THE POTENTIAL market has no bounds.

After all, everybody needs at least one ? rich or poor, young or old, man or woman, student or professional. And this is true not just in the Philippines, but also in every country around the world.

Having such a perpetually huge and growing market makes going into the T-shirt business a very viable entrepreneurial option, indeed. And what?s more, it takes neither rocket science nor huge capital to set it up.

All you need are capital to buy the initial batch of quality plain shirts, someone to come up with unique and trendy designs and some silkscreen or printing equipment. Combine that with the will and tenacity to sell, and your fledgling business is off the ground.

High school friends Ricardo Felipe and Jojo Lopez, the main guys behind Ohohoy shirts, declare that practically anybody can go into the T-shirt business, even if they don?t have any practical knowledge of it, as the suppliers themselves give adequate training.

?To start the business, you can make do with just P1,000. Yes, that cheap,? says Felipe. ?That?s enough to produce 10 shirts with one color print. And you can sell the shirts for P150 each for a profit margin of 50 percent. Not bad at all.?

Their own shirt business started as a hobby when he was still in high school at Angelicum. After college, he decided to become an entrepreneur with a line of several businesses, including T-shirts. He advises others to do the same.

Juan Luna St. in Binondo, he volunteers, is the place to go for all kinds of plain shirts and polo shirts to start off your business. This is also where you find all kinds of paints, screens and even threads and buttons.

There are companies that lease printing equipment, though one can always start by just using textile paints and the manual silkscreen process.

As for finding your market, Felipe says, you have to start with the good old, reliable ?KKK? ? kamag-anak (relatives), kaibigan (friends) and kakilala ng kaibigan (friends of friends).

Jay Aldeguer, who owns the iconic Islands Souvenirs shirts, likewise started his retail chain by just lugging around plain colored shirts in his backpack and selling them to his friends and classmates at the Ateneo de Manila University.

?I would go around school with samples in my backpack. I remember sourcing from a supplier somewhere in Marikina and establishing a strong business relationship with them. So after college, when I started Islands Souvenirs, they were quite instrumental in keeping my supply steady,? Aldeguer says.

Like Felipe, Aldeguer encourages other budding entrepreneurs to consider going into the shirt business. As he says, it is easy and straightforward and the profit potential is there.

In fact, the business is so easy to grow that the main barrier to being successful is the sheer number of competitors. Precisely because it is so easy to set up, there are literally thousands of options in the market.

Thus, Aldeguer says, the key to making a breakthrough is to have a strong concept to make the shirts stand out from the huge crowd.

Islands Souvenirs stood out not only because of its quality but also because it celebrated the beauty of the country?s islands. It has become almost automatic for tourists, travelers and visitors to reach for an Islands Souvenirs shirt to have one more keepsake from their vacation.

Team Manila succeeded because of its quirky graphic designs and desire to promote everything Filipino; Collezione C2 made millions out of its shirts with the now ubiquitous Philippine map design, while Bench and Penshoppe have made a strong connection with the youth.

The challenge then for entrepreneurs is to find that unique selling proposition, so to speak, to give buyers a good reason to get their shirt over those of the others.

As for Felipe, he says Ohohoy specializes in custom orders and corporate giveaways.

?Since we?re far from being big players in the shirt printing industry, we maintain our business on ?minimum volume requirement.? For us, this is an advantage because most of the big players in this business require volume orders of, say, 100 pieces minimum. But with us, we can entertain customers who require six pieces. Sometimes, we will do even just one piece. That is to create the impression of equality when it comes to customer service,? he explains.

?We believe that even if the profit is minimal, as long as the orders are there, then we?re okay,? he adds. ?

Ohohoy Tees. www.ohohoytees.9k.com. Tel. 0922-8793425, 0915-9204437