The most popular shows that people go to is ISS and SGIA or NBM. ISS is by far the largest and best. It will be in Atlanta from sept. 11th to the 13th. Here is a link to their website
Imprinted Sportswear Shows - Atlantic City. Its really good to go to the show and see how the machines print and whats involved with them. Just remember that the sales people though will often tell you things, that arent neccessarily 100% accurate, so its good to make sure you research the facts involved with the machines before hand.
I do design my own designs for my clothing I sell. I dont worry so much about copywrite because I can easily prove that it was created by me, so in a sense I already have that protection. There are links to copywrite and trademark information on the left side of the page however if you are intersted in doing more research for that. Although when first starting, I would worry more about building a customer base and how you are going to get the product to the customer, also what requirements you will need in your city to run a business.
The pretreatment spray is very sticky, so when it is sprayed it becomes airborne pretty well, as you need to use a power sprayer to apply it. It is not recommended to have it in the same room as the printer because it can clog the printhead very easily. I myself work from home, and I dont pretreat in my work room, I actually do that portion in my laundry room

Believe me with the cost of printheads this is not something you want to take a chance with.
yes K of the cmyk is black haha

Dont feel stupid, the only stupid question is the one you dont ask.
Now as far as the cost per shirt ink wise. This is where printing on lights only or printing lights and darks makes a very big difference. If you only print on light shirts with cmyk the average cost of ink is around 40 cents to $1. Now if you print on darks because of having to print a white underbase, and also the pretreatment, your ink and pretreatment cost will be somewhere around $2 to $3.50 per shirt. Sometimes the dark shirts can be even a little more. See I was taking into account your situation as I understood it, and that is why I gave the advice I did in my previous post

It is a plan that will maximize your dollar and have the least work involved. Once you get into the white ink printing its a whole other ballgame
The cost of the shirt itself really depends on what brand you use. There are some blank shirts that you can buy for a little over $1 or for a high end shirt you can pay as much as $5 to $8. So it really depends on what shirts you are printing on. The majority use the gildan shirts and they are fairly cheap to buy.
I think the price you have for selling a shirt is pretty average for what people sell for. Ok I hope this helps.
And remember also if you have any other questions feel free to ask. Also a great place to research is the direct to garment section of the forum. Its filled with information and can keep you reading for days, I know that is what I did before I bought my machine

I cant stress enough how important it is to do your research, and then make the decision on what is best for you
