[suenoe]

Hi from just another newbie looking for help! Our youth wrestling club is interested in purchasing a heat transfer/sublimation press that would be portable enough to take to our tournaments and be able to make custom shirts onsite (i.e. shirts would already have standard tournament info on them but we want to be able to add a kids name or placeholder to the shirt). Can someone please given me some details on how we can accomplish this? I assume we would need a printer, paper, special ink, heat press, (obviously the shirts) - what else? And who has recommendations for doing this? We already see several other teams doing this but since the season hasn't started, we can't find anyone to ask. Also - is it a good idea to buy used equipment?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[proworlded]

Susie,

Are you aware the sublimation can only be printed on 100% polyester shirts? White or very light pastels. You might be better off with an inkjet printer and inkjet transfer paper. Another thought would be to have a vinyl cutter to perform the jobs you mentioned.

 

[suenoe]

Is it the same with heat transfer? I am not sure what we need but heat transfer/sublimation seemed easier to do on location than screen printing? Thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

 

[smaycumber]

Is it the same with heat transfer? I am not sure what we need but heat transfer/sublimation seemed easier to do on location than screen printing? Thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

Suenoe, your problem with heat transfers would be the customization. You can not screen print custom names on site so you would need to know the names of the kids in advance which then defeats the purpose of making it portable. I have been in this business for about 4 years running a side business out of my home. So this is advice I would give you as someone not in a huge corporate stance. Buy a silhouette cutter, then get a cheap heat press, (my first one cost me $99 from pro world Inc.) then you can take that with you to the tournaments and customize to your hearts content. No ink, no drying, no pre ordering transfers. Just cut, weed, press, and move on. Make sure to get some teflon sheets to cover your shirt if they already have some printing on them.

Good luck.