NOT your TYPICAL t-shirt business - PLEASE READ

1286 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by dreamer101, Jun 28, 2010

dreamer101

Discussion Starter · Jun 26, 2010 (Edited)

Hi, all I am a new memeber on this forum and would like to thank all senior members here who have contributed to this forum. I have done numerous searches but would like to ask a few questions.

I dont want to get into a whole online business of t-shirts but I do however want to sell t-shirt designed by me on my website related to my website content.

I am expecting maybe 10-20 orders a month not trying to be a millionaire just selling t-shirts to my customers with my business brand on it.

I will just be printing on white, black, and green tshirts from my house which is the color themes of my business. I will only have 6-10 different designs with a few just one or two color and some tshirts with full color pictures on the front. I also want to make bumper stickers aswell.

Now my questions....

What method of printing is best for me?
(screen printing, heat press, plastisol, heat transfer, vinyl, dtg, dye?)

"I want my t-shirts to last and not stretch or fade out when washing"

What type of printer and ink
should I buy?
"my min print size is 8.5 x 11 but I would prefer to have a printer that can print bigger size transfers for future use.

What is the best brand of transfer paper?
"my min print size is 8.5 x 11 but I would prefer to have a printer that can print bigger size transfers for future use.

What is the best quality blank t-shirts?
"my min print size is 8.5 x 11 but I would prefer to have a printer that can print bigger size transfers for future use.

What is the best brank of heat press for my type of printing?

THANK YOU

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bornover

· #2 · Jun 26, 2010

If you could get away from the full color pictures you could go with screen printing; which you can get started for a very good price. Otherwise you probably would need to go with digital heat transfer (again a very good price to get started), but heat transfer is the least robust method to print with and leaves a very heavy hand on a dark color garment.

You also might check into having your shirts contract printed by a company that has a white ink DTG.

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dreamer101

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 26, 2010

I have looked into other printing my t-shirts for me. However I dont believe I will need 50 or 100 at a time. Here is a quote I got from a local company below. However I think it would be nice to just have a printer and a heat press to quickly make one or two myself and ship it out. I am not planning on making this a huge business it is just for my business customers. I figure I can get blank tshirts for $2-$3 locally and print myself.

HOWEVER I do not want to sacrifice quality I want my customers to come back and purchase more t-shirts.

1-Color t-shirt
(Basic short sleeve heavyweight t-shirt, classic fitting, 100% cotton. 5.4 oz.)
printing, setup, shirts all included in the per shirt cost)

20 pieces= 7.14 each
50 pieces=6.30 each
100 pieces= 5.42 each

Multi-color tshirt (picture of someones face)
20 pieces= 13.94 each
50 pieces=9.74 each
100 pieces=7.74 each

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bornover

· #4 · Jun 26, 2010

That is why I mentioned DTG (Direct to Garment) printing. Usually companies with those machines will print just one garment if that is all you want.

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Leg cramps

· #5 · Jun 26, 2010

Hotronics auto clam heat press 16x20 $1375.00
I heard this was a good machine,16x20 should be large enough for what you need, has the auto open which I heard can be helpfull along with a digital pressure readout.
teflon platen pads,teflon sheets,T-Square it,heat resistant tape,fold it-shirt folder
KNK Maxx 24" rhinestone edition with ACS Software$1499.00
I choose this becuase you want a cutter to weed around the transfers your going to print off your epson and it will also cut vinyl for transfers and it will do rhinestone templets.
asst.rhinestones,rhinestone transfer tape,application bin,setting brush,template material?asst.transfer vinyl

Epson 1400 ink jet printer $299.00
epson heat tranksfer refillable ink system with chromium pro pigment inks $99.95,
Transfer papers for light and dark shirts,

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jayarrsteiner

· #6 · Jun 26, 2010

This a tough topic to tackle because I feel like no matter what if you're using full color inkjet transfers you're sacrificing quality. You're definitely looking for dtg. The machines are over 10000 new...but that inkjet heattransfer is not a quality, long lasting product customers will be impressed by.

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dreamer101

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jun 28, 2010

I dont want to spend $10,000 to $50,000 on a printing machine where I am only going to do $200-$500 in sales each month.

Any other alternatives to DTG?

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