Let’s say you’re searching for the best free graphic design software for t-shirts. Now, of course your first thought would be Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. Both are excellent programs that boast all of the features you need to design professional work, but let’s face it – there is no way you can afford to purchase them. Luckily for you, there are more than enough alternatives out there that offer more than decent quality for free.
If you need graphic design software for designing a T-shirt or other type of clothing, then you should check out this article. It will teach you how to get free graphic design software for creating a T-shirt.
Inkscape
This open source image editor is specialised in vector graphics, making it the free counterpart to Adobe Illustrator. It’s among the most respected of free design software because of its huge range of advanced tools and effects, allowing you to make whatever t-shirt design you have in mind with useful features like path-based text. inkscape.org
GIMP
The grand daddy of free photo editing and graphic design software, GIMP has long been the free alternative to Photoshop for millions of users. Stocked with customizable tools and updated regularly by its team of volunteers, GIMP is as good as you’ll get without spending a penny. gimp.org
CustomInk
This in-browser designer is made specifically for t-shirts, and is one of the easiest designers to use. There are hundreds of images included from various categories, and easy options to add names and numbers for shirts for your sports team or project group. customink.com
Vexels T-Shirt Maker
Whether you’re designing merch for your brand, selling custom T-shirts online, or even looking to quickly design cool custom T-shirts for your friends and family, Vexels offers a smooth and beginner-friendly tool for all your needs.
With Vexels, you get access to a huge collection of templates and graphics you can use to design your own custom T-shirts.
The best part of Vexels, however, is its beginner-friendly online editor where you can easily find graphics, icons, and artworks. As well as edit pre-made templates, change colors, add text, and even upload your own designs.
Pros
- Access to over 70,000 high-quality graphics and templates
- Easily create and edit designs using the online editor
- Download designs in print-ready formats
- Comes with commercial licenses for selling on POD platforms
Cons
- Requires a subscription to sell the designs on your store
Design a Shirt
Design a Shirt is another free t-shirt builder that’s built into a website that allows you to order shirts. The tools allow you to add images and text on all different colors and styles of shirts.
The best feature of this tool is the Idea Gallery, which includes some basic templates to help you start a shirt design project. Search by type of shirt to jumpstart projects.
The software is a combination of click to place and drag and drop. It can be somewhat clunky at first but does allow for good control of the design.
Pros
- You can see the design come together on the screen
- Change the shirt color of style and see your design on it
- The idea gallery can speed up projects if you don’t know what you want
Cons
- The interface is a little clunky
- Clipart options are very “clip art-ish”
- You have to buy shirts from this website
PlaceIt
Placeit is the one true design tool in this list and doesn’t require you to buy shirts after you design them, but that comes with a catch – not all the shirt designs are free.
Design can be as little as $2.95 or free with a subscription.
This t-shirt tool though has some of the best-designed options in terms of templates, and the interface is easy to use when it comes to custom designs. Then you can export your design for use anywhere you like. (Although they do offer shirt orders, too.)
Pros
- Easy to use interface
- Better clip art than alternatives
- Can order shirts anywhere
Cons
- Designs are not on shirt mockups for you to see
- Not always free
Adobe Illustrator CC
With the numerous shapes, effects options and fonts, one can use adobe illustrator CC for designing t-shirts. Well, this will not prove an easy tool for all, you need some experience to use. So, create beautiful vector art to the extension of your inspiration and show the world what you can do. You may also see portfolio designs to inspire!
Photoshop Online Tools – Try for Free
The bigger good news is that the software and the installations which are part and parcel with it are all free. Now, who doesn’t appreciate a good-quality freebie in the world of graphic design? All of us do. The tools wired in the software include the bests of Photoshop as well.
Designhill T-Shirt Maker
Designhill t-shirt maker is an excellent application if you need help for creating a custom t shirt. It is a one-stop solution with its in-built tool that simplifies the whole process. Its shirt maker is easy to use. You can see the design taking the desired look as you add text or other elements. Change the color, placement, or font. Add custom logos, images, and drag or drop elements to see its effect in real-time. If you are someone who isn’t a pro in t-shirt designing, Designhill t-shirt maker is the best way to go.
Adobe Illustrator — For Professionals
We would not suggest you playing with Adobe’s high-end graphic solutions to create your occasional t-shirts. But if you’re already a professional, Illustrator is an excellent tool for designing high-quality shirts. As the focus of the graphic design software is on vector images, you can easily scale up or down the size of a text or logo without compromising on the quality.
Your design will look great on a t-shirt as it will look on a business card, billboard, or any other material. If you think of screen-printing your design, illustrator simplifies the process of creating layered, spot-colored files that your print shop needs. Just like other professional software, illustrator provides a steep learning curve. Adobe offers published tutorials with sample files to get its users started. Dozens of sites also offer templates that you can import directly into the software.
Rush Order Tee — Speedy Design Creation
Using Rush Order Tee’s software for custom t-shirt creation is a breeze. It is quick and provides varieties of customization options. The software has a wide range of shirt colors, styles, as well as manufacturers to choose from. It guides you through a series of steps to get the exact design you need.Its huge library of over 50,000 clipart images ensures you get great graphics for your t-shirt design. In case you have something special in mind, the software lets you upload your own design as well. The in-house team of the company reviews each design for quality. They correct mistakes if there’s any and then send it for the final print. Even, there are a live chat and phone support available for further assistance.
Fatpaint — Free To Use
This t shirt design software is ‘free to use’. One of the most significant advantages of this software is that one doesn’t need to download or install it. All you need to do is to log in and start creating your masterpieces. You will require Adobe Flash though, and that’s all. Even if it’s free, it packs some extra features like — more than 900 typefaces, 3D templates, and a huge collection of vector clip arts. This t-shirt design software makes it a breeze to create 3D graphics and images that will make your shirts pop.
Use your own artwork or create a fresh one. It is really very simple to modify your design with other elements and tools. The only drawback this free t shirt design software has is — advertisements. You may get a little annoyed by ads popping up. But if you want to escape the ads changing you, become a Pro subscriber.
InkXE — Use Across All Devices
You can use this web-to-print software across all web-browsers and devices. Its user-friendly interface has many features. Business owners, as well as professional graphic designers, can use this t shirt design software to their advantage. As far as features are concerned, it supports almost all types of printing methods, including heat print, sublimation, DTG print, and more. It allows users to upload pictures from their devices as well as social media sites in any format.
The software checks the resolution of the image on its own. The masks and filters added in the software allow you to modify or remove colors from your design in real-time. Convert the images to grayscale or vectorize them easily. There are more than 10,000 free cliparts besides t shirt design templates and shapes. Use these elements or create your own template, shape, or clipart using their tool. What’s more? The t-shirt design software has background patterns pre-installed in it.
Conclusion
If you are looking for free graphic design software then you are at the best place. As there are lots of free graphic design software programs that you can download to edit photos, images and create stunning designs for your projects.