Been reading this forum for a while, has helped me a lot, but I finally decided to make a post. I hope that you all can help me. I am in serious search of a place (perhaps that's too good to be true) that has the capability of either an oversize screen printing, or a belt printer...however...I need a place that has no minimums.
Now, I have found a FEW places like that, but their prices are ridiculous. I'm starting up a lower level apparel company, so therefore I do not at the moment have the budget to buy in bulk. Also, I don't think I can charge my customers $45+ for a designer shirt, even if it is a great design. Please let me know if you have any suggestions in terms of a company that could even come close to fitting my needs, or contact me with any referrals you could make. I would be forever thankful if someone could find me a place that would work out well for us. Thank you so much for your help!
OK Speaking from the Printers Side,
If you came to my shop and wanted a one off full front print, You would pay a lot for it. It takes me a good amount of time and energy to setup a Full frontal, and I feel I would deserve the high cost. I am in fact using my really expensive oversized exposure unit, my more expensive xlrg screens, more ink, my oversize plattens {Yep you guessed it, they cost a lot.} and its really hard to pull a 18" squeegee through cold ink! I setup my shop to be able to do HUGE prints. It cost me a lot to do this, and I didnt need to. I could have gotten away with 12x16 prints, and still run a succesful business. BUT, I am also a designer.........
And speaking from the designers point of view.......
Why do you want to do Full front in small quantities? Why not do a smaller, more cost effective print? That way you can afford a few more, and your profit would be more per shirt sold. I think that Oversized prints are great, {I did outfit my shop to print them after all....} But they aren't the be all and end all of a great shirt design. Companies have often sold many many shirts with small front chest prints. Pretty much every clothing company has done this repeatedly in fact. OK I am officially ranting.
Getting to the point, my personal opinion is this.
-Start with an affordable print {it can still be cool! Make sure the design is ace, and no one will notice it isnt full front.} in a reasonable quantity. 30-50.
-Sell sell SELL the shirts to friends, family, whomever.
-Take the money you earn from the small print, and save up for a full front print job.
-Take the money to a printer to do a decent sized run of OS Printed shirts. The printer deserves the higher fee for XL printing{ And a tip! haha} , and you now have enough money to happily pay for a run that is large enough to make it cost effective for you.
Been reading this forum for a while, has helped me a lot, but I finally decided to make a post. I hope that you all can help me. I am in serious search of a place (perhaps that's too good to be true) that has the capability of either an oversize screen printing, or a belt printer...however...I need a place that has no minimums.
Now, I have found a FEW places like that, but their prices are ridiculous. I'm starting up a lower level apparel company, so therefore I do not at the moment have the budget to buy in bulk. Also, I don't think I can charge my customers $45+ for a designer shirt, even if it is a great design. Please let me know if you have any suggestions in terms of a company that could even come close to fitting my needs, or contact me with any referrals you could make. I would be forever thankful if someone could find me a place that would work out well for us. Thank you so much for your help!
-MR
Not to be rude or anything, but if you think oversized printers charge ridiculous prices, and you are looking for a oversized printer with low cost without minimums, you quest to find a company like this is ridiculous.
Companies invest a lot of money to be able to provide such services, so expect to pay up if you want these type of prints. If you can't afford the large printing, don't print that large.
You are in a catch-22. Oversized screens are VERY expensive to make. Low minimums means a much higher cost per shirt.
There are alternatives to all over belt printers. Depending on your design, a Direct-to-garment printer may be an option for you. The other option is the use of plastisol transfers.
I think what you want can be done, if you are flexible on how your printing gets done.
Now, I'm a screen printer as well, and have to agree that there's no real way to get cheap prices with no minimums. Set up costs are part of every job- oversized or not.
BUT- here's at least one other option to get what you want!
If you really want to start with oversized designs, but want to keep your $ output low, you might consider dye sublimation transfers. These have limits (special shirts, a la Vapor apparel; printing only on light colors); but there's is no limit to where you can print on the shirt, one shirt at a time! I've seen these shirts completely covered in ink (which, unlike screened plastisol, cannot be felt- it redyes the shirt itself), and some of the designs that are possible will make your eyes pop.
If you started with dye sub, you could press one shirt at a time, if necessary. If you really need to manage costs, you might invest in a heat press, order your own blank shirts, and outsource for the dye sub transfers. Your price per shirt would still be higher than what you'd get if you were ordering even just several dozen screened tees at a time, but it should be a lot lower than trying to get one or a few shirts at a time.
If you really want to start with oversized designs, but want to keep your $ output low, you might consider dye sublimation transfers.
Except to do all-over dye sublimation you'd need an industrial sized heat press, at which point you could afford to invest that money into the screenprinting equipment required to do cheap all-over screenprints anyway.
Except to do all-over dye sublimation you'd need an industrial sized heat press, at which point you could afford to invest that money into the screenprinting equipment required to do cheap all-over screenprints anyway.
I suppose that depends on the kind of press you need, which might be determined be the exact nature of the designs. I have heard of many people pressing their designs in multiple segments, which doesn't require a big press. (Also, heat pressing doesn't require anywhere near the amount of space or additional supplies, nor does it have the same learning curve as screen printing.)
If the prints truly need to be done in a single pressing, and need cover the entire shirt, including sleeves, then you are probably right- and, unless MR wants to learn to print, the price of the equipment might be better spent just ordering shirts.
However, dye sub is still a viable possibility if MR needs to get small quantities, and is able to outsource the work. It may be possible to find a shop (local, perhaps) that will be glad for repeat business, even if it's 6 shirts at a time. MR may be able to work out a price that's much better than what a screen printer could provide for the same quantity.
I have heard of many people pressing their designs in multiple segments,
That can work for doing a slightly larger design in paper, but it's not practical for doing anything too big. It's also not so practical for dye sublimation - when you press neighbouring sections you run the risk of re-pressing the old sections, heating the ink back to a gas, letting ink escape, and ending up with fading.
You need to do it in one hit, which means a large pneumatic press.
As always there are pros and cons of heat press vs. screenprint, but for something of this scale heat press is still a very large undertaking. It's not the simple "bring it in-house to save money" solution you were presenting.
And that's not even getting into the fact that it means having to use polyester tees.
Oversize Screen Printing Help 
Re: Oversize Screen Printing Help 
