You've made a unique tshirt design but you're hesitant over the cost of having some tees printed yourself and then having to sell them. So what do you do next? Have no fear as there are a couple of options to get your design idea seen, make a little bit of money, and give you the confidence to take yourself further into the tshirt business. There are a couple of quality websites these days that are constantly on the look for fresh art for tshirts and offering different incentives to those who get theirs printed.
SpunkySpunky are a UK based clothing company and are always looking for new designs. Successful submissions will receive up to £200 designer's fee, free samples, and worldwide exposure that could see the design on tees (or other clothing items) in 100s of independent shop and small chains across the UK, Europe, USA and Japan.
ThreadlessThreadless are US based and exclusively geared towards tees. They take a different approach by running a tshirt design contest regularly with all submissions being voted on. Successful submissions currently win $1000 ($750 in cash and $250 store credit). They also do one-off competitions for designs related to whatever they're promoting at the time so it's worth checking back regularly not to miss out.
Both these sites offer quality of design in abundance and can be recommended for tshirt designers and buyers alike.
If you're looking to have a more hands-on approach to selling your own designs then you could consider using something like Cafepress. More details can be found in the Cafepress article.