You’ve got the printer, the ink, and an online store template. But how in the world do you come up with a name. The name of your t-shirt business is the first and lasting point of contact with all your future contacts, and finding the right one could seem daunting.
The 100 best t-shirt names in this post were created with regard to the brand values of the company, aligned with the core values of the target market. They use words associated with these values and an expressive tone that echoes the spirit of the theme. Wordplay makes the name stickier.
We will consider the top ten names from ten t-shirt categories. The names are varied, but the methods for creating them are common. Later we’ll look at principles for generating a name and marketing ideas for nurturing your newborn name.
The Top 100 T-Shirt Business Names
We’ll take a look at some t-shirt brand names that have had varying degrees of success in the market. The construction and effect of the names will be our focus. To begin, we’ll look at high-end brands. As will be seen, these share design features with indy and startup brands.
Top 10 High-End T-shirt Business Names
- Comfort Colors: Suggestive and simple. This brand name communicates customer-centric values.
- Kotn: By naming itself after cotton, the brand accentuates quality. Having a single-word name emphasizes purity.
- Everybody.World: Brands often work by drawing customers into a community. This sense of belonging is especially effective in themed apparel lines (e.g., family).
- Good Man Brand: A clever play on words, the ambiguity resolves in a happy place: both the wearer and the brand are good. Setting an initial puzzle is an effective way of focusing attention on a brand.
- Calvin Klein: You don’t need to be a big-name fashion designer at the start. Putting your own name out and building around it is risky initially but snowballs upward when it succeeds.
- Goodlife: A direct communication of positive values associated with the brand. Being bold in this way challenges the client to think about your brand. Even those who disagree will still have lingered over it.
- Velva Sheen: An old-school brand carries with it a name that might have dated since it was catchy. Consider the timelessness of what you have in mind. Success is self-perpetuating when it comes to name-durability.
- Standard Issue: This combination of bold and simple is effective. You don’t need flash in order to make a clear, assertive statement of quality.
- 3sixteen: This brand name shows how creative and effective use can be made of alphanumeric combinations, which are often forced as names become unavailable.
- Nike: Finally, proof that the name needn’t refer literally to anything associable with the market. For names like this to stick, much marketing is required to entrench them.
Top 10 Sports T-shirt Business Names
- Polo: A high-end sporty brand, the name has a loose literal association with activity. This relation has been entrenched over time.
- Monsta Gymwear: Gym t-shirts are in demand – sweatable tees that still look good. This name emphasizes durability and, therefore, fitness to the purpose of the product.
- Solid & Striped: Literally a solid brand name. It evokes the design of an 80’s tracksuit, an iconic piece of fitness apparel.
- Live The Process: Appealing to yoga values, this brand names itself for consistency and a conscious lifestyle, themes that appeal to the target market.
- Full Court Sport: Starting as a tennis tee niche, this brand expanded, proving that you can grow a full-theme brand from a subsector in the area of interest.
- Athleta: A clever derivative of a common core noun. The wearer of this sees themselves as an athlete, which gives the brand an affirming power.
- Champyon: Similar to Athleta, this name idea is derived from Champion, an actual sports apparel maker. The “Champion” name quickly becomes unavailable, but derivatives are easy and powerful.
- Triumph: A bold assertion of confidence makes this a brand name that instantly resonates. As with Athleta and Champyon anyone seeking to build around this name can find derivatives.
- 2XU: When you decipher “two times you,” you feel a sense of inclusion and motivation. This develops an immediate intimacy between the brand and anyone encountering it for the first time.
- GymShark: Like Monsta, this brand locates itself squarely in a niche and flatters its wearer with the self-image of an uncompromising athlete.
Top 10 Creative/Art T-shirt Business Names
- Iron & Resin: Like the indie band Iron and Wine, this brand evokes a contrast between rigidity and flexibility. The community drawn to arty products likes to be made to think.
- Golden Buoy: Recalling that a buoy is unsinkable, golden buoy suggests excellence and resilience. These are deep values for a quality clothing line.
- Hobo & Sailor: Vintage tees go well with an old-school name. The in-crowd that understands the reference will feel affinity between the product and the name.
- Brain Dead: Self-deprecating understatement is a form of art. This is bold for brand positioning. Customers who assent feel included and can be relied on to keep coming back to the brand. Outsiders may choose to stay out.
- Noon Goons: Art defies literal interpretation, and arty names will often feel right in a way that defies rational explanation. The alliterative element helps this name to work as well as it does.
- Some Ware: A double entendre that cleverly leaves you stranded. Highbrow artists enjoy being lured by this and feel an affinity with a brand that introduces itself so smartly.
- Art Of Where: A different pun-itive play on the same theme. This one is more explicitly but still artfully, defining itself as art.
- Huemn: Art is an excuse for creativity. And the creative process starts with the name. The mystery around pronunciation makes this an intriguing brand from first contact.
Top 10 Ethical T-shirt Business Names
- Good On You: A clever play on style and ethics. This speaks neatly to the intersection of the brand’s two key themes.
- Threads 4 Thought: Some might find this pretentious, but the intended audience has a high degree of conscientiousness, which the name addresses aptly.
- Happy Earth: The reference to happiness softens the earnestness of environmental activism without diluting the message.
- TwoThirds: This is a risky but bold use of an insider term to build a brand. Where it succeeds, it creates instant affinity with those who recognize its meaning.
- Organic Basics: At the other extreme, a brand that speaks its values with little cover. This simplicity resonates with the design philosophy of the product itself.
- Birdsong: Appealing to a niche does not force you to disregard outsiders. This name treasures the natural but appeals to people who don’t self-identify as ethical activists.
- The Good Tee: This combines direct, simple, and happy. It is a bold statement of value, also referring to quality.
- Pact: A neutral name that speaks to compact between people and the planet. Its brevity packs a punch, creating urgency around the brand value.
- Etiko: There’s always room for owning the main theme with custom spelling or derivation. Etiko hits the spot.
- No Nasties: Another direct statement, but playfully rendered, without losing the edge.
Top 10 Funny T-shirt Business Names
- You Tees Me: This name could work for an intimate-themed brand as well. The reference to teasing signals puns and banter.
- Crazy Shirts: Close to literal, this brand name signals clearly what it offers, opening the consumer’s mind to over-the-top product ideas.
- Get Shirty: Playing close to offensive themes can work well with humor, as people feel relief that they’re not being taken all the way.
- Laugh It Off: This satirical political brand had a name that warned its victims how to handle its barbs. This made for an instant icon.
- Juice Bubble: funny needn’t be hilarious – just loose. A question to ask is, “when I’ve established funny products, will this name chime with them or seem too serious?”
- SnorgTees: Nonsense names are a good way of signaling funny. “Snorg” is meaningless but sounds the right sort of oddball.
- ThreadHeads: Funny at a literal rhyming level, the self-deprecating name lightens the image of the brand.
- ShotDeadInTheHead: Black humor is funny too. The brand strikes stridently across the bow as it asserts dark funny.
- Fun Shirt: This Dutch company takes the risk of demanding to be seen as funny. On the plus side, it removes any doubt about what’s on offer.
- Bad Idea TShirts: Another self-deprecating name idea. It opens the audience to nonsense – a critical component of humor.
Top 10 Christian T-shirt Business Names
- God The Father: The founder “want(s) our Christian clothing to spark a conversation.” Invoking Number1 does just that.
- God Is Dope: A name born at the intersection of the park and the pulpit, this brand claims street space for the flashy Christian.
- Fabrics Of Faith: Full points for clever. The reference to fabric recalls the essence of what drives a believer. Alliteration is lit.
- Disciple Threads: This brands the wearer as a member of a holy family, while the reference to threads makes it fresh and contemporary.
- Tim Tebow Foundation: A crossover between Sporty, Celebrity, and Religious, this appeals to Christians who want to showcase their secular sides.
- Jesus Loves You: Simultaneously, a mission meme and a group identifier, this brand name carries the core Christian message.
- Sacrize: An ratified label, Sacrize marks itself as a higher-end product in the Christian niche. Pricing and design complete the picture.
- Raised: Seemingly out-of-your-face, this clear short name packs an impact when its Christian essence is recognized.
- Temple NY: I heart NY has been a popular brand for decades. This brand claims the world’s best-loved city for Christ.
- Grateful: Reflecting gratitude for salvation through Christ, this brand’s power is that the core value is accessible to people outside the target market.
Top 10 Patriotic T-shirt Business Names
- Patriot Apparel: A directly appealing name that tells its audience what to expect, drawing the target market immediately.
- 1176United: This shows how mixing a number with text – forced when all the available domains are taken – is not the end of a good name.
- RedWhiteBlue Apparel: A creative use of patriotic themes to create a memorable name that speaks to the theme of national pride.
- ProperPatriot: Coming out as a patriot is a bold statement of identity. This name echoes the authenticity of the self-proclaimed patriot.
- Military1st: It’s a generally good marketing stratagem to find a niche within a niche. Military1st does that by appealing to veterans and their supporters.
- Official Patriot Gear: Branding something “official” is an easy way to score gravitas. In the Patriot theme, this is especially valuable, as patriots place a premium on officialdom.
- Wargasm: Patriotism and military service are usually cloaked in solemnity. This brand sticks because of its playful, racy celebration of the themes.
- The Flag Shirt: By tacking to a core patriotic symbol, this brand gets to look official without having to earn the status. This is a strategy worth noting.
- Savage Sailor: A niche within a niche inside a niche. Playfully rendered. While naval service is broad enough to sustain a t-shirt business, once it gets going, other patriotic themes can hang off the brand.
- Love Of Country Clothing: Leading with love softens the defensive and maritime edges that usually attend patriotism. This builds a brand with broader patriotic appeal.
Top 10 Music T-shirt Business Names
- IHeartRecords: Love and retro music. Wearing its heart on its LP sleeve, this brand cradles a product line based on vintage record covers.
- TheDrumStick: Focusing on an incidental (and annoying) piece of the underlying theme can be a surprising way of recentering a theme-based brand.
- Music Merch: Simple is often effective. The alliteration with the m’s makes this one particularly effective.
- Rockabilia: Setting up a rock retro theme with wordplay that tugs at the heartstrings. Alternative types will hear a reference to rockabilly.
- Troy MC: Taking off an artist is a common strategy for music brands. Of course, when you don’t have the rights to represent the artist, this can be a problem. (hint: the musician needn’t actually exist.)
- Music City Shop: This is a simple name that suggests plenty. It also maintains a close connection to music, appealing to its target market.
- Bluescentric: A straight-up take-off of a loved genre. Works.
- Repeat Replay: This is a compact way of saying, “I know you’re going to love this.” Brands can use thematic terms of art to communicate messages to clients.
- Worn Free: Not, on its face, a musical reference. But this is the sort of name that does chime with musical apparel. It’s the sort of brand that needs an introductory period to make it stick.
- Encore Apparel: Beyond merely building a musical term into the name, the reference to repeat performance is effective at several layers. It’s a subtle instruction for the client to return, as well as a promise of consistency and permanence.
Top 10 Kids T-Shirt Business Names
- Mini Rodini: This name locates the brand in an emerging child clothing niche as hipsters reach parenting age.
- Mothercare: Children don’t generally shop for themselves. This appeals to the holder of the purse strings.
- Babyhug: Another maternal appeal, linking the brand to the essence of motherhood.
- Gini & Jony: A clever play on a spelling error makes a subtle but unmistakable link with childhood.
- Lilliput: Customers feel included in an in-group when they “get” an obscure reference – in this case, to a world of little people.
- H&M: Some older kids do buy their own gear. Hitching to an accessible adult brand makes them feel grown-up.
- Zara Kids: Like the H&M link, but this assures the mother that she’s getting her child quality that she fancies for herself.
- Tiny Cottons: There’s a place for cute. And this brand has found it. The adorable charm of babies is transferred to the clothes.
- Huxbaby: This Australian brand has cleverly combined a unique abstract identifier with a safe moniker for the class.
- Carter’s: A bold identification with an old man’s brand. On a long-term view, this builds brand loyalty.
Top 10 Indie T-shirt Business Names
- Design By Humans: Using irony, this name focuses on the warmth of custom design, shunning mass production. Underlying the brand is a content creator hub, feeding the images.
- Stüssy: Meaninglessness is a risk with a name like this. But it stands out, and one entrenched is very recognizable. To entrench an indy name like this one requires creative initial attempts at creating a presence.
- Vardagen: Like Stüssy, but with a Nordic feel. This outlander image accentuates the design norm of hand-drawn, screen-printed designs.
- Old School Tees: Drawing on retro images, this name speaks directly to what it does, creating a clear unity between the brand name and an in-demand product.
- Bandit Brand: An outsider image is invoked, supported by hand-drawn vintage designs.
- In God We Must: This brand speaks its origin story, having been founded by an unemployed and out-of-pocket entrepreneur. The items reinforce the message of resilience.
- 6 Dollar Shirts: The coolest thing about this brand is that it creates an icon from the literal. This company sells quality at six dollars a pop, creating a product that’s immediately identifiable and instantly iconic.
- Illustrata: By being creative, you can access a common, meaningful name with an available web domain. This hijacking of “illustrate” not only preserves the meaning but gives it an arty elevation.
- The Wired Store: Surrounding a desired but unavailable name with low-resonance words makes the sought-after middle term stand out. Here “Wired” is accessed without needless litigation.
- Animebrands: In this case, amalgamating a sought-after name with an innocuous suffix makes “Anime” synonymous with an indy brand. That’s a coup.
Coming Up with a Good T-shirt Business Name
Coming up with a name is only a part of an unending process in managing and entrenching your brand. Since our world is primarily online, have regard to the availability of a .com address for the candidate names that you choose – as that is the domain where you’ll be sought.
Brand Values and Target Audience
Brand values are a key part of your name. There are two sets of values to have in mind. Start by considering what values matter to your target audience as members of their niche (e.g., what matters to athletes in a sporty tee setting).
Then think about what values will be fancied in your product. Your product name could make suggestions with regard to these two sets of value.
Creating an Attractive Apparel Business Name
Branding does the job of drawing a customer base to a product. At each stage of name generation, consider whether your candidate names are potentially going to attract people to your brand (on name alone).
T-shirt Name Generator
Using a name generator is useful. But feel free to use manual methods. Partnerships are a good idea, and you may name the brand after someone who could pull a market to it.
You can also this handy Apparel name generator by Shopify to fire your search for a t-shirt business name. This is our favorite apparel name generator by our favorite eCommerce software platform.
Conclusion
A good name often looks like it’s drawn from finite stock. The truth is that there’s no limit to the name ideas you can come up with for a t-shirt brand name that chimes with its audience. What’s important is to have a clear sense of values and a creative mind for articulating those values while also invoking an impulse or emotion in your customers when they first see the T-shirt business name.
Bryan E. Robinson is the former owner of TshirtGrowth. He has sold t-shirts since 2006 through dropshipping, screen printing, vinyl printing, DTG, Print on Demand, and more. Bryan has created his own t-shirt designs through Photoshop, Canva, and other platforms, as well as worked with freelancers to create many of his designs. Besides t-shirts, Bryan has over 18 years of experience in online marketing with eCommerce, B2B SaaS, B2C products, and more.