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Making merch with AI
What we learned building 27 make-your-own merch sites with AI, written up for anyone making or selling their own. Every page cites its sources, and the numbers come from the same catalog our shirts print from.
- LearnCan you copyright AI art? What it means for merchShort version for sellers: the AI picture isn't yours to protect, the slogan never was, and the parts you actually made still are.
- LearnHow to check a t-shirt slogan for trademarksThe phrases that sell are the ones somebody already registered for shirts. A five minute search before you list saves a takedown later.
- LearnFree fonts you can use on t-shirts you sellThe 18 font families every text shirt on this site prints with, all free for commercial printing, and the reason a "free font" download often isn't.
- LearnFree blank t-shirt, hoodie and sweatshirt mockupsFlat-lay mockups of six real print on demand blanks in every colour we sell, with the print area marked. Download without signing up.
- LearnHow to make AI art print ready for a t-shirtAn AI image that looks great on a phone can print as a soft square with a grey halo. Six checks stop that.
- LearnHow to moderate custom text on print on demandIf customers type the words, someone will try to print a slur, a brand or a famous name. The fixes that held up on our sites, written up for anyone building one.
- LearnHow to price print on demand t-shirtsA Printful tee costs about twelve dollars before shipping and fees. Here's what's left at common prices, with the real numbers.
- LearnPrintful's mockup API: rate limits and how to cacheIf your customers design something live, Printful's mockup generator can't keep up with them. Here's the limit, and the two-tier setup we planned around it.
- LearnSelling AI art on print on demand: the actual rulesNone of the big marketplaces ban AI-made designs. They take down the same things they always have, and Etsy now wants a person behind every item and two things said in the listing.
- LearnWhat color text shows up on which shirt colorNavy on black and yellow on white are the classic mistakes. Here's every shirt colour we sell against every ink, scored for contrast.
- LearnT-shirt print file size: pixels, DPI and print areasThe one number that decides whether a print comes out sharp is pixels per inch at the size it prints. Here it is for six common blanks.
Free data
JSON files built from the catalog our shirts print from. Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a link back. Agents: start at llms.txt.
- T-shirt and sweatshirt print areas and pixel sizesFront print area and the pixel size of a print file at 150 and 300 DPI for six popular Printful blanks, with colours and sizes in US stock.
- Free fonts licensed for printing on shirts you sell18 open-licensed font families, 22 styles (SIL OFL 1.1 or Apache 2.0), that can be printed on products you sell, with where to download each.
- Printful base costs for six popular blanks, by sizeWhat Printful charges for six popular shirts, hoodies and sweatshirts before shipping, by size, from its public US catalog.
- Ink colour contrast on t-shirt coloursContrast ratio of 18 ink colours against every shirt colour of six Printful blanks, and whether the ink reads, reads quietly or disappears.