Five Websites to Print Your Own Custom Designs/Photos Onto T-Shirts and Other Gifts

Classic T-Shirts printed with "Upload Your Image" worn by two models.

Have you ever wanted to print your child’s art onto their very own skateboard, or create a calendar of all your holiday snaps (or maybe even a photo book)? That’s where Print On Demand websites come in. They specialise in printing custom images onto their products, with orders being as small as just one item.

While many of these sites are designed for artists and photographers to open online shops to sell their designs that doesn’t mean you can’t use these sites too. There’s no reason you can’t open your own free shop for the sole purpose of buying your own printed designs - some sites will let you design custom products without needing to open a shop at all.

Below I’ve created a list of five Print On Demand sites I’ve used and recommend, along with a sixth bonus option that you may not have even thought of but is probably the most convenient of all.

Red Bubble - Has grown into quite possibly one of the biggest Print On Demand sites online. Registering a free account will give you access to all their store features and allow you to upload and purchase your designs on any of their products. I’ve always been happy with their print quality on my own products.
Threadless - This Print On Demand site is really targeted at artists wanting to sell their designs online, as such you’ll need to open a shop before you can put your design on any of their products. Shops are free to open and you don’t have to promote them or anything if all you want to do is buy a few of your designs on various products. They do have a few items not usually available on other similar sites including Slip on Shoes, Skateboards, and Cut’n’Sew apparel. Print quality is easily comparable to Red Bubble.
Spring (formerly TeeSpring) - Spring has all the standard products to choose from that you’ll find on most sites. Starting your own store with them is free and you can integrate it into other social media like YouTube and Twitch. Unique to Spring is the ability to sell digital products such as Image files, ebooks, video files etc. As far as I’m aware Spring is the only Print On Demand site with this option.
Board Pusher - Probably the first and only Print On Demand site dealing exclusively with custom skateboards. It’ll cost you an annual fee to open up a store with them but if you just want to create a custom skateboard (or custom grip tape) for yourself or as a gift then sign up for a free account. All their skateboard decks are Canadian Maple and printed in the USA, plus they have the widest range of shapes from mini cruisers, standard popsicles, to longboards and more. Print quality is excellent. As good as any board sold in a reputable skate shop. Optionally buy your board as a complete with quality brand name wheels, trucks and other hardware.
CafePress - One of the longest running Print On Demand sites, CafePress is currently a disaster for their shop keepers (don’t be tempted to open your own shop with them). Despite this, if you just want to sign up for a free account to put your own designs on their extensive range of products (some you won’t find anywhere else) for your personal use, their print quality and delivery times are pretty good. I’ve always been happy with the products I’ve purchased from them.
Bonus Option - If you don’t want the hassle of ordering products from an international site that may take weeks to fulfil your order check to see if your local department store such as Walmart (in Australia we have Kmart and Big W) has an online custom photo printing center. They usually have a wide range of products you can have your images printed on and may even let you pick up your order at the store closest to you for no extra cost.

Got any questions about Print On Demand websites? Maybe you’re thinking about opening your own free store as a side hustle? Feel free to comment below with any questions you may have and I’ll answer them to the best of my knowledge and direct you to any relevant resources.

Comments

How to Transfer Any Line Art to Your Griptape - Easy Skateboard Griptape Art Tutorial

Dog Star Griptape Art by TET Griptape art is once again gaining popularity amongst modern skateboarders. For those of us who have tried to create our own griptape art, using paint pens, you'll know reproducing your design onto the grip, without making any mistakes is incredibly challenging. Mostly because you just have to go for it and draw the design freehand, with paint pens, directly onto the griptape. You can make the odd mistake here or there but if you get the proportions of the design completely wrong, it can be very difficult to fix. Often you just have to live with the mistake. To address the problem I've come up with an easy way anyone can transfer a line art design to their griptape, removing almost all the anxiety of getting the proportions wrong. In fact, you could do this with any line art design, even if you have no drawing skill at all. Watch the video below to see my technique in action and/or skip past the video where I highlight the basic steps to get your de

Skateboard Trick Tips: Two Ways to Ollie North (Ollie One foot)

You have to be quick to see my Ollie Norths! Ollie One Foots, otherwise known as the Ollie North, is one of those skateboard tricks you learn and then tend not to do very much as more interesting trick challenges grab your attention. However it does look really cool if you learn how to kick your front foot well past the nose of your skateboard. Still shot from Braille Skateboarding's Ollie North tutorial. I was inspired to make my video below, showing two different techniques to achieve a successful Ollie One Foot, when I not only saw that Braille Skateboarding's Tutorial used a different method to the one I had learned but also, when I looked at various other video tutorials, I discovered yet another technique, with no one using the method I had originally learned. Braille's method is to simply Ollie and drag your front foot past the front of your board. The second method I came across in several video tutorials is to Ollie, drag your front foot and tap your

Are Ion Thrusters the Future of Flying Cars? Spoiler - Probably Not But... Hover Boards... Maybe?

Undefined Technologies Ion Propulsion Drone prototype 3D concept image. You may have heard of Ion engines or, more likely, Ion thrusters. NASA uses them on their spacecraft to help maintain a craft's position or to propel them through space. Upon hearing that you might think they're big, powerful engines, but actually they are not. They work well in the vacuum of space but, once any kind of atmosphere and gravity is involved they'd be hard pressed to launch you off the ground if you strapped four of them to your lawn chair and yelled "up, up, and away!" I am no expert on Ion thrusters - they're basically magic that science has an explanation for. If you want to know the details, The Space Techie website has a layman's explanation . Build Your Own Ion Thruster Earth based Ion Thrusters work a bit different to their space based cousins by Ionizing the same air that we breathe to create thrust (an effect known as Ionic-wind ). While they sound highly soph

Book Review: Brand It Purple by Ashley Knoote-Parke

Ashley Knoote-Parke. Image: Facebook It seems almost redundant to review Brand It Purple given you probably won't find a hard copy edition without digging into the second hand market. The book's author and publisher, Ashley Knoote-Parke, seemingly, disappeared off the face of the Earth around about 2015. Which is a story in itself. However, the book is still a very informative guide and, while not specifically targeted at women, many may relate more to a book written by an experienced female entrepreneur. Brand It Purple is a personal marketing and branding guide released in 2009 by then, star on the rise author, Ashley Knoote-Parke, an English born, South African expatriate, who made Adelaide, South Australia her home. There she started her own publishing company releasing a photographic, coffee table book of South Australian sights, along with books showcasing female, then male, entrepreneurs. As well she published 'Brand It Purple'. I came across the b

I'm Joining the Illuminati Brotherhood By Personal Invitation of Hiltom Rothschild... Wait, What?

How special am I to have finally come of age (53 years young) and am now eligible to participate in building the world alongside other members of the Illuminati Brotherhood... Yes I've received the call by way of an email, which I'm sure is real because I had to translate it from the Dutch language and it was personally written by Hiltom Rothschild, one of the non-existent members of the Rothschild family (or perhaps deep undercover because Google has never heard of them?). A Transcript of the email below: To: etourist From: Illuminati Brotherhood Subject: Illuminati Broederschap (Illuminati Brotherhood) I am Hiltom Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild family, one of the 13 families of the Illuminati brotherhood. I'm here to let you know that you've come of age and are eligible to participate in building the 🌎 world. It is a calling and a privilege to honor him with pride and gratitude as not everyone will ever be chosen by the LIGHT, many are called but few are ch

Movie Review: Force of Nature - The Dry 2 (2024) No Spoilers

Eric Bana returns as Detective Aaron Falk in Force of Nature - The Dry 2 , and that's the only real connection between this and 2020's The Dry . This is an all new mystery set in a new location. I will say, given that it's either wet or rainy, with the incoming threat of a major storm for most of the movie, the filmmakers really missed a trick in not renaming the film, The Wet. Back when I reviewed the first film I noted that I would love to see the second book made into a movie too, and here it is. This time Aaron and his detective partner, Carmen (Jacqueline Mackenzie), head into the mountains to investigate the whereabouts of a missing informant, who disappears on a workplace, team bonding retreat. All the performances in this film are easily on par with the first, though I do think some pretty outstanding actors really didn't have a lot to do here. In terms of mystery the first movie was better constructed as a who dunnit film you could play along with. Here you mo

Is AI Art 'Art'? The Say NO to AI Art Movement, and Why Human Artists Will Adapt

AI Art No T-Shirt by TET Also available on other items . Right now there is a big debate over not just whether AI art is 'art' but whether AI's are actually ripping off the work of actual human artists, without their consent, to create their images - particularly images 'in the style of' specific artists. From my own observations this debate started to get more traction when artist's signatures began appearing in the output of AI Art image generators. Is It Art? Cool Froyd the Cat Sketch by TET. My style is very much influenced by classic Disney and WB character styles. To get some clarity on how real human artists work (of which I am one)... we, that is all of us... take influences from the art that has come before. i.e. whatever artists we like, have studied, seen etc. we are influenced by. It shows up in our work, intentionally or not. If you really study my own cartoony art style you'll see I'm heavily influenced by early Disney and Warner Bros cart

TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Search This Blog