Are you a fitness enthusiast or perhaps just a mom who loves the comfort of a good pair of leggings and would love to start your own leggings business at home? Well, with print-on-demand services, it is now easier than ever to make this a reality.
T-shirts were all the rage in the early days of print-on-demand, but companies are becoming more competitive with the variety of products they offer – moving into swimwear, hoodies, leggings, pillows, jewellery…the list goes on. With so many products and niches, there is an excellent opportunity to find the exact products you want to create and sell as part of your own brand.
What is Print-on-Demand?
Print-on-demand is a business model that uses digital technology to print designs on a product after a customer orders it. This method is very beneficial in that there is no need for a brick-and-mortar store, it allows business to be conducted without holding any inventory in stock as well as it avoids the risk of having unsold products.
Merchandise can be customized and unique to your brand. Products can be viewed as a mockup beforehand so as to have an idea of what the final outcome will be after manufacture. One of the best parts of this business model is that the print-on-demand company does white labelling so you don’t have to manufacture the product yourself. In addition, the company will not just print the product but fulfil and ship the order for you to your customer.
Choosing a Print-on-Demand Company
There are a growing number of print-on-demand companies to choose from and research and consideration would have to go into selecting the best one for your customers and business goals.
When doing the research to find a print-on-demand supplier for your leggings business, go through the companies’ product catalogues and ask yourself relevant questions pertaining to your requirements.
Have a look at the availability of sizes for your customers. Do they offer petite and plus sizes? Is there an option for capri and mid-calf styles? What about the quality of fabrics offered for leggings? Do they offer children’s sizes as well? Do they have leggings for men?
Does the company ship to customers worldwide or is it limited in shipping options?
Are the prices competitive? Is the platform free to use?
Also, there is a need for integration with the print-on-demand website to be able to seamlessly post your products to the e-commerce site you will be using such as Shopify, WooCommerce or Etsy for example.
One such print-on-demand company that I recommend is Printful. I have found Printful to be one of the best when it comes to the quality of prints as well as the variety of merchandise they offer.
If you are not familiar with how dropshipping with Printful works, here is a video outlining the process.
For more information on getting started with dropshipping with Printful see my earlier post on How to Start Your Own Online Store.
Create Custom Designs for Your Leggings Business
If you have the skills to design your own prints for your leggings, then by all means unleash your creativity! Printful gives you the file guidelines to follow at the bottom of each product page.
If not, once you have a concept or sketch of the design/s you would like for your leggings, you would need to find a designer to create the mockup and final designs for you. There are many platforms that can be used to find graphic designers versed in creating patterns, artwork etc. for leggings but in this case, I used Fiverr to find a designer.
Here I will show you the steps I used to create custom leggings on behalf of a local brand, by request.
First to go Printful.com and create a free account.
Next, go to Fiverr.com and create a free account as well.
On Fiverr under Graphics and Designs search for leggings designs. There will be a number of designers to choose from. Go through their ratings, reviews and portfolios to find a reputable designer whose designs you like.
In my case, I was able to find a designer with five stars and great reviews. I contacted her beforehand to find out if she could do the two designs that were sent to me by the company for their ‘Build My Dreams’ campaign.
She asked me for details of what I wanted and then we agreed to work together from there. I paid for the gig which cost USD$22.00 and within three days she created two designs that we were pleased with. Here are the mockups she presented to me.
Once you approve the designs for your leggings, you will then receive the finished files which are ready to be transferred onto the Printful leggings.
Go to your Printful account dashboard, then to ‘Product Templates’. Here you will be able to select the product you want, in this case, All-Over Leggings, and then upload the design to create the mockup. At this point, you will also see the cost price of manufacturing your product. Once the template is created and saved, you can add it to your online store or place an order for yourself.
It is recommended that you purchase a sample for yourself to determine if the final result meets your expectations as sometimes the mockup can look different to the actual printed product.
You can also use the samples to do photo and video shoots for your social media or website before you take pre-orders.
This is the final product that was delivered to the local brand and worn by one of their models. They were quite pleased as they got exactly what they wanted.
So if starting a leggings business selling unique custom-made designs is part of your entrepreneurial dream, I encourage you to explore the possibilities using print-on-demand and dropshipping.
