How To Create & Sell Custom Merchandise Online (Step-by-Step Guide)

Bloggin Brandi / Branding 101 / Deleted Scenes / Entrepreneurship & Business / Make Money / Veda

This is Part 2 of my “How to Make Merchandise” series! In this post, I’m walking you through exactly how to create your own branded custom merchandise—from design to selling it online. Whether you’re trying to start an online business, monetize your blog, or launch your first clothing line, this guide is for you.

I’m sharing how I started creating merchandise for Blogging Brandi—including the #BLABoss brand and custom merch for my new book, Brand Like A Boss— see how easy it is to design and sell products without needing inventory.

PS: I made you a follow-up video to go along with this blog post (you can watch below)

This post was inspired by a great question from one of my viewers—Zack Attack!

How I Got Started Selling My Own Merch (And How You Can Too)

I started creating my custom merchandise on Printful, and I’ve also created—mugs, cell phone cases, t-shirts, and more!

I got a lot of questions about the prior post/video that I put out, about how I Created My Own Customer Merchandise, and I wanted to spill even more of the details!

I got a really good question from Zack Attack.

Zack asked me:

“Blogging Brandi hats seem like a great place to start for merch. I thought this video would be tips for first steps when you’re thinking about selling your own merch, or the process that brought you to actually having it made. I’ve been told it’s a great practice to research the different suppliers to decide which gives the best options, payout rates (if you’re totally in it for business), and shipping information. Would you do a follow-up video for these things? I think it would really help small creators decide if selling merchandise is a good move for them.”

Thank you, Zack, for submitting a great question.

Zack—yes, I will — welcome to your follow-up post/video!

What type of custom merch can you sell?

I’ve designed:

  • Hats
  • Mugs
  • Phone cases
  • T-shirts (like the one I’m wearing)
  • Vertical and horizontal layouts

You could also do:

  • Sweatshirts
  • Leggings
  • Socks
  • Pillows
  • Blankets

Just know: Printful might not offer everything. Some things, you may need another supplier.

Printful, Teespring, Amazon Merch: Which One Should You Use?

For this video, I’m going to share with you the tips that you need to help you get started, or maybe decide whether creating custom merchandise is right for you.

So, the first thing I figured I’d share with you is:
Where can you start selling or designing your own merchandise?

There are three places I would suggest starting:

  • Printful (my personal favorite)
  • Teespring (why I didn’t choose it)
  • Amazon Merch (the pros and cons)

Printful

The first one is the one I use: Printful.

There are a few reasons why I use them:

  • I like the fact that they don’t have any minimums on their orders.
  • They’re very user-friendly—super easy to use.
  • They integrate with tons of platforms I already use, like WordPress.

Having something that integrates with tools I’m already familiar with—or might use in the future for my business—is kind of why I leaned toward Printful.

Teespring

Now, I did look into Teespring, which is the second option I would suggest.

The only reason I didn’t choose them is:

  • They weren’t as user-friendly to me
  • I had to have a minimum quantity for an item (I believe it was a mug)

I didn’t like having to spend $30–$40 just to see if I liked how a mug came out.

I did a sample order with Printful, and when I got the mug, I knew there were changes to make. But I didn’t have to order multiples.

Teespring made me order three of the mugs, so that’s why I leaned more toward Printful.

Amazon Merch

The third option is Amazon Merch.

I thought: Oh! This is going to be so easy because it’s already affiliated with Amazon.

But—there’s an application process, and you have to get approved.

One thing I learned is that Amazon Merch works better if you already have a design that’s really popular or guaranteed to sell.

Not saying you can’t use it for new designs—it’s just that they want to review everything, and I don’t like to wait.

I didn’t have to wait with Printful or Teespring, and that made a difference.

Sample Orders: Why You Must Test Before Selling

Why I never order in bulk at first—and you shouldn’t either.

When you start selling merchandise, you need to expect it to cost you more upfront and not earn a whole bunch—especially if you’re in it for business.

In the beginning, you will be ordering samples or smaller quantities to test.

As your design becomes more popular and you start selling more, you can order in larger quantities. That’ll increase your profit margin and decrease the production cost.

Beyond Printful: When to Use AliExpress or Alibaba

When your merch starts to take off, here’s how to scale.

Once you start growing, a good next step might be:

Both are great for finding suppliers and wholesalers in the U.S. or internationally.

Alibaba is great for larger orders, but you can message the suppliers for sample requests.

And many of those same sellers are also on AliExpress, which lets you order in smaller quantities.

So here’s the flow I recommend:

  • Start with Printful or Teespring.
  • Once you start to grow, look into AliExpress and Alibaba.

How to Design Merch Without Being a Designer

These platforms are great for uploading designs, but you still have to create the design first.

  • What file types and sizes to use
  • Canva for DIY
  • Fiverr & Upwork if you want to outsource
  • The importance of testing color and layout

Canva for DIY

I use Canva for:

  • Logos
  • Watermarks
  • Merch designs

Sizes & Colors

I try a few formats: PDF, JPEG, PNG—and test sizes.

If it’s a logo, I might start at 500×500 pixels.

For t-shirts: I usually use a PDF.

It’s trial and error.

If you’re designing in color, also design in black and white. The colors on-screen are not the same in print—so always order color samples.

Hire A Designer

If you’re not into design, hire someone.

I’ve used:

They’re great if you don’t have the time or aren’t a designer.

I’ve done a video on how to design a watermark and how to design a logo.

Sizing, Fit, and Shrinkage: What You Need to Know

Why one size definitely doesn’t fit all—and how to warn your customers ahead of time.

If you use a supplier outside your country, be aware:

  • Sizes may fit differently, especially with apparel.
  • Apparel from Asia tends to run smaller.
  • Always order samples—every time!

When it comes to sizes:

  • Always test small, medium, large
  • Shirts and hats fit differently
  • Items may shrink in the wash

Let your customers know!

I tell people: “These run small. I recommend sizing up.”

This is all trial and error. You have to test, try, and tweak.

If you say, “I’ve tested this. I’ve reviewed this. I wear this.” …your audience will trust you more.

Yes, you’ll spend money upfront buying samples and small quantities — but it’s better than someone ordering your item, not liking it, and returning it.

What Should You Put on Your Merch?

How do you know what to put on your merch? Should it be a quote, logo, picture, etc…?

Again: trial and error.

Start with one item. Perfect it.

Once one person buys, more will follow.

Ideas:

  • Quote
  • Phrase
  • Slogan
  • Tagline

Avoid just putting your logo or name—unless you’re Nike or MJ. Most people won’t wear your name across their chest.

Instead, use:

  • Hashtags (like #BLABBOSS = Brand Like a Boss)
  • Something related to your product or service
  • Even a visual representation of what you offer

Need Ideas? Go to Pinterest

Use it for inspiration, not duplication.

Go on Pinterest. Create a board. Search and Pin ideas for:

  • T-shirts
  • Hats
  • Slogans
  • Quotes

This will help inspire your own merch direction.

Common Mistakes (And How I Caught Them Early)

Test everything:

  • Size
  • Color accuracy
  • Design alignment
  • Material quality

Keep an eye out for:

  • Misaligned logos
  • Unexpected trim/crop
  • Off-color printing
  • Packaging issues

Example:

  • My shirt’s blue didn’t match my logo’s blue.
  • The “A” on the hat wasn’t aligned.
  • The phone case design cut off weird.

Things I wouldn’t have caught without ordering a sample.

Once you’re happy, order one as a customer (not a sample) to see:

  • How it’s shipped
  • What it looks like
  • What extras could you add

Printful lets you customize packaging—look into that.

Tips:

  • Never order in bulk first!
  • Start with 1–5 samples.
  • Get feedback.
  • Then scale.

Promoting Your Merchandise the Smart Way

Promote. Wear. Share.

  • Wear your merch in videos
  • Use your mug during livestreams
  • Show it off in photos
  • Run giveaways (“Comment to win a mug!”)
  • Use it as content in your business

All great ways to build excitement and drive sales.

Also, consider:

  • Product reviews
  • Service reviews
  • Paid ads like Google AdWords or YouTube ads

Just weigh cost vs. sales.

Final Thoughts: Start Small, Stay Consistent

Test, tweak, and grow—one item at a time.

So now you know how I got started creating merchandise!

I hope that answered your question, Zack Attack. If you have more—drop them below!

Grab My Branding Guide

Want help picking fonts, colors, and designs? Check out my free branding guide below…

MY Branding Guide includes:

  • Fonts
  • Color palettes
  • Themes
  • Tools mentioned in this video

You’ll find all the links mentioned here!

>> DOWNLOAD My BOSS BRANDING GUIDE to help you MAKE YOUR OWN MERCH

I’m Blogging Brandi, welcome to another episode of BLABoss, where you can find tons of free resources to help you brand your business.

Thanks for reading/watching, and I’ll see you in the next episode!

>> ICYMI… Here’s How I Started Making Merchandise: First Product Reveal & Review! — PART 1

Videos Mentioned:

📚  Get your copy of MY BOOK

About Me

If we haven’t officially met, Hey I’m Blogging Brandi An EX-Corporate Kool-Aid Drinker, born to be Blogger, Creator, Female Digital Nomad & Entrepreneur who LOVES RV Living! (oh and Sharing My Advice On YouTube!) Plus, I’m the creator of RVersity, my university for RVers & the name of my other YouTube channel! I’ve also been a licensed cosmetologist for over 17+ years and Graduated From College as a Finance Major… But I decided to quit my job, sell everything to start my own business (and if you’ve seen my story then ya know why I live in an RV aka how I ended up becoming a digital nomad or should I say a “nomadic entrepreneur”)! Now I help others who want to follow in my footsteps…

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Video Transcript:

00:00

I did this on printful and I’ve also created a whole bunch of other stuff mugs cell phone cases t-shirts like the one that I’m wearing and some other ones I created these on printful and got a lot of questions about the video that I put out the video that I created I will put a link to in the description but I got a really good question from Zack attack Zach asked me log and Brandy hats seem like a great place to start for Merch I thought this video would be tips for first steps when you’re

00:40

thinking about selling your own merch or the process that brought you to actually having it made I’ve been told it’s a great practice to research the different suppliers to decide which gives the best options payout rates if you’re totally in it for business and shipping information would you do a follow-up video for these things Zach yes I will I think it would really help small creators decide if selling merchandise is a good move for them well Zach welcome to your follow-up video thank you Zach for submitting a

01:19

great question for this video I’m going to share with you the tips that you need to help you get started or maybe decide whether creating merchandise is for you so the first thing I figured I would share with you is where can you start selling your merchandise or designing your own merchandise there’s three places I would suggest to start the first one is the one that I use which is printful there’s a few reasons why I use them I like the fact that they don’t have any minimums on their orders

01:58

they’re very userfriendly there’s super easy to use and they integrate with tons of platforms that I already used like WordPress having something that integrates with stuff that I’m already familiar with or things that I may use in the future for my business is kind of a reason that I leaned towards printful now I did look into Teespring which is the second option that I would tell you to look at for designing the only reason I really didn’t choose them is the fact that they weren’t as

02:36

user friendly to me and that I had to have a quantity a minimum quantity for an item that I was ordering I believe it was a mug and I just didn’t like the fact that I had to spend like $30 $40 to get a mug or a set of mugs to see if I liked what came because I did do a sample order with printful and when I got the mug I knew that there was some changes to be made really would wouldn’t have wanted to order the same mug three times and have the same issue but pren will let me order just one of the mugs

03:08

and like I said Teespring was making me order three of the mugs so that’s kind of like why I leaned more towards printful versus Teespring now there’s a third option which is Amazon merch I did look into this I thought oh this is going to be so easy because it’s already affiliated with Amazon and I do a lot of stuff on Amazon but there’s an application process involved and you have to get approved now the one thing that I kind of learned about the Amazon merch program it’s kind

03:39

of something where if you already have a design that’s really popular or you know people will buy it would be a good idea to maybe put that with Amazon merch not saying that you can’t use it for something that’s not popular or that isn’t selling yet or that you haven’t sold and it’s just brand new I just think that I probably wouldn’t try to sell on Amazon even if it’s something off line that you’re bringing online that’s popular it seems like they want you to apply and they want to review

04:06

your design and stuff like that so I didn’t really lean towards them even though I thought that Amazon would be a really good option plus the fact that I don’t want to wait and I don’t like waiting and I didn’t have to wait on any of the other options like printful or Teespring when you start selling merchandise you need to expect it to cost you more and not to earn a whole bunch of money off it especially if you’re in it for business the more popular that your design gets or the

04:32

more that you start selling you can start ordering in larger quantities which will increase your profit margin and decrease the price that is costing you to actually produce the item that you’re selling meaning over time you’re going to order more in quantity because you have higher sales driving the price of the cost to produce the item down and your profit margins up once you start growing a really good option to check out might be AliExpress they are a great resource for getting smaller sample orders similar to

05:15

Alibaba if you’ve ever heard of them Alibaba is also another great option to use you can order these and search for suppliers and wholesalers either in the US or in the country that you’re in I’ve ordered from overse I’ve also ordered locally within the us both AliExpress and Alibaba to order your samples once you start getting a larger quantity now if you use a wholesaler or supplier that isn’t in the US or isn’t in your country keep in mind that their sizes may not fit the same especially when it comes to

05:50

apparel I found ordering from like Asia the items fit a little bit smaller keep that in mind when you’re ordering your t-shirts and and make sure that you get sample orders when you order every time every single time and Alibaba is more for large orders but you can talk to them the suppliers hellers and get sample orders and a lot of them are actually featured on AliExpress as well so you’ll see a lot of the same people it’s just AliExpress allows you to order much smaller quantities versus Alibaba wants

06:29

you to order like hundreds at a time I would start out with something like printful or Teespring once you start to grow then I would move into AliExpress and Alibaba printful and tepring these are great platforms for uploading designs and putting them on merchandise but you actually have to create the design before you can upload it I do this with conva I’ve shared this for Logos and watermark Mar s and other things that I create I will do a trial and error either a PDF a JPEG a PNG type file and

07:08

play around with the sizes if it’s a logo I might start out around 500 by 500 pixels if it’s a t-shirt I’ll just use a PDF it’s just trial and error so I just kind of mess around with it and if you design in color it’s really a great idea to make sure that you also design in black and white and order samples of your color if you’re using a color because I will find a lot of times the colors do not look the same once you get them in front of you online versus print is different just keep that in mind when

07:40

it comes to color black and white print your logo things that you’re using it doesn’t look the same on the screen as it does in person if you’re not into designing at all then maybe it might be a good idea to hire someone I have used Fiverr to hire people to help me create some type of design and I’ve also used upw work these are both places to start if you want to Outsource that task and you’re just not a designer or if you just don’t have the time like me I’ve done a video about how to design a

08:15

watermark and how to design a logo I will link to those in the description below so that will help you with your design process so I already mentioned this but keep in mind when you’re designing you want to order different sizes small medium large it may not fit the same one type of t-shirt may fit different than another type of t-shirt the same thing for hats that I’ve learned I tend to think that some things come smaller so I would lean on the larger side and think about the fact that if somebody washes

08:44

something it may not fit the same and you just don’t want people to be returning I would encourage you to make sure that you try these sizes on and are aware of those things so when I start selling my merchandise to people like a t-shirt I tell them hey these run small I would get a larger size in them and then if you’re going to wash them keep in mind that they may shrink and this is all trial and error everything is trial and error you just have to test and try and see what works what people like what

09:13

designs look like once you actually get them in front of you but you have to spend money to make money so don’t feel bad that you’re spending a little bit of money to see what something’s actually going to look like because what would suck is if somebody ordered your item and then they got it and they didn’t like like it you don’t want to deal with that and that just doesn’t look good so if you take the time up front to say hey I’ve vetted this I’ve looked at this

09:38

I’ve ordered this and this is something I would share or send to someone they already trust you online and now they’re ordering some type of merchandise from you or a piece of merchandise that you’re recommending you want it to be something that you’ve tried and tested and done yourself when it comes to the question of what do I sell I’ve designed hats mugs phone gazes what else I did these t-shirts like the t-shirt that I have on and so I also designed like this way and then I did one up and

10:17

down that’s something to think about of like the different things that you want to design but there’s tons of stuff out there you can do sweatshirts leggings socks pillows blankets one company I use use printful they may not design everything there so that’s something to keep in mind if there’s certain things that you’re looking to have designed somebody will design it for you how do you know if it’s right for you to actually start creating merchandise or what should you be selling on your

10:44

merchandise should it be a quote it’s all trial and error I would honestly just put something out there so that you can learn how to sell and what works and what doesn’t work you don’t have to create a whole bunch of stuff you can start with just one item and perfect it and if you get one person to buy then you can get somebody else to buy it just to give you some ideas I would suggest doing like a quote a phrase maybe a tagline or your slogan I have found it’s kind of weird to get people to buy your

11:13

logo or your name unless you’re really a big brand like Nike or Michael Jordan if it’s a brand name like that they want it to be seen But if it’s something like your name it may not really be that cool to them and plus who wants to put brand new all over their t-shirt I mean it’s kind of strange to me I’ve also done a hashtag you’ve seen this hash blab boss this means brand like a boss if you haven’t figured that out or watched my other video so that has to do with a book that I’m selling

11:46

you can do a hashtag or you can do something advertising the product or service itself if it’s something where people would want a t-shirt a mug some type of article with your product or service on it then maybe you put the product or service a picture of it on that item the best idea that I can give you is to go to Pinterest and create a board go through search for ideas around if it’s a hat or some type of t-shirt maybe it’s a slogan a quote use those ideas and search for what other people

12:22

have said or what they’re doing maybe it’ll give you some ideas for things that you can use to create your own merchandise as I mentioned test test test make sure that you order samples review perfect look at the item when you get it and check for the sizes see what fits I know that the items that I ordered seem like they came a little bit smaller and I would actually like them in a larger size then I looked at the color of the blue that I use in my logo and the color of blue that came on the

12:56

actual shirt and it wasn’t really the same color of blue so that’s something that I’ll probably change or maybe I won’t use a color on my merchandise some other things to review are the quality of the design I actually like the quality of the t-shirts that I’ve picked out I keep looking back here because they’re back here but I do like them I ordered a very nice material there was tons to choose from so that was something that I did like I just didn’t like certain other things about the

13:26

design like the alignment of the Ed a on maybe the Hat I mentioned that in the last video that I talked about there’s some other things like on this phone case it stops and that was something that was weird to me that it just stopped plus I thought that it was written on here without this white backing so that might be something that I would change and those are things that I wouldn’t have known had I not ordered the product and saw it in person to actually review it another thing to check out is the packaging so maybe once

14:03

you’ve really created the product and you think okay this is exactly what is going out to the customer I would actually order one and not as a sample order as a customer see what it comes to you like look at the packaging look at what’s in it see if there’s something maybe you could add to the packaging I know PRL offers the option to put things in the package I believe that might be something to look into never order your first order in bulk you want to just get like one to five samples and see what

14:34

they look like get some feedback on them and then gradually start to order more and more as you check out the samples and you start to increase your sales on these items and last but not least promote Wear and share wear your items in your videos put your hat on when you go out maybe when you’re doing your next book review yes sip some coffee in your branded mug these are all things that you can do to help promote your brand as well as maybe give those things away in a giveaway or contest for people and say

15:13

hey if you watch this video make sure to comment below and you can win a branded mug so if you comment below you can win a branded which is a great example of how to promote on social media especially on YouTube and throughout your videos is by maybe doing a product review or some type of service review of the product or service that you’re looking to actually sell and then of course last but not least you can actually use paid ads something like Google AdWords if you’re on YouTube you might have

15:47

monetization those are all things that can help Drive traffic and sales but essentially that is a paid version so you have to outweigh that with the cost of what you’re actually selling now you know how to make your own merchandise or essentially how I got started making my own merchandise and hopefully that answers your question Zach Attack if you have more make sure and leave them below this video let me know what questions you have you might also want to pick up my branding guide where I’ve put

16:19

together a whole bunch of really cool tools and resources along with a lot of them that I’ve mentioned in this video to help you brand your merchandise so you can pick out your fonts your your colors your themes all of the things that you’d really need to help you in the design process check out the link below this video for all of those goodies I’m Brandy of blogging brandy.com where you can find tons of free resources to help you brand your business thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video [Music] down [Music]

This video was originally published on my old Bloggin Brandi YouTube channel and is part of my deleted scenes series.

New MERCH Store COMING SOON! Don’t forget to comment below for a chance to win a branded #BLABoss Mug! From Me 🙂

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Updated: August 8, 2025
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