Mike is right. Once you go to a printer large enough, you can use other inks that have been licensed by Sawgrass. You just need to look at your overall production and determine if you want to invest in the larger printer and bulk feed cartridges. Each person would have to determine what their ROI is on the printer. If you are not printing that much, it might not be the best thing to do.
By the way, I think your cost on a 220 ML bag of ArTainium might be off. That sounds really close to the cost of a 110 ML bag from what I remember. But I understand the concept you are talking about.
I think you are right about the pricing that $140 is for a 110ml bag, which means you save even more going to a large format printer, but if you know where to get 220ml bags for $140 please let me know.
I would just like to thank Milibrix for a work around that not only makes sense is alot cheaper than his own quote just found an epson 9000 for 300 bucks. My biggest question is why do the sublimatealbe shirts cost 5 bucks what are they made out of? I thought that any 50/50 shirt would work. But shows how much I don't understand yet. ANY way thank you for a work around. And thank you for saving me a few thousand.
Other brands of sublimation ink are being produced in volume in far eastern countries where the Sawgrass patent counts for zilch. These will potentially flood the market unless fair competition is opened up in the sublimation ink sector.
However politely it's worded, prices of sublimation ink are way off beat at the moment, as are the prices of most sublimation garments.
Last edited by DREAMGLASS; July 22nd, 2008 at 11:01 PM.
Reason: typo
What I find interesting is every distributor sells the ink a the same price, no discount. Think of it, if a distributor discounted the ink would you start buying other things from them. If Sawgrass is controlling the price of their ink by forcing the distributor to sell at a certain price it is illegal. If all the distributors got together and decided to sell the ink at the same price thats illegal. So I ask the question again, "Why is everyone selling Sawgrass ink at the same price?"
It would appear Sawgrass has also been getting EBay to remove listings on EBay UK, unless the seller can prove the sublimation tanks are filled with Sawgrass ink. This is private individuals we are talking about, selling their own secondhand printers. This reason has been specifically stated in at least three relisted items in the last six weeks. There is also a powerseller on there stating that Sawgrass has intervened in the past, even though they are selling unfilled sublimation systems??
Unfortunatly it is not price collusion if your license says you must sell at that particular price. IE Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony Playstation. Becouse they controll the patent for the product they sell it with a lisence that states the retailer must sell it at a particular price or must ask to discount. Most of the discounts can only be free offers that is why right know if you buy a set from many of the resellers of sawgrass you can get one or two bags free. If all of the resellers got together and desided to do this sawgrass would simply sell direct until the reseller had enough heat from the guys that need the ink for daily sells. Wish it wasn't so I don't like price fixing. But there it is.
By making the cost of sublimation ink (and consumables) so high, it creates a product which is expensive to produce when compared to other print methods. I have no doubt that people will eventually start to import sublimation ink direct from the far eastern countries for use in their printers and just ignore the Sawgrass monopoly. That will disasterous for the distributors, but they are the very ones that should confront the people that are making them charge such high prices.
A lot of people are put off sublimation by the high costs involved. Some people within the industry are doing zilch to help that situation.
The only way the price goes down is not buying the product or producing with it. If you buy from the middle east you are violating the patents for production methods if you put it on soft media. Then Sawgrass can come after you. It's counter intuitive but not just the ink process has been patented by them also the production when you buy there product they are passing the right to do with as you want, through the rule of first purchase. But go around them and they can come after you. Just don't use the process and go with laser for hard media and other ink for soft and use only cotton. Soon some company will legaly reverse engineer or signifigantly improve, or add a single feature no one has thought of and the game of competition will be on. I am sure that once hp and cannon realize there is true market that they are not filling they will invest in new process tech to fill the hole unless the market is never big enough then why would they. I figure soon an on demand print process will come out that puts down as much ink as screen then we will truely have the wearability everyone wants. But untill the the distributors will continue to pass on the cost, becouse they are selling the product.
The sublimation process appears to have been around decades before Sawgrass even existed. Sooner ot later some judge is going to wake up, smell the coffee and reverse a patent decision that is blatantly wrong. People like Texas Original Graphics had the guts to challenge these wrongs. What's to stop Sawgrass saying you can only print on products approved by them, in the future?
If far eastern countries are now producing heat presses, vinyl cutters and inks, it would be fair to assume that they will also at some stage, start selling finished sublimation garments. If it isn't careful, the sublimation industry in the west, could soon price itself out of the market.
Other printing technologies are moving forward. I predict the price of DTG systems will become much more affordable in the near future. There are people on this forum, that have even made their own, from inkjet printers. Once DTG becomes more widespread and secondhand models become available, what will become of the sublimation tee market then?
Last edited by DREAMGLASS; July 23rd, 2008 at 11:57 PM.
Reason: addition
Once those price come down or an alternative product then Sawgrass will drop there prices;.>
Until then now one can do anything other than organize a mass boycott but that also boycotts,
there pocketbook. And there is nothing to stop Sawgrass from specifying products on the basis of compatibility. lol Then people would really get mad. I with you not against you but I will be receiving an epson 9600 and going around the issue and cuting my cost by half up front. Would have done sooner but until I saw the post from milabix I didn't know that option existed. So I bought my products from another producer for the last 9 months. In a week I can stop. Thanks again milabi:.>
Re: Texas Original Graphics --> Sawgrass 
