Hi,
I've been using illustrator cs3 and was trying to decide what I wanted to do with my ideas. After looking at all the cool shirt designs out there; I decided this is the avenue I want to take. Here's where I'm stuck...
Any advise from those of you that have experience in this business?
If I have a concept for some tees and want to get something printed; whats the best way of doing this? How did most of you get started? Online? consignment?Ebay?
I live in Fort Lauderdale Beach but don't really want to open up a shop. ( have a full time job).
I want to do something close to the new fad of affliction type shirts. Any advise on getting ideas from vector art to the shirts. Is there anyway to do this on my own (or is the equiptment too exensive and bulky) easier to just source this out?
Sorry for the basic ??
Anyone in florida thats in the business that can help me?
Well, you'll def. wanna start out by having someone print the shirts/designs for you... the equipment is up there...
esp. if you're trying to print like affliction.. which im pretty sure has to be printed and then put together, can't just print all around the edges like that on a blank t-shirt..
You'll want to find a printer in your area to print them up for you. Screenprinting is a fairly technical exercise and not reallt the type of thing you can just pick up on the fly without a lot of research and practice. Try to work out an idea of how many you'd like to have printed before approaching the printer to find out if;
a: They can do that quantity, and
b: How much they will charge per unit for that quantity.
You will also want to ask them what format they would like the artwork in. Illustrator can export your vectors into many different formats including .eps which many printers like.
It's often best if you can set the artwork up yourself ready for the printers. That is, use spot colors, put each color on a separate layer, set out the amount of bleed and any overprinting for each layer etc. That way the printer is less likely to print your designs wrong which can lead to all sorts of unpleasantness.
As for selling, online is probably a good starting point. If you aren't so handy with web coding there are a ton of ready made ecommerce sites and shopping carts solutions out there on the interwebs. Just do a google search and research which one would be best for you.
If you are looking for an online store be sure to check out bigcartel.com and shopify.com. I've got one over at bigcartel and its pretty nice. They can set you up with one for free where you can list 5 products
I am also in Fort Lauderdale and have had a hard time finding the right printer locally. Finding a screen printer is no problem but I am printing oversize designs and looking to do them using discharge/water based ink, which is how affliction does it, i believe. There seems to be only one printer in the Ftl area who can do discharge and there dimensions are not big enough for what I am looking to do.
As far as an online store I am also using bigcartel.com and have had great results.
New - can anyone advise? 
