T-shirts are one of the coolest merch items you can have and putting them in beautiful custom t-shirt packaging will instantly turn them into a great promotional item. T-shirt merch is a classic for a reason! The thing is, since it’s a classic, people get so used to it that they wouldn’t see anything unique about it. They’d think…meh, cool shirt. So what? Even the shirt with the coolest print would need a bit of a kick to make it not just a tee.
How do you add oomph to them so they’re much cooler (and more valuable) than the standard printed tees? Well, one of the smartest and easiest ways to do it is by putting them in really cool custom t-shirt packaging. It elevates the product from just a cool tee to a gift item or even a collector’s item. Now, now, I hear ya. You don’t want the added cost. Who does? You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars just to have attention-grabbing custom t-shirt packaging. No, really. And the thing is, it can double, triple, quadruple the value (and therefore, the selling price) of your custom t-shirts.
Here are some ways to personalize your custom t-shirt packaging so you get really badass t-shirt packaging without spending all your hard-earned dollars.
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#1 ADD FREEBIES
Adding simple freebies to your custom t-shirt packaging can add a lot of value to your tees. It makes it an instant attention-getter. But you know what makes this even more awesome than just making your t-shirts seem more valuable? You’re marketing your stuff indirectly. It’s free but you’re actually marketing your stuff! Here are our freebie suggestions: Download card of your music, song, or film, custom guitar picks, custom stickers, custom patches. These freebies still cost $0.50- $1 a piece so you have to adjust your pricing.
#2 PUT IT IN A CARDBOARD T-SHIRT PACKAGING
You can put it in a sort of pizza box custom t-shirt packaging. This works specially well if your event or company is related to food. But if not, it still kicks ass. Plus, it’s easy to stack and store.
If you’re not into the pizza box, you can also have this cardboard t-shirt packaging with flap. It’s a rather famous design for t-shirt packaging because you and the customers can see the design right away. Plus, it just looks good.
#3 PUT IT IN A TIN CAN T-SHIRT PACKAGING
This isn’t really the easiest custom t-shirt packaging to make but it is truly one of a kind. Make this if your goal it to really impress clients and customers. Perfect way to not be forgotten as a brand.
#4 PUT IT IN A TUBE T-SHIRT PACKAGING
Tubes are awesome ways to package tees because not only is it easier to roll a shirt instead of folding and meticulously placing them in square plastic bags, tubes are easy to stack and pack. Plus, they’re multi-purpose, reusable, and good to look at.
#5 PUT IT IN A FOIL T-SHIRT PACKAGING
There’s a sterile, industrial punk charm to shirts in vacuum packed foil packaging. It’s something we’d recommend to anyone but especially to bands who are more rock and roll.
#6 PUT IT IN A VINYL JACKET
Here’s something we did a while back. We were approached by English Laundry to make 2000 pieces of t-shirt packaging that looks like an old vinyl (LP) jacket for their limited edition Beatles t-shirts. Caulfield and English Laundry made a total of 12 t-shirts that are all inspired by the lyrics of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The client wanted to make sure that the cardboard t-shirt packaging would not have uneven bending and that the shirts would fit nicely to the jackets. They also wanted the t-shirt packaging to look aged to make it look even more vintage so they made their artwork look like it’s smeared with coffee and dirt.
What’s to love about it? Well, it has an instant vintage+music feel to it that if you’re a musician, it’s a no-brainer than you’d want to come up with something like this.
#7 WRAP IT LIKE BREAD
This is probably the most economical but not necessarily the least savvy of them all. Just have paper wrappers custom made with your cool print and logo, then wrap your tees and seal it with a yarn or sticker. Just take a look at how elegant this is and you don’t have to spend huge amounts of money.
These are just few examples on how you can make your t-shirt packaging awesome. There are a billion other ways if you try to get creative! We’re here to help you brainstorm and come up with the merch you can really be proud of. From t-shirt printing to custom t-shirt packaging to fulfilment and shipping. If you want to check out our t-shirt options, click here.
And if there’s nothing there that you want, just shoot us an email [email protected]. We’ve done a lot of merch for big companies and bands to indies and small and pop businesses.
Time to level up your shirts and merch with Unified!
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James Hill is a veteran of the music industry. He first worked at Warner Reprise Records then later joined Interscope/ Geffen Records where he managed producers and songwriters and got his first platinum record for Keyshia Cole’s The Way It Is. He is now helping indie artists with branding and manufacturing through his company Unified Manufacturing, a CD/DVD/vinyl and merch company in LA.
