Behind the build, how My T Maker got made

Built at a press, not in a boardroom

I’m an old‑school graphic designer who codes, the kind who was pushing pixels and closing tags long before design tools came with a monthly ransom note. Then I opened a working print shop, Chattanooga Tshirt, and earned every dirty merit badge the trade hands out: reclaiming screens in the washout booth, babysitting a flash cure, feeding a conveyor dryer, and pulling ink through mesh at 2 a.m. because deadlines don’t care how tired you are.

Along the way I built an Etsy storefront that ran for twelve years as a star seller, clearing six figures most of those years. Every feature in My T Maker sits on top of fifteen years of actually printing shirts and actually selling them. Everything led here.

The $200‑a‑month tax

Like most shops, this one rented an online designer. It ran $200+ a month, crashed when it mattered most, and fought customers at every click. Here’s the math nobody says out loud: a product designer that doesn’t bring in more than it costs isn’t software, it’s a tax. That one was a tax with a bad attitude, so it got fired.

That bill is also why My T Maker charges flat pricing and zero per‑order fees, the whole reasoning is on the flat‑pricing page.

So I built the one I wanted

• Fast on purpose. Slow designers lose sales, so the whole app ships lean and loads quick (how I kept it small).
• Art people actually use. A curated library beats ten thousand clip‑art orphans that make customers give up and leave.
• A deliberately tight garment lineup. Choice paralysis kills carts.
• Exactly the files a printer needs. Full control, production‑ready exports. I use it myself instead of the big‑name vector apps, turning hours of mockup work into minutes.
• Live in about half an hour. Designer up, cart connected, selling shirts on your own site.

How it was engineered

I designed it and I coded it. AI does the grunt work. Every feature gets signed off by a printer, because I am the printer. Before a release ships, a browser runs the whole designer start to finish and checks nothing broke. Every part of the plugin that talks to your server went through a security audit (the security page has the details).

What’s next

More My T Maker products are coming. The plans sit at the extreme low end on purpose. If this tool makes you money, supporting it is what pays for new garments, art drops and features. I worked hard on this thing, and it shows.

“That’s what I wanted, so that’s what I built.”  Ben