Make Custom Christmas Sweaters for the Holidays
Does any product capture the spirit of the holiday season more than Christmas sweaters?
Christmas sweaters are popular every year. They can be classic, funny or trendy. Customers love them on Etsy, TikTok and major retailers.
Google Trends data shows that interest in the term “Christmas sweater” goes up every year in early November. It reaches its highest point in mid-December.
With POD (print-on-demand), you can design and sell your own Christmas sweaters to profit off seasonal interest and demand.
Learn more about designing Christmas sweaters that sell, how to run your free Spreadshop, best-selling product suggestions + more.
The Custom Christmas Sweater Trend
Christmas sweaters have been a part of the cultural zeitgeist for generations, be they ugly, personalized or themed.
Ugly Christmas sweaters have seen a resurgence in regent years. Now, a common tradition for workplaces and friends involves having ugly Christmas sweater parties.
16 million people searched the term “ugly Christmas sweater in December 2023.
But other styles are popular, too. Couple themed Christmas sweaters are a great conversation starter, and funny Christmas sweaters are always a go-to.
Christmas sweaters remain an unmatched Christmas merch product, even when compared to the most common Christmas decorations and gifts.
Christmas sweaters are easier to market because they’re the best way to make a statement during the holiday season. With print-on-demand, you can experiment with trends without worrying about inventory or fulfillment.
How to Make Christmas Sweaters with Spreadshop
Designing Christmas sweaters and other products is a seamless process thanks to Spreadshop. And you don’t need to be a professional designer or e-commerce expert.
Let's walk you through the process.
1. Create/Upload Your Design
This might sound like the scariest part, but it isn't. Plenty of design tools have built-in templates and Christmas graphics to help you create sweater-ready designs.
We did our own ranking of the 10 best design tools by experience level, pros/cons and cost (plenty of free options!).
When sizing designs, we recommend a resolution of 4000 by 4000 pixels. And don’t forget to download designs with a transparent background.
Get time-saving design tips and real seller inspiration. Download our Ultimate Design Guide today.
Once you have your design, it’s time to move it to your shop. Open your FREE shop and head to the design tool to upload your design. Customize multiple products with one click.
2. Choose Your Sweater
We have a variety of Christmas sweater options for you to choose from. This includes classic crewnecks, oversized fits and styles from premium brands.
Our oversized crewneck sweatshirt is a highly popular seller. Imagine yourself or your customers cozied up by the fire in this heavyweight, relaxed style. The trendiest kind of Christmas sweater!
To elevate your Christmas sweater game, we highly recommend this oversized sweatshirt from Stanley/Stella. They’re a premium brand known for their high-quality and sustainable processes. Trust us, you won’t want to take this one off after the holiday season is over.
3. Place Your Designs
Dependent on your design and what you prefer, you can also place designs on the back and sides of your sweater sleeves. Intricate designs like names or monograms look particularly striking on sweater sleeves.
Get playful with designs that are more goofy on the back of your sweater, like a reindeer’s butt or a cheeky Holiday pun.
4. Preview and Publish Designs
Before you go live with your custom Christmas sweaters, preview how your designs look with our product mockups. Resize designs if they feel off, and make last minute adjustments before publishing.
Beyond finalizing designs, it’s important you put some thought into your product title, description and keywords. These details may seem small, but they are important for your Christmas merch. They help improve SEO visibility for your products.
Add as many as 30 SEO-driven keywords in your product descriptions!
To go LIVE with your products, simply click the “publish” button and BOOM you’ve got your own custom Christmas sweater!
5. Promote Designs or Order For Yourself
Once you’ve published your products, it’s up to you what you want to do. You can sell them to your existing follower base on socials, and use content and keywords to bring more visibility. Or buy them for yourself, family and friends.
Whatever you want to do, you need to order samples. Stock model images and screenshots just don’t cut it. Your merch needs to feel tangible.
How to order samples:
Preview your shop in your dashboard and click “order product samples”
Add your items to your cart
Place your order and buy samples at base price
Design Inspiration for Your Christmas Sweaters
If you are still searching for ideas for your Christmas sweaters, there are many themes and styles to explore. You can find options beyond the usual "ugly Christmas sweater."
Here are 4 design themes that online shoppers, family and friends will love.
Personalized
Christmas sweaters are even more special when they have a personal touch. And initial and monogram sweaters make for the best gifts.
Your loved ones will appreciate you took the time to make them a custom gift. Where’s the thought in socks and gift cards?
Canva has many templates, especially for Christmas and holidays, that you can use for your sweater designs.
Classic Christmas
We love trends, but the classics never go out of style. Cozy typography with graphics of hot cocoa and burning fires, dainty snowflake patterns, vintage inspired Santa designs. These are the Christmas sweaters people will turn to year after year long after the next fad dies off.
Pop Culture References
This is a fun and creative theme for your Christmas sweaters. No matter what your niche is - music, movies, sports - you can put a holiday spin on it.
Taylor Swift is having a big year (but when is she not?) with the release of her latest album, Life of a Showgirl. Create merchandise for Swifties. Use the album title and song names, like:
- “Life of a Snow Girl”
- “My Christmas Wi$h Li$t”
- “Actually Christmas.”
We’re deep into football season. Make merch with puns around your hometown’s most viral moments this year, design sweaters that reference your fantasy football team.
Family/Group Designs
Matching Christmas sweaters aren’t just for lovey-dovey couples. They’re great for family photo-ops and group outings.
We’re sure you’ve seen the trend of people swapping crude t-shirts before a vacation. Why not do that with Christmas sweaters? Send out the assignment in your group chat.
And Spreadshop doesn’t just have apparel for adults. We have a large assortment of apparel and accessories for kids and babies. Get all generations of the family together for a photo and memory they’ll have for years to come.
Promote Your Christmas Sweaters
If you are not ordering Christmas sweaters for yourself and want to sell your designs, you need to promote them.
As mentioned above, samples are a great way to do that.
How to promote with samples:
Take high-quality photos wearing your sweaters in seasonal, cozy settings.
Film teasers of your sweaters to build excitement.
Do flat lays of sweaters with various seasonal items: Cookies, ornaments.
To integrate your merch directly into platforms, Spreadconnect may be the solution for you. 7 integration opportunities for your merch, including TikTok Shop, Shopify and Squarespace.
By making great content and being on the right channels, you’ll give your merch more visibility and increase your sales this holiday season.
Making custom Christmas sweaters isn’t that complicated when you think about it. Spreadshop manages everything for you - printing, shipping, fulfillment, even customer service. You must be creative and most importantly, in the Christmas spirit.