T-Shirt Forums - View Single Post - T-Shirt Virgin - I need help starting my t-shirt line in the UK

LukeT · March 28th, 2008

Hi guys,
I am new to the t-shirt business am am looking for some helpful advice from some wise old heads like yourselves with setting up my own business. I am a graphic designer with 10 years+ experience and have been designing shirts (for fun) for even longer. I am now looking to get my designs printed up and hopefully sell them to the public, well thats the dream!

Firstly I am based in the UK and am looking for a good reliable T-shirt supplier and or printer. All my designs are illustrator vector eps files, and use about 4/5 colours. I could simplify the designs to 3 colours but some or most of them I would prefer to print as using the current design/colour pallet. If you could help me with find a good printer who does not mind short runs, as I dont have the cash for large runs to start off with (if they also relabel / bag great but not essential) it would be a massive help, if they are also based in the UK or europe that be a bonus but I would consider importing if it was financially better.

I am looking for a great product and finish so if any of you can recommend a good shirt brand/weight it would help also me, plus I would prefer to screen print, but have seen Plot Printing and digital printing is available - but am worried that these techniques might not be not as good a quality. Some of my designs currently bleed off the bottom of the shirts, or are not in the standard front panel position – is this a problem when trying to find a printer who can accommodate this?

When I finally come to sell my shirts i would prefer to sell them through my own site rather than through a site such as spreadshirt of cafepress, as I would like more flexibility over the site layout than they offer and also I want to sell it through my own url rather than having a /spredshirt prefix attached. I have good knowledge of website design so would like to design the look and layout of the site page – I am really looking for someone to build the site and help me with the ecommerce side of things, as I have little or know experience with that side of webdesign.

Any advice or help that you might like to give me really would be fantastic and very, very much appreciated.

Thanks guys and girls
Luke

March 28th, 2008	- #1 (permalink)
LukeT Forum Member T-Shirt Apprentice You can call me: Luke Member Since: Mar 2008 Posts: 4 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	T-Shirt Virgin - I need help starting my t-shirt line in the UK Hi guys, I am new to the t-shirt business am am looking for some helpful advice from some wise old heads like yourselves with setting up my own business. I am a graphic designer with 10 years+ experience and have been designing shirts (for fun) for even longer. I am now looking to get my designs printed up and hopefully sell them to the public, well thats the dream! Firstly I am based in the UK and am looking for a good reliable T-shirt supplier and or printer. All my designs are illustrator vector eps files, and use about 4/5 colours. I could simplify the designs to 3 colours but some or most of them I would prefer to print as using the current design/colour pallet. If you could help me with find a good printer who does not mind short runs, as I dont have the cash for large runs to start off with (if they also relabel / bag great but not essential) it would be a massive help, if they are also based in the UK or europe that be a bonus but I would consider importing if it was financially better. I am looking for a great product and finish so if any of you can recommend a good shirt brand/weight it would help also me, plus I would prefer to screen print, but have seen Plot Printing and digital printing is available - but am worried that these techniques might not be not as good a quality. Some of my designs currently bleed off the bottom of the shirts, or are not in the standard front panel position – is this a problem when trying to find a printer who can accommodate this? When I finally come to sell my shirts i would prefer to sell them through my own site rather than through a site such as spreadshirt of cafepress, as I would like more flexibility over the site layout than they offer and also I want to sell it through my own url rather than having a /spredshirt prefix attached. I have good knowledge of website design so would like to design the look and layout of the site page – I am really looking for someone to build the site and help me with the ecommerce side of things, as I have little or know experience with that side of webdesign. Any advice or help that you might like to give me really would be fantastic and very, very much appreciated. Thanks guys and girls Luke
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