Decide how you want to produce your shirts. Printing or embroidery companies can create professional-looking custom shirts in several sizes. This is an efficient, reasonably-priced choice, especially if you need multiple shirts in the same design. However, if you only want one or two shirts, the cost per shirt can be expensive from a custom printer. In this case you may want to consider crafting your own sweatshirt using an at-home screen print kit, fabric paints, sew-on letters, or transfers.
Consider the purpose of the shirt. Are you commemorating an event or occasion like a homecoming dance or the initiation of a new pledge class? Do you want a traditional letter shirt or are you looking for something with additional graphics?
Decide where you will place graphics. Traditional letter shirts have a large front graphic and may also have a smaller graphic (such as a nickname) across the back yoke. Other shirts may have a large graphic on the back and a small graphic at the left front pocket position (such as the organization's letters). Of course, if you are crafting your own shirt, you can put graphics wherever you want them. But if you are having the shirts printed or embroidered, you will pay by the area, so it's important to create a cost-effective design.
Draw the graphic for each area. Make sure any text is in a large enough font to read and is not too long to fit in the desired space. If you are using a printer or embroidery shop, ask about standard colors and find out how many colors you can afford to print. Take into consideration the shirt color when designing graphics. For example, a red heart will not show up on a red sweatshirt. Consider adding your official symbols as well as graphics representing your event.