I just purchased a heat press, with plans of just cutting thermo-flex on my plotter, and I stumbled on the dye sub process. I have read and searched the forums, but I don't see answers to my particular questions. ( I have also read on dyesub.org, and done some reading on bestblanks.com, and it still leaves some questions in my mind).
I am interested in offering dye sub to my customers, and I think I can earn some customers from a competitor who only uses thermo flex and has started offering full color transfers. A lot of people that I have talked to like the full color option, but it is a full sheet of "plastic", and most complain that it makes them sweat more than they want to.
I am looking at an epson 3000 to set up as a dye sub printer (because of the print size, ie 16" x 23"), and I can't afford to go to the Epson 4000 or better yet the Epson 4800. I just want to make sure that this printer is not outdated, and I can and will be able to purchase the inks and media.
Also, I want to make sure that the dye sub process is what I am thinking it is. I want to make sure that is is more of a ink in the cloth than a full sheet of carrier plastic.
Also, I can print on a Gilden shirt. The reason that I am asking is I have someone that is interested in gray Gilden shirts (over 100, quite possibly 200), and I don't want to sink a lot of cash into a process that doesn't work the way that I am thinking it will.
And before you say screen print, there are about 12-15 colors in this customers shirts, including fades.
Is the Gilden a cotton shirt? Dye sub prints on 100% polyester fabrics, and some poly blends. Care to read an old PDF from Hixcorp about transfers in general?
The 3000 printer will work fine for printing transfers for fabric. It only requires four colors instead of eight so you only have half the investment in inks. There is very little to gain from using more than four colors on fabrics.
Dye sublimation printed shirts will never crack, peel or fade. There is also no "hand"/feel to the imaged area.
Also, I can print on a Gilden shirt. The reason that I am asking is I have someone that is interested in gray Gilden shirts (over 100, quite possibly 200), and I don't want to sink a lot of cash into a process that doesn't work the way that I am thinking it will.
I don't think you can dye sub on a gildan shirt. Most Gildans are 100% cotton, and dye sublimation doesn't work on 100% cotton.
I don't think it will work on the 50/50 gildans either.
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And before you say screen print, there are about 12-15 colors in this customers shirts, including fades
For 100-200 shirts, I would still say screen print I've seen jobs that look like 12-15 colors that can be produced with less and still match the original graphic. Just as there are only 4 ink tanks in your printer that can make more than 12-15 colors with fades, good screen printers can use 4-6 colors and blend those colors to make more than 12-15 colors.
I would consider screen printing and direct to garment printing for a job 100-200 shirts with many colors on 100% cotton t-shirts.
I agree with Rodney, screen printing is the way to go for an order that size. I think you will probably agree when I tell you the average material cost to dye sub that design is probably about $8 each (assuming $6 for the shirt and $2 for the ink), and that's pretty conservative. And neither does that include the hours of labor that would be involved in the pressing process. You are looking about about 2 min per shirt, so for 150 shirts, that's 5 hours of labor. If you charge $20/hr (which is cheap), that another $100 that you should build into the price of the shirts, and that's a very conservative figure. We also are not counting the "spoilage" that is inherent in the DyeSub process for 150 shirts. With each shirt being $6 each, every mistake is a very costly one.
Compare that to a 4-color process screen print, using gray Gildan's, you'd probably be able to find a printer to do the whole job for close to $5 each or less... and that means NO labor for you at all.
Or if you just wanted to stand in front of a heat press for 4 or 5 hours, you could always have plastisol transfers made. That would be pretty cost effective as well.
Or if you just wanted to stand in front of a heat press for 4 or 5 hours, you could always have plastisol transfers made. That would be pretty cost effective as well.
What are plastisol transfers? Is that like a full sheet of material that is printed on and it all transfers to the material.
I have a competitor that used that process for this customer and they hated it. It makes the person wearing the shirt sweat too much.
And they are interested in eventually 100 shirts. Right now they want 12 at a time, so that kills the idea of screening or direct to print shirt.
There are several discussion here on plastisol transfers if you do a search. But basically, a screen printer prints the image onto a plastic carrier sheet and just heats it enough to make the surface dry to the touch. Then you heat press the plastisol image onto a T-shirt. The end product is very similar to a screen printed design. So it shouldn't be any hotter than a screen printed design.
I suggest looking into ChromaBlast ink. If you already have a epsion printer (88+ 1280 or such) then all you will need is $300 for the ink. It transfers difectly to 100% cotton tees just as regular sub dye yet you cut the cost of the poly tee. Average cost on ChromaBlast per tee is $4-$4.50 including ink, tee, and transfer paper. So you get the cheap printing, nice quality (no waxy feeling like a regular paper, and you dont have to invest in a screen printer).
ChromaBlast is basically just a very expensive version of an inkjet transfer. You have to cut around the image if you don't want the clear box on your shirt, and I sure would not want to do that for 100 images. If you do, be sure to build that extra labor into your price, when comparing printing techniques.
And they are interested in eventually 100 shirts. Right now they want 12 at a time, so that kills the idea of screening or direct to print shirt.
So they only want 12, and MAY want 88 more later? Or they definitely want 100, but just need 12 right now? That pretty much kills their bulk discount if they won't pay for 100 up front. Have you told them that it's a LOT cheaper to order 100 than 8 runs of 12 each?
Getting set up, and have some questions. 
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