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Originally Posted by A.T.O.I.S. |  | | | | | | | | | However (from what i've read) it seems that in order to get a greater range in colors for your design/picture (say 25 to 50+) you'd more than likely have to go with high quality heat transfer since they're printed out on computer printers then heat stamped on | |  | |  | |
You don't
have to, but it is cheaper and easier.
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Originally Posted by A.T.O.I.S. | | | | | | | | | | but from what I've read they dont last as long as silk screen and tend to crack off ,"look cheap" and only last for X amount of washes ?? ... So silk screen lasts longer but limits the colors, correct?? | | | | | | |
That's all correct, although the details (how long is not as long, how cheap is cheap, how many washes is X, etc.) are contentious. Also screen printing doesn't literally limit the colours, but that's certainly the practical impact (plus I'd bet some printers would refuse to do process printing - if you can afford to turn away customers it's probably not worth doing unless you enjoy the challenge).
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Originally Posted by A.T.O.I.S. | | | | | | | | | | The question i'm trying to get at is , for something like this to be silkscreened - A photo with many colors - How much would it cost, on average from a solid screen vendor, to produce an order of 30 T shirts, do you think... All Dark shirts price VS. All Light shirts price? | | | | | | |
I don't have enough experience to put an exact figure on it, but the answer is
a lot. From what I understand it's also a lot easier to do process printing on lighter colours (especially white) than dark as you don't have to compensate for the base colour of the t-shirt. Normally colour of the t-shirt doesn't make much difference in screenprinting, but this is one case where it might cost more for dark vs. light.
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Originally Posted by A.T.O.I.S. | | | | | | | | | | Compared to something like this b&w photo. Since its less colors that means less ink and less screens which means less cost, but how much less compared to a close to or photo quality screen print? | | | | | | |
The B&W would likely be
significantly cheaper. It's not at all unlikely that we're talking about the difference between being worth doing, and not worth doing (i.e. with a colour photo there's not enough of a profit margin in it to justify the risk, with a b&w photo there's every chance you could have a reasonable margin). This is especially true if you simplify the b&w photo (remove some half-tones, etc.).
Ink is cheap, so that's not likely to particularly influence the cost. The main thing that will drive up the cost are the extra screens (most printers charge a setup fee per screen) and the extra labour (it's a lot of extra labour, and you can expect to pay accordingly).
Full colour screenprinting is not likely to be worth it unless you have a product you are
confident you can sell. Screenprinting a simple one colour design is damn cheap - you could easily get a couple of hundred high quality shirts printed for under $1000 (total cost). Full process colour I'm not sure, but if I had to put a figure on it I'd say you're looking at $12-15 per shirt (feel free to correct me anyone), as well as a much higher than usual setup fee. That is a guess though, so don't be surprised if the actual figure is different.
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Originally Posted by A.T.O.I.S. | | | | | | | | | | Basically i'm starting out from my home... I'm not looking to make amazing profits... | | | | | | |
Personally my belief is that anyone not in a rush to make big bucks quick should go with screenprinting. It's not expensive to start out with a screened inventory.
With heat press you can have more shirts on offer straight away, more flexibility on size and putting out new designs (less on colour choices, etc.), and in the short term more profit.
In the longterm screenprinting is cheaper and higher quality. So if you want short term gains heat press has considerable advantages, but if you are in it for the long haul and either have a lot of startup capital or can afford to be patient, then I believe screenprinting is superior.
Obviously this is all subjective stuff and people need to decide what their own way is.
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Originally Posted by A.T.O.I.S. | | | | | | | | | | Would it be wiser to go with a high quality heat press set up (what type of ink ... Durabrite or Plastisol (spelling) ?) ...in order to get my quality to 100 wash ratio or professional silkscreening... | | | | | | |
Plastisol transfers are screenprinted onto carrier paper to be used in a heatpress. Since they are screenprinted they are subject to all of the same limitations of the medium. They do have advantages (like not having to commit to putting the design on a certain shirt size until the customer orders it), but if you're buying a heatpress to
only use Plastisol transfers... why not just go with screenprinting?
The rest of the questions I'll leave to those who know heatpress technology better than I.
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Originally Posted by A.T.O.I.S. | | | | | | | | | | obviously the silkscreening would be more $$ so i'd either have to sell for more money (which i dont want to do) or i'd have to take a profit cut compared to investing in my own heat press set up - but how drastic are we talking ?? | | | | | | |
Very drastic in all likelihood. And I seriously doubt you could afford to increase the price on a full colour print, even if you wanted to.
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Originally Posted by A.T.O.I.S. | | | | | | | | | | I dont want to put out junk quality designs that aren't very vivid and that also crack and fade after a year or so but I also dont need to put out Transnational Corporation Professional shirts... I'm trying to find the midway basically ... not cheap - halfway (atleast) professional , durable , vivid designs ... | | | | | | |
Off the top of my head I can currently think of three options:
1) Top quality screenprint that gives you everything you want, and costs a fortune.
2) Drop the amount of colours and screenprint at a more affordable rate.
3) Heat press, sacrificing some quality but gaining a more competitive profit margin
Much as it pains me to say it I don't think option one is a realistic option.
I think option two is the best halfway/midground option. It's surprising how few colours are really needed to print a decent image. It's not easy to create a great colour image using only 4-6 colours, but it can be done. The best option is to learn to do it. Best, but by no means easiest.
Option three - Heat press is easy and cost effective. Personally I think it's unsuitable for a large professional t-shirt company, but it seems to suit smaller outfits. Even I must admit that in a lot of ways it's your best option (and since you're posting here you will get a lot of people advocating that option).
There are other options (dye sublimation, etc.) but they tend to have disadvantages of their own (including very high equipment costs if you don't want to outsource the printing) and personally I don't see them as viable for small business.