Print on demand and digital products both get pitched as low-overhead side hustles, and they solve different problems. Digital products (templates, ebooks, presets, courses) remove fulfillment entirely but demand real expertise or an established audience willing to pay for information. Print on demand apparel keeps fulfillment simple (no inventory, no shipping to manage) and appeals to a much wider first-time buyer than an information product typically does.
Digital products include templates, ebooks, presets, planners, and paid courses, all delivered as a file or access link rather than a physical item. There is no shipping and no printing cost, but the seller needs either genuine expertise or an audience that already trusts them enough to pay for that expertise before ever making a sale.
Print on demand apparel needs a design and a shop, with printing, packing, and shipping handled by Bear Grips at no inventory risk. The barrier to a first sale is lower because a follower or customer does not need to trust the seller as an expert, they just need to like a design enough to wear it.
Bear Grips Pro Shops: Custom Apparel for Your Team. No Minimums. Free Shipping.| Digital products | Print on demand apparel | |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront skill needed | Expertise or established audience trust | A design, no expertise claim required |
| Fulfillment | None, automatic delivery | Handled by Bear Grips, no inventory |
| Refund/support burden | Can be high if content underdelivers | Low, standard apparel returns |
| Margin per sale | Very high, near 100 percent after platform fees | Retail minus base price, typically $8-30 per piece |
| Barrier to first sale | Higher, needs buyer trust in the expertise | Lower, needs only an appealing design |
Many creators bundle a small digital freebie (a workout plan, a template, a guide) with a physical apparel drop, using the free digital piece to build the email list that then gets marketed the apparel drop. The two are not mutually exclusive, and the crossover is where the strongest income lines tend to form.
If there is no existing audience or established expertise yet, print on demand apparel is the lower-barrier starting point, since it needs a design rather than a credibility case. Set up a shop at shops.beargrips.com and layer a digital product in later once an audience exists to sell it to. See the margin breakdown for what realistic apparel profit looks like at this stage.
A design and a shop, no inventory, no expertise claim required. Free to start.
Start FreeDigital products, since there is no printing or shipping cost, but they require an audience willing to trust and pay for that information first.
No, though having one helps. A design that resonates can still sell to cold traffic through a marketplace or social discovery, apparel has a lower trust barrier than an information product.
Yes. Many creators use a free or low-cost digital item to build an audience, then sell apparel to that same audience.
Digital products, technically zero fulfillment. Print on demand apparel still has no inventory to manage, but Bear Grips (not the seller) handles the physical printing and shipping.
Bear Grips Pro Shops