Have you ever wanted to design your own t-shirt? I know I do. Shirts are a popular gift for many people — whether you’re shopping for your friends, significant others, or kids. And with so many different styles and designs available it can be tricky to find a design that suits your personality. But don’t worry, because there’s free t shirt design software out there…
If you’re looking for free t-shirt design software, look no further than this article. Here, I’m going to show you some of the best free t-shirt design software along with the best rated free t-shirt design software. You’ll learn everything you need to know about the best free t-shirt design apps available, including how to use them.
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
Custom Ink
Custom Ink allows you to create a t-shirt design and order all in one tool. You can add text, images, and custom graphics as you build a design on-screen.
The shirt builder has a ton of images to help you get started from athletic logo styles to emojis to occupational imagery. Just drag and drop the image onto the shirt preview and you are ready to go.
One of the best features of this online t-shirt software is that it has a background grid that ensures your text and image elements are in safe printing zones for different shirt sizes and styles. The rest of the interface is pretty sleek, too.
You can create shirts for selling or a little league team in minutes from start to finish.
Pros
- Easy to use builder
- Robust graphics options, even licensed team imagery
- Ability to add names and numbers for sports teams
Cons
- You need a basic idea of your design to get started
- You have to order shirts from this website after you create the design
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator has held onto its laurels as the best all-around graphic design program available for students and professionals in many fields. If you plan to create t-shirt designs to sell, or if you want to create complex professional-grade images, you may want to look into the Adobe Suite!
This advanced vector-design program is compatible with Windows, Mac and even has apps you can use on various devices. Plus, Adobe does a good job of unrolling new features and keeping up with the times.
But the downside to this comprehensive design program is that it’s pretty hard to master. You can’t just follow a few easy directions to create an image like you can on many web-based programs! Instead, you have to actually learn how vector design works and create your own designs from the ground up.
You can subscribe to the full Adobe suite for $49.99 a month or purchase access to the app or just Illustrator for $29.99 a month.
Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop offers a more user-friendly experience than Illustrator though it has some limitations as well. First, it does not offer vector design tools. This program focuses strictly on photo manipulation.
This does mean you can only use this software if you plan to use DTG printing, as it won’t work well for screenprints.
On the other hand, Photoshop does give you the gold standard of photo editing and manipulation. If you want to launch a small business that prints family photos onto t-shirts for customers, you will almost certainly want to use Photoshop!
You can purchase Photoshop at several different monthly subscription prices depending on how many features you want. Like Illustrator, you can use Photoshop as an app or on both Windows and Mac computers.
Krita
You know Krita was made with designers in mind because they have a set of tutorials to guide you through the more complex aspects of the software. Created by artists and completely free, Krita includes customisable brushes and tools for you to fine-tune your designs, and is particularly suited to cartoon or comic-style illustrations. krita.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
CorelDraw
Graphic designers use CorelDraw for a range of vector designs. It’s particularly useful for t-shirts because it comes stocked with clipart and images that you can use, and has a clean, intuitive design. Some new users may find it difficult to learn, but there’s plenty of manuals and tutorials for budding designers. coreldraw-graphics-suite.en.softonic.com
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
Print Shop
Print Shop by Design Hill lets you create custom shirt designs that are printed and shipped to you.
This tool uses a builder with some drag-and-drop and some click tools. The template options are what make this t-shirt design software stand out. You can add artwork from a ready-made gallery and include any additional customizations you might have. It’s quick and easy.
Pros
- You can choose shirt options and design in the same place (one screen website design)
- Templates make design easy
- Tool checks for print quality of graphics to ensure quality
Cons
- The interface is a little clunky
- Hard to use if you don’t have a ready to import design or use one of their templates
- You have to buy shirts from this website
Conclusion:
When it comes to making t-shirts, you’re probably already aware that good design is important. But not all good design is created equal. It takes more than just a professional appearance, it takes a software that allows you to create extraordinary designs and prints. I’ve been involved with a ton of t-shirt marketing campaigns over the past decade, and interior design is something I know a bit about. When it comes to designing t-shirts, there are lots of different design software packages out there, but not all of them are great.