FAQ
Every question, answered on one page.
ShirtWheel gives print shops their own hosted 3D t-shirt designer store — on their own domain, live in an afternoon, from $49/month with a 14-day free trial. Below are the questions shop owners actually ask us, answered the way we answer them by email: plainly, with real numbers. Anything missing? Ask us directly — a printer replies, not a sales rep.
The basics
What is ShirtWheel?
ShirtWheel is hosted software that gives a print shop its own online t-shirt designer store — a standalone site on the shop’s own branded domain where customers place artwork on a real 3D shirt, see live pricing and check out. The shop receives paid orders with print-ready files, so there are no mockup emails and no quoting back-and-forth. There is nothing to install or host; see how it works on the homepage, or start with the public pricing.
How do I add an online t-shirt designer to my website?
The fastest way is to launch a hosted designer store on a subdomain of the website you already have — like design.yourshop.com — with no code, no plugins and no developer. You sign up, set your garments, print areas and prices, then point one CNAME record at ShirtWheel. Our step-by-step guide, How to add a t-shirt designer to your website, walks through all five steps from signup to your first paid order.
Do I need Shopify, WordPress or a developer?
No — ShirtWheel is a complete standalone store, not a plugin, so it works even if you have no website at all. Hosting, checkout, payments and order management are built in, and your existing site simply links to your designer. If you can fill in a form and copy-paste one DNS record, you can launch it yourself.
How fast can my designer store be live?
Most shops that self-serve are live the same afternoon: sign up, set print areas and prices, paste your logo, share the link. If you would rather not touch settings at all, the done-for-you setup gets your store built, branded and connected to your domain by our team, typically inside a week.
Is there a free trial?
Yes — every self-serve plan starts with a 14-day free trial with full features on your own real store, and if you cancel before day 14 you pay nothing. All plans and inclusions are public on the pricing page; no demo call is required to start.
How the designer works
How does the 3D t-shirt designer work for my customers?
Customers open your product page, upload their artwork and place it on a real 3D garment — front, back and sleeves — dragging, resizing and rotating until it looks right. They see exactly what they will receive, watch the price update live, and check out like any other online purchase. No design skills required; try it yourself in the live demo on the homepage.
Does the designer work on phones?
Yes — the designer is fast and fully usable on mobile, which matters because most custom-shirt customers arrive from Facebook groups and Instagram DMs on their phone. Uploading a logo, positioning it on the 3D shirt and checking out all work with a thumb. Mobile performance is one of the seven criteria we score in our t-shirt design software buyer’s guide.
Do my customers need to create an account?
No. Customers design and check out as guests, like any normal online purchase; creating an account is optional and only needed if they want to save a design and come back to it later.
What artwork can customers upload?
PNG, JPG and SVG files. A built-in background remover cleans up photographed logos automatically, and a print-quality check warns customers when a file is too low-resolution to print well — which ends the “can you send a better file?” email chain before it starts.
Can customers save and share their designs?
Yes — on Pro plans and above, customers can save a design and return later, or share a link with a teammate for approval. That share link is also what makes team orders work: one approved design, every member ordering their own size.
Orders, files & production
What files do I get when an order comes in?
Every paid order arrives with production-ready artwork for each print placement — correct dimensions, position and DPI — exported for DTF, screen print or embroidery workflows. You download the file and press it; there is no rebuilding customer artwork in Photoshop. Pro plans add gang sheet and production exports.
Does ShirtWheel work for DTF printing?
Yes — ShirtWheel was built inside BudgetPrint, the founder’s own DTF shop, so DTF is the workflow it was designed around. Orders arrive as print-ready files at the right size and placement instead of blurry screenshots in Facebook DMs, and Pro plans export gang sheets. Read how a two-person DTF shop doubled custom orders after switching to self-serve design.
Does it work for screen printing and embroidery?
Yes. Screen printers use ShirtWheel to replace the mockup-and-PDF proof cycle — the customer approves their own design on a 3D shirt, so sign-off happens in minutes instead of days. Embroidery shops let customers see a left-chest logo on the actual garment color, at true size, before paying, which makes placement disputes disappear. We wrote up what mockup emails really cost a print shop.
How do checkout and payments work?
Checkout, payments, order management and customer emails are built into every store — there is no e-commerce platform to bolt on. Customers pay when they order, and paid orders land in your dashboard with their print-ready files attached.
Can customers see prices without asking me for a quote?
Yes — live pricing shows the real number while the customer designs: quantity breaks, per-location print charges and garment upgrades are all priced in real time. Customers who see the price up front check out on the spot instead of opening a quote thread you have to chase.
How do team and event orders work?
One organizer approves a design, then shares a single link — every player, employee or member orders their own size against that same approved design, and you receive one clean batch. No more midnight spreadsheets of names and sizes.
Branding & your domain
Is ShirtWheel really white label?
Yes — on Pro plans and above, the store runs under your logo, your colors and your domain, and the ShirtWheel name never appears in front of your customers. To them it is simply your shop’s designer, which makes a small shop look twice its size.
Can I run the store on my own domain?
Yes. Your store starts on your ShirtWheel workspace address (yourshop.shirtwheel.com), and connecting your own branded subdomain — like design.yourshop.com — takes one CNAME record at your DNS provider; we verify it and issue the SSL certificate automatically. The full walkthrough is in the custom domain setup guide.
Pricing & plans
How much does ShirtWheel cost?
Self-serve hosted stores are $49/month (Starter), $99/month (Pro — your own domain plus white label) or $199/month (Agency — up to five client stores), each with a 14-day free trial. Done-for-you white-label stores start at a $499 setup fee plus $99/month. Every price is public on the pricing page — no sales call. For how that compares to the wider market, see how much an online t-shirt designer really costs in 2026.
What is the difference between self-serve and done-for-you?
Self-serve means you set up your own store — most shops finish in an afternoon. Done-for-you means our team configures everything — garments, print areas, pricing rules, branding and your domain — and hands you the keys, typically within a week. Both paths are compared side by side on the pricing page, and moving from self-serve to done-for-you later includes free migration.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes — every plan is month-to-month with no contracts. Cancel from your dashboard and you keep access through the end of your billing period; your store, products and order history stay yours.
Can I run designer stores for multiple clients?
Yes — the Agency plan ($199/month) covers up to five client stores under one license, each with its own branding, print areas and custom domain. It is built for agencies and printers who resell stores to their own business customers; details are on the pricing page.
ShirtWheel vs. the alternatives
Is ShirtWheel a print-on-demand service like Printful or Printify?
No — ShirtWheel is software for shops that do their own printing, not a print-on-demand fulfillment service. Your customers design on your store, you print the orders on your own equipment, and you keep the full production margin. If you are weighing the options, our 2026 buyer’s guide to t-shirt design software compares the categories honestly.
How is ShirtWheel different from enterprise product-designer software?
Enterprise designer suites are priced for large custom-apparel platforms — quotes on request, months-long implementations, a developer required. ShirtWheel is the opposite: public pricing from $49/month, nothing to install, and live in an afternoon, built specifically for small print shops. The trade-off is deliberate — we do shirts and apparel brilliantly rather than every product imaginable.
Who builds ShirtWheel?
A six-person team in Costa Mesa, California, led by founder Pavel Bieda — who also runs BudgetPrint, a working print shop. Every feature ships only if it survives a real production floor. Meet the team.
How do I get help or talk to a human?
Real humans in California answer every channel — email support on all plans, priority and same-day support on higher tiers, and onboarding calls on hosted plans. Start on the contact page or email support@shirtwheel.com.
Fastest answer: try it yourself.
The live demo answers most of these questions in two minutes — and your own store can be taking design orders this afternoon.