133: Why You Should Start A T-Shirt Subscription

Have you ever thought about starting a t-shirt subscription? If not, I've got 6 reasons why you should start one. Come join me for this quick episode.

Welcome to the Launch Your Box podcast with weekly tips, tricks, and strategies to start, launch, and grow your subscription box. Now here's your host, Sarah Williams.

Welcome back to the Launch Your Box podcast. It's no secret that I have a large t-shirt subscription and that we have lots and lots of Launch Your Box members that also have a t-shirt subscription. And because of that, you might be wondering why you need a t-shirt subscription. Well, I'm going to break it down for you today on this episode as we talk about why you need a t-shirt subscription. There's lots of different ways and lots of different reasons that having a t-shirt subscription has become very popular over the last few years. And the first reason is that it really is a low-cost startup. So when you're starting a t-shirt subscription, it requires a relatively low upfront cost compared to other subscriptions and other product types. T-shirts range anywhere from $2 to $7 wholesale cost, and printing can be done in-house or it can be outsourced where you need no printing equipment at all. You can ship them in poly mailers. So that's a fraction of the cost versus expensive boxes. So when you think about starting a t-shirt subscription, you have a relatively low startup cost, and that allows more people to get into this type of niche than other different product niches. The second reason you should have a t-shirt subscription is because it is a wardrobe staple across the board, men and women. It is a wardrobe staple. How many t-shirts do you own? If you walked into your closet right now, and, and maybe you're not a t-shirt wearer, so if you're not a t-shirt wearer, this wouldn't apply to you. But if you wear t-shirts for any different length of your week or month, you probably have a lot of t-shirts in your closet existing. How many times do you buy t-shirts in a year. I am always buying t-shirts. I'm always finding a cute shirt when I'm on vacation. I'm finding a cute shirt in a boutique. I will buy t-shirts more than any other apparel item that I own. So I want you to think about that. Believe it or not, t-shirts are consumable. They get used for a while and then they get replaced. And they are really part of a consistent wardrobe update. And so I want you to view them as something that people buy frequently and people repeat buy frequently. And those are great signs of what makes a really good subscription. Also, t-shirts can be dressed up or casual. They don't just fit one person's style. They really are across the board. When we think about being dressed up with a blazer or a leather jacket, that you can wear them with a skirt, dress pants, or you can be more casual and wear them with flip-flops, shorts, jeans. Jeans, or just a cardigan. So they really have a versatility in people's wardrobes, and I would consider them a consumable product. The third reason that it's a great idea to start a t-shirt subscription is that you can really focus your subscription on seasonality or theme-based or even niche-based. Every niche can have its own t-shirt subscription. Some of our members have very specific t-shirt subscription niches. I can think of career-focused t-shirt subscriptions. One that comes top of mind is the, the women dentist subscription, Brighter Life for Dentists. She has a subscription box for women dentists and also created a t-shirt subscription to go along with that. So it's very fun dentistry graphics and designs on her t-shirt. But think about career focus. You could also go with more inspirational or self-care. You can think about other industries such as artists and crafters. You can think about snarky versus sweet. You can think about animal or pet themed. And the top of my mind, I'm thinking about the G-Pig Box. They have a guinea pig t-shirt for the guinea pig owners. Same would be for Dog Mom Boxes. So really, you can have a t-shirt subscription in any niche that you're in. Think seasonal, think theme-based, and think about your niche and who you're making your subscription box for. Could you add a t-shirt there? The next reason why you should have a t-shirt subscription— of course, we all know that it builds recurring revenue into our business, but what about recurring brand exposure? You can create this consistent source of recurring revenue by having a t-shirt subscription, but have you considered it as a recurring brand message. Adding your label or brand to each design creates loyalty. Subscribers feel a sense of commitment, especially when you are consistently delivering high-quality tees and really unique classic designs. So I want you to think about not only the recurring revenue but the recurring brand exposure that you can have. Someone is literally walking around in a billboard with your designs on it. Every single day, and it can really create that sense of loyalty for someone. And so that ties into number 5, which is community building. T-shirt subscriptions can foster a sense of community among subscribers that share a similar interest. So I'm wearing a particular tee, I see somebody else wearing the same tee, we have similar likes and interests. And so that really creates a sense of community. It leads to more loyalty, more brand loyalty, more subscription loyalty. It leads to higher engagement. It also leads to higher lifetime value and retention rates. So I want you to consider having a t-shirt subscription because of the community building aspect of it. And I put this last, but it's definitely not least, the affordability of a t-shirt subscription. They are generally more affordable than many other subscriptions, making it accessible to a wide range of customers in different areas of the country different income levels, but really a t-shirt is affordable for everyone. And so you really have a broad customer base. Even when you niche down, you still are going to reach the masses because everyone can really afford a t-shirt and afford to be a part of this subscription. Having a t-shirt subscription can be a great complement to your existing subscription box. Or it can be great as a standalone subscription. When I started my t-shirt subscription, I'd had the Monogram Box for a little over a year and I had put a couple of t-shirts in those boxes. So it was about once a quarter my first year. I would put a t-shirt in with the box about once a quarter. And at the end of the year, I was prepping for all the boxes for the next year and I thought, let me do a survey from all my subscribers for the past year. Like, what did they love? What could they do without? What do they want more of? I asked a lot of questions and the, the question that I asked, what do they want more of in their boxes? And 85% of the people that submitted that survey back to me told me that they want more t-shirts. And that was a huge eye-opener for me. And I really sat down and strategized how I could give that to them. And the answer wasn't just to put a t-shirt in every box because the t-shirt has a cost to it. And that's a big chunk of my monthly budget. And if I put a t-shirt in every box, I wasn't going to be able to give some of the products that I wanted to because it was going to take too much of my budget. That's when I decided to start my t-shirt subscription. I thought, let me create a t-shirt only subscription. That would go out monthly. And if they wanted to add it to their box once a month, I would give them a discount to have it added to their box so they could upgrade their box. And I give them a little bit of a discount to go ahead and add it in. And then I would be able to satisfy the t-shirt need for all the other people that wanted more t-shirts, but it wouldn't compromise what I was putting in the box. I was a little nervous with launching that t-shirt subscription the first time that people would cancel the $45 box to have the $20 t-shirt subscription. And I thought, oh, I'm going to lose some of my revenue here because people are just going to want the t-shirt and not the whole box. And the opposite couldn't have been more true. Not only did they not cancel, but I had over half of my existing subscribers add it to their existing subscription box. So now not only did I have hundreds and hundreds of brand new subscribers when I launched, but now I had over half of my Monogram Box subscribers upgrade. So I increased my revenue, I increased, you know, their brand loyalty, and I got a whole new set of customers that maybe couldn't have afforded the higher dollar box that were able to join my subscription at the $20 level instead of the $45 level. And it really set my subscription business up to start to soar. And we saw that number go from like 300 the first month that I launched it very quickly to 500 to 1,500. It just kept growing and growing very, very fast because there was a low barrier to entry for them. For $20, they could be a part of what we were doing in my business, and that got their first step in the door. It was almost like a low lead magnet for my subscription. If I could get their commitment on a $20 subscription, it was easier for me to get their commitment for a $60 subscription. They already had some know, like, and trust in me with that lower subscription. So it was a very easy lead-in to convert them to the higher subscription product. So that's how I brought it in. I brought it in as a standalone product, added it to my box if they wanted to upgrade and offered a small discount. And it has really exploded. Not only my growth of my subscription because I have a whole new customer set to market to, but it also increased my revenue and profitability. And because I have such an extensive knowledge of all the things involved with t-shirts, so many of my students and peers have been asking me for a standalone course all about starting a t-shirt subscription from A to Z. What do I need to know? And so for the last several months, we've been working on this course. It has 12 video lessons full of actionable steps. We have worksheets and a special bonus where I give you all my favorite vendors and t-shirt styles. I have never given that list to anyone before, so it's a really special bonus. We've covered everything you'd want to know specifically about t-shirts in this one-off course, from graphics to printing, fulfillment, and so much more. You're going to be able to get all your questions questions answered, and get the t-shirt subscription started now. Get more info about this new course at launchyourbox.com or right inside my show notes today.