10 Shirt Design Tools for Print on Demand

Print on demand has completely changed how t-shirt businesses operate globally. You no longer need to invest in expensive machinery, hold large inventories or hire designers to manually design successful shirt designs. What truly matters in today's day and age is possessing the right tools to help you convert ideas into print-ready designs and deploy them professionally in a fast paced market.

Whether you’re a beginner wanting to test a certain niche or an experienced artist looking for tools to help you visualize your concepts more deeply, what's most important is always the end goal of actually selling. These 10 shirt design tools will not only help you create successful designs but also provide you with an end-to-end pipeline for print on demand.

1. YupTees

YupTees places a sole focus on t-shirt design and creation, which immediately makes it stand out from other design tools. Rather than throwing complex tools at the users that will overwhelm them, it focuses on generating artwork that is meant for shirt fabric. The platform places an emphasis on bold and contrasting visuals, ones that translate well for printing purposes, which is exactly what print on demand sellers require.

YupTees works best when you already have a concept in mind and want quick variations that you can choose from. Its workflow saves enormous amounts of time by bridging the gap between idea and final design making it ideal for print on demand needs where speed is the utmost necessity.

2. Kittl

Kittl is one of the most popular tools in the print-on-demand services space because of its heavy focus on merch based layouts. It excels at producing logo centric designs that feel professional crafted, a plus point for many print on demand sellers. Kittl’s strength comes from the overall design rather than just illustrations, that's what its main selling point is.

Kittl’s ability for font handling, text customization and layout tools make it easy to build shirt designs that are unique and standout rather than saturated and generic prints that already exist in the market.

Creators who value a balance between AI assistance, consistent styles and workflows that tie into crucial print on demand requirements, Kittl bridges the gap quite smoothly.

3. Inkscape

Inkscape is a highly powerful design tool that is a favorite among veteran and experienced designers. Inkscape is open-source which means designers who have a good background in digital design and are tech-savvy can utilize it to its full potential.

Inkscape deals with vector graphics, which means all created designs scale perfectly to any print size without a compromise in quality, a crucial point in print on demand shirt services. While it does not generate designs the same way AI tools do, it helps refine and customize pre-existing designs and layouts to tailor them specifically for printing needs.

Most print on demand sellers use inkscape as a final checkpoint for their designs before finally sending them for production, making it a friendly option to perfect your shirt designs ahead of printing.

4. Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is one of the most recognizable names when it comes to anything design related. Before the AI boom, the majority of sellers used photoshop as their go-to tool for editing their shirt designs.

Adobe Photoshop is commonly used to enhance texture quality, and remove unnecessary background from images. Photoshop gives designers an unmatched control over layers and effects that makes it ideal for hyper detailed shirt designs. This quality translates well onto printing and helps print on demand creators give a professional output to their shirts.

While Photoshop has a far steeper learning curve than other design tools, the flexibility and control it provides is second to none making it an industry standard in shirt and other apparel design.

5. ChatGPT

ChatGPT may not be recognized as a traditional design tool, but it plays an important role in the print on demand pipeline. ChatGPT is commonly used by print on demand sellers to generate ideas, slogans and phrases that are trendy and can pose as successful brand ideas.

Many print on demand sellers rely on ChatGPT for humorous captions and creative prompts they can use to generate visual designs in another tool. ChatGPT handles the creative and brainstorming aspect of starting a shirt business and lets designers spend more resources on the execution in the print on demand workflow.

ChatGPT is ideal for anyone who is looking for fast and creative ideas that follow a certain niche without dedicating the time to do personal research, making it a powerful tool for print on demand sellers.

6. Mystic POD

MysticPOD is built and designed just for the print on demand business model in mind rather than only designing. It excels at helping sellers create usable artwork and convert it into a sellable product such as a shirt.

The platform supports print-ready sizing, mockups and hosts workflows that make the transition from concept to the storefront a lot easier. In the print on demand industry, high volumes and multiple stores are fairly common making managing consistency across them difficult. That is the exact problem MysticPOD solves, it reduces hurdles that would make managing these stores hard by providing fast and efficient solutions.

MysticPOD is ideal for sellers who want a business focused design paired with working and scalable product pipelines.

7. CorelDRAW

CoreIDRAW is a long existing vector graphics program that is still common in professional printing services. It’s most commonly used in print shops due to its high precision, color control and interactions with industrial level printers.

CoreIDRAW provides high quality text-heavy designs that precisely measure vector images that greatly increase print quality. CoreIDRAW, while not being as trendy and flashy as the newer tools, serves as the most reliable way to produce serious print on demand shirts and other apparel with no compromise on its reliability.

CoreIDRAW is a tool that is perfect for professional print shops and print on demand designers who want accuracy and scalability in real life print shops.

8. Canva

Canva remains one of the most accessible tools for t-shirt design in recent times, particularly for people who have no real design experience. Its simple drag and drop interface makes creating clean graphics easier than anywhere else.

Canva is mainly used for slogan shirts and social media driven merchandise. Canva may not offer the same level of depth that traditional design software does and may lack advanced design tools, but its speed and extremely easy interface makes it popular among beginners print on demand sellers.

Canva is a tool for the masses, sellers and small print on demand businesses that do not want to dedicate too much time and resources to designs but still want to maintain clean and quick design production.

9. Procreate

Procreate steps away from other design tools by allowing designers to incorporate hand drawings and designs rather than relying on AI or pre-made templates. This lets print on demand designers add personality to their shirts.

Used primarily on iPads, it lets designers sketch their own designs and color them however they want, providing a natural look to their shirt designs. For sellers who want a hand-drawn aesthetic to shape their print on demand businesses, Procreate is the most accessible tool around.

Many artists prefer using Procreate due to the originality factor it brings and the ability to export it onto other platforms where they can be adjusted for final print preparations.

10. Placeit

Placeit places a heavy focus on mockups rather than designing. Mockups are the backbone of any print on demand services’ success. Strong mockups can be the difference between a high click rate vs a low one in today's competitive market.

Placeit lets users instantly apply their designs to their large range of shirt photos that feature models in realistic environments. This is crucial to help sellers understand what buyers see and how they experience the print on demand service. It lets them see how their designs present in real life scenarios without the need to finance professional photoshoots.

Placeit is a must for any print on demand seller who wants high quality and professional mockups that can skyrocket their business.