Starting my own business cutting out the middle man
Go to Page...
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.
Starting my own business cutting out the middle man
Starting my own business cutting out the middle man
Alright I have decided to go ahead and start my own business and print my own t-shirts, as opposed to outsourcing my work to another company and incurring shipping costs and lead times, should I just purchase my own printing apparatus or what? I am new to this of course, so what am I getting into. Should I leave printing to the experts or is it something anyone can learn with patience/practice?
Also it bears mentioning that I am going to be using high end garments with water-based ink printing. I intend to put my artistic talents to use so it will probably be detailed.
Re: Starting my own business cutting out the middle man
There's a lot more to screen printing than just pushing a squeegee across a screen. Before you make any big decisions, educate yourself. Do some reading and research. And if you don't like getting dirty, leave it to the pros!
Re: Starting my own business cutting out the middle man
Some of us were born to be printers, some were born to be artists and in rare individuals, they are born to be both.
Just like anyone can buy a pencil and a piece of paper and call them self an artist. Anyone can run out and buy printing equipment and call them self a printer.
Of course, the complexity of the artwork, just like i'm probably a good enough artist to draw a smiley face, you as an amateur printer, you might be able to print it.
One major factor to consider is time. Even if you have the desire and basic skills to become a printer, it still will take a significant amount of practice to acquire all the equipment. Even if a truck backed up at your door with all the equipment, you'll spend months figuring out how to use it all. Things like printing white ink on a black shirt takes practice. Ask yourself if you want to wait until you can print yourself?
Another major factor in opening a printing business is the cost of equipment. Unless you have the budget for professional equipment, you will fight an uphill battle trying to use budget equipment to try to produce professional results. The larger and more colorful you are looking to print, the more expensive the equipment would be. Once you better define what you want to print, check your credit limit or mortgage the house.
By having someone else do your printing, does not prevent you from doing it yourself in the future. Rather than spending $10,000 or more on professional equipment, you can start learning with a 1 color unit. If your designs sell, the income produced can be used in the future to buy equipment.
Because 1 color doesn't require registration, the prints from a cheap 1 color press look as good as a 1 color print off a much more expensive press.
fred
__________________
A day late, a dollar short, so it goes.
Re: Starting my own business cutting out the middle man
In regard's to this i was thinking of doing the same thing buying a 1 color press to start out with since im only going to be doing white on black t-shirts. I also heard that doing white ink on black tee's could be a little ruff is that true? and why?
Re: Starting my own business cutting out the middle man
See now I had figured I would spend a great deal of money which I am not too worried about. I mean yeah I am especially if the business fails. I had also kind of figured that printing would require a great deal of expertise and knowledge. So I have decided that what I will do is outsource my stuff and manage ways to reduce my costs. Because basically all I can REALLY know how to do is draw and stain a shirt as opposed to dying it in an appealing fashion.
Re: Starting my own business cutting out the middle man
One of the 1st rules of getting into a business....know the business your getting into. Inside and out, Finance, Sales, Production, advertising, inventory.....
If you answer no to any of those then you need to spend time learning it, or hiring a professional to do it for you.
Best thing to do would be to go and work for someone already doing it and learn all you can in say 6months to a year.
Then you would be ready to make the investment.
Believe me I do not think screenprinting is going anywhere so you have time.
Re: Starting my own business cutting out the middle man
Quote:
Originally Posted by ambitious
In regard's to this i was thinking of doing the same thing buying a 1 color press to start out with since im only going to be doing white on black t-shirts. I also heard that doing white ink on black tee's could be a little ruff is that true? and why?
When it comes to drawing, one of my favorite stores was that of Giotto. When pope Benedict was looking for an artist, he sent sent out people to seek the finest artist. When they got to Giotto, the artist dipped his pen in ink and drew freehand a perfect circle.
The ability to print a perfect white onto black, is about as difficult as the freehand drawing of a circle. Unless every aspect is perfect, the error will be obvious.
fred
__________________
A day late, a dollar short, so it goes.
Re: Starting my own business cutting out the middle man
Quote:
Originally Posted by swoll
Because basically all I can REALLY know how to do is draw and stain a shirt as opposed to dying it in an appealing fashion.
If you already have drawings crying out to be put onto a shirt, why not go ahead and bring one of them to reality?
It'll cost you a couple/few hundred bucks to produce a couple dozen shirts, but even on a small run like this, you should find a price under $10 per shirt, which even in these small numbers, could be resold for a profit. If you can sell 25 shirts, you could order 50 or 100 the next time and get better prices. Not until you can order in the thousands will you ever get the lowest possible price.
Rather than looking to cut out the middle man, you need to be figuring out how to sell thousands of shirts!
Looking at the problem as a printer. I believe it is easier for me to sell thousands of shirts to dozens of customers, rather than trying to establish my own line of cloths to thousands. In this case, rather than cutting out the middle man, you would become one.
fred
__________________
A day late, a dollar short, so it goes.
Re: Starting my own business cutting out the middle man
I have heard that getting into a business is always harder than it looks. In the case of screen printing let me testify (I am sure with many others) that this is VERY true. I have been an artist, digitizer and embroidery professional for over 12 years. We "cut out the middle man" about a year ago and got into screen printing. After we bought all the high quality (used) equipment, figured out how to coat, expose screens, pull the ink we are just now getting some prints I would call "professional". This is on a lucky day when everything goes right. We are making progress but this is "harder than it looks".
Leave it to the pros unless you are prepared to spend alot of money, alot of hours and alot of effort to do just average work for a long time. Spend the time figuring out how to market and sell your designs. That is enough of a challenge in itself. Just my .02
Starting my own business cutting out the middle man 
What's wrong with the middle man?
