10 Popular T-Shirt Design Styles & Elements to Expand Your Print on Demand Catalog
If you’re looking to expand your catalog of t-shirt designs, but don’t know where to start, you’ve landed in the right place because in this short post we’re gonna be looking at 10 popular t-shirt design styles that have proven themselves to be as relevant as they are appealing for a wide range of audiences! Whether you’re looking to stock up on fun and playful designs, something more sophisticated and timeless, or you’re simply looking for inspiration, we’ve got your back.
We’ll be discussing the specific design elements and aesthetics that give each one of these t-shirt design categories a personality of their own. Components such as color palette, typography, illustrations, layout and ornamental elements all play a role into setting each design style apart from one another, and it’s important to consider them and whether or not they’re relevant to your audience’s interests. And if we got this right (we think we did) then they definitely will be!
See something you’re particularly interested in? Jump straight ahead!
Because some illustration styles are timeless, and who doesn’t remember that old t-shirt they used to wear on sundays? That one which had already been machine-washed one too many times, and the print was starting to fall appart. That’s some authentic vintage for you right there. But not all designs are created equal, and while a damaged illustration may look great on certain types of prints and fabrics, others scream of being past its due date a long time ago.
That’s when the classic vintage design style comes to the rescue. This trend comes in many flavors, and if we had to pick a defining trait for it, it would be that it’s main objective is to depict a specific time period, typically displaying the easily recognizable motifs like cars and motorcycles from the 60’s all the way up to the 80’s, landscape badges, whiskey label style typographic compositions using retro fonts, and, most importantly, the grainy textures that emulate a light wear and tear, without any actual damage to the fabric or to the print’s integrity.
This style of illustration has steadily remained a staple of modern streetwear for both men and women over the years, and it’s a must have for designers and Print on Demand entrepreneurs due to it’s sheer popularity among consumers.
Whether it’s dinosaurs, monsters or silly caricatures of pop culture figures, cartoon designs offer great comic relief, and allow your brand to show potential customers that you don’t take yourselves too seriously, which is a refreshing and friendly approach considering nowadays sweat pants are considered high fashion.
This style of t-shirt illustration is fun and versatile enough that you can use them on their own as t-shirt prints, or you can also pair them with satirical quotes or puns to further drive home a concept or funny idea.
While “Cartoon” is a broad umbrella term under which you can fit many, many different styles of illustration, Caricatures are a sub-category with clearly defined characteristics, such as the overly simplified or overly exaggerated facial features of it’s subjects (Victims? You be the judge).
Having sets of other cartoon illustration styles at your disposal will allow you to create your own t-shirt design compositions while maintaining a consistent design style across your catalog.
These designs are often printed on t-shirts with vibrant colors, and while Cartoon t-shirt designs in general are always a great addition to a designer’s merch illustrations arsenal, creating this kind of illustration does take a certain degree of design skills and experience, both on the drawing table and on digital design software, so unless you have a background in graphic design it is recommended that you acquire sets of ready-made designs and elements instead of creating them yourself.
Understanding the cultural zeitgeist is a necessary effort if you want your products to appeal to a wider audience, and with that in mind, I’m here to propose that we finally give this Eastern illustration style it’s rightful place among some of the most popular design styles currently in demand in Western design trends.
Gone are the days when the Anime and Manga genres were considered a niche for nerds. Well, not exactly. They’re still stuff for nerds, but the layman’s attitude towards these types of media has dramatically shifted over the past decade, and while the reasons behind that are up for debate, there’s no question about the boom in popularity that Anime, Manga, and their related products, have enjoyed.
But here’s the kicker: the trend doesn’t show any signs of slowing down at all, quite the opposite in fact. According to Ampere Analysis, in 2021 alone over 36% of streaming service users worldwide watched and enjoyed shows in the Anime genre. Furthermore, Sony’s acquisition of Crunchyroll (a popular Anime-only streaming service launched back in 2009) and Netflix’s increasing push towards the Anime genre are all indicators that this is fertile ground, so if you want to stay ahead of the curve on this one make sure to stock up on some anime t-shirt designs!
Not quite the same as the Vintage style illustrations we discussed earlier, yet not entirely different either, this style refers to a type of illustration that’s mostly characterized by a much more pronounced distress built into the concept itself, and a wider range of themes and design elements than what you’d find in vintage style illustrations.
You could say that Grungy t-shirt designs are the natural evolutionary step after Vintage style designs. Where a Vintage themed design is limited by the design elements it can employ, and mostly uses textures and effects to add some extra flavor, it’s main focus remains on the objects depicted in the illustration itself and the time period it is trying to emulate.
On the other hand, Grungy/Distressed illustration when seen as as a design style is much more versatile since the main focus is not centered only around the illustration, but also around how “damaged” you can make the design look while keeping it attractive to your target audience, so in this category you’ll find all kinds of concepts, from quotes made on bold lettering to super hero logos, illustrations, flags, abstract shape compositions, brand logos, etc.
You can essentially turn any illustration into a cool grungy design, provided you have the right tools and just a small amount of know-how:
You’ll need a set of vector distress textures or overlays.
Vector sources for your original artwork.
A design software that supports layers, and a rudimentary understanding of how to work with it.
Just as an example of this trendy design style we can take a look at the iconic American or UK flags distressed t-shirt prints which can be found everywhere, from independent graphic designers’ portfolios to massive clothing brands like Levi Strauss and Diesel.
Spray paint droplets, graffiti aesthetics, heavily stylized lettering and a noticeable bias towards Skateboarding, Rap and Hip-Hop themed concepts, every Print on Demand entrepreneur should make sure to stock up on some urban style t-shirt designs. This style is all about casual and hip designs, focused on sub-culture rather than mainstream trends.
The urban aesthetic has been a mainstay in people’s wardrobes for at least the past two and a half decades, and that says something about the impact these cultural movements have had on kids and young adults; most importantly, it says something about the demand that designs in this style experience in the the overall market.
Even though the designs that fall in this category often have a certain DIY message and aesthetic, they’re not easy to produce for people without a professional graphic design background as they typically depict artwork, custom hand-made lettering and complex graffiti graphics.
Still, even if you can’t create the graphics yourself, it’s a good idea to add some designs in this style to your print on demand collection.
Not specifically a style but rather a central element of a design, Car themed designs are always a great choice for Print on Demand entrepreneurs to add to their collection. These elements allow for a comfortable degree of versatility within the style that you want to go with, you can create anything from vintage style car t-shirt prints to retro 60’s and 70’s garage poster graphics, use racing cars with vibrant color palettes for eye-catching designs or use muscle cars, off-road vehicles or trucks to make bold statements.
Depending on what you want to do there are a couple of options here, you can either get a ready-made collection of t-shirt designs or you can get a set or two of stand alone car illustrations to do some hands-on design work and create your own t-shirt compositions by adding other elements like typography, frames, texture overlays, etc.
They are always a popular design element for boy t-shirt designs and, quite frankly, any male age group, so if your target audience is primarily male then you’re definitely gonna want to stock up on as many car t-shirt designs as you can.
This category is centered on lettering designs rather than illustrated concepts, and it’s easily one of the most widely popular and readily available styles in this list since, compared to some of the other categories listed here, this one is rather easy to produce.
Typographic designs are a great way to make a statement (pun definitely intended). They can use intrincate lettering like wildstyle graffiti or simpler fonts to display quotes, fun phrases or statements in support of causes. That doesn’t mean that they don’t use illustrations and other elements as well, it simply means the typographic element of the design is the primary element where you want to direct attention, and any other elements will be play a secondary role in the big picture.
This category is also quite versatile, you can find everything from Urban themed designs like graffiti and spray paint lettering to retro/vintage labels and badges, and you can create them from scratch on a drawing table or you can use pre-made fonts and lettering designs in your preferred design software and start typing!
Right now text-based t-shirt designs with 3D style lettering or with repeat-pattern words are particularly popular, and they are a rather minimalistic and simple to produce if you want to have a DIY attitude towards your Print on Demand portfolio.
It’s also much easier to create custom typographic designs for seasonal events and ocassions like concerts and birthdays than it is to come up with a fully illustrated concepts, and will also likely feature less colors and intrincate elements, making this t-shirt design style much simpler to print than any other.
Sometimes fuzzy and cute, other times fierce and noble, animal t-shirt designs are an awesome way to express concepts and ideas, specially when coupled with typography that complements the illustration style that you’re using, for example, using rounded fonts on cartoony/children’s illustrations, or grungy brush fonts on distressed realistic designs.
Also, who hasn’t owned a t-shirt with a front and center design of a wolf, a shark, or an eagle? Whether we’re talking about realistic illustrations, cartoon designs or other design styles, animal t-shirt designs are definitely a must have for anyone who’s looking to expand their collection of illustrations for merch.
Cartoon animals t-shirt designs are more popular right now than any other style of animal illustration, but more realistic depictions are also a popular choice, so you can’t go with a few sets of illustrations featuring animals as their main element.
This is easily one of the most relevant categories, and luckily, also one of the easiest ones to include in your portfolio.
Whether it’s a calculated move or purely coincidental, your audience will almost always include young couples, parents, uncles, grandparents…you get the idea. If that’s not a good enough reason on its own, think about it this way: toddler wear covers a pretty large share of the overall apparel market, estimated to be valued at over $185 Billion US dollars, with an compound annual growth rate between 5.9% and 6.2%. It only trends in one direction: upwards. If you’re already in the Print on Demand business, why not get a slice of the pie yourself?
Now, let’s get into what separates this t-shirt design style from the rest. Children’s apparel often features a distinctive cartoon illustration style where the characters have large eyes and disproportionately large heads, anthropomorphised animals with big smiley faces, and depictions that are all about fun and games.
They’ll have lively pastel color palettes and playful concepts, or they’ll feature funny phrases designed to get a chuckle out of friends and family.
The typography itself will often be either a neutral sans-serif font, or more specialized fonts and lettering with rounded corners, balloon shapes, and candy color palettes.
Stamp and Badge illustrations are definitely amongst the most widely used and readily available t-shirt designs out there, you’ll find them everywhere from gift shops in tourist destinations to the shelves of big clothing brands like Diesel and Wrangler.
This style of t-shirt design will always feature both an illustration and one or more text elements, but it doesn’t put a bigger emphasis on either one of them, instead, they both contribute equally to the visual shape and appeal of the composition, and thus they are both equally important.
The illustration is often a simple silhouette, line art, or an engraving style illustration, placed at the front and center of the composition with a solid-colored geometric shape in the background, and text elements that wrap around the shape on the inner or the outer edge of the composition.
This style is more often than not used to display slogans, brand names, or logos, which is why it’s such a popular design style for businesses of all sizes, and the elements tend to be simple enough that customizing them with a choice of font, illustration, or shape to frame the composition, is a rather easy task even for people without a professional background in graphic design.
Looking for Something Different?
Alright, it’s time to wrap this up! Did you find our top t-shirt design style choices interesting? We certainly hope so! If you’re looking for a different kind of illustration we have many packages that you may also find interesting, whether it is for merch printables or digital design products, take a look at our Illustrations Collections, and see what we’ve got in stock for you!
A new package of vector t-shirt designs featuring 50+ illustrations in 10 design style & theme categories, including propaganda style illustrations...
A new package of vector t-shirt designs featuring 50+ illustrations in 10 design style & theme categories, including propaganda style illustrations, vehicles, food & drinks, military, tribe-themed designs & others, a wide selection of illustrations that you'll be able to modify however you need to, or start printing on merch right away!
Every illustration in this package is delivered with AI, EPS & PDF file formats, fully layered & editable, you can customize everything from colors to shapes, sizes, texts & more without damaging the image's quality using any vector design software such as Adobe Illustrator, or free alternatives like Inkscape or GIMP.
Along with the vector source files you will also receive 1-2 PNG versions of each design with light & dark coloring, so you can drag & drop them to create mockups, or start printing the designs straight out of the box. These PNG versions feature transparent backgrounds, with dimensions roughly 2600x4400px, high resolution, printable at 300dpi.
Purchased separately these illustrations would cost over $700, but with this limited time bundle you can get all 50+ vector designs today for just $24!
You Will Receive:
50+ vector t-shirt designs
10 different themes and styles
Source files delivered in AI, EPS & layered PDF formats
Fully editable layers: resize, recolor, add/remove elements
Large, light & dark PNG files for each design
Dimensions roughly 2600x4400px
High resolution, print-ready at 300dpi
Commercial use license
T-shirt design themes in this pack:
Automotive
Cryptocurrency
Food & Drink
Halloween
Military
Professions
Propaganda style
Santa Claus
Space
Tribe
Vector T-Shirt Designs Preview
A new package of vector t-shirt designs featuring 50+ illustrations in 10 design style & theme categories, including propaganda style illustrations, vehicles, food & drinks, military, tribe-themed designs & others, a wide selection of illustrations that you'll be able to modify however you need to, or start printing on merch right away!
Every illustration in this package is delivered with AI, EPS & PDF file formats, fully layered & editable, you can customize everything from colors to shapes, sizes, texts & more without damaging the image's quality using any vector design software such as Adobe Illustrator, or free alternatives like Inkscape or GIMP.
Along with the vector source files you will also receive 1-2 PNG versions of each design with light & dark coloring, so you can drag & drop them to create mockups, or start printing the designs straight out of the box. These PNG versions feature transparent backgrounds, with dimensions roughly 2600x4400px, high resolution, printable at 300dpi.
Purchased separately these illustrations would cost over $700, but with this limited time bundle you can get all 50+ vector designs today for just $24!
You Will Receive:
50+ vector t-shirt designs
10 different themes and styles
Source files delivered in AI, EPS & layered PDF formats
Fully editable layers: resize, recolor, add/remove elements
Large, light & dark PNG files for each design
Dimensions roughly 2600x4400px
High resolution, print-ready at 300dpi
Commercial use license
T-shirt design themes in this pack:
Automotive
Cryptocurrency
Food & Drink
Halloween
Military
Professions
Propaganda style
Santa Claus
Space
Tribe
Vector T-Shirt Designs Preview
A brand new collection of Japanese t-shirt designs with 50 designs inspired by the anime style of illustration, featuring a variety of characters f...
A brand new collection of Japanese t-shirt designs with 50 designs inspired by the anime style of illustration, featuring a variety of characters from popular anime shows as well as original artwork, all with a common Ramen theme across the whole bundle.
Every design is delivered in a large PNG image with transparent background, dimensions 2900x4000px to 5000px, high resolution and print-ready at 300dpi, with CMYK color profile, ready to add them to your collection of printable designs.
These designs are perfect for t-shirt printing, notebook covers, stickers, and Otaku culture merch.
Purchased separately these designs would cost over $450, but with this exclusive limited time bundle you can get all 50 illustrations today for just $29!
You Will Receive:
50 t-shirt designs
Japanese manga/anime style illustrations
Files in PNG format
Large 2900x4000px, transparent backgrounds
High resolution, print-ready at 300dpi
Commercial use license
Ramen T-Shirt Designs Previews
Ramen Japanese T-Shirt Designs - Print Ready Illustrations
A brand new collection of Japanese t-shirt designs with 50 designs inspired by the anime style of illustration, featuring a variety of characters from popular anime shows as well as original artwork, all with a common Ramen theme across the whole bundle.
Every design is delivered in a large PNG image with transparent background, dimensions 2900x4000px to 5000px, high resolution and print-ready at 300dpi, with CMYK color profile, ready to add them to your collection of printable designs.
These designs are perfect for t-shirt printing, notebook covers, stickers, and Otaku culture merch.
Purchased separately these designs would cost over $450, but with this exclusive limited time bundle you can get all 50 illustrations today for just $29!
You Will Receive:
50 t-shirt designs
Japanese manga/anime style illustrations
Files in PNG format
Large 2900x4000px, transparent backgrounds
High resolution, print-ready at 300dpi
Commercial use license
Ramen T-Shirt Designs Previews
A pack of neat car t-shirt designs with sports cars and racing themes, featuring fully editable vector sources as well as print-ready illustrations...
A pack of neat car t-shirt designs with sports cars and racing themes, featuring fully editable vector sources as well as print-ready illustrations in high resolution, with slogans, vehicle make/models, japanese lettering, manga style illustration panels and more.
Every design is delivered in a separate AI vector file for Adobe Illustrator, with organized layer structures, properly named layers, full color designs, and editable texts (except for the Japanese lettering and a few background words). With these source files you'll be able to customize everything about these illustrations: change backgrounds, add/remove design elements, modify colors, shapes, text content and more without damaging the image's quality!
Additionally every illustration includes a high resolution PNG version with transparent background, dimensions 4000x4000px, print-ready at 300dpi so you can start using these designs for your merch straight out of the box!
Purchased separately these designs would cost over $750, but with this limited time offer you can get this collection of kickass vector car t-shirt designs for just $29!
You Will Receive:
50 car t-shirt designs
Source editable files in AI vector format
Organized & properly named layers
Editable texts and slogans
Print-ready versions of each design in PNG format
Dimensions 4000x4000, printable at 300dpi
Sports cars and racing themes
Commercial use license
Car Illustrations Previews
50 Car T-Shirt Designs Pack, Vector Sources & Print-Ready Files
A pack of neat car t-shirt designs with sports cars and racing themes, featuring fully editable vector sources as well as print-ready illustrations in high resolution, with slogans, vehicle make/models, japanese lettering, manga style illustration panels and more.
Every design is delivered in a separate AI vector file for Adobe Illustrator, with organized layer structures, properly named layers, full color designs, and editable texts (except for the Japanese lettering and a few background words). With these source files you'll be able to customize everything about these illustrations: change backgrounds, add/remove design elements, modify colors, shapes, text content and more without damaging the image's quality!
Additionally every illustration includes a high resolution PNG version with transparent background, dimensions 4000x4000px, print-ready at 300dpi so you can start using these designs for your merch straight out of the box!
Purchased separately these designs would cost over $750, but with this limited time offer you can get this collection of kickass vector car t-shirt designs for just $29!
You Will Receive:
50 car t-shirt designs
Source editable files in AI vector format
Organized & properly named layers
Editable texts and slogans
Print-ready versions of each design in PNG format
Dimensions 4000x4000, printable at 300dpi
Sports cars and racing themes
Commercial use license
Car Illustrations Previews
A big bundle of vector celtic knots featuring 270+ designs with various different patterns and shapes inspired by Celtic and insular ornamental art...
A big bundle of vector celtic knots featuring 270+ designs with various different patterns and shapes inspired by Celtic and insular ornamental art elements, delivered with editable vector source files in 5 different formats as well as use-ready rasterized images for drag and drop design platforms like Canva and Artify.
The collection is delivered in 4 separate packages, each one with files in AI, SVG, EPS, DXF and PSD formats so you can customize each knot design one any way you want: scale up and down, change colors, use as elements for larger compositions like logos and t-shirt designs, or export using any vector editing software of your choice.
Each knot design is also delivered in an individual PNG image in a large, 5000x5000px file with transparent background, printable at 300dpi, with 2 ready-made versions in black or white.
Purchased separately these designs would cost over $272, but with this limited time offer you can get all 270+ vector celtic knot designs for just $19!
You Will Receive:
270+ celtic knot designs
Vector source files: AI, DXF, EPS & SVG
Includes 2 PNG exports of each design, black and white versions
Large 5000x5000px, printable at 300dpi
Transparent backgrounds for drag & drop
Perfect elements for logos, t-shirt designs and larger compositions
Commercial use license
A big bundle of vector celtic knots featuring 270+ designs with various different patterns and shapes inspired by Celtic and insular ornamental art elements, delivered with editable vector source files in 5 different formats as well as use-ready rasterized images for drag and drop design platforms like Canva and Artify.
The collection is delivered in 4 separate packages, each one with files in AI, SVG, EPS, DXF and PSD formats so you can customize each knot design one any way you want: scale up and down, change colors, use as elements for larger compositions like logos and t-shirt designs, or export using any vector editing software of your choice.
Each knot design is also delivered in an individual PNG image in a large, 5000x5000px file with transparent background, printable at 300dpi, with 2 ready-made versions in black or white.
Purchased separately these designs would cost over $272, but with this limited time offer you can get all 270+ vector celtic knot designs for just $19!
You Will Receive:
270+ celtic knot designs
Vector source files: AI, DXF, EPS & SVG
Includes 2 PNG exports of each design, black and white versions
Large 5000x5000px, printable at 300dpi
Transparent backgrounds for drag & drop
Perfect elements for logos, t-shirt designs and larger compositions
Commercial use license
This offer contains over 600 Procreate tattoo brushes with characters, illustrations, loose design elements and more, delivered in 5 different sets...
This offer contains over 600 Procreate tattoo brushes with characters, illustrations, loose design elements and more, delivered in 5 different sets that you can easily import into Procreate.
The assets are delivered in .brushset file format, 5 collections of mini filler designs with all kinds of fun, cute, cool and nerdy references that you can use for logo design, tattoo art, t-shirt designs, stickers and other printables.
Purchased separately these design sets would cost over $120, but with this limited time offer you can get all 600+ designs for Procreate for just $24!
You Will Receive:
600+ mini filler designs
Files delivered in .brushset format
Contains 5 sets for Procreate
Fun, cute, cool & nerdy references
Perfect for logo design, tattoo art, t-shirt design, stickers and more
Commercial use license
Check out the Mini Filler Designs
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Procreate Tattoo Brushes Pack - 600+ Mini Filler Designs
This offer contains over 600 Procreate tattoo brushes with characters, illustrations, loose design elements and more, delivered in 5 different sets that you can easily import into Procreate.
The assets are delivered in .brushset file format, 5 collections of mini filler designs with all kinds of fun, cute, cool and nerdy references that you can use for logo design, tattoo art, t-shirt designs, stickers and other printables.
Purchased separately these design sets would cost over $120, but with this limited time offer you can get all 600+ designs for Procreate for just $24!
You Will Receive:
600+ mini filler designs
Files delivered in .brushset format
Contains 5 sets for Procreate
Fun, cute, cool & nerdy references
Perfect for logo design, tattoo art, t-shirt design, stickers and more
Commercial use license
Check out the Mini Filler Designs
(Back To Top)
We've got a brand new collection of anime t-shirt prints with 50 awesome designs inspired by the Mecha anime genre, featuring a variety of styles a...
We've got a brand new collection of anime t-shirt prints with 50 awesome designs inspired by the Mecha anime genre, featuring a variety of styles and elements from isolated mech illustrations to compositions with Japanese style waves as well as Kanji typography, HUD elements, aesthetic grids and backgrounds, and, of course, cool giant robots.
Every design is delivered separately in a large PNG image with transparent background, dimensions 2900x4000px to 5000px, high resolution and print-ready at 300dpi, with CMYK color profile, ready to add them to your collection of printable designs.
These designs are perfect for t-shirt printing, notebook covers, stickers, and Otaku culture merch.
Purchased separately these designs would cost over $450, but with this exclusive limited time bundle you can get all 50 illustrations today for just $29!
You Will Receive:
50 unique anime t-shirt designs
Inspired by Japanese style mech designs
Delivered in high resolution PNG format
CMYK color profile
Large 2900x4000px dimensions
Transparent backgrounds, print-ready at 300dpi
Commercial use license
Note: this package does not include vector files
Mech Anime T-Shirt Designs
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50 Anime T-Shirt Prints Pack, Mecha Anime Inspired, Print-Ready
We've got a brand new collection of anime t-shirt prints with 50 awesome designs inspired by the Mecha anime genre, featuring a variety of styles and elements from isolated mech illustrations to compositions with Japanese style waves as well as Kanji typography, HUD elements, aesthetic grids and backgrounds, and, of course, cool giant robots.
Every design is delivered separately in a large PNG image with transparent background, dimensions 2900x4000px to 5000px, high resolution and print-ready at 300dpi, with CMYK color profile, ready to add them to your collection of printable designs.
These designs are perfect for t-shirt printing, notebook covers, stickers, and Otaku culture merch.
Purchased separately these designs would cost over $450, but with this exclusive limited time bundle you can get all 50 illustrations today for just $29!
You Will Receive:
50 unique anime t-shirt designs
Inspired by Japanese style mech designs
Delivered in high resolution PNG format
CMYK color profile
Large 2900x4000px dimensions
Transparent backgrounds, print-ready at 300dpi
Commercial use license
Note: this package does not include vector files
Mech Anime T-Shirt Designs
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