[juliensmommy03]

Hi, I'm Heather. I'm pregnant with my 3rd baby and decided to leave my job in the financial world and earn a little extra income in making shirts! My husband and I decided against screen printing since it would be too messy. We are interested in a heat press. What I guess I want to know is, how in the world do I get started? I want to do this with as low of a start-up cost as possible but I want high quality transfers. I own a decent ink-jet printer from Target so I'm hoping I don't need to make any changes there. I would also like to try and do this not as a huge money maker but to maybe work my way up there. It's just basically a way to make some extra income while I can stay home with my kids. So, what kind of heat press is the best? I'm interested in the $99 heat press deal with proworldinc.com. Also, I would like the transfer paper that does not require cutting around everything. I feel like I sound so new and silly but hey, I have to start somewhere! Any help, advice, support would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

[BroJames]

You are referring to heat transfer papers.

Generally the white inkjet papers (for white shirts) does not need cutting but as a matter of practice, we cut around the outer "white" edges. They will start to fade quite soon although, with proper care, the image would "last" over 50 washes or more. Properly explained this should be of little problem to clients.

Opaque papers will crack soon although some people who have sued them says that the ironall brand will not crack.

There are laser transfers but I have not tried them. The ones I;ve seen looks like opaque papers meaning "thick".

The $99 heat press at proworld is an offer that must come with a certain amount of purchase. I think about $300 but check it out with them. I also use a China press and the proworld heat press should be a good press for the price.

You can also buy plastisol transfers from proworld. These ready to press transfers are printer on a carrier sheet using screenprinting methods. You just need to press them onto shirts. They are also one of the more durable heat transfers.

Vinyl transfers is also durable but requires a plotter/cutter.

If I may ask. How do you plan to market them?

 

[MajikWare]

I'm trying to get started in the t-shirt business and I'm really having a hard time getting everything started. I purchased a heat press, a Hobby 9" x 12" and I purchased an Epson WF-1100. I have to get the ink, transfer paper and the t-shirts. That's not my big problem tho. The issue is I don't want to do jobs like churches, little league sports teams and organizations. What I want to do is custom jobs for individual people. First off I don't feel that I have a big enough heat press. Second, learning the graphic program CorelDraw is taking a long time. I want to put together a catalog of some graphics and lettering that my customers can choose from and also be able to accept their own graphics. Can anyone give me some advice on where to start and will I be able to get by with this Hobby heat press.

 

[BroJames]

Corel Draw is a nice vector program to start with but you may try play around adobe illustrator(more expensive) or inkscape(free) for maybe a day each and see how they compare with corel draw. I'd stick corel draw though.

are you learning corel draw by yourself? do you have some reference books or ebooks? There are many tutorials as well as youtube videos. I would suggest you download images for practice. Trace them manually with corel draw.

 

[Fuzzyfreak]

Wow, both if these posts create problems with in them selves. The major issue with the first "hobbyist", Juliansmom is obvious, Making a living or supplimenting your income with inferior machines and graphics is money not to much well spent, We use Stahls presses in our shop, and they are the best to get and are not cheep. the Mighty press series is the best for us, east to use and hard to mess up with. When you spend $99 on a machine than you can expect to maybe make that profit on the machine in a year, because of yhe waste of product and time fighting with it. I am a screen printer that makes products for transfers after my runs so I don't need to load the press for repeat orders, I do not use a printer connected to my computer to produce transfers, to make shirts. The transfers only work on light garments unless you buy special transfer paper for dark garments. Here is the other problem, all garments are pearl polished fabric, thats why it is so soft to feel, non polished garments are hard to come by, the transfer will go through only so many washes before it is gone. With printing a garment on a press, it fades all at the same time and it lasts for years. You both need to really research this. Talk to your local printers, because if you are only throwing $200-$1000 dollars at this start-up "hobby", don't even bother wasting your time and money. I have been printing since 1979 and see this all the time lately. I have made a nice living doing it and have all of the greatest and latest programs and equipment and have a storage room that has the same presses you are thinking of buying collecting dust, because some of my friends thought the same way you both are thinking and they needed to pay rent and sold them to me at less than half price. You are competing in a world that takes no prisoners and will not give you a break. You want to do this, than be ready for a serious fight and a pretty good outlay of cash. Good luck to you both! Am here to help, because I had help a long time ago too.

 

[BroJames]

Most equipment and supplies are usually more expensive than others for a good reason and it is nice to have the best and the latest equipment and supplies. I am sure most people want this as we do live in a most cruel world that takes no prisoners.

However, coming from a screen printing background I would readily challenge anyone with a $10,000 setup to a business competition with only $1,000 capital. Many other printers, aside from the need for a space to print and to solicit costumers, can do it with a next to nothing capital. I can guarantee that the deciding factor will not be capitalization nor equipment but a good PR and the ability to bring in customers or jobs and screen printing skills. Of course a slight edge goes to the one with a nice reception area. An equipment show-off will bring in more business to the better capitalized but I can skin you alive with price cuts.

For heat press there is no doubt that a stahl has better heat distribution, is better built, and has good warranty. I can say that a $99 equipment is of no match. But neither can a $990 stahl match the production of 10 $99 heat press.

Many variables must be taken into consideration. Know your limitations and the limitation of your capital and your equipment. I live in a different country and I am not sure if a $200-$1000 dollar start-up is sufficient in your country but it looks like it does. I do not believe that small "hobby" startups loses money because of capitalization. Often, a company turn red because of lack of determination and sometimes inexplicable bad luck.

I am just saying that while a well capitalized heat press or printing business will have the edge and is the way to go for anyone who is serious in this business, it is not the only way to go - it is not always the way to go.

 

[BroJames]

Read this post. http://www.t-shirtforums.com/graphics-design-help/t56460-10.html#post1758705

Using screen printing, he does not even have a formal printing press or table, no mechanical registration guides, his inks appear to be too thick, he went against all rules, and he his shirts has reached US shores. I am not sure what his equipment are now but many screen printers using just a little better equipment than he does are successful migrating to better equipment later.

 

[chunkymonkey]

I myself have a pro world heat press and I am quite pleased with it. I got the Select though with the pull out drawer. The offer of needing to purchase $300 in transfers can help get you started at a low cost. The thing about Pro World is their customer service is phenomenal!
If there is any kind of issue being the slightest of anything they take care of you amazingly fast.
So if they have transfers that will suit what you want to sell I recommend them myself.

 

[SignWarehouseJB]

I'm trying to get started in the t-shirt business and I'm really having a hard time getting everything started. ... First off I don't feel that I have a big enough heat press...

Sounds like you may have a Geo Knight JetPress. They are small inexpensive presses designed to be starter units. In other words, they're just right for your needs. Not intended for high volume production, but designed to help you get started. The larger of the two, the JP14, is just begin enough for most basic T-shirt transfers. Use it until you generate enough profit for a bigger, better, more durable unit.

...Second, learning the graphic program CorelDraw is taking a long time.

CorelDRAW is actually one of the easier vector design programs to learn.
Try using the Tutorials that come with it. Take them one at a time, give yourself a few weeks and you'll start to get the hang of it. There are also lots of training products & services you can get to shorten the learning curve.
I would not suggest moving from CorelDRAW to Illustrator. Illustrator is more dense and less user friendly, IMHO.

hope that helps...

 

[Skinbus]

Hi Heather;
1st of all, I hope your pregnancy is going well as that's more important than any t-shirt info. Down to business..I'd recommend using Stahl's, Hix or Knight presses. This is where you don't want to go cheap. Only a quality press will do a quality transfer. I've been using a Hix from day 1 & still works great. 1 thing to keep in mind is the size of the press depending on the size of the images you plan to use. Here, unlike many times, bigger is better but obviously more expensive. As for transfer paper, I've been using ironall, for light & darks, also from day 1 & have never had an issue. Light shirt transfers are very easy to make but can cause an issue with getting it properly aligned on the shirt before pressing. The design is upside down when placed on the shirt so you obviously can't see it to line it up properly. It just takes practice but there is a tool that apparently makes it easier called a "tee square it." Used to be around $40 which is imo highway robbery, & isn't really necessary after some experience. After printing the image, you need to trim around it before pressing but only leave 1/4, 1/2 in. border, unlike dark paper which will require cutting as close to the image as possible to eliminate the white paper around the image. Depending on the intricacy of the design, it's nearly impossible & you'll have to settle for a white paper background. To me, this is the downfall of opaque paper unless you have a specialty cutter which is major $$$$$. As for cracking, quality paper will not crack if properly laundered. This refers mostly to dark paper which should be washed inside out in cold water & dried on low heat only. With light paper, it's really not an issue. Even screen printing will crack over time if not properly cared for. Any type of ink that goes on top of a shirt will crack at some point. That's why today's printers have gone to a totally different process where the ink actually becomes part of the shirt. There is a specialty ink for transfers which few office printers have, which is known as "pigmented" which will prevent it from bleeding when washed. Everyday printers do not have this ink & will bleed when wet & fade badly. Nearly everyone uses Epson printers, most of which come equipped with the proper ink, but not all, so check the model to be certain. That's about all you should need to get started but remember 1 thing; you stated that you wanted quality products & we all know quality = expense. So, buy the best you can afford. Good luck with your venture!

 

[elcielo]

Heather, do you want to sell t-shirts with designs or are you also creating the designs yourself? Either way, your best bet quality-wise is the plastisol transfer. If you go this route, you won't even need your printer, which probably isn't loaded with pigment ink anyway.

There are name brand heat presses, and there are plenty of people doing very well with non-name brand heat presses. I don't think you can go wrong with ProWorld as I understand they stand by their products and give excellent customer support. I purchased my press from Heat Press Nation and it's worked perfectly.

If, like MajikWare, you want to make personalized tees here and there, you would look into transfer papers (like JPSS) and maybe vinyl (for line drawings or silhouette-type graphics as well as lettering). Sorry, for the latter, you'd need to get a cutter. But once you got a cutter (like the Silhouette Cameo), you could also do rhinestone Tshirts.

For $1000, you can get a heat press, Silhouette Cameo, and Epson printer with pigment ink. Of course, there's tax, shipping, and transfer media. If you go the plastisol route, all you would need is the heat press.

You would use a graphics program like Corel for any art that you created. The Silhouette comes with a graphics program, too, but you might find that you'll mostly use it for cutting transfer paper, vinyl, and rhinestone designs.

 

[IrisIshtar9]

Hi all! I know this is an old, thread but I am also Pregnant and my partner uses a heat press to make clothes in our home. The fumes are strong. I believe he uses Siser ... brand paper (I forget the second word), it is HTV. Is there a safety hazard that is known to breathing these fumes while pregnant. I read that there are a large amount of Phthalates and I think dioxin n the material, so I assume it’s a bad idea, but there doesn’t seem to be much info on the specific type of paper, other than it’s safer for children to wear.

Thanks In advance for any info. at all!

 

[sublial]

If you want to grow your business you need a quality heat press like a Stahls fusion, Geo Knight DK20, or Hix swing away.
This is the most important piece of equipment you must have.
AL

 

[Dre718]

i have a gecko gk-101 pro5 heat press and i can not figure out how to set the settings to get it hot i researched EVERYTHING and the owners manual isnt helping either PLEASE HELP