Can I Sell Olympic T-Shirts?

We are all excited to see the 2024 Olympics in Paris.   The USA teams in basketball, gymnastics, track & field and swimming all look strong and ready to bring home some gold medals.   As t-shirt printers we may have had customers ask about custom Olympic t-shirts.   Can we print them?

Olympic Licensing

Let’s start with the bad news.    Much of what you may want to print is licensed and unauthorized use can lead to legal issues.   The International Olympic Committee owns the trademark for the Olympic rings, all of the Paris Olympic logos, the Olympic torch, the Olympic mascots and even the word Olympic!   Only officially licensed companies can legally sell printed apparel with these trademarks.   If you would like to apply to become a licensed distributor of Olympic apparel you can apply at the IOC website.    The process involves an application form which requires detailed information about your business, product line and distribution plans.   There is typically a fee to become a licensee that varies based on the scope and scale of the licensing agreement plus royalty on all products sold.

What Olympic T-Shirts Can I Print?

If you want to print Olympic t-shirts and avoid licensing issues. Here are some ideas that can be created in Easy View, your online design center.

1. Flags-Cheer on your favorite country with shirts of that country’s flag. Many of the flags have a lot of colors making UltraColor Max, with its no minimum order,  a great product choice.    The flag packs are ready to apply and are a 3×5 size for left chest printing and caps.   These flags are Goof Proof, the best selling screen printed transfer.                                                                                     
2. Events-Create shirts for the events itself. An example might be a gymnastics shirt in red, white and blue!                                                                                                                                                             
3. Country Name-Create a shirt highlighting your favorite country’s names. USA shirts become very popular during the Olympic events.                                                                                                       
4. Olympic Ring Colors-Use the Olympic ring colors in your design. The rings use the colors blue, yellow, black green and red.  These five colors represent the union of the five continents although no single color corresponds to a particular continent.   The colors represent colors in the flags.                                                                                                                                                             
5. Location-Use the host city, Paris, to create your shirts.

Printing Olympic t-shirts can be a fun and profitable way to participate in an international event.   Just be sure you stay legal and avoid the use of trademarks without a license.