From Spray Paint to Same Day Print: The Making of The T Shirt Man

Nearly twenty years after a tie-dye tee and a can of spray paint sparked an idea in a student house, Jordan Boon, founder of The T Shirt Man, is still at the press, still saying yes to tight deadlines, and still obsessed with making custom kit simple for everyone from uni clubs to national brands.

Standfirst

Started in 2006 while studying Mathematics for Finance and Management at the University of Portsmouth, Boon’s side-hustle grew from eBay experiments and a market stall on Commercial Road into a fast-turnaround print house serving customers across the UK and beyond.

Key Numbers

• 17+ years printing
• 225,000+ garments produced
• 2,517 repeat customers
• Capabilities: Screen, DTF, Vinyl/Flex, Embroidery
• USP: Rapid turnaround with expert hand-holding

The Origin Story

Freshers’ week, a hippie party, and a bored, penniless student. Boon knocked up a tie-dyed tee and sprayed on a peace sign. The next morning, it went on eBay for £7.50 + P&P. It sold. More listings followed, then requests from student groups for basic garments.

As designs got more ambitious, he did some research, skipped a few nights out, and invested university cash plus savings into £500 of second-hand print gear. He drove seven and a half hours to Wales to collect it, hauled it back to a shared house bedroom, and started a micro print shop.

By 2007, he was trading on a Commercial Road market stall with funny tees, then published a very basic first website. Later that year, UoP’s Enterprise Centre offered him a space, letting him split life between lectures and live orders. He finally graduated in 2010, a couple of years behind schedule, just as more of the UK trusted buying custom clothing online. Orders snowballed. Local turned national, sometimes international.

Not All Smooth Sailing

Along the way, there were hacked sites, flaky early customers, and a lot of learning. But the phones kept ringing, the presses kept spinning, and The T Shirt Man found its lane: take the stress out of custom clothing with fast, dependable print and clear guidance.

“We usually understand the process better than our customers. Our job is to lead them through it and get the job done on time.”

Interview with Jordan Boon AKA The T Shirt Man

Q: Do you remember the very first sale that made you think this could be a business?

Jordan: The morning after that freshers’ party. I listed the tee for a laugh on eBay. It sold. Within a week, we had sold fifteen items. At that point, I realised it wasn’t just banter. It was rent and food.

Q: Skipping nights out to buy a press is a bold student move. Why do it?

Jordan: I ran the numbers. For the price of a big weekend, I could get equipment and start printing properly. The seven-and-a-half-hour drive to Wales felt like a rite of passage.

Q: What changed after the Enterprise Centre?

Jordan: Focus and credibility. I went part student, part business owner. That space meant I could fulfil bigger orders and keep learning without annoying my housemates with ink everywhere.

Q: Biggest lesson from the tough moments?

Jordan: Build resilience and backups. We’ve had a site hacked and a few early non-payers. You learn to protect your systems, take deposits where needed, and keep production moving.

Q: What’s The T Shirt Man great at today?

Jordan: Speed without chaos. People come to us because they need it fast and don’t want a headache. We advise on garments, print methods, and artwork so the result looks right for the budget and deadline.

Q: Screen vs DTF vs embroidery — how do you help customers choose?

Jordan: It’s about quantity, detail, and use.

• Screen for larger runs and bold colours.
• DTF for fast, detailed, multi-colour prints, great for mixed sizes or short runs.
• Embroidery for uniforms and a premium feel.
  We make the call with the customer and keep it in their price range.

Q: What still gets you excited nearly two decades on?

Jordan: The variety. One minute it’s a local charity run, the next it’s a national campaign. I love hearing what the garments are for and making them land perfectly for the moment.

Milestones

• 2006 — First spray-painted tee sells on eBay
• 2007 — Market stall on Commercial Road; basic website goes live
• Late 2007 — Moves into UoP Enterprise Centre
• 2010 — Graduates; doubles down on the business as e-commerce adoption accelerates
• Today — 1,000+ garments printed in a typical week, serving UK-wide customers with same-day quotes and express turnaround

What Sets The T Shirt Man Apart

• Rapid turnaround: quotes same day, production geared for speed
• Production breadth: screen, DTF, flex, and embroidery under one roof
• Straightforward guidance: artwork and garment advice without jargon
• Any size order: one shirt or one thousand, handled with the same process discipline

“No order is too big or too small, and no idea is impossible to capture.”

Looking Ahead

Boon isn’t nostalgic. He’s pragmatic and forward-leaning. The website is sharper, the presses faster, and the service more precise. The north star stays the same: keep quality high, keep timelines short, keep customers coming back.

The T Shirt Man remains exactly what the name promises — a reliable partner for custom printed clothing with the kind of pace only a company born under student deadlines could master.

Website: https://thetshirtman.co.uk/ Email: info@thetshirtman.co.uk Phone: 020 7112 8986