13+ Best T-shirt Design Websites to Make it Your Own

T-shirt design website is a go-to tool for many fulfillment services and individuals handling t-shirt printing. Its popularity has grown with the rise of on-demand t-shirt printing. If you're planning to start a t-shirt business, it's essential to explore the best options available today. 

This article covers 13+ t-shirt design websites, including their pros, cons, and pricing. Whether you're a beginner or experienced, this guide will help you choose the best tool to create amazing designs for t-shirt printing.

What to Look for in a Custom T-shirt Design Website

When choosing a custom T-shirt design website, you want one that’s simple to use and equipped with features to help you make up amazing designs. A great website should make the process smooth and enjoyable. Here are the key features to consider:

• Easy-to-Use Interface: The website should be simple to navigate, even if you’re new to designing. Look for one with clear instructions and user-friendly tools that make creating your design stress-free.
• Wide Range of Templates: A good design website offers plenty of templates to kickstart your creativity. Templates are especially helpful if you’re unsure where to start and want to customize existing ideas.
• Customization Features: The ability to adjust fonts, colors, images, and layouts is crucial. Look for a site that lets you add text, move elements, and tweak designs to fit your vision perfectly.
• High-Quality Design Tools: Choose a website that offers sharp, high-resolution graphics and a variety of design elements like icons, clip art, and patterns to make your T-shirt stand out.
• Real-Time Previews: It’s helpful to see how your design will look on a T-shirt before ordering. A site with virtual previews ensures your design fits and looks exactly as you imagined.
• Flexible Export and Printing Options: Once your design is ready, the website should make it easy to download or print. Check for options that support different formats or direct printing services.

By picking a website with these features, you’ll have everything you need to create custom T-shirts that look professional and show off your unique style.

13+ Best T-shirt Design Websites to Choose from

Before getting into discover these T-shirt design websites, let’s take a look at this table of comparison:

Summary of Best Use Cases:

• Best for Professionals: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW
• Best for Beginners: Canva, Design Wizard
• Best for Artists: Krita
• Best for Print-on-Demand Businesses: Printful’s Design Maker, Printify
• Best for Vector Design: InkScape, CorelDRAW
• Best for Customization in E-commerce: Design’N’Buy, Customily
• Best for Comprehensive Templates and AI Tools: Kittl, Canva

1. Printful’s Design Maker

Printful’s Design Maker – a free design website packed with useful features for designing t-shirts. With a library of 20,000+ free clipart graphics and 700+ professional fonts, you can enhance your designs easily. 

You can even add shadows, arcs, or creative typography to make your message pop. For all-over print t-shirts, the seamless pattern tool simplifies the process, you don’t have to be time-consuming for manual adjustments.

If you need a vibrant background, there are 600+ colors and patterns to give your designs a unique touch. If your image isn’t print-ready, the tool automatically improves its resolution for crisp results.

You can also access over 110 million premium images from providers like Getty Images for $1. Plus, with 300+ fonts and 3,000+ embroidery graphics, you can create customized embroidery designs for a luxurious finish.

Pros:

• Free to use.
• Beginner-friendly interface.
• Thousands of design options.

Cons:

• Requires a Printful account to download designs.
• Fewer advanced features compared to professional design websites.

Pricing: Signing up and using Design Maker is free.

2. Printify

Product Creator is an easy-to-use online website designed for custom t-shirt printing. It’s one of the best options for creating merch designs and realistic mockups. The platform provides with a lot of free design assets, an AI Image Generator, and text and image editing tools to make designing effortless.

The highlight? It seamlessly connects with Printify’s Catalog, which includes over 1,000 printable products and print-on-demand services. This means you can handle everything from designing to production on a single platform.

Pros:

• User-Friendly Interface: Simple and intuitive, perfect for quick and easy designing right in your browser.
• Versatile Tools: Features like text editing, pattern creation, and image scaling make t-shirt design straightforward.
• On-Demand Printing Integration: Works directly with Printify’s print providers for seamless custom printing.
• Realistic Mockups: Lifelike visuals to showcase your t-shirt designs, ideal for product listings or marketing.
• Rich Design Libraries: Access free design assets and Shutterstock’s image library for endless creativity.

Cons:

• Limited Advanced Features: Not as much powerful as high-end graphic design tools for complex edits.
• Printify Exclusive: Works best when paired with Printify’s print-on-demand services.

Pricing: Free

3. Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is the go-to website for professional designers, offering powerful features for creating custom t-shirt designs. It provides tools for tasks like removing backgrounds, layering, coloring, and more, giving you complete control over your designs. 

It is a versatile and highly capable site for advanced designers. It allows for detailed editing, layering, and manipulation, making it ideal for creating intricate designs. However, it may take some time to fully learn and can be overwhelming for beginners. If you’re an expert, Photoshop provides endless creative possibilities for custom t-shirt design.

Pros:

• Advanced Design Tools: Offers a wide range of features for detailed and creative designs.
• Creative Cloud Integration: Access to other Adobe products for a complete design experience.
• Ideal for Experts: Perfect for professional designers with the skills to take advantage of its full capabilities.

Cons:

• Requires Investment: The subscription can be costly.
• Takes Time to Learn: It’s not beginner-friendly and requires practice to master.
• Not Specialized for T-shirt Designs: Lacks specific assets or templates for t-shirt printing.

Pricing: Photoshop starts at $19.99 per month.

4. Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is a vector-based design website, unlike Photoshop, which is pixel-based. It’s perfect for professional graphic designers who want to create high-quality, scalable artwork for custom t-shirts. Illustrator's precise tools allow you to create designs that stay sharp and clear, even when scaled up for printing. 

While it has a steep learning curve, the effort pays off with access to professional tools that make your designs stand out. It’s perfect for graphic designers who want to create detailed, print-ready artwork.

Pros:

• Built-In Assets & Tutorials: Helpful resources and tutorials guide you through the design process.
• Vector Conversion: Turn hand-drawn art into clean vector graphics.
• Integration with Adobe Programs: Works smoothly with other Adobe software for a complete design experience.

Cons:

• Learning Curve: It takes time and needs practice to learn all of Illustrator’s features.
• Resource-Intensive: The app may run slowly if you’re using multiple programs at once.
• High Subscription Fee: Illustrator’s subscription can be more expensive than other design software.

Pricing: Adobe Illustrator offers a 7-day free trial. After that, you can choose between a $34.49/month monthly plan or a $22.99/month annual plan.

5. Canva

Canva is a widely-used design site that’s perfect for beginners and non-professionals. While it’s not built specifically for professional designers, it provides such a wide range of features for creating custom t-shirts. 

One of Canva’s biggest advantages is its huge library of templates—over 4,000 options, with nearly half available for free. Plus, there are plenty of tutorials to help you make the most of its features.

However, its lack of advanced tools and intellectual property rights might make it less suitable for professionals or businesses focused on large-scale commercial designs.

Pros:

• Easy to Use: Beginner-friendly interface, ideal for those new to design.
• Extensive Template Library: Over 4,000 t-shirt design templates, many of which are free.
• Helpful Tutorials: Lots of resources to guide you through the design process.

Cons:

• Limited Advanced Features: Doesn’t offer the advanced tools found in professional design software.
• Subscription Cost: Similar in price to Adobe’s plans but lacks comparable features.
• No Intellectual Property Rights: You don’t own full rights to your Canva-made designs, which may be an issue for commercial use.

Pricing: Canva Pro costs $9.99/month if paid annually, which is similar to Adobe’s Photography Plan in the Creative Cloud.

6. CorelDRAW 

CorelDRAW is a powerful design website perfect for creating vector art, logos, and illustrations. It’s especially popular with experienced designers thanks to its advanced tools, such as precision drawing, typography features, and multi-page layouts. It supports both vector and pixel-based editing, giving you flexibility for various design needs, and works with many file formats for easy sharing and exporting.

While CorelDRAW offers a rich set of features, it can feel overwhelming for beginners. However, for seasoned designers looking to create high-quality, detailed t-shirt designs, it’s an excellent choice.

Pricing: Starts at $130 for the most affordable option, with various product packages available.

Pros:

• Professional Vector Tools: Great for logos, typography, and detailed illustrations.
• High-Quality Mockups: Enables realistic and detailed t-shirt design previews.
• File Compatibility: Works with many formats for easier sharing and exporting.

Cons:

• Not Beginner-Friendly: Advanced features may be challenging for those new to design.
• Higher Costs: More expensive compared to some alternatives.

7. GIMP

GIMP has an online chrome extension, it’s a free alternative to premium design websites like Photoshop. It’s open-source, which means there’s a large community of developers and users adding plugins and creating tutorials to make it even better.

While it’s not made specifically for t-shirt design, you can still use templates, add your own graphics, change colors, and layer designs easily.

GIMP is a great option if you're looking for a free, flexible tool for t-shirt design, especially if you're just starting out or working on personal projects without breaking the bank. However, for more advanced needs like vector-based designs, you might need a more specialized program.

Pros:

• Completely Free: A cost-effective option that rivals high-end graphic tools.
• Cross-Platform Compatibility: Works seamlessly on Mac, Windows, and Linux.
• Strong Community Support: Offers tutorials, guides, and open-source plugins to enhance functionality.

Cons:

• Steep Learning Curve: May take time to master for new users.
• Plugin Quality Varies: Reliability of third-party plugins can be inconsistent.
• Challenges with Large Files: Struggles with handling big images or complex layers.
• No Vector Support: Limited capabilities for creating or exporting vector graphics used in printing.

Pricing: Free

8. Krita

Krita is a powerful, free design tool that you can install on Chromebook. Focused on digital painting, it’s perfect for bringing creative ideas to life. Krita offers a wide range of tools like customizable brushes, blending modes, and effects, making it versatile for various artistic needs.

The user-friendly interface and beginner tutorials make it accessible for all skill levels. Its ability to create custom patterns is especially useful for wrap-around t-shirt designs, giving your work a unique edge.

Krita is an excellent option for artists looking for a free, creative platform for t-shirt designs, but those needing more specific tools for apparel design might need additional software.

Pros:

• Rich Design Tools: Customizable brushes, blending, and effects for detailed designs.
• Open-Source: Free to use and works on multiple platforms.
• Photo Editing Capabilities: Great for enhancing existing images.

Cons:

• Performance Limits: May slow down with larger projects.
• Learning Curve: Beginners might need quite awhile to understand all features.
• Limited T-Shirt Templates: Lacks built-in typography and design templates.

Pricing: Free

9. InkScape

InkScape is a free, open-source graphic design web extension perfect for creating high-quality, scalable t-shirt designs. Its powerful vector editing features make it a great alternative to expensive design software.

With tools for precise design and exporting vector images in screen-printing-friendly formats, InkScape is ideal for t-shirt designs requiring detailed and professional results.

InkScape is an excellent choice for creating detailed t-shirt designs, especially for those focusing on vector graphics. While beginners might face a learning curve, it’s a cost-effective option for professional-quality results.

Pros:

• Free to Use: A zero-cost solution for t-shirt design.
• Powerful Vector Tools: Excellent for creating scalable designs.
• Print-Ready Files: Easy to export files ready for screen printing.
• Cross-Platform: Compatible with most operating systems.

Cons:

• Learning Curve: Beginners may need time to get familiar with the tools.
• Limited Templates: No built-in t-shirt templates or previews.
• Fewer Resources: Limited online tutorials compared to other software.

Pricing: The InkScape web extension is free, making it an excellent option for designing t-shirts without spending any money.

10. Design’N’Buy

Design’N’Buy is a professional t-shirt design web that uses web-to-print technology, making it easy to create and customize designs. You can upload products, specify design areas, and use the visual editor to personalize designs with precision.

The site includes a library of clipart, fonts, and templates, along with tools to customize text by changing colors, shapes, and outlines. Shapes like curves, arches, and waves add creativity to your text designs. Step-by-step tutorials and a 30-day warranty with free support make it beginner-friendly.

Design’N’Buy stands out for its business-friendly integrations and advanced design features, making it ideal for professionals looking to create unique t-shirt designs with ease.

Pros:

• E-Commerce Integration: Works seamlessly with online stores.
• Preview Tools: 360° product previews and resolution metrics ensure quality.
• Rich Features: Includes fonts, clipart, and customization options for detailed designs.
• Support: Offers helpful guides, videos, and a responsive support team.

Cons:

• Limited Templates: Focus isn’t on ready-made design templates.
• Restricted Demo: The free demo excludes some features.
• Service Framework: Users must adapt to the platform's workflow.

Pricing: Pricing depends on the package selected; free demo available with limited features.

11. Kittl

Kittl is a user-friendly online platform for creating custom t-shirt designs, perfect for beginners and pros alike. It offers a library of thousands of editable templates, allowing users to change colors, text, and add graphics to create personalized designs.

With access to over 3 million high-quality images and fonts, Kittl makes it easy to enhance your t-shirts. You can even draw custom patterns or illustrations and use the built-in AI tool to generate unique graphics on demand. Once your design is ready, you can either order t-shirts through Kittl’s printing partners or download files for local printing.

Kittl makes t-shirt design simple and accessible, offering powerful tools for both beginners looking to customize templates and experienced designers aiming for unique creations.

Pros:

• Easy-to-use interface for all skill levels.
• Thousands of customizable templates for t-shirts.
• Access to a massive library of images, fonts, and graphics.
• AI assistant for generating new designs.
• Tools for creating custom illustrations and patterns.
• Option to order prints directly or export designs for local use.

Cons:

• Free plan has limited design elements.
• Advanced features require a paid subscription.
• Vector editing isn’t as advanced as specialized software.
• No offline desktop version is available.
• Limited upload capacity for custom images.
• Precision editing for detailed artwork is less refined.

Pricing: Kittl is free to use, with optional paid plans for more features and assets.

12. Customily

Customily makes it easy for customers to create personalized products. With an easy drag and drop dashboard, users can customize items like t-shirts or mugs by adding their own text, images, and designs.

Customers can preview their creations in real-time to see exactly how the final item will look. Once a design is complete, Customily generates high-resolution files for the business, simplifying the production process. Businesses can manufacture products directly from these files.

Customily also integrates with popular e-commerce platforms, allowing businesses to add customization features to their online stores. Shoppers can personalize items before making a purchase with just a few clicks.

Pros:

• Simple drag-and-drop tools for easy customization.
• Live previews let customers see their designs instantly.
• Integrates seamlessly with major e-commerce platforms.
• Automatically creates high-resolution files for production.
• Boosts customer satisfaction with personalized options.

Cons:

• Public pricing details are not readily available.
• Retailers may face a learning curve to use the software effectively.
• Limited options for complex or advanced graphic designs.
• Some technical skill needed for store integration.
• Not as robust as dedicated graphic design software for detailed editing.

Pricing: Customily’s pricing details are not fully disclosed, so businesses may need to contact them for a quote.

13. Design Wizard

Design Wizard is a user-friendly drag-and-drop tool, similar to Canva, designed to simplify the design process. It provides an intuitive interface with minimal learning required, making it accessible for beginners.

The platform includes thousands of pre-made design elements that users can customize to fit their needs. While the free version provides basic tools and access to stock images, advanced features and high-quality images are only available with paid upgrades.

Design Wizard is a good option for those seeking a straightforward and affordable tool for basic design needs. However, professionals looking for advanced customization may find it less suitable.

Pros:

• Easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface for quick designs.
• Includes free stock images for basic use.
• Affordable pricing plans for budget-friendly design.

Cons:

• Lacks advanced features compared to competitors.
• Limited customization options for experienced designers.
• Free version offers fewer templates and tools.

Pricing: Design Wizard offers a free plan and a Pro plan priced at $9.99 per month.

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How to Choose the Right T-shirt Design Website

Designing eye-catching t-shirts is just the beginning. To succeed in selling them, you need to choose the right design website that fits your needs. Follow these steps to pick the best platform for your t-shirt designs:

Step 1. Identify Your Skill Level

Start by choosing a website that suits your experience and design goals. If you’re a beginner, go for easy-to-use platforms like Canva or Kittl. If you have experience and want more control, try tools like Adobe Illustrator or GIMP.

Step 2. Evaluate Available Features

Look at the features each website offers. Some provide ready-made templates and clipart, while others give you complete freedom to create designs from scratch. Make sure the platform has the tools you need to personalize your designs, such as custom fonts, colors, and graphics.

Step 3. Focus on Image Quality

Choose a website that lets you create high-resolution images to ensure your designs look great when printed on t-shirts. Look for features like mockup generators, which allow you to see how your design will appear on a real t-shirt.

Step 4. Test Different Websites

Don’t be afraid to try multiple websites. Play around with their features and see which one works best for your design style. Test out the different tools and templates to find the one that helps bring your vision to life.

Step 5. Consider Customization Options

If you want to offer personalized designs to your customers, pick a website with customization features. This allows buyers to add their own text or images to the t-shirt, making it a more unique and special purchase.

Step 6. Check Integration with E-commerce

If you’re planning to sell your designs online, check if the website integrates with e-commerce platforms like Shopify or Etsy. This can help streamline your selling process.

💡 Pro tip: Use EComposer to build an attractive online store for your t-shirt designs. Share your brand’s story, fun photos, and behind-the-scenes moments to connect with your audience. Keep it light and engaging to build a stronger relationship with your customers!

Step 7. Look at Pricing

Consider your budget and choose a website that fits. Some platforms, like Canva and Kittl, offer free versions with limited features, while others, like Adobe Illustrator, may require a subscription.

By following these steps, you’ll find the perfect t-shirt design website that suits your needs and helps you create your own unique designs that stand out.

Summary

The quality of your designs is key to the success of your online business. Choosing the right t-shirt design website depends on your creativity and budget.

In this blog, we've looked at several free tools for both image and photo editing. Each app has its own features to help you create eye-catching designs. Now, it’s your turn to choose the one that fits your style and start bringing your ideas to life!

FAQs

1. How to come up with a good shirt design?

You can start with thinking about your target audience and what they love. Use simple, eye-catching graphics or fun quotes. Pick up favorite colors and styles that match the vibe you want for your brand. Don’t be afraid to get creative – a unique design will stand out!

2. Is it profitable to sell t shirts online?

Yes, it can be profitable to sell t-shirts online if you have a good design, promote your products well, and choose the right platform. The key is to find a niche, market to the right audience, and make sure your designs are high quality.

3. Can i upload my own designs to these websites?

Yes, most t-shirt design websites allow you to upload your own designs. You can create custom designs using the tools they offer, or simply upload your pre-made designs to sell on the platform. Just make sure your files meet the website’s size and format requirements!