Discuss the various t-shirt fulfillment services in this general fulfillment forum. Newer companies like RedBubble, etc can be discussed in this main forum.
Companies that have been around 2+ years (CafePress.com, Zazzle.com, Spreadshirt.com, PrintMojo.com, PrintFection, etc), may have their own separate subforums below (as demand permits).
Hi I was wondering if anyone can help me with this:
- I am after a company that I can send designs via a file. I shall be using a slogan or graphic designs so I guess the options I am looking at are screen printing (water based looks good) and/or plastisol transfers. If they offer both it would be great.
- They already have a range of quality t-shirts on hand (probably American Apparel) to print my designs.
- Production runs could be small or large.... It just depends on the demand for each particular design... So I guess the shirts are only printed on a needs basis.
- I wasn't after a site like cafepress etc.... I guess just a printer that offers the above service. Something not ridiculously priced like some screen printers charge. Now I know alot of ppl will say good luck finding a company that will do small runs on demand for a low price.... But the business I hope to get started I am hoping could become very successful and I envisage outsourcing the process to the company throughout....
If anyone has any pointers then it would be much appreciated. I live in Sydney, Australia but if someone knows one reasonably priced and reliable from elsewhere I'd be willing to check it out.
Yeah I've heard of printmojo but never checked out their site... It seems similar to cafepress though? What it comes down to is I don't want to outlay a large amount of capital for equipment etc but checking my options for doing it on the cheap and in small quantities... A tough task I know... :P I want to sell the designs exclusively through the site and not through cafepress etc if you get my drift. I don't want them to take care of the e-commerce side of things... I was hoping to do the marketing myself on my own site.... Any ideas?
I'm sure there are many such options in Sydney....you don't need to go abroad to Printmojo, and I'm pretty sure that's not what you really need anyway.
There are many such places in Melbourne.....I'm sure one of us Melbournians will know some places in Sydney when they come along. I'm pretty certain we have a number a Sydney members who will know to.
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Ok great so if I were to use printmojo I could set it up so ppl can only order from my website and then I give the order quantities to printmojo when I receive them? I may not need to use a company like printmojo but if I want them to send the shirts directly to the customer than ever reaching me- are there any companies in Sydney or elsewhere that can do this for a relatively low price? Say if it was 20-30 shirts I want done (by this no. is that of the same size and colour shirt?)?
Ok great so if I were to use printmojo I could set it up so ppl can only order from my website and then I give the order quantities to printmojo when I receive them? I may not need to use a company like printmojo but if I want them to send the shirts directly to the customer than ever reaching me- are there any companies in Sydney or elsewhere that can do this for a relatively low price? Say if it was 20-30 shirts I want done (by this no. is that of the same size and colour shirt?)?
pritmojo will store and send them out. u link ur site to there's thru php script so when ppl go 'add to cart' they are taken to PM's secure cart, but u can make the page look like urs.
- Production runs could be small or large.... It just depends on the demand for each particular design... So I guess the shirts are only printed on a needs basis.
I think this is the part that will make it a challenge to find a screen printer to handle the job. Screen printing isn't done "on demand" on an as needed basis, it's done in quantity.
So you would need to order the t-shirts and select the sizes that you want to be printed and a screen printer would print those for you and either ship them to you for you to send out to your customers, or in the case of a fulfillment company, they would store the printed t-shirts for you and ship them out as you have orders coming in.
If you want true "print on demand", you would need to use a place like CafePress, PrintFection or a local service in Australia who can print orders as needed. Either via vinyl transfers, a direct to garment printer, or something similar.
If you don't mind having inventory, then you would just either use a local screen printer to print up the t-shirts and send them to you like Nick was suggesting, or you could use a fulfillment service like PrintMojo that prints the shirts and stores them and sends out orders directly to customers when they place orders (either through your own website that you design or the site the store they create for you).
Ok so it looks like I would have to use plastisol transfers for the time being (I would have only considered doing the screen printing for the slogans... although plastisol ones are just as good based on what I've read?). So some of the fulfillment companies require you to purchase a supply of t-shirts first, whilst others do not? Say if all goes well, do those fulfillment companies have the right to continue selling your design once you want sell your designx exclusivelu or they stop when you wish to close your e-store?
If anyone knows some fulfillment stores (that are reasonably priced) and ideally located in Australia it would be much appreciated.
I know alot of ppl will say good luck finding a company that will do small runs on demand for a low price.... But the business I hope to get started I am hoping could become very successful
Printers can't dine out on hope.
DTG would probably be the most sensible option for you, although the couple of Australian companies I've seen offering DTG are charging outrageous amounts for the printing, and I suspect that is indicative of the market. Maybe not though.
So some of the fulfillment companies require you to purchase a supply of t-shirts first, whilst others do not?
PrintMojo requires you to purchase up front because the inventory is screenprinted, other companies don't screenprint and don't require upfront purchase.
Quote:
Originally Posted by trendydag
Say if all goes well, do those fulfillment companies have the right to continue selling your design once you want sell your designx exclusivelu or they stop when you wish to close your e-store?
No, they stop selling when you tell them to. You retain rights to your work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by trendydag
If anyone knows some fulfillment stores (that are reasonably priced) and ideally located in Australia it would be much appreciated.
I've seen a few fulfillment stores in Australia, but last I looked none of them were reasonably priced.
So some of the fulfillment companies require you to purchase a supply of t-shirts first, whilst others do not?
Yes, it depends on the printing method the fulfillment company uses.
If they use screen printing/embroidery (rawtalentinc.com, printmojo.com), they can't offer print on demand (for the same reason your local screen printer couldn't...it's just not cost effective due the setup required to produce a quality print.
If they are using a direct to garment printer, heat transfers (inkjet or vinyl), or dye sublimation (cafepress.com, printfection.com, goodstorm.com, zazzle.com, spreadshirt.com) that don't require a costly setup, then they can print on demand.
Quote:
Say if all goes well, do those fulfillment companies have the right to continue selling your design once you want sell your designx exclusivelu or they stop when you wish to close your e-store?
The fulfillment companies are just "printers". They don't have any rights to your designs. They just print them for you when you ask them to and when you move your business on, then they don't print them anymore.
One slight exception to that is zazzle.com, where you would have to specifically ask them to remove your products from their marketplace. It's not like they want to keep your designs, it's just that they want customers to be able to find the product later if they want to order it again. You would always get commissions, but if you want to completely stop, you just need to send them an email and they'll remove it.
Hi!
We are located in Melbourne and use DTG. We don't stock American Apparel and I think you will find it hard to find anyone in Australia that does - I once attempted to acquire American Apparel from the only local supplier I could find, they were totally painful to deal with and I gave up. Instead I found these identitee --- contemporary corporate clothing which we've just got in and I think are totally awesome, and they are an Australian company.
If they use screen printing/embroidery (rawtalentinc.com, printmojo.com), they can't offer print on demand (for the same reason your local screen printer couldn't...it's just not cost effective due the setup required to produce a quality print.
If they are using a direct to garment printer, heat transfers (inkjet or vinyl), or dye sublimation (cafepress.com, printfection.com, goodstorm.com, zazzle.com, spreadshirt.com) that don't require a costly setup, then they can print on demand.
Wealth of knowledge for the newbie... Thanks Rodney & everyone!
Outsourcing for printing 
Re: Outsourcing for printing 
