from your post, you’ve already armed yourself with some potential customers who you can reach out to when you launch your products.

4. SOURCE YOUR PRODUCTS

When you’ve validated the designs for your online T-shirt business, you’ll need to take some time to consider which stock from Design Posse that you want to make available for your customers. i.e you could select Eco-Approved only if that is important. Or a medium quality garment for either a reduced sales price or higher margin. We only stock medium to high-quality T-shirts for your store’s inventory because it’ll make for a superior customer experience that will rival your competition.

5. PRINT YOUR DESIGNS

You are almost read to ship !!!

Having high-quality prints on your products is essential for a successful online T-shirt business. If your customers find that your designs are cracking or fading after a few washes, this will leave them with a bad impression of your business.

Our Design Posse printers are Super High Quality. Combined with our excellent garment stock, your designs and your customers are going to look brilliant.

Remember, with Design Posse, there is no need to fork out a bunch of cash up front. Then perhaps get a table at a local market. We print for you only when someone buys and we usually dispatch most orders within 48 hours.

We automatically calculate the cheapest shipping rates for your client and add it when they checkout. We do this at cost.

6. CHOOSE YOUR BUSINESS MODEL

You can run your Design Posse store from anywhere in the world. You set your Retail Price above our garment and printing costs. So if our cost for a basic white Tee with 1 x print on 1 x side is $16 and you set an RRP of $35, your profit is $19 per shirt. Sell 50 of your design that goes viral and your payday is around $950. And you had to outlay ZERO upfront. Sure your design has to be pretty cool, and you’ve got a good social media following to promote it for free, but if you do and you get a bunch of people sharing and it goes nits or gets Press/TV coverage, you might sell 500 or 2000 shirts.

Come on. Do the maths on that one baby!

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7. Varying your Business Model on Design Posse

So that killer design that went viral still could sell a few or more each month and every month for 12 months or more. Steady income stream right there.

You could take advantage of the other seller tools like,

• Putting a time limit and countdown on your item
• Create a sale of 20% off and email your previous clients via your Design Posse Dashboard
• Create “share-ability”, but setting a minimum number of pre-orders before a design is printed. See the Selling Tools FAQ section in your Dashboard
• You can also create a variable discount. i.e if 5 people buy then its your standard price. 10 people buy its 10% off, 50 people then its 20% off etc.

Heaps more tips and tricks in the Seller Tools section

7. Set Up Your Online Presence

Finally, you need to quickly and easily setup your Design Posse store Front. Add your logo, a bit about yourself and change the colours and other things in our store. On average it might take someone 10 minutes to setup there store with their designs. And remember, this is all free ! no Wix or Godaddy fees. If you want to use you own domain name, email Support@DesignPosse.co and we’ll sho you how to re-direct it.

Taking the time to do market research will help you to understand your audience before you start selling. It will also ensure that you are present on the right platforms for your audience to find your products easily. It could be the case that your target market is active on Instagram and Snapchat, and they don’t spend time searching for T-shirts through Google Search. This means that influencer marketing and advertising are your best options for success, instead of spending a lot of time and resources on search engine optimization.

Once you have mapped where your competitors are and where your ideal customers like to hang out online, you can start to set up your Design Posse Store Front and profile.

You are now ready to start selling T-shirts online!

Claim your unique Store Name NOW. Click HERE for 5% extra profit on your first months sales

With the Design Posse online design tool, and 1000s of free clip art images, fonts and more, you could create almost any of these designs within 5-10 minutes. You can even upload your own photos of the Birthday Boy ! Or import our own vector artwork. Publish to your store, share your link and start earning in minutes!

And our design tool is super easy to use. You can even use it on your mobile and design a few killer tees on the way to work on the train. Lunch and probably dinner paid for right there !

And if you’re creativity really takes off, you could travel the world as a Digital Nomad and manage your Design Posse business from anywhere with an internet connection.

DESIGN POSSE ONLINE DESIGN TOOL

And some more ideas we love

Start your own T-Shirt Brand Today ! Its FREE and takes 5 minutes. CLICK HERE