People love wearing tee shirts. Like, really love wearing them. In fact, about 95% of Americans wear tee shirts, and 89% of them will wear a tee shirt at least once a week.

Because people love to wear tee shirts, companies have learned it’s a good idea to give away branded, custom tees bearing the company’s name and logo. In one recent study, about 48% of consumers had received a promotional, custom tee in the past 12 months. Not only is it a great way to engage with consumers, it also turns them into walking billboards — a genuine win-win for everyone.

However, that doesn’t guarantee that they’re going to wear the cheap custom tee shirts you’ve made to promote your business. People may love tee shirts, but that doesn’t mean they love every tee shirt.

If you want people to wear your cheap custom tees, you’re going to have to design a shirt that they’d want to wear. Here are a few tips to help.

Quality Material.

One of the main reasons companies like the idea of giving away custom tees is because it’s cheap. It’s a very cost efficient way to get a brand name out there. Don’t be too cheap, though. If you are, you’ll make shirts that get worn once, and that’s it. What’s the point of even making them? Instead, companies are better off spending a dollar or two more on the material quality of their custom tees, even if that means having to make fewer custom tees. That way, people will at least wear them out rather than leaving them in the back of their drawer.

Quality Design.

If you’re going to make custom tees that people would actually want to wear, you’re going to have to come up with a design that people dig. Consider hiring a freelance graphic designer to come up with something. They won’t charge you all that much for something simple, and you can reuse the design again. A good graphic design is a worthy investment.

Quality Ink.

The ink used when making custom printed shirts might not seem like all that big of a deal, but cheap ink cracks, fades, and peels. In other words, it won’t last long. Why make promotional tees that only promote your brand for a couple washes? Make sure you choose a screen printing service that only uses quality inks.

The key to designing awesome custom tees is to keep the end consumer in mind. If you want people to wear your shirts, you need to design a shirt they’d want to wear. It’s really that simple. If you have any questions, feel free to share in the comments.