Whether it’s a Darth Vader shirt or your favorite Adventure Time character, there will always be a personalized tshirt for that. Nowadays, Shopify and other ecommerce platforms had made it so easy for both consumers and sellers to connect resulting into thousands of products and orders.

And one such niche that continues to make a killing in terms of sales is personalized tshirt. Just try Googling for this term and you’re bound to see thousands of websites each with literally hundreds of design to choose from.

Today we’ll take a closer look at 3 popular shops where you can cop your next personalized tshirt.

Johnny Cupcakes

Before JC became a behemoth of a clothing store, it started as a brick and mortar business from the founder, Johnny Earle’s, car. He literally sold his Johnny Cupcakes t-shirts at the back of his outside of friend’s gigs. This was in 2001. Several years later, he would open a string of retail shops across the world and ultimately reach global success after launching his clothing store online.

JC is most popular for its cupcake and bones design, which captured that perfect balance of cute, funny, and angst-y philosophy of its fans.

Threadless

This online T-shirt company is credited to be one of the pioneers of crowdsourcing. Back in 2000, the founders started polling forum members to rate various designs where the winning entry would end up in various merchandise like tshirts and other products which will be sold and shipped all over the world. The artist with the winning entry will get paid with royalties from sales of his or her design along with a couple of bonuses from the company. This made the concept very popular among designers and kept Threadless from getting amazing designs from artists all over the world.

Nowadays, Threadless proves to be one of the biggest online and brick & mortar stores that sells a wide range of products with eye-catching designs.

COOTD

COOTD is a budding online T-shirt company based in the Philippines that sells a cute collection of designs covering popular characters and other categories like Food, Drinks, Animals, and more. The designs feature a simple yet engaging appeal that’s a sure hit across customers from all sorts of ages.

What do you get from shopping in COOTD? Aside from their niche collection of catchy designs, they offer shipping all over the world. And perhaps the most amazing part is the price---COOTD shirts are priced so competitively you can grab a couple of shirts for the price of one from the first two stores we mentioned above. Does this make COOTD a better store? Probably not, but it definitely is a hit among shoppers looking to find the best bang for their buck.

A friend told you that he is selling brand new Supreme T-shirts at bargain-bin prices. He said he gets it “directly” from the manufacturer’s plant, hence the low cost. While your penny-pinching brain tells you to bite the bullet, you’re common sense tells you the same old lesson: If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Honestly, I’d rather do custom T-shirt printing than wear a clone.

So how can someone determine if a shirt is the real thing and not fake? Here’s our top 10 list of things to check out for to confirm if a shirt is authentic.

1. Look at the logo - Most fake merchandise will seem off if you scrutinize its logo. Check the color, shade, and overall quality of the print.

2. Stitching - Stitching of legit shirts are more complete than counterfeit ones. In fake clothes, you’ll see that the maker seem to have scrimped on the number of threads on the stitching.

3. Fabric - Going back to our earlier Supreme T-shirt example, a good tell of a fake one is the fabric. If it’s too coarse or thick (ratio to cotton is extremely low) it means the manufacturer used cheap quality fabric, an automatic red flag.

4. Spelling - You better believe it. Some fake merchandise out there are so focused on selling their pirated products that they did not even bother to make sure if they got the product’s name right. I once saw a pair Havaianas sandals rip-off which said. “Hawaiians”.

5. Pricing - This is a big sign if you’re getting genuine products. I mean seriously, a Nike T-shirt for $5? Again, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Better to go the custom T-shirt printing route if you’ll ask me.

6. Packaging - Shirts from well-known brands are packaged nicely in matching plastics. Counterfeit ones, on the other hand, especially those that are sold around the corner, get tossed around in bins like you’re buying from a garage sale. Sometimes, they are wrapped in plastics which does not bear the product’s brand name.

7. Check garment seam - a uniform stitch is a good indicator of quality. Clones are typically made with less stitches per inch.

8. Check the shirt buttons - Here’s another trick you should check out. Legit shirts will have their brand name imprinted on the shirt buttons. Counterfeiters usually don’t have the equipment or resources to do this. Also, they want to produce it as cheap as possible so they skip this even if they can.

9. Where is it being sold? - If you see a Louis Vuitton bag being sold by someone who set up shop at the side of the street, do you really think it’s the real thing?

10.Wash care tag - Most fake shirts don’t even bother with placing wash care tags on their products. Again, to save on production costs.

We all hear stories about women having too much stuff in their closets. I attest to this personally, as I have two sisters who bought clothes and shoes as if the stores were always on sale.

Remember that scene in the movie, "Confessions of a Shopaholic" where the lead character, Rebecca, was shoving all her clothes into an already overflowing closet? While that sure was funny, I imagine there are lots of women (and sometimes men) out there who face the same dilemma.

Before you get any ideas, no, this is not an article extolling the values of minimalism. It is also not a rant about buying too much stuff either. Rather, our little list here aims to narrow down on the top five pieces of clothing that we believe every girl should have. After all, it all starts with the basics. But who knows? Maybe after reading this, you’ll realize that you have enough stuff in your closet and you would want to focus on building upon your top favorite pieces of clothing instead. You not only save money from not buying stuff that you don't need but you will also avoid the trap that our good friend Rebecca suffered from in the movie.

So what stuff should every woman have in her closet? Let’s check out the list now!

#1 Blazer

A blazer in your favorite shade instantly gives you a nice, layered look that's perfect for the office and more formal events. Even if you are only wearing a simple personalized shirt or blouse, putting on a blazer takes things up a notch.

#2 Little Black Dress

Or more popularly known among women as LBD. Karl Lagerfeld once said, "One is never over-dressed or under-dressed with a little black dress." It is versatile and serves as your go-to outfit for dinner events and formal parties.

#3 The Perfect White T-Shirt

For those days when you feel like dressing down, nothing beats the comfort of a simple T-shirt. It goes well with pants and shorts which makes it the perfect get-up for those casual days. Too plain? Add some spice to your look by having your favorite character printed on your shirt. Online shops like COOTD.com offer personalized shirts services that is perfect for matching your outfit with your mood. Cute little unicorn T-shirts, anyone?

#4 Ballet Flats

Every girl needs to have these cutesy little slip-ons because they match easily with other pieces of your wardrobe. Pants, shorts, skirts, and everything else.. you name it. It is a highly versatile pair. And did I mention that they are super comfy?

#5 Pumps

Your classic power-dress staple. Pumps are the number one choice to achieve that corporate look. Women give off an aura of sophistication and power when wearing these classics. Amazingly, they also work well with jeans and most pants so having a pair in your closet is definitely a must.