In 2010 printmaker Andrea Lauren was putting her artwork on mirrors, calendars, buttons, and rings and selling them on Etsy. While browsing the Etsy forums one afternoon, a comment about the print-on-demand fabric company Spoonflower piqued her interest. She’d been searching for a way to print her art on fabric, and this seemed like the ideal solution.
Lauren drew a stylized grizzly bear, carved and printed a block, scanned it into her computer and began playing with creating a repeat pattern. “It started so simply and innocently without any plan,” she recalls. “That geometric animal design is still one of my best-selling prints.”
The bear motif’s popularity led to numerous requests from customers to make other animals in the same style, and very quickly Lauren became a regular Spoonflower user. Five years later she has approximately 250 designs in her Spoonflower shop, with dozens of colorways and coordinates adding up to well over 1,000 patterns for sale.
Today Andrea Lauren is Spoonflower’s #1 top seller by revenue, and fabric design has become a significant part of her career…(to find out more about Andrea read the rest of this piece on the Spoonflower blog where I’m a guest writer today.)
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FAQs
How much can you make on Spoonflower? There is no ceiling to what you can earn on Spoonflower. For the past 3 years, I've earned above 6 figures (USD) annually. I've implemented many strategies to earn and maintain this level of income and I've set up a membership to teach you, too!
How do fabric designers make money? ›
You can sell your textile designs and make money by working full-time, licensing your artwork, collaborating with print studios, selling independently online, or freelancing.
How much does the average designer make on Spoonflower? ›
As a seller on Spoonflower, every time someone purchases one of your designs you will earn a base commission of 10% of the full retail price of the fabric or wallpaper sale.
How hard is it to sell on Spoonflower? ›
It's Easy to Set Up and Manage
Setting up the shop and account settings was super fast and easy compared to other print-on-demand shops - to post on all Spoonflower products, you only need your seamless swatch, a few tags and a short description, and you are ready to go.
How profitable is a fabric store? ›
Fabric shops have traditionally been very profitable specialty retail operations as the markups applied to fabrics for retail sales can exceed 100 percent or more. The business needs little in the way of specialized equipment, thus keeping the operating overheads to a minimum.
What is the life of a textile designer? ›
Activities will include: sourcing vintage textile pieces from antique fairs and markets across Europe; designing and making swatches and inspirational pieces (this will include re-styling vintage pieces and also creating new samples and swatches); making appointments (if a trade show is imminent); chasing invoices and ...
Can I make money selling patterns? ›
Sell Patterns on your own products
There's plenty of options for setting up a shop to sell your own products online, surface pattern designs are also great for things to sell, you can sell the pattern as a print, as a digital download, you can order or make your own products with your patterns on.
Can you make a lot of money with print on demand? ›
The answer is yes. I've been making money selling Print on Demand T-Shirts online for over 6 years. In my first month (August 2013) I made just $50. But for the past 3-4 years, my average monthly income from Print on Demand has been between $9,000 – $15,000.
Do people make money on Patternbank? ›
As a designer you will receive 50 per cent commission on all sales made through Patternbank, and we even pick up the PayPal fee.
Can you make money selling prints? ›
Sell Copies, Prints or Digital Files
Prints and digital files typically sell for less money than originals, however, they do present artists with a good way of repeatedly making money with one piece of artwork. Additionally, people might want T-shirts or mugs or even notebooks with your art on them.
