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Help me somebody!

3K views 15 replies 8 participants last post by  hiveind 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Alrite, I was all bent on purchasing/leasing the fast t-jet2 but then I did some reading on the sites forums and continually came across the hell people were going through with the nozzle clogs etc. Plus the owner scott seems [not nice].

I want to print custom T-s for a profit and my requirements are:
1. Soft Hand
2. The ability to print on dark shirts
3. Economic feasbility, I want to turn a nice profit

I am now considering going the hot-peel heat transfer route. Any thoughts? Tjet seems too slow, too expensive, doesnt do white (WELL!). Screen print transfers are costly to order, and screen printing is too much to learn & too messy.
Is there something that exists which will suit my needs?
The local HS is prepared to give me all its orders for school function shirts throughout the school year. I am doing the graphic design and was planning on buying the tjet, but like i said, after hearing all the horror stories I am not going to throw down 15K for huge headaches and the possibility of not meeting my obligations.

Any advice is welcome.
 
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#2 ·
Where are you located? There is a trade show in Las Vegas coming up in Sept. You can see all the equimpment in action there. There are several manufacturers that make DTG printers that print white on dark but they all have their own particular problems. There are other ways to print shirts with a DTG and still get white so don't limit yourself to that aspect in a DTG printer.

The printers run in price around $20,000 for printing a single shirt at a time up to $220,000 to print multiples at a time.
 
#4 ·
thanks for the replies. So far I have decided to outsource to a company like first-edition.com. Does anyone know of any better sites price wise? I was thinking of ordering the heat transfer sheets and heat pressing them myself. I'm over the DTG hype for now. I've researched it to death. BTW, I live in oregon so vegas isn't that too far. When is the tradeshow?
Thanks for the replies.
One more thing. I have my own t-shirt design company that I trademarked my logos and everything already. The designs I have lined up are very psychedelic, i.e. colourful. What would be the best commercial method of pulling off such vivid and colourful pics with a soft hand?

Also, do the hot peel transfers work well on hoodies?

Thanks all.
peace
 
#5 ·
hiveind said:
thanks for the replies. So far I have decided to outsource to a company like first-edition.com. Does anyone know of any better sites price wise? I was thinking of ordering the heat transfer sheets and heat pressing them myself. I'm over the DTG hype for now. I've researched it to death. BTW, I live in oregon so vegas isn't that too far. When is the tradeshow?
Thanks for the replies.
One more thing. I have my own t-shirt design company that I trademarked my logos and everything already. The designs I have lined up are very psychedelic, i.e. colourful. What would be the best commercial method of pulling off such vivid and colourful pics with a soft hand?

Also, do the hot peel transfers work well on hoodies?

Thanks all.
peace
Thats not so far when you are looking at spending $20,000 on a DTG printer.

Vivid colors with no hand only on light colored fabrics polyester/cotton blanks such as Vapor Apparel...Dye Sublimation.
 
#6 ·
hiveind said:
Is there something that exists which will suit my needs?
The local HS is prepared to give me all its orders for school function shirts throughout the school year.
15k is not enough to set up a pro all out shop. If you screw up because the quality is not good this will ruin your business name right at the start. Quality is your biggest asset in the imprint biz.

source it out.

High quality Plastisol transfers are not expensive. Yield all your designs on a 25x38 sheet, get the blanks and press it your self to start.

You can always grow from there. :D
 
#8 ·
hiveind said:
The designs I have lined up are very psychedelic, i.e. colourful. What would be the best commercial method of pulling off such vivid and colourful pics with a soft hand?
Dye sublimation. The downside being you'll need to print on polyester (the upside being polyester is no longer crap).
 
#9 ·
alrite, so far so good.
Solmu..screen printing is too messy, too involved FOR ME...maybe not for you or others, my preference.
Dye sublimation? I will start researching this. Anyone have some real grounded links so i can learn about this?
Here is another post I just put up.
Do those look like dye sublimation?
thanks ya'll
 
#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi,
I just recently made my selection of a DTG printer. Also, I was considering going with the T-Jet2. www.inkjetgarmentprinters.com has a ton of information on different DTG printers.
What I found is this:
Most of the DTG printers are based on the Epson 2200 printer with the exception of the Brother.
Because of this, most of the printers have the same features / printing ability.
www.inkjetgarmentprinters.com has a lot of different wash tests there which is very helpful.

In the end, I went with the DTG Kiosk through SWF Mesa. I went in for a demo and was just blown away by how easy it is to use the machine.
The guys at Mesa were VERY helpful and told me all the pitfalls to look out for with DTG printing.
The basic machine is around 10k, but I added a few upgrades such as a laser eye (to protect the print head), an auto-repeat switch for automatically printing 2 passes and of course the white ink upgrade.
I also added a few extras such as 2 more Adult Shirt Platens, Pocket Platens, Small shirt Platens, sleeve platens and an extra print head.
This machine can also print on non-textiles such as ceramic tiles, wood and mouse pads, etc. Very cool.

In the end it was just under 14k, but I got a lot more than I would have with the T-Jet2.

Oh, also during the demo, printing with white ink on black / dark garments was de-mystified. It's about 2 extra steps for printing white on dark shirts.
1. Spray the pre-treatment on the shirt and heat press for 20 seconds.
2. Create a highlight layer for the white in your photo editing software such as photoshop.

Hope this helps,
-Adam
 
#12 ·
Why not find a local screenprinter or one in the next state to do
your printing? You can spend your time designing and selling.
This will meet all your 3 requirements.
A good screenprinter will be able to produce a softhand shirt.
Able to print on dark shirts.
Profit is whatever you want to make.

Something to think about.

Mark
 
#13 ·
hiveind said:
Solmu..screen printing is too messy, too involved FOR ME...maybe not for you or others, my preference.
That, on the other hand, is a true statement ;)

hiveind said:
Dye sublimation? I will start researching this. Anyone have some real grounded links so i can learn about this?
It's not for everyone, but it's certainly an option worth considering. www.dyesub.org would probably be a good place to start.
 
#14 ·
If you have a big orde the best thing is screnn printing.The key is a good screen printer.There are a few that don't do a good job and prints start to fade after 10 washes. Saw grass developed a dyu sub.. ink for 100% cotton
T-shirts. It can only be used on whites with a tight weave.The price of ink is high and i know where i am that the bigger the order the lower the cost for screen printing. go and look at the sreen printers in you area and see their samples talk to their customers.
 
#15 ·
polomac said:
If you have a big orde the best thing is screnn printing.The key is a good screen printer.There are a few that don't do a good job and prints start to fade after 10 washes. Saw grass developed a dyu sub.. ink for 100% cotton
T-shirts. It can only be used on whites with a tight weave.The price of ink is high and i know where i am that the bigger the order the lower the cost for screen printing. go and look at the sreen printers in you area and see their samples talk to their customers.
I read somewhere about those inks for 100% cotton but dont actually know if that is perfected yet.
 
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