Custom T-shirts: Designs That Sell in 2024

It’s easy to make T-shirts and other merch with a FREE Spreadshop. But what about coming up with your own original T-shirt designs?

We know how overwhelming is can be to market your passion to an audience, especially in a crowded market. T-shirt designs in 2024 are all about connecting with your niche and expressing who you are. Keep it stylistic with clean line art, or go bold with big font and phrases.

Check out what Spreadshop shop owners are selling in 2024 to give you inspo for your designs!

 Let it Blossom, Let it Grow

Plant moms (and papas) are the pet parents of a new generation. According to Garden Pals, 7 in 10 millennials refer to themselves as a plant parent. That’s even more reason to turn this hobby into a bonafide side hustle!

There are so many different routes (get it) that you can go with this design trend.

We recommend using puns and on-trend phrases to your advantage if you want to up your merch game. We personally love this “Drown That Hoe” design from the shop, Plants With Krystal. These kind of designs are universal and are sure to resonate with plant lovers everywhere.

Selling custom apparel and accessories is also a great way to raise awareness for a cause that’s close to your heart. Cayla started the Greater Orlando Plant Swap as a way for plant people to get together and help give old plants a new life. Merch helped empower her to build a brand and fuel her business.

Logos make for a classic T-shirt design and shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to building your merch line. If you don’t have one, look for local artists or use design tools like Canva to create your own logo and other designs.

Back to Basics

Putting T-shirt designs on the back of your tees is a sure fire way to stand out from other sellers. Customers can get tired of the same old, same old. This design placement offers a more subtle and stylish way to design your merch. It’s also a great tactic to appeal to an audience that’s looking for more when it comes to their apparel and what they allow into their wardrobe.

TomoTees is a great example of a shop that knows how to create merch for their audience. Their streamlined logo works well no matter where you place it.  Some cat/animals lovers might not want to purchase a T-shirt with a big graphic of a cat on it. Aesthetically-pleasing logos and standout graphics make for great designs on the front and back of tees.

PRO TIP: Take some time to consider what your audience or followers would want before you start designing. Run a poll on your Instagram or Facebook accounts. Ask them if they would wear THIS or THAT. Going straight to the source will help you identify what designs are more likely to sell and save you time in the long run.

Words Have Power

Sometimes the best way to get your messages across is to just say it like it is. Bold text T-shirt designs have become increasingly popular in recent years and are an easy way to make a statement with your merch.

We’ve seen shop owners take on this trend different, some are more literal than others. The idea of listing out niche words or phrases is fun, just like Victoria Marie Designs did for crafters with her T-shirt design. If you know your audience, you are aware of what kind of topics and ideas will resonate most with them.

You can’t go wrong with generic phrases, either. We’re really tired of living through historic times, too.

Let Me Tell You ‘Bout My Best Friend

Anyone’s pet can be a superstar when you make your own T-shirts. Your pet’s cute. You know it, and your familiy, friends, and followers know it. But how can you use that to your advantage when it comes to your T-shirt designs?

Photos of your pet just aren’t enough if you want them to be treated like a proper pet influencer. Cute illustrations and graphics are really where it’s at; they’re always the best-selling designs for pet-based merch shops. If you’re not a designer and want to create some high-quality illustrations of your pet, one of our in-house designers can fulfill your design request within 3-5 workdays.

There’s also services like Fiverr where you can pick from hundreds of unique artists to fulfill design requests. It’s well worth it to pay $20 or $30 for a design that’s quality and will sell. If you don’t want to go that route, catch phrases or tag lines are popular designs within this niche.

This category was one of the biggest sellers for merch last year, and we don’t see that trend slowing down. See how other shop owners are turning their pets into influencers with custom apparel.

The Great Outdoors

Now that it’s finally almost summer, it’s time to get outside and soak up the sun. And why not do it while wearing some custom T-shirts?

T-shirt design options are endless when it come to this niche since there are so many different subsections of interest. Certain people are into hiking, or camping, or kayaking. Each of these hobbies has their own different language and different types of graphics you can use to your advantage.

One of our favorite outdoor shops is Junkyard Fox. They’ve curated a merch line that’s unique and authentic to their YouTube channel. They use their logo, of course, but it’s T-shirt designs like this “Coffee by the Campfire” one you can get on tees and more that stands out.

At the end of the day, you can’t make a bunch of random T-shirt designs and expect them to sell (no matter how good they are). You need to find a niche or hobby that resonates with you and makes designing T-shirts and other merch easy. Having that passion is going to drive you to succeed.

We hope looking at these best-selling T-shirt designs for 2024 inspired you.

Ready to start selling your own custom T-shirts? Open your shop for FREE!