Wanting to create your own custom t-shirt?

There are numerous places where you can create your own custom t-shirt and get it printed up. Here is a listing of some of the places where you can make that happen. With a little review to help pick the best one for you. Listed in no particular order.

CafePress

cafepress

The grand-daddy of create your own t-shirt sites, CafePress makes it easy to put your design on just about anything. From T-shirts, to coffee mugs, sweatshirts, posters, audio CD’s, books, tote bags and many others, if you have an idea you can design it on CafePress.

For awhile I think CafePress was trying to work on the cheap, with only a small amount of options and lightweight goods. But since then they’ve upgraded their products and improved their site considerably so they are once again a good option for making your own t-shirts with.

What more can you say really, CafePress has a huge following and lots of t-shirt creation options.

Spreadshirt

With their T-shirt Designer you can create your own text or graphic based apparel on a wide selection of products. And I mean a wide selection of products. T-shirts, long sleeve shirts, hoodies, women’s and junior’s styles, and even stuff for little kids and babies. Plus bags and mousepads and underwear.

For the hippy in all of us, they also have tie-dye and various organic t-shirts.

Just pick your product, then apply your design or custom text on top of it. You can choose front or back designs on most shirts and even put designs on the sleeve with some. Spreadshirt has a large library of pre-made designs and different categories to choose from. So you can mix and match your favorite text and graphics for the perfect shirt. Spreadshirt also has a large marketplace of custom designs made by others if you are feeling lazy.

The shirts, or whatever product you’ve chosen, is then custom made and shipped to you. Spreadshirt uses a heat transfer vinyl that is like a heavy and durable silkscreen ink. Which is called ‘Flex’. It is pretty high quality, and I would compare it to a heavy silkscreen ink job. There is very little difference. They also offer a ‘Flock’ version, which is a soft and fuzzy version of ‘Flex’. Like those fuzzy stickers girls put on their notebooks in the ’70s and ’80s.

They also do digital printing which is good if you have a photo you want printed on a product.

You also have the ability to make your own t-shirt shop and sell your designs with Spreadshirt if you are the creative type. Spreadshirt offers International shipping to over 25 different countries. Chances are your country is on the list.

Comboutique

Based in Europe, Comboutique offers you the ability to make your own custom t-shirt as well. They have a solid selection of products, from different styles of t-shirts to hoodies to women’s tanktops to gift items like mugs and caps.

With an easy to use Flash module, you can choose your shirt color or product, then easily place a graphic on the front or back of it. Or your own custom text or upload an image to print on your shirt. They don’t have as many options as Spreadshirt’s T-shirt Designer, but they have differing products and graphics of course.

If you don’t want to make your own, Comboutique has their own marketplace with ready made unique t-shirt designs for you to choose from. A good resource if you live in Europe or would like to get ahold of one of their shirts.

Make sure you check out the Hotstuff section for the best of Comboutique’s contest winners, there are some great t-shirt designs listed there.