Learn how to set up Gelato print on demand, connect Etsy or Wix, create products, price sizes, choose mockups, and publish your first listing.
If you want to follow the same workflow Julian demonstrated in the video, start by creating a free Gelato account. This tutorial keeps his tested steps, adds missing context, and points out where you should be more careful than a quick demo allows.
Gelato is built for print on demand sellers who want to publish products without holding inventory. In the walkthrough, Julian showed how to connect a store, create a shirt, choose variants, generate mockups, set pricing, and publish the product so it appears automatically in a connected storefront.
What Gelato helps you do
The core appeal is simple: you create a product once, connect a sales channel, and Gelato handles fulfillment when someone places an order. In the video, Julian highlighted common POD items such as t-shirts, calendars, mugs, hats, phone cases, photo books, and more.
He also emphasized Gelato's broad integration options. In the tutorial, he pointed to Etsy, Shopify, Amazon, TikTok Shop, Wix, and Squarespace as examples of where you can sell after connecting your store.
| What Julian showed | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Free signup with language and currency selection | Easy starting point for beginners |
| Store integrations like Etsy and Wix | Lets products sync directly into your sales channel |
| Large product catalog | You are not limited to shirts |
| No upfront inventory | You only produce items after a customer buys |
| Built-in and AI mockup options | Helps turn a design into a sellable listing |
Step 1: Choose where to sell before you design
One of the most useful parts of the video was the platform advice. Julian said most beginners are best off starting with Etsy because it is simpler than building a full standalone store with a website, cart, and payment setup.
That beginner logic makes sense. Etsy already has buyers searching for novelty shirts and gift products, while your own site gives you more control but asks more from you technically.
In the tutorial, he recommended Etsy first, then later showed a published product appearing in a connected Wix test store. So the practical takeaway is this: marketplace first is easier, but Gelato also works if you want your own branded site.
If you are comparing store builders before connecting Gelato, see this detailed Wix review 2026 and this beginner-focused Webador review.
The beginner-friendly choice in this walkthrough
- Etsy: simpler to launch and already has product search traffic
- Wix or Shopify: more control, but more setup work
- Gelato: sits behind the scenes and fulfills orders after a customer buys
Step 2: Connect your store in Gelato
Julian's connection flow was straightforward. After signup, he went to the integrations area, chose a storefront, and authenticated the account.
You can follow the same sequence:
- Sign in to Gelato.
- Open the store or integration section.
- Choose your platform, such as Etsy or Wix.
- Complete the login and authorization prompts.
- Return to the Gelato home screen and confirm the store shows as connected.
In the demo, he connected an Etsy store first. Later, he also showed that a product published through Gelato appeared automatically inside his Wix dashboard and storefront, which is the main benefit of setting this up correctly.
Step 3: Pick a product with margins in mind
After connecting the store, Julian opened the Gelato catalog and browsed categories including men's clothing, women's clothing, kids' clothing, bags, calendars, cards, phone cases, hats, and photo books. He suggested most beginners start with shirts, mugs, or phone cases because they are common POD products.
For the hands-on example, he chose Men's clothing → T-shirts. He compared several shirt options and deliberately avoided a much more expensive blank, saying that choosing a cheaper shirt can leave you with a better profit margin.
That is an important lesson to keep from the original tutorial: do not start with the prettiest mockup or the first shirt you see. Start with a product whose base cost still leaves room for pricing, marketplace fees, and size differences.
What to check before you commit to a blank shirt
- Base product cost
- Available colors
- Available sizes
- Whether larger sizes cost more
- How the design looks on dark and light garments
Step 4: Create a design, but be careful with copyright
This is the section that needs the most editorial caution. In the video, Julian looked at Etsy shirt listings for inspiration, including novelty cat designs and a Harry Potter example, and he explicitly warned about copyright infringement.
That warning matters. Use marketplaces to study style, demand, and formatting, but do not copy protected characters, brand marks, logos, or someone else's artwork.
He also recommended using the Chrome extension EverBee to estimate how much attention Etsy listings get. That can be useful for product research, but treat any revenue math as rough estimation rather than verified seller income.
The exact AI image workflow he demonstrated
Julian showed a simple concept-development process using a screenshot of an Etsy-style cat shirt as inspiration. His prompt was:
"I need a similar picture for my print on demand shirt in sRGB and 150 dpi and just use a different type of cat same settings."
Then he refined it with another prompt:
"Made it a little bit more in retro photography."
From there, he downloaded the generated image, uploaded it into Gelato's editor, added it to the shirt, and repositioned it inside the design area.
That workflow is useful, but the safe version is better: use AI to create original artwork inspired by a general theme, not a near-copy of another seller's design.
Step 5: Choose colors and sizes without overwhelming buyers
Once the design was on the shirt, Julian tested different shirt colors in Gelato. He looked at options such as pink, blue, yellow, and black, kept the variants that looked good, and deleted ones that did not.
His recommendation was practical: offer around four to six colors, not too many. Too much choice can make a listing harder to shop.
He also walked through size selection and noted that enabling larger sizes does not cost you anything upfront because nothing is produced until a customer orders. He suggested leaving a fuller size range available where it makes sense.
His color and size guidance in plain English
- Keep the palette focused
- Remove weak-looking color variants
- Check how the design looks on each garment color
- Review size-based costs before final pricing
Step 6: Build mockups that actually help the listing
Mockups are where the tutorial became more review-like. Julian showed Gelato's built-in mockup options and pointed out that many of the nicer ones were premium.
He said Gelato Plus gives access to those premium mockups and includes 20% discount on most products. That is one of the few concrete plan differences stated in the video, so it is worth considering if you plan to publish a lot of products.
He also tested Gelato's AI mockup tool with this prompt:
"Lifestyle picture, just a woman wearing this in the streets."
His verdict was mixed. The result communicated the idea, but he said it was "not too nice" and suggested improving the prompt or trying again.
If you want more lifestyle variations, Julian also used Placeit in the video. He showed how to upload the cat graphic into a mockup template, let the tool render it onto clothing, and even preview a moving video mockup that could be reused for product pages or social content.
| Mockup option from the demo | Strength | Limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Gelato standard mockups | Fast and built into the workflow | Some stronger options were premium |
| Gelato AI mockup generator | Easy prompt-based testing | First result shown was not especially strong |
| Placeit | Large lifestyle selection, including motion mockups | Separate tool outside Gelato |
Step 7: Write the title, description, and pricing
For the listing text, Julian used ChatGPT rather than writing everything manually. His example input was a short product-summary style prompt:
"Giving you a quick product description. Retro smoking cat t-shirt funny vintage nightlife design."
That is a reasonable time-saver, but you should still edit the output. Make sure the final title and description are readable, accurate, and not stuffed with repetitive keywords.
Pricing took more thought. He showed two approaches:
- setting a target profit margin percentage
- setting a flat retail price
In the walkthrough, he tested a 70% profit margin setting and also showed a flat $29.99 example price. He then highlighted the catch: larger sizes cost more to produce, so if you set every size to the same retail price, your margin shrinks on 2XL, 3XL, and 4XL.
To illustrate that, he suggested increasing larger sizes step by step, using examples like $32, $34, and $36 for bigger variants. He also noted that product costs can look different depending on your country and currency.
A simple pricing checklist based on the video
- Check the base cost of the exact blank you selected.
- Review size-based cost increases.
- Decide whether to price by margin or by fixed retail price.
- Make sure bigger sizes do not quietly erase your margin.
- Review shipping separately if you want it included in your pricing strategy.
Step 8: Publish and verify the live listing
After finalizing the listing, Julian clicked through to publish the product. He then showed the item as ready inside Gelato and demonstrated that it had already been imported into his connected Wix store.
On the storefront, the shirt displayed with color and size selectors and could be added to cart immediately. That automatic sync is the biggest operational advantage here: once the workflow is connected, you do not have to rebuild each listing manually in your store system.
Before sending traffic to the page, do a quick audit of:
- title and description
- product images and mockups
- color variants
- size variants
- final retail pricing
- shipping presentation on your storefront
What Gelato did well in this tutorial
Gelato looked easy to publish with. The dashboard flow from connection to catalog to editor to pricing was clear, and the automatic import into a store is exactly what beginners need from a POD platform.
The product range is also a strength. Julian showed enough categories to make it clear that you can start with shirts and later expand into mugs, hats, calendars, or other formats without changing your fulfillment setup.
Limitations and cautions to know
The strongest Gelato mockups were not all available on the basic setup shown in the video. If polished lifestyle imagery is central to your brand, you may need Gelato Plus or a separate mockup tool.
The other caution is creative, not technical: product research is useful, but copying other sellers is risky. The video acknowledged copyright issues, and that is the right place to be strict.
Final recommendation
Gelato is a solid beginner-friendly POD option if you want a clear publish workflow and do not want to hold inventory. Based on the demo, it is especially attractive if you plan to start with Etsy or run a simple store on Wix and want product syncing handled for you.
My candid advice is to keep your first launch small: one product type, one original design direction, a few colors, and carefully checked size pricing. If that sounds like the setup you want, use the button below to try Gelato for free and build your first listing the same way shown in the tutorial.
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