Small Design in the World of ‘Big Apparel’

GT | 12/18/25 | apparel

Operating an apparel business at a small scale is like an endurance event - constantly trying to catch up with a stronger, faster, better fed (funded) competitor - where you hope your stamina, speed, and strategy will continually get better so that you can, at least, stay in the event.

The graphic apparel business is an interesting one because it has a relatively low barrier to entry but a very high competitive range. In other words, its not too hard to get started but it can be very difficult to stand out, find an audience, and make a product competitive. So, how do you design and produce apparel at a small scale to operate within a huge, fast moving industry?

Reduce Inventory

A principle expense in retail - e-commerce included - is holding inventory. Forecasting sales and managing inventory can be a complex and very dynamic endeavor. Which sizes, color variants, and styles are customers ordering? What months and days are most orders happening? How long is inventory taking up space? There are all questions that inform your budgeting and production schedule because, let’s face it, after awhile, boxes of inventory are a sunk cost.

At a certain scale, there is usually enough data to formulate accurate predictive models on which to base these decisions and move product effectively, but when you’re small, and there isn’t historical data to leverage, making inventory decisions can be difficult.

Fortunately, there are ways to get around this complexity and adopt a production model that fits your size. One strategy is to significantly reduce you expectations and, in turn, your inventory. When starting, produce a smaller quantity in popular sizes. This may involve limiting color options and keeping only a handful of common sizes available until you have a more consistent sales and marketing plan to move product.

If you partner with a supplier that has lower minimum order quantities, you’ll be able to keep costs down while maintaining a small, yet viable supply of your best product. You’ll still need to be selective with what you produce and stock, but you won’t be overwhelmed with a surplus of product. Remember, as demand grows, you can always produce / order more.

Produce to order

Another option to keep up-front expenses lower is producing to order. Drop shipping providers offer ‘on demand’ production models where you don’t pay for your product until your customer does. This has advantages of eliminating inventory and allowing you to build a larger product catalog since you won’t be producing everything prior to selling. This option also gives some room to experiment and try different graphic apparel design concepts without committing to producing a full inventory.

There are drawbacks, however, since you don’t hold inventory your post-order fulfillment is totally dependent on a third-party provider. This means, shipping rates and fulfillment timelines are out of your control. Your fulfillment services sets the terms and rates for everything. This can sometimes mean higher production costs, limited shipping options, and challenging quality control. Essentially, you are sacrificing control for convenience.

Design with Intention

Beyond logistical concerns, custom graphic apparel is nothing without design. Anyone can slap an image, some clip-art, on a piece of fabric and send it to print. Design is more than copy-paste and LLM prompting; its a discovery journey for yourself, a visual story, and a statement. To resonate with others you must first resonate with yourself. Believing in your own work is the first step before anyone else will believe in it enough to buy it, and in the crowded space of graphic apparel, investing in your design process is the most important expression of this.

Becoming competitive with large scale apparel brands is a great future aspiration, but it starts with authenticity and putting your creativity in front of the right people. Small apparel operations are nimble, flexible, experimental, and can easily pivot. These are great qualities and are a few of the attributes we try to embody in our own apparel business.

If you like original artwork and supporting small business, check out our cool graphic tees, graphic hoodies, and outdoor lifestyle clothing.

Tags: