T-shirt printing business in Pakistan: start from home

A printed tee looks like the easiest clothing business there is. A blank shirt, a design, a print shop. What decides whether it works is the print surviving the wash, the fit matching the chart, and the design being yours to sell. For the wider clothing questions, such as niche, costing, pricing and launching in drops, read our guide to starting a clothing brand in Pakistan. This one is about tees.

Four ways to print a tee

Every print shop will tell you their method is the best. Each one is good at a different job.

• DTF (direct to film). The design is printed onto a film, coated with an adhesive powder, and pressed onto the shirt with heat. It works on cotton, polyester and blends, in any number of colours, and one piece costs the printer about the same effort as ten. That makes it the usual choice for small runs and made-to-order. The trade-off: the print sits on top of the fabric as a thin layer you can feel, and a cheap transfer or a rushed press can peel at the edges after a few washes.
• Sublimation. Ink turns to gas under heat and goes into polyester fibres, so the print has no feel at all and will not crack. It only works on polyester or high polyester blends, and only on white or light colours, because there is no white ink. Good for sports shirts, team kits and all-over prints. Not for a black cotton tee.
• Screen printing. One screen is made for each colour, then ink is pushed through onto every shirt. Making screens takes time and money, so a few pieces cost a lot and a large run of the same design costs little per piece. Prints last well. Photos and art with many colours are hard. This is the method for a bulk order of one design, such as a company, a school event or your best seller once you know it sells.
• Vinyl (HTV). A plotter cuts the design out of coloured vinyl sheet, the waste is picked away by hand, and the rest is pressed on. Clean and sharp for names, numbers and one or two colour text. Slow and stiff for detailed art, and each colour is a separate layer.

You will also hear of DTG, which prints ink straight into cotton like a paper printer. Fewer shops offer it, so ask before you design around it.

A simple rule: full-colour art in small numbers goes to DTF, polyester sportswear to sublimation, one design in bulk to screen, and names on jerseys to vinyl. The same vinyl cutter also cuts stickers, which our guide to the sticker business in Pakistan covers.

Use a local printer before buying machines

A heat press and a printer are the first things people price, and the last thing you need. Until you know which designs sell, a machine is money sitting in a corner. Every city has print shops that do DTF and screen work for other brands. Use one.

Ask each printer the same questions on WhatsApp, so the answers are in writing:

• Which methods they do, and which they would use for your design and fabric.
• The rate per piece at one, at ten and at fifty, and what the rate includes.
• The largest print size they can do on the front and back.
• Whether they supply blanks or print on yours.
• How many days a sample takes, and how many days an order takes in a busy week.
• What happens to a misprint: do they reprint at their cost, and on whose blank.

Then send the same design to two printers and compare the samples after washing. The wash shows which print holds up, which the price alone will not tell you.

Send files the way printers want them: the design at full print size, on a transparent background, in high resolution. A design pulled from a phone screenshot prints blurry, and the printer is not to blame for that.

Blank tees: fabric, GSM and fit

The blank is half the product. A great print on a thin shirt that twists after one wash is a return. Wholesale markets and garment factories sell plain tees in bulk, and our guide to wholesale suppliers in Pakistan covers finding and testing one.

• GSM is the fabric’s weight in grams per square metre. Higher GSM feels thicker and drapes heavier, which is what buyers expect from an oversized or streetwear tee. Lower GSM is lighter for summer. Ask each supplier for the GSM in writing, then feel the two weights side by side. The number alone does not tell you how it wears.
• Fabric. Ask whether it is 100% cotton, a cotton blend or polyester, because that decides which print method works. Cotton for DTF and screen, polyester for sublimation.
• Shrinkage. Ask if the fabric is pre-shrunk. Then check it yourself: measure a blank, wash it, dry it, measure again.
• Fit. Regular, slim, oversized and drop-shoulder are different patterns, not just different sizes. Buy one of each size in the fit you want and try them on real people.
• Same batch. Colour and size can drift between batches of the same supplier’s black tee. Ask for the same lot for an order, and check a few pieces when it arrives.

Pick one blank and one fit to start. Two fabrics in four colours and five sizes is forty stock lines before you have printed anything.

Designs you have the right to sell

The fastest way to fill a tee page is with anime characters, football crests, band logos and luxury brand marks. Those designs belong to someone. Selling them without permission puts your page at the mercy of a single report, and a brand name built on someone else’s art is not worth much.

• Draw your own, or pay a designer and get it in writing that the design is yours to print and sell.
• Read the licence before using any art, font or mockup from a design website. Some free ones do not allow use on products you sell.
• Do not use AI to copy an existing character or logo. A copy is still a copy.
• Text designs in Urdu, Punjabi or local slang are a real niche and easy to own.

Your own brand name is worth protecting too. In the trademark classes IPO Pakistan uses, class 25 covers clothing, footwear and headwear. Our guide on how to register a brand name (in Urdu) walks through the filing.

The size chart

“Medium” means something different on every blank. Measure your own tees, laid flat: chest from armpit to armpit, length from the shoulder to the hem, and sleeve. Give it in inches, and say whether the fit is regular or oversized, because a buyer who wants a loose fit will size up if you tell them.

The free size chart maker turns your measurements into a chart you can post. Put it on every product page and in an Instagram highlight, and repeat the size back to the buyer when you confirm the order.

Mockups and real photos

Mockups are fine for testing a design: post it, see who asks for it, then print it. Once you sell a design, add real photos of the printed tee. A mockup shows a perfect print on a perfect shirt. The buyer gets your shirt, and if the colour or the print size differs, the parcel comes back.

Shoot the real tee in daylight, flat and worn, with a close-up of the print so buyers can see its texture. Write the model’s height and the size they are wearing under the photo. Our guide to product photography with a mobile (in Urdu) covers light and backgrounds.

Made to order or ready stock

Print on demand is the global name for printing each shirt only after it is ordered. In Pakistan it works best with your local printer, and it pairs with ready stock rather than replacing it.

• Made to order. For custom names, a buyer’s own photo, couple or group tees, and any design you have not printed yet. A custom shirt cannot be sold to anyone else if it is refused at the door, so take an advance by bank or wallet transfer before you send it to print, and tell the buyer how many days it takes. Keep the transfer screenshot with the order.
• Ready stock on cash on delivery. For your best sellers in the sizes that move. These ship the same or next day, and a refused parcel can go back on the shelf.

Start with most designs made to order and move a design to ready stock once it keeps selling. This is not dropshipping: you hold the blanks or the stock and you check every shirt before it ships. For the difference, see our guide to dropshipping in Pakistan.

Check each printed tee before packing: print straight and centred, no lifted edges, the right size and colour. A crooked print found in your room costs one blank. Found at the buyer’s door, it costs the courier both ways.

The wash care card

A “the print came off” complaint can come from how the tee was washed. A small card in every parcel helps prevent it. Ask your printer what their print can take and write it down plainly, usually something like:

• Wait a day before the first wash.
• Turn the tee inside out.
• Wash cold, on a gentle cycle, with similar colours.
• No bleach, and no soaking for hours.
• Dry in the shade, not in direct sun.
• Iron inside out, never directly on the print.

Add one line in Urdu, your Instagram handle, and how to ask for a size exchange. Then send your own sample through every one of these steps a few times, so you know what you are promising.

Your own store

Give each design its own product page with real photos, the fabric and GSM, the sizes and the size chart. Buyers pick a size, enter the address and order, paying by cash on delivery, JazzCash, Easypaisa or card, without waiting for a reply in your DMs. You book PostEx, Leopards or TCS right from the order screen, and the tracking number goes to the buyer on WhatsApp, so you can answer “where is my shirt” in one look.

Questions sellers ask

How do I start a t-shirt business in Pakistan?

Pick one buyer and five or six designs you made or paid for. Get two or three blank tees from a supplier, have a local printer do a sample of each design, wash the samples, then make a size chart from the real tees. Take advances on made-to-order prints and stock only the designs that keep selling.

Which printing method is best for t-shirts?

It depends on the design and the quantity. DTF suits small runs of full-colour art on cotton. Sublimation suits white or light polyester, such as sports shirts. Screen printing suits large runs of one design in a few colours. Vinyl suits names, numbers and simple text.

Is a t-shirt printing business profitable in Pakistan?

It can be, if the design is the reason people buy. Plain printed tees compete on price with every market stall. Work out the cost of the blank, the print, packing, courier charges and returned parcels for one delivered order before you set a price, and use your printer’s written rate, not a figure from a video.

Do I need to buy a printing machine to start?

No. A local DTF or screen printer can print your orders while you learn which designs sell. Buy a machine only once you have steady orders and know which method your best sellers need.

Can I print anime characters or brand logos on t-shirts?

Not on tees you sell, unless you have permission from whoever owns them. Characters, team crests and brand logos belong to someone, and a store full of them is easy to report. Sell your own designs or art you have paid for in writing.

What is print on demand in Pakistan?

Print on demand means you print each tee only after a buyer orders it. Here it usually works with a local printer: you show designs on your store, take the order and an advance, send the file and the blank to the printer, then ship the finished tee by courier.

Storelala is the Shopify alternative in Pakistan: your own store at yourbrand.storelala.com, cash on delivery, JazzCash, Easypaisa and cards at checkout, and no marketplace commission. It works from your phone and is free to start, with no card needed. Start your store and put your first designs up today.