I'm a bit new to doing Dye Sub shirts but have a job that requires Dye Sub and wanted to get some feedback on what others with more experience think I should quote this job for.
The shirt is a 100% Poly Wickid brand short sleeve shirt. Their will be a one color design on the back just below the color and and a 5 color design on the front pocket (I know the number of colors don't matter). Both designs are 3.5" x 3.5" in size and the job is for 100 shirts.
I wold love to get some feedback on what other would charge for this job.
By the way, my cost for the shirt is $10.00..so it's not a cheap shirt.
if you are using a CIS...you are probably using .50 cent ink/paper...so you figure the profit... personally for the public...I want to double my cost to cover mistakes, goofs and other misfortunes.. BTY...sounds like toooo expensive shirt...what is so different that vapor ware?
if you are using a CIS...you are probably using .50 cent ink/paper...so you figure the profit... personally for the public...I want to double my cost to cover mistakes, goofs and other misfortunes.. BTY...sounds like toooo expensive shirt...what is so different that vapor ware?
Hey Charles!
I got some samples of the Vapor from Conde since our last discussion on this topic and they are much heavier than the WickID shirts. Since they are for a running club (yep..same club) they wanted the lighter weight shirts.
I'm with you on the doubling of the cost but doing that, I'm looking at $20 just for the shirts...not including anything else! Which brought me to my question of what others do with such an expensive shirt. It doesn't take me any longer to do an expensive shirt vs. a cheap shirt. But, on the other hand, mistakes are much more expensive.
I like to look at the numbers. You are going to touch each shirt for approximately 4 to 5 minutes (pre-press the shirt, align graphic #1, press, remove transfer, flip the shirt, align graphic #2, press, remove transfer, fold shirt,...). This would put you around 500 minutes or around 9 hours of work. Let's say that you have a probablity of making a mistake on 10% - 15% of the shirts. And let's use Charles numbers on the cost of ink and paper at $0.50 (which would vary depending on the printer, ink configuration,...). You would need to determine what your labor cost is per an hour and you can figure out your costs on this job by the following:
- 9 hours x ____ (your cost per hour for labor) = __________
- Cost to purchase 115 shirts (to cover mistakes) = $1150.00
- Ink / Paper Cost of $0.50 X 2 Prints X 115 = $115.00
- Add in the cost of shipping the shirts from the distributor and then to the customer
If you say your labor is $20.00 per hour for an employee, the total cost would be $1445.00 + shipping costs. 9 Hours is more than a full work day. What are your goals for how much you want your shop to profit each day? Ultimately, you are going to have to determine what type of profit you can charge that this customer would be willing to pay. I personally can't see doing the job for less than $21.00 per a shirt. That is only a $650.00 profit. If they wanted me to do the job as a one-off, I would probably charge $35.00 each. So, a $14.00 savings per a shirt is pretty nice.
Some preference needs to be given to the customer if they are a return customer. If they are a new customer, then give them a discount on their next order over $XXX.00 amount to get them to come back. Money is made on the repeat business.
Do your clients know how much the shirt costs? I ask because most people would xpect to pay $15 - $30 for a plain dry-fit shirt, so in my mind $20-$21 for a custom one isn't too much.
Just an FYI though, those really lightwight wicked and Under-Armour shirts are easy to overheat and leave permanent press lines in. The Vapor and Hanes Sof' Link ones are very forgiving during the heat press process. I've learned to avoid those shirts whenever I can because it increases the number of bad shirts.
Do your clients know how much the shirt costs? I ask because most people would xpect to pay $15 - $30 for a plain dry-fit shirt, so in my mind $20-$21 for a custom one isn't too much.
Just an FYI though, those really lightwight wicked and Under-Armour shirts are easy to overheat and leave permanent press lines in. The Vapor and Hanes Sof' Link ones are very forgiving during the heat press process. I've learned to avoid those shirts whenever I can because it increases the number of bad shirts.
Hey Shawn...
Thanks for that input. We did see some press marks but they did'nt seem out of the ordinary. Defintely have to keep this in mind though.
Looks like we gave them a great deal...only charged them $15.25 per shirt! Would have been $16.75 but we accidently under quoted the job initially and felt we needed to honor the quote. It was for our local Air Force Base so I don't feel so bad.
Dye Sub is much more tedious than Plastisol with more room for error.....100 double sided shirts is probably a bit too many for the dye sub process in general.
John.
Last edited by treadhead; February 23rd, 2008 at 09:54 PM.
I like to look at the numbers. You are going to touch each shirt for approximately 4 to 5 minutes (pre-press the shirt, align graphic #1, press, remove transfer, flip the shirt, align graphic #2, press, remove transfer, fold shirt,...). This would put you around 500 minutes or around 9 hours of work. Let's say that you have a probablity of making a mistake on 10% - 15% of the shirts. And let's use Charles numbers on the cost of ink and paper at $0.50 (which would vary depending on the printer, ink configuration,...). You would need to determine what your labor cost is per an hour and you can figure out your costs on this job by the following:
- 9 hours x ____ (your cost per hour for labor) = __________
- Cost to purchase 115 shirts (to cover mistakes) = $1150.00
- Ink / Paper Cost of $0.50 X 2 Prints X 115 = $115.00
- Add in the cost of shipping the shirts from the distributor and then to the customer
If you say your labor is $20.00 per hour for an employee, the total cost would be $1445.00 + shipping costs. 9 Hours is more than a full work day. What are your goals for how much you want your shop to profit each day? Ultimately, you are going to have to determine what type of profit you can charge that this customer would be willing to pay. I personally can't see doing the job for less than $21.00 per a shirt. That is only a $650.00 profit. If they wanted me to do the job as a one-off, I would probably charge $35.00 each. So, a $14.00 savings per a shirt is pretty nice.
Some preference needs to be given to the customer if they are a return customer. If they are a new customer, then give them a discount on their next order over $XXX.00 amount to get them to come back. Money is made on the repeat business.
Just my though process and opinion.
Mark
Mark...
Thanks for the great detailed reply! I defintely underbid this job...only charged them $15.25. Oh well...live and learn. But, it was for our local Air Force Base so I don't feel so bad...but won't be handing out those kind of deals in the future.
It has probably happened to everyone. Because you honored your first bid, they will probably come back to you. If I were you, I would find a polite way of saying that due to the cost of the shirts...any reorder will be more expensive. This way they don't come back expecting the same price. I would probably go as far as putting it on the invoice.
It was a good lesson learned. You know have another way to look at things when it comes to quoting a job. Quoting large dye sub jobs is risky because of the mistake ratio. If we could only get the blanks for the same cost as cotton shirt. Maybe one day. Best wishes.
Don't worry about the price because I just started with my equipment(vinyl for now, my printer will come next week for sub dye) and I'm getting mulitple orders from our local base but my husband works there so he has great access. It's amazing how many shirts they use and everyone is requesting the performance apparel. He personally orders 40-50 shirts a week for his small school on base and that's why we started this biz. Be sure to pass out biz cards for your customer to give out to others.
Also, we charged 16 per shirt and our shirts only cost 7. They were happy to pay that and that's for vinyl(one color) so since I'm new I don't know how the two compare. Now, we have several more orders. I'm not sure if we are charging too much or too little. I guess we'll figure it out. Funny thing, I just got my vinyl cutter last week. Thank goodness it's super easy to learn.
It has probably happened to everyone. Because you honored your first bid, they will probably come back to you. If I were you, I would find a polite way of saying that due to the cost of the shirts...any reorder will be more expensive. This way they don't come back expecting the same price. I would probably go as far as putting it on the invoice.
It was a good lesson learned. You know have another way to look at things when it comes to quoting a job. Quoting large dye sub jobs is risky because of the mistake ratio. If we could only get the blanks for the same cost as cotton shirt. Maybe one day. Best wishes.
Mark
Thanks Mark!
I was thinking along the same lines about reorders...
Also, we charged 16 per shirt and our shirts only cost 7. They were happy to pay that and that's for vinyl(one color) so since I'm new I don't know how the two compare. Now, we have several more orders. I'm not sure if we are charging too much or too little. I guess we'll figure it out. Funny thing, I just got my vinyl cutter last week. Thank goodness it's super easy to learn.
Thanks for the feedback...
Is that $7 for performance apparel? If so, what brand and where do you get it...if you don't mind me asking.
Is that $7 for performance apparel? If so, what brand and where do you get it...if you don't mind me asking.
Are you using vinyl on performance apparel?
John
We are using Augusta brand for our vinyl perf.apparel, but I haven't tried alot of different types yet. I have more coming this week to compare. I got my shirts from NES but I've found cheaper tees from S&S just recently(not the augusta though), I also have a couple more wholesale companies that I'm waiting to get into their system so I can compare prices. One of those is the Augusta company. I forget the website but I'm thinking I may be able to order from them directly. I also have some vapor apparel coming.
The vinyl worked very well on my Augusta performance T-shirts. It was for a volley ball team and I put their logo on the front and names and numbers on the back. I was amazed at how easy it was to learn to use the vinyl cutter equipment but I haven't tried more than one color yet. They wanted black shirts so vinyl was my only option plus it's seems to be the perfect choice for team sports shirts.
Dye Sub Job Pricing Thoughts 
Re: Dye Sub Job Pricing Thoughts 
