Looking to Press my own shirts & glassware and want some advice.

T shirt Q

Hello fellow T-shirt fans.

I run a successful craft beer shop (beer,wine cider and brewing supplies) and we are looking to do our own printing. My thoughts, my staff and I have many funny slogans that we would like to put on a shirt, but the cost of doing a big drop, isn't always worth it. We have a good local following and a good size social media presence, so why not give them more of what they want? We’ve sold hundreds of shirts over a few years, but we only did 1 slogan to save money with our printer. We could push MUCH more shirts, if we did varieties.

In addition to a staff, I have 2 teens. 1 of them in huge into art/drawing, the other is huge into fashion. I’m decent at photoshop, I’ve ran some big Gerber machines in the past. I’m looking to print shirts, sweaters, grocery bags, glassware (beer glasses and coffee mugs) and maybe hats.(though I think I’d want stitching for those) I had a few questions on where to start. I want to press up small quantities (3-5) of many different prints.”/saying/slogans/&logos.

1> what press should we start with? I have an air compressor but do I need to go that route to begin? I was looking at the the transfer pro select with the slide out. (TransPro Select 16 X 20 Heat Press https://www.proworldinc.com/heat-transfer-press.html )

2> what’s a good starter printer for printing small runs? I’m probably going to put source our logo to a place that makes large run transfers. Just want the ability to price something like 50 a week. I'm looking at the printer in proworldinc starter pack. Is this a good starter printer?

3> what about glasses ? I’ve done stencil and etched before, but I’d like to print. I’d like to do 12-50 glasses a month. What way would you recommend me to go for this? IS there a machine that would work for glasses and mugs? Say a 3D Sublimation Vacuum Heat Press? Whats a good starter one?

4> I was looking to get my logo mass- printed in 2-3 sizes by a large vendor, and then do the 1 offs and or small dozen print transfer jobs at home. Is this the best way to go about it??


Sorry for all the questions in 1 post. Just doing my homework before I start.


Cheers~~~