The Emergence Of T-Shirt Fashion Design

Last Updated: Sunday 11th May 2014 By Benjamin Gellert

The fashion industry has only recently woken up to the importance of t-shirt design. Before this time, the t-shirt design world only consisted of brand names, slogans and funny sayings that only generated humour, not wow. During this time, there were no great ideas out there, that could be put on a t shirt, just slogans and humour.

T-Shirt Fashion on the ascendant

Complicated t shirt designs emerged as a major component of the fashion industry when skilled graphic artists, creating spectacular works, unleashed a design wave, that has gained in popularity over the last decade. For many companies, the fashion t shirt has now become a massive money-spinner.

Emerging artists using innovative graphics to design t shirts, have found new ways to get their designs out there. This new breed of t shirt designer who is focused on the adventurous and more complex t shirt design, began to take hold through social media.

This in turn saw the popularity of becoming a " T-Shirt designer" as a business idea, and subsequently, new brands emerged and this concept has taken off in leaps and bound, This concept has been compounded further with social sharing and social communications though peers such as Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.

Technology to the rescue

The popularity of t shirt designing has been amplified with the introduction of "one off" or "print on demand" services, where just about anyone can become a t-shirt designer.

This, in turn, evolved into new ventures that are community driven, allowing large groups of people to decide on what is popular and what isn't. This collaboration between consumers and designers, has become a non-formal testing ground where smart marketers can showcase products before being produced for market.

This latest technology has enabled ordinary people to facilitate the design and production of their own t shirt deigns. A brand new company can now form an online community where members can contribute their personal ideas about designs or could created a blog that caters to the specific needs of their customer, allowing 'expert consumers' to guide in the decision of what designs are hot and what is not. They could then set up their own store, to sell their wares, for very little set up costs.

This is not a good sign for the large fashion houses and industry giants, unless they, themselves, have their own networking groups and are able to leverage this latest trend, they are doomed. The giant surf wear company Billabong, is going through such turmoil, because of its inability to read the market, and to change and adapt with the times.

The t shirt fashion design industry is a billion dollar sector and continues to grow, so if you are out there, creating some great t shirt designs and you want to take advantage of the latest technology, then you will definitely not be disappointed with the choices on offer.

Take advantage of the latest trends

Keep Reading Part 2 - How To Break Into T Shirt Design?