Use a T-Shirt Template to Boost Sales

Clients will make a quicker and more confident purchase decision if they can see their artwork placed on a shirt.
Sept 1, 2008

By Thomas Trimingham, Contributing Writer

It can be frustrating to try to describe over the phone exactly how a client's design will look after printing. How much better would it be if they could just see it and approve it? If you send them the graphic file on a page, they are bound to call back with questions such as, "How big is this going to look on the shirt?" or "Where is this going to be printed on the shirt?" and "Will it look right?"

A simple solution is to design a T-shirt template as a sales aid. It can save a tremendous amount of work and answer a lot of simple questions. In fact, you'll find that when the customer sees the design placed on a template, they'll ask fewer of the many questions they would have otherwise.

Another advantage to using a T-shirt template as a working sales aid is that it can liberate the shop designer to work on artwork for other jobs and still leave the sales team with the tools they need to complete client approval. The process can be almost automatic with every job, and it also helps in copyrighting artwork, organizing printer guides and eventually it becomes an effective press reference for placement and colors.

The steps for creating a T-shirt template are surprisingly simple. Once it's done, it will probably be used so often that your staff will find it indispensable within a week or so. All you have to do to start is find the most common shirt forms that you use, create simple outlines of them in CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator, organize them for quick retrieval and then add any extra information or logos.

STOCK DECISIONS
Finding the right shirt forms for creating quality templates is the crucial task because it is important to get the sizing right. Some manufacturers can provide specifications with detailed sizing information; some even have outline or template files, but they are not always the best option since they aren't designed to be displayed to customers. Remember that this is a sales tool, and it is important that the shirt itself look as appealing to the client as the design or artwork.

If the shirt template looks too boxy or flat, this can create problems when there weren't any to begin with. Over the years, I have observed that photos of shirts on mannequins and/or actual bodies are the best sources for creating T-shirt templates because they create the best illusion of three-dimensional space. A flat shirt template often looks static and can make a good design appear small and lifeless. The best method is to start with a photo or other reference that depicts some volume and use that to create the vector outlines. If you do it correctly, the final shirt with the graphic will look like it does when someone is wearing it.

To create a shirt template in CorelDraw, follow these simple steps (for Adobe Illustrator the concept is the same, but the commands and steps will vary):

Import your photo or reference into CorelDraw and enlarge it so that it fills up a standard letter size page. This gives you room to work, a good size for print outs and a simple standard for comparisons.

From the top menu, select View > Wireframe style. Now, choose the Freehand drawing tool.

Use it to click on each of the major angles of the shirt's outlines for half of the shirt that you are copying. Remember to smooth out any wrinkles (unless you want that kind of look). You want your outline to be accurate, but also try to create it with a minimum number of nodes. An easy way to do this is to double click on your outline, then go back and change all the straight nodes to curves. Then, go through the shape quickly and adjust the lines to follow the shirt's contours.

You want a perfectly symmetrical template and that's simple to accomplish. Select the half outline you just created, duplicate it and then mirror the copy. The two identical pieces can then be joined using the Weld command.

At this point, you should make final adjustments to the nodes to smooth out the template. You may prefer adding several lines to create dimension in the neck collar and sleeve hems.

DUPLICATE
Obviously your shop sells more than one style of shirt, and it will be helpful to have a template for each of your top-selling shirts. For your high-volume basic shirt, you may want to do templates sized for a men's L, women's M and youth M. That way, for simple jobs in which the client might order the same design for entire families, you can show him how the size of a single piece of artwork may — or may not — look good on kids' and large adults' shirts. It's possible that these templates could be used to show the client why an extra art charge might be required.

Once you have created templates for your major sellers, you should catalog them so they are easy to find and use for comps.

Organizing can be a dirty word to a lot of creative people. The thought of categorizing and planning can create fears of engineer-like viruses that may take over the brain. An irrational fear might be, "If you organize everything, then you might turn into an obsessive person and lose touch with creative thinking."

Nothing is further from the truth, however, and time spent organizing and planning is directly proportional to the amount of free creative time that can be effectively delegated to tasks. In other words, if you don't plan repetitive tasks, everything will take longer and there will be less time available for creative pursuits.

Organizing the location and structure of shirt templates should be one of those tasks that takes a little time up front, but later on will become second nature. The simplest way to create a structure for these files is to make them as accessible as possible to the software. These files should be super easy to access, so you have a few options — each of which accomplishes the goal. You'll find the one that fits your workflow and requires the least possible searching time.

One of the easiest ways to quickly import these files is to save the templates to a template folder and then paste copies of them onto your desktop. You can organize your working space any way that you are comfortable working, but it helps to size the CorelDraw window so that you can still see icons for the other template files when you open it. Obviously, you have to move your template file icons all the way to the side of the desktop. But this allows you to simply click and drag a template into a blank Corel document. Use the keyboard shortcut — the letter "P" — to center the template on the page, and you're in business.

Advanced Corel and Illustrator users might consider composing a macro to quickly import the file in proper position. In that case, you'll be using a shortcut button that can be created in the customization area of CorelDraw.

PROOF POSITIVE
Now is the time to add logos and text that the client wants. Essentially, you are quickly composing customer approval sheets — an efficient process that may become standard procedure in your shop. The final design can be made into a formal presentation by outputting the filled-in template as an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file. Now your sales department can e-mail that small PDF to the client. And every computer in North America that has free Acrobat Reader software (which is probably 95%) will be able to open your proof.

You can personalize any template by adding alternative logos or artwork at the bottom of the page. Alternatively, you can duplicate the template, add different artwork to each and your sales staff will have a full mini-presentation of what your shop can do.

You'll probably want to make the file into some sort of standard approval form. You could create a small box at the bottom that includes check boxes or signature lines for approvals, copyright confirmation, artwork file name(s), artist name(s) or other information.

These template files are versatile. A file can be designed for any of several purposes: customer approvals through e-mail, client presentations and sales or catalog sheets to display numerous pieces of artwork in a unified format. In addition, two or three copies of a template can be combined on one page to show style variations in the same artistic theme or a selection of designs in the same category (Figure 4).

The uses for well-designed T-shirt templates are as numerous as the marketing and presentations that a busy shop can think of. Properly creating, organizing and utilizing a well-made T-shirt template will save hours every month and create a standard that is very professional and also a great sales tool.

Thomas Trimingham has worked in screen printing for more than 15 years as an artist, art director, consultant and head of R&D for high-volume screen printers. He is an award-winning illustrator, designer and author of many articles on graphics for screen printing. For more information or to comment on this article, e-mail Thomas at ttrimingham@yahoo.com or visit art4screen.com.

Shining Stars
Despite an overcast economic forecast for many industries worldwide, the decorated apparel trade continues to glimmer through the clouds, as is evident by the finely crafted entries Impressions received for the 30th annual Impressions Awards competition.
January 05, 2009

DIGITAL EDITION

Buckle Up for a Thrill Ride
The decorated apparel industry, despite substantial challenges in the U.S. economy, is alive and…well, we could be doing better. Wall Street — and the economy in general — are on a wild roller coaster as the credit crunch continues and decorated apparel is not exempt. While no one can predict the future with certainty, this survey-based analysis suggests we'll be along for the ride, but perhaps on a smaller coaster that doesn't rise as high or plunge as fast as the monster whipsawing the rest of the U.S. economy.
December 01, 2008

Multitasking Graphics Offer Great Value
Follow these tips to make 10 bold graphics from one piece of art.
Multitasking your graphics is an excellent way to add value to a design collection. With a little imagination, you can wring a lot of mileage from one good vector image. In this article, I'll demonstrate how to take one vector design and use it creatively to print 10 distinct garments.
November 01, 2008

How to Keep Cutter Material Costs Down
Order cutter material in bulk to save thousands.
As rising gasoline prices increase freight costs and with the uncertain state of the economy, everyone is looking for ways to save. Leveraging pricing when purchasing cutter materials is one way to cut costs.
October 10, 2008

Use a T-Shirt Template to Boost Sales
Clients will make a quicker and more confident purchase decision if they can see their artwork placed on a shirt.
It can be frustrating to try to describe over the phone exactly how a client's design will look after printing. How much better would it be if they could just see it and approve it? If you send them the graphic file on a page, they are bound to call back with questions such as, "How big is this going to look on the shirt?" or "Where is this going to be printed on the shirt?" and "Will it look right?"
September 01, 2008