Starting Your Apparel Brand. The Best T-Shirt Templates & Mockup Resources.

When Crooked Monkey first came about, we weren’t immediately known as the custom t-shirt experts as we are today. In fact, we started in the basement of our CEO’s parents’ home – and after years of hard work, dedication, and a lot of trial and error… We have grown into one of the best international custom apparel and promotional brands around. This journey has given us the experience and knowledge to share with you valuable insights and recommendations on mock ups and t-shirt templates.

So here you are, with the same crazy idea to start selling apparel. You have the vision, a screen printer that’s down to help, a friend to set up your online store, and you’re ready to take off with your very first t-shirt. But, don’t get too ahead of yourself…

Chances are, if you have a vision you are passionate about, you will accept nothing less than perfection. You will accept nothing less than exactly what you had imagined. But when you’re first starting out creating apparel for your brand and are using a print on demand service to run your store, how do you ensure that your designs turn out exactly as you had visualized them?

That’s where we come in, to shed some light and share a few secrets to ensure your online store takes off in the same ways you’ve always dreamed. So, if you’re interested in learning how to start a successful online clothing brand partnered with a print on demand service, then keep reading. Crooked Monkey has you covered on finding the best mockups and t-shirt templates for creating your online apparel store.

What is a T-Shirt Mockup?

A t-shirt mock-up is a blank slate for designing a t-shirt with your own graphics, pictures, images, words, or branding. T-shirt mock-ups allow you to create a design and put it on a virtual t-shirt so you and your customers can get an idea of what it will look like in real life. This helps you keep from making mistakes with placement as well as graphic sizing.

When you begin designing your own mock-ups, you might download a t-shirt outline and build your design within those confines. However, that requires some degree of photoshop skills as well as basic knowledge of apparel design.

Luckily, those who don’t have such skills can use t-shirt design templates and mock-ups, available online. They make the design process much easier.

Why You Should Use T-Shirt Mockups

A t-shirt mockup lets your customers see your design in action.

Some t-shirt templates feature models, which lets you showcase what your product looks like on an actual person. Not only do templates allow you the opportunity to showcase your unique design on a t-shirt without having to shell out extra money to hire a model, but they also help your buyers. The visualization of a template can be a big help when your customer is making a decision on which of your designs to buy.

Now that you have the lowdown on t-shirt mockups, let’s get to the good stuff: a list of sites offering templates and mockup files that you can use for your online apparel store.

Online T-Shirt Mockup Generators

Sometimes, you just want to create a new t-shirt design quickly and with ease. That’s where an online mockup generator comes in handy. Check out the list of our top three favorite online tools that can help you generate t-shirt mocks without any need for any use of image editing tools.

3. Custom Ink

Custom Ink’s t-shirt mock-up generator is a free tool that lets you see how your designs will look on a wide range of shirts. Though they offer many different styles,  they also limit you to choosing colors that are currently available so you won’t have a complete design range.

2. Shirt Mock Up

Shirt Mockup is another great option for store owners who don’t have access to an image-editing tool but still need great t-shirt design template options for their store. You can upload your design, choose from two different shirt styles, select white, black, or a different color, and even rotate the image—all from your web browser.

1. Place.It T-Shirt Mockup Generator

Place.it is well-known as a website that lets you place screenshots into images of computers and phones, but it also has a wide range of t-shirt templates you can use to generate photos featuring your apparel design. Choose from a wide range of t-shirt mockups, place your design on them, and buy the ones that fit your brand, all without ever opening an image editor. Place.it is a great t-shirt mock-up generator for those of us who aren’t experienced with image-editing software.

Downloadable T-Shirt Mockup Templates

These t-shirt design templates are all files you can use to create your own mock-ups in image-editing software. Most of them are in PSD format, so you will need access to and basic knowledge of Photoshop to open and work with them. For our favorite sites to find downloadable t-shirt mockup templates, keep reading!

3. Cotton Bureau

Cotton Bureau has a reputation as a source for high-quality, beautifully designed t-shirts, so it’s no surprise to sell their t-shirt templates. Its t-shirt mock-ups come in a range of colors, fits, and styles, and they’re all based on American Apparel’s t-shirt line. Plus, having fit and brand information available can really help your t-shirt mock-ups show a true-to-life image of what your customers can expect.

2. Tyunderscore

Nobody likes a mockup with a design just thrown over an image of a t-shirt. So when creating their template, Tyunderscore set up the file to adjust the design to the wrinkles in the shirt – giving your merch a much more realistic look. You can even adjust the t-shirt color, add all-over patterns, and hide or edit the t-shirt tag. Making it easy for you to adjust your design to exactly how you had envisioned it.

1. Crooked Monkey

Yup, you read that right. We’re officially sharing our T-Shirt template and are offering it for download on our site! What better way to get the very best out of your t-shirt mockups, than with the help of the experts. This particular template was designed by our very own in house designer, Emily. And, if we do say so ourselves, it is one of the very best t-shirt templates we have EVER seen!

Creating Your Own Template

We already know our downloadable templates are your favorite, you don’t have to tell us. But if you do, maybe we’ll share how you can create your very own… Well, we can’t give ALLLL of our secrets away at once now, can we? Keep your eyes out for our next blog with information directly from our lead Crooked Monkey designer Emily on how to create your very own T-Shirt templates using photoshop.