How to Set Up an Underwear & Panty Print on Demand Store: Success Stories Included

Anna Navolokova, Marketing Manager in Multi-Programming Solutions  •  9 min read

Whenever you think the print on demand market is already enough with genius ideas and unique products for any occasion, a newly developed brand appears and finds millions of faithful followers. And you can become one of these recognizable and profitable businesses starting in 2023 by being passionate and dedicated to your work. 

This article will inspire you to try something new in the POD niche when it seems like there’s nothing to discover. We’ll tell you how to open a custom-printed underwear store capable of solving clients’ pain points and describe success stories of building a unique brand from worldwide sellers.

Table of Contents

Selling Print on Demand Underwear   

Building a business with sustainable practices

Underwear brands success stories

Apps and tools used to build underwear store

Conclusions

Selling Print on Demand Underwear

The demand for customized undies has grown significantly in the last five years. The US lingerie market size amounted to $85.96 billion by 2021 and is expected to reach the point of 5.75 CAGR by 2030. These statistics show that launching your own lingerie brand can bring tremendous opportunities for POD entrepreneurs. And to help you get started making money, we’ll give some tips on how to develop a thriving underwear printing company in 2023.

It all starts with the idea

The desire to create something valuable for your customer lies at the core of developing your custom print panties company. Your results can be more than a simple product for everyday usage that brings comfort and pleasure to customers’ life. Modern entrepreneurs solve global problems with their offerings, like social interaction issues, overproduction, resource overrun, environmental pollution, etc. 

Thus, you may design comfortable plus-size panties and discuss the importance of body positivity and self-love with your messages. Or you can create custom screen-printed underwear for couples in multipacks and reduce materials consumption. Some brands also provide reusable packing materials (boxes or tubes), which customers can send back or apply for home usage.

In general, it would be beneficial for the reputation if your product could be used for the intended purpose and also cover additional ones. The company’s value should be well-recognized in your brand’s logo, printings, packages, online store interface, and even communication with clients.

Small steps for a magnificent result

Your brand’s journey begins long before you list print on demand underwear in the Shopify store. It requires well-thought previous preparation and effort. But there may be nothing complicated if you follow these tips:

• Start communicating with a customer in the pre-productions stage. Social media accounts are solid tools for exploring the target audience's needs. You may directly ask your clients what they want to see in your lingerie line. Their feedback will help you to become closer and create a perfect product.
• Listen to the expert opinions but keep your individuality. If you are new to the POD business, you may need some advice from other sellers, printing underwear wholesale suppliers, designers, or other experienced people. But don’t forget to follow your own path to keep your uniqueness.
• Run a marketing campaign before opening the store. Continue to interact with your clients and announce the beginning of sales through Instagram, Facebook, or other profile. Of course, you should be ready to cope with the potential agio or previously figure out the limited quantity of products on your first selling days.
• Provide beta testing for your lingerie. Whether you print items independently or provide a dropshipping business model with custom underwear wholesale suppliers, previous product testing is critical. Invite some of your potential clients to examine underwear samples for free. Receiving reviews firsthand before mass production will be crucial for your future development.

These tips suit your brand popularization and establishing strong relationships with customers. But if you are interested in the technical side of creating an online shop for your customized apparel, you can read our article about print-on-demand services for Shopify stores.

Lingerie line ideas

How to design underwear which won’t look boring to buyers? There are plenty of mockups for releasing your creativity:

• Add some fun to the garment. You don’t have to be always serious when it comes to panties. Some cheeky designs with waistbands or metallic ink will brighten your customers’ days.
• Print phrases or names. Don’t be afraid to push the boundaries by adding eye-catching phrases on pants for girls and boys. Search for popular themes which may be attractive to the target audience.
• Use the holiday possibilities. There are plenty of occasions on the calendar to produce underwear suitable for lovely presents, from Christmas Eve to Easter rabbits.
• Lingerie for couples. If you sell both women’s and men's print-on-demand underwear, try to combine these lines in a single pack. It can become a popular selling proposition.

Building a business with sustainable practices

Many buyers are interested in sustainable underwear brands. Planet-savvy principles should become an essential part of your business if you want to contribute to environmental protection and keep your clients returning. But you should also keep the high quality of your services and products. 

Here are some solutions on how to stay a sustainable underwear manufacturer:

• Use organic cotton to create lingerie.
• Optimize the sizes of your packages to reduce materials consumption.
• Ensure your printing inks don’t include toxic ingredients.
• Produce reusable underwear.
• Don’t create stocks ahead.
• Provide sustainable printing methods, like DTG.

The most successful POD businesses already follow these principles. And we’d like to share their other achievements which brought them to the top.

How to Start a Print-on-Demand Business in 2023

Underwear brands success stories

Learning the best practices of other POD underwear and panty companies can help beginners to start their own businesses, avoiding many mistakes. Brands’ success stories have vital information about what startups should focus on and which challenges they can face in developing their own sales path. Not only entrepreneurs can find inspiration and tips on production, marketing, and shipping issues. They also may figure out bottlenecks and fix them in their own selling chain, acquiring competitive advantages in the market.

Pantee

The idea to organize a print-on-demand underwear fulfillment service came to Amanda and Katie McCourt when they found how many t-shirts become dead stocks at shops. Since that moment, it took two years for the sisters to build their own sustainable company, which could upcycle the cloth production.

Pantee turned the original insight into a working business model which caters to customers’ needs and brings stable profit. Girls follow three main principles in developing their brand: build a friendly community, care about the customer's comfort, and work consciously. 

Amanda keeps a constant connection with the company’s partners and clients, which helps to erase boundaries and avoid misunderstandings. Pantee continues to keep the momentum, improving its brand day by day. They increase the level of customer service by providing software integrations, which help to manage returns and ease payments.

Pantee example is one of the print-on-demand success stories which inspire entrepreneurs to realize their bold desires empowered by clients’ support.

Lounge Underwear

Lounge is a UK-based brand owned by a couple of enthusiasts who are passionate about their work. The company has tripled its profit to $19 million from selling women’s underwear and increased its team to 100 employees in the last year. Lounge succeeded in offering long last lingeries instead of following fast fashion. The brand doesn’t print holiday or seasonal items but stays consistent in its own design. And customers like it.

The brand represents a sustainable business, starting from the garment they use in production to the packaging materials and postcards. A lot of attention the couple pays to the marketing campaign, especially emphasizing the role of social media influencers in their promotion.

Yoycol

This Chinese company, established in 2016, focused its production on printed underwear for men: short underpants, long boxers, bras popular among K-pop idols, etc. It’s the cheapest POD provider which owns innovative equipment and an AI-powered warehouse system.

The Yoycol production accounts for more than 1.8 million items per year. The brand doesn’t limit the minimum order amount for wholesale screen-printed underwear and provides 2-5% discounts for regular buyers.

Yoycol online shop is integrated with Shopify, Etsy, and other platforms and provides cross-selling in eCommerce. The company also offers other products like t-shirts, leggings, swimwear, bags, and others, generating more margin.

Apps and tools used to build underwear store 

All the described successful POD companies could hardly reach the same productivity and profit without software integrations. Custom underwear manufacturers save costs and time, wisely distribute business tasks and optimize their workflows with automated tools. We also have some clever solutions which can help run the business even when you sleep.

Podza 

Developed specifically for print-on-demand businesses, Podza provides order, product, and warehouse management in a single framework. The app integrates with Shopify, Etsy, eBay, Woocommerce, and other platforms allowing entrepreneurs to organize hassle-free multichannel sales. Podza connects printers with dropshippers and streamlines routine operations, making a business flexible and scalable. Here's the set of functions that will help to make your own underwear production line systematized:

• Manage orders from several e-commerce partners.
• Create product listings and import them to connected stores.
• Set up prices and shipping costs.
• Conclude financial reports.
• Generate invoices and control their conditions.
• Integrate shipping software like Shiphero or Shipstation and much more.

Podza is a ready-to-use software that requires a little time for implementation but significantly increases POD company productivity and positively impacts sales volume.

Afterpay

This tool will help you to improve the customer experience if you are ready to receive payments with delays. Afterpay allows buyers to purchase an item but pay within several next days without additional charges. This option can be added through the Shopify admin panel and will please many of your loyal clients.

Stamped.io

The tool is used for showcasing your product reviews and accepting customers’ feedback. Stamped allows you to build solid relationships with your clients and affiliates. It also helps sellers to rank higher in the Google Product ratings and improve SEO with special snippets. The software is available on the Shopify app.

Conclusions

The underwear industry is constantly growing, and the demand for its products is always high. With print-on-demand customization, entrepreneurs can turn everyday cloth into a masterpiece present or even a family look. Lingerie sales provide a vast potential for developing a personal brand, showcasing the company's values, and building customer trust.

Empowered by software support and wise marketing, your print-on-demand underwear online store can reach new business horizons and withstand any market changes.