Have you ever wanted to dip a toe in t-shirt design? While this used to be a considered a niche hobby that only those who were seriously into art tried, new technology is making it easier for more people to put the designs from their minds onto a t-shirt.
As far as t-shirt design software, you have tons of different choices – including basic graphic editing programs. If you’re looking for help figuring out which t-shirt design software option let you make great designs without having to spend too much time or money, take a look at some of our top picks.
When you design a t-shirt, you’re essentially using a blank t-shirt as a piece of paper for your design. Once you’ve got a design you like, you can take it to a print shop or some other place where you can have your design printed on a t-shirt. There are also many online websites that allow you to submit a design and buy a custom t-shirt. There are also home t-shirt printing machines available.
2. Why use software?
Like we mentioned previously, designing a t-shirt essentially means drawing out a design on a blank t-shirt. However, t-shirts are fairly expensive so practicing designs on a real shirt isn’t exactly ideal. Instead, it’s best to use software that allows you to draw on a digital version of a blank t-shirt which can be restored to its original blank state at any time.
3. Is t-shirt design easy?
The ease of t-shirt design depends on what route you choose to take. If you’re planning on using dedicated t-shirt design software and using stock images and fonts from the web as the base for your t-shirts, designing shouldn’t be much trouble. However, you may have a much tougher time using a complex graphics editing program like Illustrator or Photoshop to create your designs from scratch.
4. How expensive is t-shirt design software?
Because t-shirt design software varies in its intended audience – some are professionals while others are simply hobbyists – the price varies quite a bit as well. You can find basic t-shirt design software for a reasonable price, but you’ll have to spend a lot of money on high-end, professional software like Illustrator.
How We Reviewed
Everybody has different needs when it comes to t-shirt design software, so we did our best to choose the best software to fit everybody’s needs. We have some options on our list for beginner t-shirt designers who simply want to make the projects in their head come to life, plus more advanced options for the power user who wants to create a professional-quality design at home.
To help us choose from all the different t-shirt design software on the market, we looked at numerous factors, including price, general features and ease of use. While we want to bring you high-quality choices that can produce awesome designs, we also understand that not everybody is a design professional and learning some programs takes a lot of time.
While the exact software you choose will depend on what you’re looking for, you can rest easy knowing that every bit of software on this list is designed not only for high-quality creations but also for ease of use.
Overall Price Range
Everybody has different needs when it comes to t-shirt design software, so we did our best to choose the best software to fit everybody’s needs. We have some options on our list for beginner t-shirt designers who simply want to make the projects in their head come to life, plus more advanced options for the power user who wants to create a professional-quality design at home.
To help us choose from all the different t-shirt design software on the market, we looked at numerous factors, including price, general features and ease of use. While we want to bring you high-quality choices that can produce awesome designs, we also understand that not everybody is a design professional and learning some programs takes a lot of time.
While the exact software you choose will depend on what you’re looking for, you can rest easy knowing that every bit of software on this list is designed not only for high-quality creations but also for ease of use.
Adobe Illustrator is the true top dog when it comes to designing t-shirts, but that’s because it’s not a t-shirt design program at all. Illustrator is actually a graphics editing program that offers tons of great features that make it arguably the best tool no matter what kind of design work you’re doing.
Pros
Adobe Illustrator is by far the most full-featured t-shirt design software on the market.
Not only is Illustrator one of the more expensive options on our list, but it also has one of the steepest learning curves.
Cons
Not only is Illustrator one of the more expensive options on our list, but it also has one of the steepest learning curves.
Pricing
Adobe Illustrator CC is currently priced at a whopping $.
Where To Buy
You can buy Adobe Illustrator CC directly from Adobe.
Warranty
There is no warranty provided with Adobe Illustrator CC.
If you’re more in the market for software that allows you to run a print business, InkXE is what you’re looking for. You can use InkXE to allow customers to create custom designs for just about any product you can imagine, then purchase them online.
Pros
InkXE is easy to use while still offering solid features
Cons
As a business-facing program, InkXE is going to cost you a bit more and require more setup.
Pricing
The standard version of InkXE costs $$ and the more expensive version costs $$$.
If you’re looking for a free graphic design tool that lets you bring your t-shirt designs to life without much graphic design experience, FatPaint is a good choice.
Pros
FatPaint is incredibly easy to use, so even novice designers will find it user friendly.
Cons
Because this software is designed for ease of use, it’s not as full-featured as some other t-shirt design software.
Adobe Photoshop is one of the most powerful graphics editing programs you can buy for a PC, but you’ll need to spend some time learning it before you can create great designs.
Pros
Photoshop is great for using existing images and fonts to create designs.
Cons
Photoshop isn’t a drawing tool like Illustrator, so it’s not the best for making from-scratch designs.
Pricing
You can pick up Adobe Photoshop CC for $.
Where To Buy
The best place to buy any Adobe software is directly from adobe.com.
There is no warranty with this software, as is usually the case.
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW is similar to programs like Illustrator and Photoshop but is designed with beginners in mind, so it’s a great t-shirt design software if you’re looking for powerful simplicity.
Pros
Tons of great tools allow you to do nearly anything with CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Cons
You can pick up Adobe Illustrator for about half the price and Photoshop for about a quarter of the price.
Pricing
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2018 costs $.
Where To Buy
You can buy this program at coreldraw.com.
Warranty
There is no warranty on the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite.
GNU image manipulation program, or GIMP, is a powerful free tool that allows you to do pretty much anything with images. However, it’s not quite as full featured as an expensive program like Photoshop.
Pros
GIMP is free and allows you to work with layers and other effects like fancy graphics editing programs.
Cons
There is a very steep learning curve to GIMP, so it’s not great for beginners.
Pricing
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2018 costs $.
Where To Buy
You can buy this program at coreldraw.com.
Warranty
There is no warranty on the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite.
Another dedicated t-shirt design software option, T-Shirt Factory Deluxe is designed to give you an affordable way to make t-shirts without having to be a design professional. The result is a solid t-shirt design tool.
Pros
Design t-shirts, tote bags, aprons, sweatshirts, and just about any other article of clothing you can imagine.
Cons
Since this is free software, it’s not the most capable, and you won’t get the same support you get when you buy software.
If you’re looking for the most capable t-shirt design software that doesn’t force you to learn a complicated graphics editing program like Illustrator or Photoshop, Flash T-Shirt Design is probably the best choice on our list.
You can really do a lot with Flash T-Shirt Design, and you don’t have to be an expert to do it.
Cons
You’ll have to spend a whopping $$ on Flash T-Shirt Design software, so it’s not ideal for everybody.
Pricing
At $$, this is tied for the most expensive option on our list.
Where To Buy
You can download this software for free from numerous websites, but it’s unclear which websites actually sell the software.
Warranty
There is no warranty on Flash T-Shirt Design software.
The Verdict
At the end of the day, there’s no replacement for a skilled designer when it comes to creating great t-shirt designs. However, that doesn’t mean those of us without years of graphics design experience can’t get in on the fun too.
Any of the software on our list will do. If you’re looking for power and don’t mind learning, CorelDRAW, Illustrator and GIMP are both great. If ease of use is your primary concern, you’ll probably want to opt for something a bit simpler like FatPaint or SonicShack Design Studio. No matter what you choose, you can’t go wrong with something from out list of the 10 best t-shirt design software options.
