There's no special license to print or sell T-shirts. A T-shirt business needs the ordinary layers: a registered business name, a sales tax permit before you sell, a local business license where your city requires one, and an EIN once you hire. What's particular to shirts is the label. Printing on a blank that keeps its original label adds nothing: the blank's maker already gave its fiber content, country of origin and identity. But if you replace the neck label with your own brand, your tag must carry the same required information, fiber content, the country, and your name or an RN from the FTC, plus care instructions, and you keep records of the original labels for 3 years. Shirts in children's sizes bring the CPSIA: a children's product certificate, tracking labels and lead limits. In the example below, a screen print shop sorts its team orders from its own brand. Below are the layers, the label rules, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- No T-shirt-specific license: a business name, a sales tax permit, a local license where required, an EIN with employees.
- Printing on a blank that keeps its label: the original label covers the required information.
- Replacing the label with your own: fiber content, country of origin, and your name or RN on your tag.
- Care instructions go on the replacement label too, under the Care Labeling Rule.
- Keep records for 3 years of each removed label's information and who supplied the shirts.
- An RN is the FTC's registered identification number, applied for online.
- Children's sizes: CPSIA certificate, tracking labels and lead limits.
- TaroStack keeps each blank's lot and each print run's orders. More below.
The layers
| Layer | Who issues it | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Business name | State | An LLC filing, or a trade name for a sole proprietor |
| Sales tax permit | State tax department | Before your first sale |
| EIN | IRS | Free online; needed with employees |
| Local business license | City or county | Where one is required; zoning for a home shop |
| RN | FTC | A number for your labels in place of your company name |
The IRS issues an EIN online for free. Every state and city differs; this is general information, not legal advice.
The label rules
| Rule | What it says |
|---|---|
| Fiber content | Generic fiber names and percentages by weight, 5% or more, in order; "100% Cotton" or "All Cotton" |
| Country of origin | The country where an imported shirt was made; "Made in USA" only if made in the US of US materials |
| Identity | Your company name, or your RN |
| Care | A washing or drycleaning instruction, attached so it can be found at sale |
| Replacing a label | The new label lists your name or RN and all the required information; keep records for 3 years of the removed label and the supplier |
| Not on the label | Non-fiber parts such as painted designs, buttons and zippers don't count toward fiber content |
The label rules are 16 CFR part 303 and the Care Labeling Rule, and section 303.20 covers the RN. Children's products are in CPSIA tracking label requirements.
An example: a screen print shop
Red River Print Shop, the made-up screen printer in Fargo, North Dakota, I use in these examples, prints team and business orders and sells its own brand of tees online:
| Layer | Red River |
|---|---|
| Business name and sales tax permit | Registered with the state |
| EIN | Yes: it pays $20 an hour for the printing |
| Local business license | Checked with the city |
| Team and business orders | Printed on blanks with their original labels: nothing added |
| Own-brand tees | The blank's neck label removed and a printed tag: "100% Cotton, Made in Honduras, RN" and a care line |
| Label records | The removed label's information and the blank supplier, kept 3 years |
| Youth sizes | A children's product certificate and tracking label for the own-brand youth tees |
The own-brand tag was the only label the shop had to design, and it copies the blank's fiber and country exactly. What the shop earns is in screen printing business plan, and how a shirt is priced in how to price t-shirts.
Get the checklist
Download the T-shirt business license checklist. One sheet: each layer and label rule, who issues it, what it is, whether you need it, what it cost, when it was done and when it renews, with a status that stays yellow until it's done. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The licenses are done once. The labels aren't: each new blank style has its own fiber and country, the tags have to match, and the records of removed labels have to cover three years of shirts.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each blank's lot and each print run's orders.
Blanks by lot. Receiving records each delivery of blanks with its supplier and a lot, and fields of your own on the batch record hold the fiber and country from the original label.
Each run a batch. A print run of own-brand tees is a batch that notes which blank lots it used, automatically, so the label records follow the shirts.
Orders by lot. Each team or online order records the lots it got, so one report shows where any run went.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which blanks a run used | Not recorded | Recorded on the batch |
| The removed label's details | A photo on a phone | A field on the batch record |
| Where a run went | Order slips | One report |
Lots, batches, receiving and orders are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.