This section of the forum is for discussing the business and finance issues of the t-shirt industry. Which business structure to use (sole proprietor, LLC, S Corp, etc), how to handle billing, where to register your business and get the proper licensing, etc.
Ok, I have been very interested in sublimation for about a year, and I think i have a olan that could work. What I need from you pros , is to see if I am overlooking something.
I am wanting to buy a heat press and generic transfers to start. This way I can hit some events and try to recoupe the expense of the press. Once my press is paid for I want to buy the printer and computer and so on.
I don't have the money to take a chance on the whole sublimation kits and all that are out there so this is my way of getting started.
I'm not a sublimation guy myself, so take this with a grain of salt since it's just my opinion and not really based on any past experience.
To me the power of doing sublimation printing seems to be the ability to quickly turn out customized products for your customers. I'm not sure what the market would be for pre-printed designs, unless of course they're designed with a particular event in mind where there might be a high demand for a particular design. I know sublimation has a relatively low entry cost, so is it possible you might be able to afford a much smaller, but cheaper sublimation printer to start off with?
I would guess that you might be able to pay for all of your equipment with one weekend of work printing mugs, t-shirts and key chains at a craft show, flea market or mall kiosk with the holidays approaching soon. The profit margin can be quite high for customized sublimation - especially with kids buying customized gifts with their pictures on them for mom and dad around Christmas.
Again, I'm definitely no subject matter expert here so hopefully you'll get some better responses to correct me on selling pre-printed designs.
You sound like you are on the right track, that is a good way to get your feet wet without getting into debt.
I'd stick to that plan, see if you can make it in your local area.
GL to you I wish you the best...!
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Last edited by HGE; November 4th, 2009 at 05:16 PM.
Reason: sux at typing
Find a big event and get a meeting with the event coordinator. These people don't like selling t-shirts because they can easily lose money on the endeavor (rain is a big enemy of events and t-shirt sales). Offer to supply all the event t-shirts at a specific per unit price and cut them in for 25% of the revenue generated on shirt sales and you'll do all the work. Offer to have one of their staff help you work your booth (let's them know your honest about the money). Purchase the event design on transfer paper and press shirts to order as they are purchased. This way you won't run out of any given size shirt and if you have extra transfers it will eat into your profit but not that much... You'll have extra t-shirts left over but you can use those at another event.
That worked for me when I was getting started. We did about 120 events in 18 months but the most profitable were the large venues where they served alcohol. (Parrot Head Party, Bike Night, St. Patty's Day, Cinco de Mayo, etc.) It'll work and if you do it right, event coordinators will hear about your good deeds and start calling you to help them.
Awesome advice and thanks!!!!!! Well I have started!!!! 16x20 hotronix swinger, Hotronix Hat press, DK3 mug press, Next purchase will be some stock transfers from Proworld I do beleive. I will see how all of this goes and go from there. Love the forums, it has been very helpful. Thanks everyone!!!
Getting started is the first step... Congratulations!!!
In my opinion your best success will be selling the "official" t-shirt of any given event. In this case you would get the artwork from the coordinator and send it to a custom transfer shop. Depending on the volumes you should be able to get them done for a couple of bucks a piece.
I did not have very good luck with stock items sales at events unless it was a very fanatical group such as the Parrot Heads (Jimmy Buffet fans) and St. Patrick's Day. Both those were very successful for stock designs. Also sporting events (tournaments), especially specialized where they don't have good access to stock shirts like - ROTC competitions, cheer leading, swim meets, wrestling, etc.
I did both but it was four years ago. Not having any prior experience I was very frustrated with the software for the plotter/cutter. I used Craft Robo Pro
and it was a great device I just needed to get a software upgrade. The Craft software should be much better by now and in fact they have renamed it from Magicut to Robo Master Pro. Mine's in a box in storage right now but I'll probably have someone get back into in one day...
I think that would be a great way for you to get started. Just do your homework on whatever platform you choose. If your serious about the business and can sell a couple hundred t-shirts it would certainly pay for itself.
My Plan 
