They Stole Her Viral T-Shirt Design! You Won't Believe What Happened Next

About this video

Martinez investigates a trending ‘Everyone watches women’s sports’ shirt he found during women’s NCAA basketball / March Madness season. He clicked a listing one day and got Amazon’s ‘dog page’ the next — the sign, he explains, that a design has been taken down after a report. Tracing the image through a USA Today article, he finds women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley (named ‘Don Staley’ in the transcript) wearing the shirt, and identifies the original brand and its logo. He then shows near-identical shirts on Amazon with the same wording, similar placement, and the brand’s logo at the bottom, which he describes as copying pixel-for-pixel. He cautions that the phrase itself may not be trademarked, but the logo may be, and using the logo is what can get listings removed; he does not recommend copying the design or wording exactly. With seven to eight years in print on demand, in his telling, he says getting ripped off is unfortunately part of having a top seller, but sellers should instead work the broader niche — support for women’s sports — and generate their own wording. As an example he prompts ChatGPT for 10 alternative t-shirt sayings around women’s sports, producing ideas such as ‘Proud supporter of women’s sports.’ He also points to BSR/first-sale dates (one listing first selling February 10, another April 3) to show the demand was tied to the tournament period.

Key takeaways

• A listing turning into Amazon’s ‘dog page’ signals the design was reported and taken down.
• Check both phrase and logo for trademark risk — Martinez argues the logo, not just the words, is the takedown risk here.
• Do not copy a viral branded design pixel-for-pixel, even when copies are visibly selling on Amazon.
• Extract the broader niche (support for women’s sports) and create original phrasing instead of cloning the viral shirt.
• Use tools like ChatGPT to brainstorm 10-20 alternative sayings in the same niche when you need original angles.

Episode details: published April 12, 2024 · 6:40 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are RJ Martinez’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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