45 Friend Shirt Ideas to Try in 2024
You’re starting a t-shirt business and want ideas for niches and designs. What about creating a t-shirt line focusing on friendship and love?
In this article, we’ll explore the 45 best friend shirt ideas that are perfect for any occasion. From funny and sarcastic to cute and sentimental, we’ve got you covered. So, let’s dive in and explore best friend shirt ideas for your online store.
Table of Contents
- Best Friend Shirt Ideas
- Duos, Trios, or Groups of Friends
- Matching T-Shirts
- Favorite Foods and Drinks
- Customized Tees
- Family
- Together We’re Trouble / Partners in Crime
- Not Friends, but Sisters
- Pets are the Best Friends
- Funny and Sarcastic T-Shirts
- Nerd Culture, Series, Movie or Comic Quotes
- Internal Jokes or Personal Attributes
- Cute Tees, not Necessarily Cheesy or Campy
- How to Make a Friend T-Shirt with Printify in 4 Steps
- Wrapping Up
Best Friend Shirt Ideas
We searched Etsy and selected the best-selling t-shirts with many positive reviews. In addition, we added design ideas with undeveloped potential that can be explored to help your brand grow.
Duos, Trios, or Groups of Friends
1. “I Am That ….. Friend” Friend Group Shirts
One of the most popular best-friend shirts, this category can be sold in sets, bunches, pairs, or trios. “I’m the tall one” and “I’m the short one” are among the best-selling, but customizing merchandise will give your store the edge, as the market is oversaturated with some designs.
2. Brownie and Blondie
Brownie and Blondie best-friend shirts or variants like Brunette and Blonde Boujee are everywhere and within all sub-categories. Don’t miss these to increase your sales. Here is a blondie/brownie crossover with matching bestie 1 and bestie 2 shirts:
3. The Whole Bunch
Variations of the “I Am That ….. Friend” shirt with the whole group depicted. Sell in customizable sets and multiply the profit.
4. Mild One, Wild One
5. Salt, Tequila, and Lime
Matching T-Shirts
Matching phrases and designs are the most popular friend t-shirts. Many of these tees can only be understood when the people are together.
This category is so popular that we’ve broken it into smaller categories with many good ideas. Here are some of the best-sellers.
6. Nothing Makes Sense When We're Apart
Examples of best friend shirts with words scattered between the two shirts. The message only makes sense when the pair is together, perfectly mirroring the phrase’s meaning.
7. Cute Matching Designs
Similar to whole phrases, use matching designs that complement each other when the shirts are together. They may come together with words or not. Even though cute matching friend ideas are the most common, go further and create designs according to your audience.
8. Player 1, Player 2, Player 3
These tees are intended for a couple waiting for a baby but are a great idea for gamer buddies. Adapt the design for flexible options that also appeal to couples and parents or a mom with a baby.
9. Yin Yang
A Yin Yang pair can be worn and understood alone or with a friend. Change colors, and experiment with variant designs, but keep the symbol recognizable.
Favorite Foods and Drinks
10. Burger and Fries
11. Macaroni and Cheese
12. Boba tee / Bubble tee
13. Milk and Cookie, BFF
14. Pizza Slice
This design also works with watermelons and anything that slices, with couples or a parent with a child. Those on the nerdy side may enjoy a bookshelf without a book in one shirt and the missing book on the other.
15. Gin Tonic
For a target audience of connaisseurs, replace Gin Tonic with Whiskey Sour, Espresso Martini, Corpse Reviver, Mai Tai, or Aperol Spritz – or even consider a whole line of matching cocktail shirts for those who love to celebrate friendship with finesse.
Customized Tees
This category can be divisive – while some friends might hate to wear a t-shirt with their own faces printed on it, others may love it.
Consider offering custom friend t-shirts for a group of friends, duos, or trios, and adding customizable phrases.
A picture of a memorable trip or custom designs from special moments such as a wedding also makes a terrific t-shirt.
16. World's Best Friend Shirt – Customized Tee
17. Best Friend Shirts Personalized With NamesBest Friend Shirts Personalized With Names
Family
Family t-shirts in connection with best friend tees are very popular. For many of us, our best friends are our relatives. Create pairs, sets, or offer stand-alone t-shirts.
18. Mom And Daughter Best Friends Sweatshirts and Shirts
Moms are the first source of love and friendship. Get fresh designs ready to celebrate holidays and mom’s days with matching best-friend shirts.
19. Dad Shirts
Dad friend shirts can benefit from combining with other categories, such as games and hobbies.
20. Grandpa/ma’s T-Shirts
Grandparents are more than best friends – they are also partners in crime.
21. Aunt and Niece
For many of us, an aunt is an older sister we didn’t have. Make it possible to share this love with a best-friend shirt dedicated to aunties.
Together We’re Trouble / Partners in Crime
Friends make us happier, stronger, bolder, and noisier. Crossovers with other categories make best-sellers, especially crime partnerships between grandpas or aunts and their kids.
22. Trouble Together
23. Partners in Crime
24. Double/Trouble
25. That’s a Terrible Idea. What Time?
26. I Get Us into Trouble / I Get Us Out of Trouble
27. Good Friends Don’t Let You Do Stupid Stuff… Alone
Not Friends, but Sisters
Adapt the idea for aunties, cousins, uncles, or a brother instead of a sister. Consider complementing the design with a shared activity, hobby, sport, or favorite food.
28. Friends Sisters Shirts
29. God Made Us Friends Because Mom Couldn’t Handle Us as Sisters
These sister t-shirts work well together with the “We are trouble” category.
Pets are the Best Friends
Dogs, cats, alpacas, sloths, humans, you name it – no best-friend shirt ideas list would be complete without a dedicated category for pets.
30. My Best Friend
Simple designs with dogs or cats will always appeal to a large customer base. Offer several designs with different pets and breeds for maximizing reach.
31. Dog Fist Bump
32. Meow-chel Angelo
Help your dad with meow and paw puns.
Funny and Sarcastic T-shirts
True friendship brings intimacy. A true friend is a person who tells us what we need to hear, not necessarily what we want to hear. On the other hand, with real friends, we can be ourselves and say things honestly. Emphasize that with creative best-friend t-shirt ideas.
33. Are we Drunk?
These best friend shirts are funny, but their designs tend to be overused. Create mixed categories with this troublemaker shirt and matching cocktails, trip pictures, and anything else that can be funny to your target audience.
34. Cheaper Than Therapy
This design works individually or for friend group t-shirt ideas. Customize the phrase, replacing it with a “friends’ trip,” “bros’ night,” and so on, and adjust the idea to range from the ironic to the cute, depending on the niche.
35. Friend vs Best Friend
This category benefits from every best friend t-shirt design idea. Develop the notion “there are friends, and there are best friends” – that can be made from matching friend shirt ideas to ironic and funny designs.
Nerd Culture, Series, Movie, or Comic Quotes
These friend shirts are for those who love to hang out watching movies or discussing comics, series, or sympathize with nerd culture without necessarily identifying as nerds.
36. The Grammar Freaks – Shenanigator + Shenigatee
37. Define ‘Bestie’
Internal Jokes or Personal Attributes
Everybody has that grumpy friend who can’t function before a morning coffee. Perhaps that’s you. T-shirts with a friend’s notorious characteristics, internal jokes, or secret references are personal and meaningful, as they imply intimate knowledge and friendship.
38. Bearly Awake
39. The Drama Queen and the Princess
40. Not a Hugger
41. Cute but Psycho
Cute Friend Shirts, Not Necessarily Cheesy or Campy
Some friends won’t wear that cheesy tee, but that doesn’t mean they won’t appreciate an ironic or dark-humor t-shirt.
A cute friend t-shirt with or without smart puns may be the best choice for this friend and will make best-selling items.
42. You are my Palpaca
43. Cute Teddy Bear
44. Sloth Besties or Couples
45. The Cutest Kids Besties/Twins
How to Make a Friend T-Shirt With Printify in 4 Steps
Now that you have enough friendship T-shirt ideas, it is time to create them for you or for selling in an online store. Printify makes the process easy and quick.
1. Create a Printify Account
Create a free account with Printify. Add up to five free stores and have access to more than 850 customizable products, including t-shirts.
There are no upfront costs. You create your designs for t-shirts with Printify, and once a customer buys a tee from your online store, the order is fulfilled by one of our print providers.
2. Create a Storefront and Connect It With Printify
Create an online store to sell your designs. Printify easily integrates with the leading eCommerce platforms and marketplaces:
- Marketplaces like Etsy, eBay, or Walmart are suitable for entrepreneurs starting in eCommerce. They give access to millions of customers but may charge fees and don’t allow much customization.
- Web builders specializing in eCommerce, such as Shopify and BigCommerce, are the best options for those willing to have a stand-alone site with consolidated eCommerce functions. Still, they charge subscription fees and a need to manage content.
- All-in-one web builders like Wix and Squarespace are the best option for user-friendly solutions, with eCommerce functions and good content management. Advanced eCommerce functions may require subscribing to higher-tier plans, adding cost.
Open-source platforms like WooCommerce+WordPress or PrestaShop are the ultimate solution for building an online store, and offering full ownership over the website. They don’t charge subscriptions but require hosting. In addition, many plugins are paid, and may have a steep learning curve.
3. Pick a T-Shirt
Look for best friend shirts in the Printify Catalog. The selection of over 90 t-shirts includes products for Women, Men, and Kids.
These are the two best-selling unisex t-shirts that will work with almost every design:
- The Bella+Canvas 3001 is the best-selling POD t-shirt. Manufactured by Bella+Canvas in sustainable facilities in the US and Bangladesh, this shirt is characterized by its light and comfortable fabric and retail fit.
- The Gildan 64000 competes with the Bella+Canvas 3001 for the best-selling POD shirt. A socially-responsible manufacturer, Gildan has facilities in Central America and the Caribbean.
Consider offering best friend shirts in other fits and materials. The popular Gildan 5000 has a tubular construction in medium fabric, fitting most body shapes and making a suitable choice for hobby shirts that may experience more wear, for instance.
4. Design, Publish, Market, and Sell
After you have created a Printify Account and a storefront, and selected the best products for your friendship t-shirt line, comes the fun part. Apply and adjust designs to the tees with our Mockup Generator and see how it will look in realistic settings.
Once you’re satisfied with the results, edit the descriptions, calculate and set your price, click Publish, and market your t-shirt line.
Want to learn more? Check our articles on the most common types of shirt printing and how to come up with a t-shirt business name, and our complete guide on how to start a t-shirt business.
Wrapping Up
In this article, you’ve got acquainted with 50 ideas for friend shirts, from the cute to the ironic. Also, you’ve learned how Printify can help you design and sell your tees online.
Now it’s your turn. Select the best design, pick a t-shirt from our catalog, publish it, and profit.
We wish you luck in your POD journey.
Create and sell friend t-shirts online today. We handle fulfillment and shipping.
Written by
Andris Mucenieks
Share the article
Topics
