Starting my own business cutting out the middle man
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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
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
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?
