T-shirts may seem like an unlikely niche for affiliate marketing, but t-shirt affiliate programs can actually be quite profitable.
The t-shirt industry is worth US$3.4 billion per year.
So even if you can get a tiny slice of that, you’ll earn a healthy income. And we know what happens when you tap into markets like this:
The trick here is knowing which t-shirt affiliate programs to promote.
Let’s take a look at the gems we found for you.
T-Shirt Affiliate Programs
- Redbubble
- Cuts Clothing
- Spiral Direct
- Spunky Pineapple
- Design By Humans
- Jinx
- Allied Shirts
- Shirtbox
- American Gun Association
- Busted Tees
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1 Redbubble
Redbubble is pretty much synonymous with cool and quirky tee shirts. Although they’ve expanded into selling products other than t-shirts, as you can see above.
So what makes Redbubble different is that their tee shirts are designed by independent creators who then upload their designs to the site. And anyone who finds it can order it. Redbubble takes a cut, and the rest goes to the artists.
But this also means a never-ending variety of tee shirts and designs are available. So your audience will keep coming back once there are new products. They’re also kind of the OG here—they’ve done so since 2006, but many imitators have appeared.
So, what does this massively popular brand have to offer affiliate marketers?
The neat thing is that they don’t just print t-shirts—they also print products like phone cases, clothing, masks, stationery, and other custom-printed items.
So you’ll find tees and other products to suit most audiences, from boomers to tech geeks. And you get a 10% commission on products sold through your affiliate links.
- URL: Redbubble affiliate program
- Commission: 10%
- Cookie duration: 30 days
2 Cuts Clothing
You can’t really reinvent the t-shirt…. can you? Well, the team behind Cuts Clothing did just that.
It all started when founder Steven Borelli couldn’t find the types of T-shirts he wanted. So he invented a new range of tee shirts instead.
Cuts Clothing has created a range of t-shirts suitable for both office environments and when you’re off the clock. Each tee shirt is made from their custom Pyca fabric, which is breathable, making it ideal for warmer climates but light enough to be worn under another item of clothing.
This fabric is tri-woven for durability. Each product is available in three different cuts and three different collar options. Their tee shirts are also available in sizes up to XXL.
Is there money to be made selling t-shirts?
Cuts t-shirts average at about $50 each, and a typical referral results in an average order value of $125. You get a 5% cut on all sales for an affiliate marketing commission of around $6 per sale. That’s not bad for selling a few tee shirts.
- URL: Cuts Clothing affiliate program
- Commission: 5%
- EPC: $32.36
- Cookie duration: 30 days
3 Spiral Direct
Sometimes, people prefer to shop for t-shirts designed by independent creators, while others may opt for websites like Spiral that offer designs that align with their lifestyle.
Spiral has supplied t-shirts to Gothic, humor, tribal, horror, metal, and vintage fans now for over 30 years. So, they have more experience with direct marketing than most other competing websites.
You’ll also find tees featuring images of your favorite bands, wolves, fairies, dragons, and other fantasy themes. They even cater to fetish design “content”.
And if you need slightly more wiggle room in your tee, then you’ll be happy to see that they sell products in sizes up to 4XL.
Spiral is a great example of a really niche t-shirt site, as far away from mainstream websites as they come. What I love about sub-niches is how well your website traffic converts. Your audience knows what they want.
- URL: Spiral affiliate program
- Commission: Undisclosed
- Cookie duration: 30 days
4 Spunky Pineapple
Spunky Pineapple is an example of how to approach a market from a different angle. Most t-shirt companies mass-produce their products using digital printers. But every single tee this company produces is hand-screen printed in their Florida store.
Why is that a big deal?
This type of printing process ensures that the design on your shirt can never crack or peel because the fabric itself has been dyed. It’s not just a “surface” application.
So these are artisanal tee shirts – founder Christina McReynolds spotted a gap in the market. Not only that but they’re printed using 100% water-based eco-friendly inks. Which will obviously appeal to people looking to be environmentally friendly.
They stock a range of fun and quirky tee product designs and styles for men, women, and kids, ranging from standard shirts to tank tops.
Spunky Pineapple runs its affiliate program through ShareASale — the third-most-popular affiliate network, according to our affiliate marketing statistics — so make sure you have an account there.
Each product referral you generate will earn you a 10% affiliate commission. So, you’ll earn around $25 in affiliate commissions for sales made through your website.
- URL: Spunky Pineapple affiliate program
- Commission: 10%
- EPC: $108.65
- Cookie duration: 60 days
5 Design By Humans
Design by Humans has been around since 2007, the earlier days of the print-on-demand tee shirt craze.
They’re very similar to Redbubble in terms of the products they offer. Designers upload their designs to the store, and if customers like what they see, Design By Humans prints off a copy and ships it.
So graphic artists from anywhere worldwide can access an international audience ready to buy their products.
Your audience can find t-shirt designs here that they won’t find anywhere else. This is something that comic book fans, gamers, and movie aficionados love – wearing products before they were cool.
And it goes beyond just tees with Design By Humans – your visitors can also buy phone cases, tank tops, wall art, and many other apparel from their different categories.
So, how does Design By Humans compare to the other t-shirt affiliate programs in this roundup?
Their commission rates start at 3% but go up to 10%, “depending on the site”. This is also the joint lowest commission rate of the affiliate programs listed here, but their 11% conversion rate balances that out.
- URL: Design by Humans affiliate program
- Commission: 3%
- EPC: $24.76
- Cookie duration: 30 days
6 Jinx
Yup, the Star Wars games graphics t-shirts caught my attention, too. Jinx is a t-shirt supplier with a difference – each product is aimed squarely at the video games and geek clothing market.
There are no “hug the world” messages here—just the cool stuff you remember from when you were a kid. But that also includes modern gaming brands and themes like “The Witcher,” “The Division,” “Overwatch,” and “World of Warcraft.”
This business began in 1999, starting in a bedroom, but it has always maintained a sense of humor. If customers are unsatisfied with their t-shirt, hoodie, or other clothing item, they have up to 120 days to return it.
Gamer products are in the “raving fans” market, so affiliate marketers have a real opportunity. You won’t have to pre-sell these tees.
Show your audience their tee shirts and apparel – they’ll become customers without thinking.
So, while the 7% commission you get isn’t huge, these products will sell themselves, making affiliate programs like this a no-brainer.
- URL: Jinx affiliate program
- Commission: 7%
- EPC: TBC
- Cookie duration: 30 days
7 Allied Shirts
Allied Shirts is a print-on-demand t-shirt supplier but somewhat differs from the other affiliate programs we listed.
They’re less about quirky designs and more about bulk printing of tees. This is fine because we’ve already featured several affiliate programs for audiences looking for brands and bands.
Allied Shirts has a very straightforward website that lets you choose the style of tees you want and how many of them you need. Then, you can either upload your own design or use their designer and/or templates to tweak text, logos, graphics, etc.
Then, just hit the “Submit” button to order your products with the exact look you want. They’re ideal for corporate or team tees or even once-off tees for events like birthday parties or conferences.
Just an FYI – affiliates will need a Link Connector account to promote the Allied Shirts program.
The 3% commission rate put me off at first, but this affiliate program has a very healthy 7-day EPC of $32. This indicates that at least some of their affiliates are making regular sales.
- URL: Allied Shirts affiliate program
- Commission: 3%
- EPC: $24.10
- Cookie duration: 30 days
8 Shirtbox
And now we have an offer for our UK-based affiliates – Shirtbox. It’s also a pretty cool story of a company started by two college friends with a common interest in t-shirt design. It turned into a business with 20 people designing, printing, and shipping their tees to the four corners of the world.
Their site uses lots of social proof – their testimonials all feature customers wearing their tees. And not hired models pretending to have “fun”.
What are their products and designs like? Irreverent, bright, fun, sarcastic, and pretty much everything you could want for a pop-culture-focused audience. There’s something for almost everyone.
So, how does this affiliate offer compare to the other programs here?
Well, affiliates get a 15% share of sales of t-shirts and other products, with a cookie length of 30 days to play with.
It’s also worth noting that they’re one of the top-performing tee shirt affiliate programs on ShareASale, which usually means they’re delivering the goods for affiliates.
- URL: Shirtbox affiliate program
- Commission: 15%
- EPC: $55.62
- Cookie duration: 30 days
9 American Gun Association
You never know what you’ll find when researching a niche, and T-shirt affiliate programs are no different.
I found a t-shirt program for the Gun Association of America via ClickBank. Now, love it or hate it, the citizens of the United States take the 2nd Amendment very seriously.
This is a controversial topic, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t people interested in buying these t-shirts. This is one of the most specialized niches we could find, but these highly targeted audiences often have significant purchasing power.
This isn’t going to be a program you can build an entire affiliate site around, but that’s down to the value of individual sales more than anything else.
But this is an interesting program if you’re in or going to be in the prepper/survival/outdoor niche. Remember that you’ll only make around $9 per sale, so you’ll need to generate a lot of orders.
- URL: American Gun Association affiliate program
- Commission: $9 per sale
- Gravity: 9
- Cookie duration: 60 days
10 Busted Tees
Busted Tees has been serving the pop culture tee shirt market since 2004, so they pre-date the vast majority of other tee producers.
And you can see why their tees are so popular when you check out their various “Collections” or categories.
There’s a tee to suit pretty much any pop culture reference, with ones for both men and women. From the political to the retro to gaming and sci-fi inspired. Each one is designed by indie artists.
You’ll find thousands of different designs with something to suit everyone.
They also offer flat-rate, but not free, shipping everywhere except two countries – Saudi Arabia and Israel. Here, we have the last t-shirt affiliate program in our roundup.
Busted Tees shirts cost around $20 each, but typical orders include two or more tee shirts.
But with that said, you only get a 5% commission on each sale. So you’ll need to generate many sales to replace your day job income, i.e., other revenue streams.
- URL: Busted Tees affiliate program
- Commission: 5%
- EPC: $33.79
- Cookie duration: 30 days
Over to You
And that brings us to the end of our roundup of t-shirt affiliate programs.
As always, we only focused on programs where you can make money, i.e., they have proven sales metrics.
We couldn’t feature Crazy Dog T-shirts because we couldn’t find their affiliate program. It’s a shame because they seem to perform well in this market.
This market still has a lot of potential for somebody wanting to earn money online. Just make sure you’ve done your due diligence before building your website.
Otherwise, you could spend years working on one that doesn’t earn much.
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