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rusty · February 13th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Hood


	I have been reading this thread with great interest. It speaks volumes about the ability to get started in the screenprinting industry, especially textile printing, with little or no money, some basic understanding, and a lot of luck and actually make 'some' money from it. However, there is always more to being in business and making 'enough money to support yourself' than first thought. As a consultant in the screenprinting industry and having personally visited over 7,000 shops in the United States, Mexico and India, I have seen pretty much every problem that could be incurred. As a result of my consulting I have created solutions to each and every problem that I have encountered. Any one of my clients could write volumes on "Things I Wish I'd Known From the Start!" Some of the things I could add, by proxy from my clients would be: Experience is a poor teacher - One can gain years of experience, but not 'know' anything other than "that's the way we have always done it!" I have seen far too many printers making double strokes to get a sufficient white ink deposit on black shirts, when they could have done it with a single stroke, eliminating half of the work and doubling production and potential revenue. Gain knowledge and put it to use - The real success lies with those who have the knowledge to not make mistakes in the first place. Always have an open mind and ask questions that will grant you knowledge. A case in point is an individual who insists on making double strokes using a print-flash-print technique because they 'believe' it is the best solution. At trade shows where I am showing a single print of white on a black garment, I have had numerous people tell me that I was lying about the ink because they had never been able to print with a single stroke and get the same results. I share 'all' of the information in my presentations and classes and still they are unwilling to do what is necessary to achieve their goals. Educate yourself and your staff - Yes, I train screenprinters, but you don't have to invest in my services or others in order to train yourself. You are already on your journey by reading the posts on this site and others. Read all the posts, subscribe and read all of the trade journals, buy the articles and books that are for sale on the Internet, visit the trade shows and ask lots of questions, take your screenprinting supplier to lunch and soak up all of his knowledge, do the same with your banker, CPA, and business consultant. Hire a mentor that will hold your hand and give you their advice. After doing all that, you still must wade through all the bad advice in search of the pearls of wisdom that will make you successful. Never trust someone with a dog in the race - There is a good amount of deceit going on in this industry. A supplier makes more money selling you wood frames or even stretch and glue frames and will tell you that is the way to go. They don't want you to invest in Stretch Devices' Roller Frames as they will lose money on the subsequent frame and mesh sales. They won't tell you that you will decrease your ink consumption by up to 50-percent, lower your emulsion and reclaiming cost and in the end increase your production and potentially double or even triple your income. They are in the business of making money for themselves and are never going to be completely honest with you. The same goes for the guy selling transfer equipment, DTG equipment or anything else. They are not going to tell you that you can make more money with another process if they lose the sale of equipment or supplies in the end. Listen carefully to what the salesperson isn't telling you - A salesperson is trained to feed you information that will make you want to buy their equipment. They will never 'give' you advice that paints a bad picture of their equipment. They will never give you the referrals of a client who is unhappy with their equipment. A case in point is the equipment company who touts the print arm of their presses as being unable to deflect with pressure. This is their strongest selling point, but is in actuality nothing more than a diversion. Anyone who is a great printer knows that you don't need pressure to print a T-shirt. The printing is done through a proper technique of ink transfer that requires only that the mesh come into contact with the shirt. Try this: place a screen in the printing position, raise it slightly and with a single stroke fill the mesh openings with ink. Not a 'flood stroke' but a 'fill stroke' that fills the openings with ink and cleans the top surface of most of the ink. Now lower the screen to the print position and push the image area of the mesh down with one finger until it just touches the shirt. Does this require an extreme amount of pressure that would cause the platen to deflect? Of course not. Now lift the screen and notice that the ink has been 'transferred' to the garment. Be very careful in 'listening' to what you are being sold. There's more, but I have a plane to catch. Best of luck and don't forget to question everything you 'hear' and especially what you think you 'know'!

so what's the secret to printing white on a black with a single stroke?

And are you suggesting that we never buy pre-stretched and glued frames?

OfftheLedge · February 19th, 2008

Just try to take one idea at a time and jot down notes for the others. They will be there when you're done with the first one. Or, another idea that has worked for me in the past, get a timer (like a stopwatch or egg timer) and set it to one hour. Work on one idea for that hour and when the time is done, put down your pens and pencils and move on. I found that the clock gave me a deadline to work under and that kept me motivated to make the most of that hour. Just a couple thoughts.

prometheus · February 29th, 2008

Kelly (Girlzndollz), suggested that I should drop this in here: http://www.t-shirtforums.com/tf-lounge/t41355.html, I just read about it, and hadn't had a chance to try it out yet, but it may help some people with their business. They also offer a free website for a year.

Wringer Tee · March 12th, 2008

I have just started my company and I am in the middle of getting my name out there. One thing I wish I had done 6 months ago was publish a web site, no store but just a page with a few of my designs. If I had, I know my name would be reaching a lot more eyes now that I have inventory.

TCT · March 17th, 2008

Something I didn't put much thought into is how much space you end up needing, not necessarily right away, but you end up needing after a bit in business. With in my first 2 years I out grew my original space, now we have 6 times the space and I wish we had more... Just my .02

dmm26 · March 20th, 2008

Man, it makes me feel good that this thread has/is helping so many people.

I don't know whether this has been posted up but another thing I wish I would have know before getting into all this is how much work it was going to be.

Don't get me wrong I knew it would be a lot of work but nothing like what I'm into. I guess that must mean I"m doing well though? I suppose if I wasn't so busy then I wouldn't be doing as well as I am right now.
Which really is not as good as I thought I would be doing when I first started dreaming about starting my own clothing line. I used to dream of rolling in money and having a brand new porshe. Well sometimes I roll around in a hand full of 20's just to say I'm rolling in the money. LOL! and the only porshe I can afford right now is a matchbox one. I'm still living my dream though and that's what really counts!

Good luck and best wishes to everyone here on the forum!!!

brand resistant · March 21st, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wringer Tee


	One question I do have, has anyone developed a sales kit to take to shops in their area? I want to reach out around town and any thought on making a lasting impression would be great. Thanks.

I have an online store that went live last month. Since then I have put together a sales kit that consists of a brochure/catalogue, business ethos & business card. I cold called stores in my region and set-up appoinments with store owners. The response was great and I delivered my first order this week. Be confident in your product and know it intimately, that would be my advice.

callie74 · March 22nd, 2008

Well, before I fall asleep.
I have read some excellent info on this thread!
I have a few things to add for a newbie.

In our case, we are outsourcing the silkscreening, as we are still learning about the whole thing and just felt much more comfortable taking our work to those experienced in the field.

Here's a bit of what we learned:

A) When sitting down to talk with someone (business meeting, going over details of orders etc) take notes. Get things in writing. Don't walk out of there saying "I'm pretty sure this is what got said." Trust me, oh heavens, please trust me on that. It can save money and headaches.
B) When you get back home, send an email to the person you met with and do a quick review of what was discussed to make sure they are on the same page and ask for a response, which is your 'receipt' of the conversation.
C) Go through each shirt very carefully. Double check the positioning, the color and quality of the product. Human error is one thing, but I have found that it is absolutely amazing what some people will allow to go through.
D) Don't use a screener/order fulfillment company until you have built up a good working relationship, and you know that you can implicitly trust that they will not allow poor quality material to leave their building.
E) If you are using a web developer, have an outline of what you want and really listen to what they are telling you. Get specific with them. If you don't understand what they are saying, keep asking questions.
F) Keep coming here. Over several months and multiple visits, I have learned a lot. There is so much information condensed into one place. It has helped us find the right resources to learn about different thing.
G) Don't be afraid to be assertive. You've done your research, you know what you're talking about and somehow, somewhere, someone goofed something up and they're not only not taking responsibility, but are somehow trying to place the fault with you. Know how you want a problem resolved, and don't be afraid to ask for it when you know you can back it up.

dmm26 · March 23rd, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by callie74


	G) Don't be afraid to be assertive. You've done your research, you know what you're talking about and somehow, somewhere, someone goofed something up and they're not only not taking responsibility, but are somehow trying to place the fault with you. Know how you want a problem resolved, and don't be afraid to ask for it when you know you can back it up.

I like what you said here a lot Callie great piece of advice!!!

Your so right about that. So many people are scared to say anything when it comes to any kind of conflict. Always stand up for yourself and tell everyone you work with exactly what you want and how you want it done. If something isn't the way you want it say so!

callie74 · March 23rd, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmm26


	I like what you said here a lot Callie great piece of advice!!! Your so right about that. So many people are scared to say anything when it comes to any kind of conflict. Always stand up for yourself and tell everyone you work with exactly what you want and how you want it done. If something isn't the way you want it say so!

Thanks

I know with me and my husband, often we've been the type to let things slide.
Well, the first time around with screening, we ended up with shirts that were printed completely off center. We basically ate the cost because neither of us wanted to stand up for ourselves. Heh, we've come a long way

Takamaru · March 24th, 2008

Fantastic thread! Thanks so much to all the contributors for all the invaluable insight.

I am currently in the process of starting my own line, due to demand from other design work that I have done. I am glad I am able to do a lot of things myself thanks to my experience (I'm a graphic designer formally educated in marketing, management and economics) and save a lot of money, so even though I haven't started up the business yet is spend some time on learning how to do costly things yourself such as promotional material or even designs.

On the other hand if you don't have the time to spend (took me 9 years of studying to be where I am) then do consider getting in help. It's so much more valuable to spend $200 on a good flyer design or shirt design and have it look like a pro-business than if you would save yourself those $200 but have a flyer made in a Word document.

I'll definitely come back to this thread if I run into useful information in my process to share.

allan46 · March 25th, 2008

I am new to t-shirt business as I am only operational for a short period of time.

I have had printers in my local area and also one a fair distance away do some printing for me. There were three in total.

What I learned is this :

Be clear as to what is the agreed upon quality of printed shirt you will accept.
For the first two I dealt with, they were horror stories as far as trying to get a consistent quality of finished product. The last company I dealt with was a bit better but the consistent theme was, I was not getting a full order of t-shirts that I could sell. For the three orders there was an average of ten percent that had problems.

These were not novice printers and the best part was, they found nothing wrong with this. They felt I should accept them and sell them as seconds. Case closed !!
So I suppose I should just send one of my customers one of my seconds and expect her to buy it in this "as is " condition!

Be mindful of how your printer deals with problems. It is a real clue how he will deal with you in the future. One guy starting swearing at me when I told me the work was not acceptable.

Don't be Mr. Nice like I was in the beginning and assume that most business people are going to have the same level of honesty and good business practise that you will.
Believe me I have been burned several times by this.

MOVE ON, when bad business practises show themselves. It maybe hard to make the decision in the beginning but it will pay off in the long run.

It's a journey, the adventures I have encountered have taught me a lot, but you don't have to have the exact same "adventures ".

fdsales · March 26th, 2008

Well I started 23 years ago screen-printing on shirt at a time on a $20 press I made from a graphic in Scott Fresner's book "How To Screen Print For Fun & Profit". I was drying the shirts one at a time in the oven in the kitchen (well, they said I had to get the ink up to 330 degress to cure). That idea was short lived as I left a shirt too long in the oven, and it caught fire, & smoked up the kitchen. Total expense back then was about $100.
Now 23 years later, still printing & embroidery, but took a huge hit from Hurricane Katrina after we got totally wiped out under 6' of water, and our salesman who was with us 15 years left us for a competitor right after the storm & took over 50% of our customer base with him. Moral here: GET A NON COMPETE or other type of contract with ANYONE you hire for sales; including any family members. Don't ever think "No, he wouldn't do that to us.....after all we did for him". GET A CONTRACT; copyright your designs, and protect yourself. Keep your suppliers close to you. If you have a customer base, make sure YOU stay in contact with them, so they KNOW that YOU own the company, not someone else. It's really easy to get caught up in the day to day "grind" of running a business, and having someone else out there doing the sales, and having those customers think that the sales person is the owner....GET A CONTRACT.
Good Luck To All!!!!!

FAVanthem · March 26th, 2008

With So much of this I can agree with....But the Truth of the matter is.... Now after three years. I am very Glad I didnt know then what I know now. I would of never started our Line.

.
The Things that we have learned and the mistakes that we have made. ( Which are MANY!) Have really been a great asset today.

Shalom
FAVanthem

ShoeyTennis · April 1st, 2008

i wish i would ahve realied nto to clean ink in my bath tub. now i take them to the car wash and power wash them. gosh it is so good now lol

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