Discuss the various aspects of direct to garment printing. DTG printers include Brother, T-Jet, Flexi-Jet, DTG Kiosk, Kornit, Mimaki, Tex-Jet and others! Discuss and learn about this up and coming printing technology.
I was not really impressed with the anajet.. but i had experance much like sunny in that the person i was talking to didnt know alot.. and basically tried to tell me the black i saw thru on the white print was designed to be there in the graphics.. which was not the case.. The fact that he lied to me.. made me walk away from the booth.. I dont like being taken as a fool..lol..
I also had the same problem with my sample from anajet, it completely missed a spot of white on the design. I will take a pic tommorow and post to show what I mean. The design has a mirrored image on part and one side has the white on the tip of the horn and the other it is completely missing. I asked the tech about this and he tried to tell me it was supposed to be that way but you can clearly see on the design that it was mirrored and should have been the same on both sides.
Edited to add, it wasnt white that was missing on the design, there was a white spot where it should have been yellow. sorry its been a long day
The issue is that people want to believe that the dtg is the answer to everything. This puts pressure on the reps to tell them what they want to hear. If the rep from xyz tells the real truth, then the rep from abc tells the prospect what they want to hear, Prospect buys abc machine, xyz misses out on sale, leading them to realize people buy hype and emotion, not truth, consequently they follow abc's lead.
The sooner people realize what those of us that have had success have been saying all along is true, the better off they will be. Use the printer for mostly white shirts, and only for very short run, high margin dark shirts. If you do not want to put up with a long learning curve, proper maintenance, and the expense of replacing heads then just buy the machine setup for dual cmyk. Trust me there is plenty of business for whites and lights!
With the info, and user reviews that are available online, anyone who buys a dtg printer and then blames the dealer when it isnt easy or perfect, gets no sympathy from me.
I already expect when I get my machine that I will have many problems and I am going into it with eyes open. I have been researching since last november before deciding on what machine I was going to purchase. I dont expect it to be easy and I do expect to do more maintenance than what they suggest once I get my machine. I do however believe that the reps should know about the equipment they are selling and be able to relate that info to their potential customer. I also expect to be learning for a very long time on what works best and also plan that I will have to buy extra parts. What is great about these forums is I have learned alot about what problems to watch for, and how to remedy some of these problems should they arise such as I already am ordering an extra set of dampers so I can clean them every two weeks and change them out so to keep from them clogging, I will also make sure I have a extra print head just in case so I am not left hanging in case it should have a problem. I have made sure I have an area that does not have to much air and has the right humidity to try to keep that from being a problem. I have done my homework and know that the white ink can and probably will cause some issues sooner or later. So I would say I have prepared myself fairly well for this endeavor I am about to go into. To me the learning curve is worth it for the white with what I plan to do. Doing just lights is not an option as I have much higher expectations for myself than just being satisfied with doing what is easiest.
bobbie that is what we need in the DTG field...people who know what they are getting into and excepting the challenges that lay ahead of them... with that mind set I think you will so great things with your printer.
Bobbie and I were discussing the issues with the dtg at dinner.. I think that both of us had the feeling that the people at the one booth were trying to B. S. us is interesting.. I am differant than the customer that printzilla mentioned that buys from the company that lies and tells me what they think i wanna hear.. I will never deal with a company that has lines of BS in thier sales pitch.. .. The trick is finding the upsides and downside to the products and thinking hard if the down sides are something you can live with and make a profit with.. I myself am not ready to spend the amount of money that dtgs cost for a product that i do not believe any of the companies have perfected.. If im gonna spend that amount of money.. I want it to work all of the time.. on everything they claim it will.. and im not sure any of the machines out there at this time do that..
No probably to it. What exactly is your plan for the dark shirt side of the biz?
No long runs only short, but I carry many colors of garments and it is one of the things that makes me unique from others so it is important to be able to have that service available to my customers so I can continue to have an edge on those that only carry light colors, in that part of my business they are only short runs. Any larger runs I plan to do will be on light garments that will be supplied to a completely different client base. The first being infant clothing with small designs (this is where I will be using dark color garments) and the latter adult tees (which I completely plan on selling the customer on light color tees).
bobbie that is what we need in the DTG field...people who know what they are getting into and excepting the challenges that lay ahead of them... with that mind set I think you will so great things with your printer.
Thank You Chris, it is nice to see someone who is encouraging
I am a very determined person and I dont do anything I havent researched thuroughly (I dont think I spelled that correctly hehe). I have done alot of things in my life and the bigger the challenge the more interesting it is for me, besides the bennifit of the fact that I can also use my creativity in this business.
The issue is that they are not always full of BS. Sometimes they just do not disclose everything. Or maybe they just let people believe that they can print lots of multi shirt jobs using the current PT system and white ink. I know of reps who lost sales to other companies just because the other company told the customer what they wanted to hear. Obviously if you know it is BS you wouldn't fall for it.
I hear people say all the time that they rule out the Brother because it will not do dark shirts. Yet there are only a small amount of business models that will be profitable using dark shirt printing with dtg's, and all of them center on VERY small runs. These people buy a machine other than the Brother or one of the cmyk only versions of other dtg's. Then they have down time and technical issues that prevent them from being profitable. These people either give up, change to a cmyk only machine, or change the business model.
I am not saying that a white ink dtg is not a valid solution (2 of my 4 dtg's have white ink kits), it is, but only in its niche.
Bobbie - I hope I did not come across as discouraging. I actually think that you will do well. It seems like you have given this lots of thought. It is refreshing to see someone entering with a realistic view.
The issue is that they are not always full of BS. Sometimes they just do not disclose everything. Or maybe they just let people believe that they can print lots of multi shirt jobs using the current PT system and white ink. I know of reps who lost sales to other companies just because the other company told the customer what they wanted to hear. Obviously if you know it is BS you wouldn't fall for it.
I hear people say all the time that they rule out the Brother because it will not do dark shirts. Yet there are only a small amount of business models that will be profitable using dark shirt printing with dtg's, and all of them center on VERY small runs. These people buy a machine other than the Brother or one of the cmyk only versions of other dtg's. Then they have down time and technical issues that prevent them from being profitable. These people either give up, change to a cmyk only machine, or change the business model.
I am not saying that a white ink dtg is not a valid solution (2 of my 4 dtg's have white ink kits), it is, but only in its niche.
I guess if you dont do your homework first than you would believe the lies that the reps would tell you. I am very aware of the limitations with the white ink. Let me ask you this, do you print on dark garments? If yes, didnt you have to learn in the beginning also. I know with every thing I have done in my life I have had to learn how to do it first. I like doing things that are challenging and difficult, it keeps me interested. I dont plan on making my profits by printing dark, as I am aware it rarely happens, however it is something that I can offer in small quantities that will make my customers happy. Most of my customers purchase light color garments but the fact that I offer dark color garments also makes me more unique than all of the others that only offer white, light blue, pink and heather. So maybe you can understand my train of thought with this a little better now.
I do print on darks. I was the first in the US to have the white kit on a tjet, almost two years ago. I believe that having an edge on your competitors is important. I did have a large learning curve. It is because of this that I am acutely aware of the limitations of the process. I also think you understand what the limitations are.
Re: Anajet vs DTG HM-1...Help me decide!!!! 
