Need to Register?

waggs · July 1st, 2007

I know this type of questions has probably been asked a thousand times before on this forum. So lets make it one thousand and one....

We are fairly new to the biz. We do plastisol transfers at fairs and festivals. We planned on expanding into the custom business logo shirts business soon, specializing in the low per piece orders that plastisol allows. However, we have been given the opportunity to print a large order of 500 youth and 200 adult t-shirts for a local church group. I know that at this size of an order, screen printing is more feasible, but I am unsure of where to get them printed. If I go to one of the local screen printers to get a quote, won't my price to the customer end up being more expensive as I am just acting as the middle man? I'm sure that the local screen printers who have store fronts would love to have this order themselves. Are there screen printers that don't deal directly with the end customer that I could go to? More of a "wholesale" type pricing?

Any info would be appreciated. Thank you.

DAGuide · July 1st, 2007

Your biggest concern should be whether you trust the local printer not to go direct after your customer. Ask the local screen printers if they do "contract printing". If yes, then most of them understand that if they want you to come back with more business, then they will not go after your customers. If they do and understand contract printing, they understand that they are more profitable focusing on the printing then go after your customers.

A little unknown fact is that Stahls / Imprintables has a production facility that does contract printing. I have no clue what their minimums are or what they charge. I believe the company is called Stahls Advanced Solutions or something similar in Masontown, PA. Maybe a sales rep from Imprintables can give you the phone number.

As for as plastisol transfers, I always say that you have around 30+ seconds in to aligning, pressing and peeling a plastisol transfer depending on what type / brand you get. Thus, you have about 6 hours of non-stop production time. Depending on what type of hourly wage you want to work, compare that to what price you are getting from the screen printer and determine if it is even worth considering plastisol transfers.

You will also need to add in the cost of shipping the shirts from a printer that is not in your area. However, that printer might be able to buy the shirts at a better price than you because they do more business with the apparel distributors.

Hope this gives you some things to think about. Best wishes.

Mark

Peanutz · July 1st, 2007

Just some things to think about.

Time is money - call the local screen printers. Work out a deal with them. Let them know that you'll be back again and again (if things work out). I have a guy 20 minutes from me that screenprints - he charges me 15% less than a normal customer, gives me a deal on screens, and doesn't charge me art charges. I get more of a break if I supply the shirts myself, which I always do. I just had him screen print a 14 piece order for me and I added numbers on the back and I still made 60.00 profit and spent less than 2 hours on the whole project. I don't make as much as doing it myself, but it frees up time to do the smaller orders and that makes you more money while getting more done.

Being the middle man isn't a bad thing. It's less work. I don't know about you, but pressing 700 shirts with a hot press sounds like way too much work and it would kill my shoulders. Not to mention all of the fumes you'd be taking in. Maybe I'm just lazy

.

If the local's don't work out, search this site for lists of contract screenprinters or check the 't-shirt classifieds' on the left hand column. You can post your request and wait for some people to answer. I'd bet there are hundreds of screenprinters out there waiting for a customer like you.

Need to Register?

Resources

T-Shirt Sites

Screen print or heat press for a big order