I just use a fulfillment service. I'm not interested in doing repetitive manual labor. I just want to do what I like and what I'm best at, which is design. Johnny Cupcakes doesn't print his own t-shirts either. I dunno why everyone here is so eager to print their own shirts.

 

I dunno why everyone here is so eager to print their own shirts.

Because there are companies making large amounts of dinero selling the systems so "YOU CAN PRINT AT HOME." Yes you can but its like most things in life if you pay for a YUGO you get a YUGO, if you pay for a Mercedes then thats what you get. If you want it for a hobby sure buy it. People successful in business learn what they do well and do that and hire others to do what the others do well.

 

Thanks for your reply, Richard and Stuart!
$4 difference in cost multiplied by 1,000 t-shirts sold over time is no small change. Plus, the lower cost allows you to be more flexible with the pricing later on for whatever reason (i.e, unpopular design, economy, etc.) I guess that's one of the main reasons people would rather print shirts themselves. I don't know how many different shirts people usually have for sale on their website. If we're talking about 10 to 15 designs, I assume they must have a substantial number of pre-printed shirts in their inventory to make it cost effective. I guess that's the dilemma for me.

 

$4 difference in cost multiplied by 1,000 t-shirts sold over time is no small change. quote]

$4.00 to get a shirts printed seems high unless you have several colors on several locations. You also have to calculate shirts you screw up, especially more when beginning, your costs of your equipment and supplies, possible lost sales you could have spent the time on trying to get instead of time printing.

Like it was said it depends on your business model. We print for some very large and successful licensed t-shirt wholesalers. None of them do their own printing.

 

One of the reasons people print there own is that they dont want to limit themselves to only selling online using a fullfillment service. I myself bought equipment that worked with my business model. Not only do I sell retail but I also do contract printing services so for me it wasnt a question of having someone else or myself print my items. I also picked a printing method that fit my business plan which was with a dtg machine. With this I am able to print personalized merchandise for my customers or I can print larger jobs ( usually not bigger than 200 pcs) I have unlimited colors and can print one at a time or multiple shirts at a time. I also did not want to be limited in the amount of details a design I could use. It really depends on each individuals business plan and working with what fits that plan. Just because one person may do it one way does not mean the next will fit that same model. The most important thing is to come up with a plan on what you want to do and then find what method fits it. Some plans are better with outsourcing and some are not. You just have to figure out what your particular goal is and then research and figure out how to meet it Hope this helps some and welcome to this great forum

 

Your points are well taken, Sunnydaz! One size does not fit all. Thx!

 

Place an ad on the forum for contract printers. I think you'll find better prices. You also have to think about quality. Are you doing heat transfers if you do it yourself? Screenprinting would be better quality for retail. You could have plastisol transfers made and then just press the designs as you need them and keep your inventory low. All you would need is a heat press. I personally like being able to design a shirt and print it off right away to better visualize how it will look. I have all kinds of equipment though and there is definitely a learning curve to these. For me, the printing process is fun, but I've always like doing crafty things. For others, it would be a chore. It all depends on you and what you want to spend your time doing. When I have a really large order, I still contract out b/c then it's no longer fun and it's almost as cheap in large numbers as doing it myself. You have to keep in mind your labor costs. I also work full-time so my time is valuable. Still, there is something to be said for the satisfation of pulling a shirt off the press and knowing you did it yourself.

 

Enquirer, my plan for now is to focus on Internet sales only. With those of us who are starting out with limited capital, printing shirts ourselves seems like an attractive option. I plan to initially offer 15 to 20 different designs to my customers. I would feel more at ease knowing that I can print as little (hopefully as much) as I need to. My decision would be a lot easier to make if I only plan on offering 1 to 5 designs, because I can buy in larger quantities and lower my cost. Because of the higher number of designs I plan to offer, I would be forced (with the same capital) to order fewer number of shirts for each design from a screen printer, thereby raising my cost/lowering my profit margin. The designs I have also have multiple colors, which complicates the decision.

You've made a good point that there is a learning curve and the quality of heat transfer vs. professional screen printing are important things to consider.

That is the reason I am considering using the service of Printfection. It seems like a good compromise between the two options. If I am correct (please correct me if I am wrong), the quality is not as good as screen printing but it's better than heat transfer. They charge $10 per women's shirt with unlimited colors if I order between 150-299 shirts. The question I need to find out from them is whether I can mix and match my order with different designs as long as I reach the 150 minimum. I assume that Printfection's cost shouldn't go up because they are not bound by the increased cost of making screens for each of my designs.

 

As stated above I would also look into plasitol transfers, which are transfers that are screen printed. That way you dont have to print several hundred shirts that you may not sell and can apply them one at a time as ordered. They are fairly good qaulity and you would not have to put out all of those fees all at once other than ordering the plasitols and getting a heat press. The way plasitols work is you order them by the sheet so you can fit several designs on one sheet and save money. If I were not printing myself this is the way I would go to get the best quality and be able to do them myself.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, Sunnydaz! I didn't realize there are different kinds of heat transfer. I always got the impression that heat transfer have hard plastic-like texture that I don't like. I need to read up on the subject a little more. I wonder what the typical cost per sheet of multicolored design.

 

There is a post here that reviews several companies that offer plastisol. I personally love doing plastisol b/c it's as good as screenprinting in my opinion and very easy to apply. I use transfer express. They are a little more pricey than others but the quality is extremely good and they have a fast turnaround. The more you order the cheaper the price. Think about if your doing white or black shirts. Heat transfer with JPSS paper is a good second option for whites.It doesn't have the heavy hand like old heat transfers and holds up well in the wash. Dark shirts are not good in my opinion for heat transfer and I only use Plastisol or vinyl for those colors. Your costs would probably be around $3 for white shirts with heat transfer, including the shirt(1.50), probably around ($4-6) for plastisol for (100 sheets of one design) 3-4 colors with transferexpress maybe less for others. Of course, if your designs are not full page then you can gang them up and the cost would go down. This is not exact...I tend to round things up.

 

Remember, it also takes knowledge and experience to be able to print.

I see a lot of people making the mistake of buying their own equipment, and learning that they do not know how to use the equipment to manufacture anything.

As someone said before...if you want to take it as a hobby, go right ahead. If you want it for pure profit, think about it a bit longer.

 

Well, allot has already been said, so I don't know if what I add will actually be valuable, but...

You did mention "limited capital" as being a reason to print your stuff yourself. I have to disagree - even $4,000 barely buys the equipment needed to create high-quality, professional products. At least, not at production levels. Even if you buy a cheap heat press and have someone else make the transfers, you're still looking at significant investment to do it properly. As others have said, plastisol transfers would be the way to go, and that requires screen printing. The bonus advantage is that while you've still paid for the printing you haven't committed the blank garment to that design, so that's almost actually an option in a separate category. If you're planning on ink-jet transfers, please reconsider - While that's fine for novelty shirts, it's not suitable for a solid branded apparel line.

Even the plastisol transfers limit what you're able to create.

As for whether to print everything yourself or contract it out, answer this question and you'll have your solid answer - do you want your primary business to be in printing, or in branded apparel?

If you want to be a printer, then look into that - try working in a print shop for a while and learn the trade before you start dumping thousands of dollars into equipment. Or worse, buying cheap equipment then getting frustrated because you can't get the results you hoped for and now you no longer have the capital to do anything different. If you learn the process first, and have opportunity to practice a while in someone else's shop, then you'll know what to really look for when you go shopping for equipment... and if it's really what you want to spend your life doing. Believe me, it's fun, but only if it's what you love.

If you primarily want to be a branded apparel company, then that's where you should focus first. Do allot of shopping around and get allot of comparison pricing... you'll find that there's a huge difference. $10 for a printed women's shirt "in bulk" is not the best price, trust me. You can get great quality, even USA-made shirts, for less than that. With enough research, you'll find that one printer might charge $9 each for 5-dozen shirts with a one-color print on the back, and another shop might charge $4.50 for the same exact thing. Meaning the same brand blank and unable to tell the difference in quality. So research, research, research.

And visit as many shops as you can. You'll see that the print shops are busy printing, and ask yourself if that's really what you would enjoy spending your time doing.

I truly hope this is helpful - it's a huge decision you're trying to make, and you want to make sure you're doing the right thing.

 

Hey guys, I just want to say a big THANK YOU to all of you for taking the time to answer my questions and looking out for me!

Here is my situation... I would appreciate any advice you can give me.

My goal is to create a successful online store targeting female clients between late 20's and 30's. They would be highly educated and have professional careers. My plan is to offer high quality t-shirts and tote bags with artistic designs that would appeal to their demographics. I plan to offer between 15 to 20 multicolored designs in the beginning. With the profit that I make, I would reinvest it in creating more designs as well as expanding my product offering to other women accessories.

I plan on purchasing licensing rights to designs. Each design will cost me around $100. That works out to $1,500 for 15 designs. Before I settle on which ones I would buy, I would first do a focus group with women in my target area. To limit my cost and reduce my risk, I am leaning more and more towards the idea of printing shirts at home using plastisol transfer. That way I don't need to buy a printer, ink, or continuous flow system. Blanks, custom made transfer papers, and heat press are all I need to get started. Secondly, I can print on demand and not end up with too many shirts in my inventory that I couldn't sell. I will monitor in the first 6-9 months how well I do. If I'm doing a brisk business, I would reconsider whether I should continue to print the shirts myself or potentially lower my cost by outsourcing the job to professional screen printer.

I need to do a rough estimate of my start up costs. I'm sure there are other expenses that I haven't thought of:

heat press ($1000)
15 dozen blanks (?)
plastisol transfer paper (?)
web design ($1000)
web hosting/digital certificate (?)
licensing ($1500)
packaging (?)
advertisement/marketing (?)
business license (?)

I think that I could get it off the ground for around $8,000. Any thoughts or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

 

Dan Kennedy said that you should find your own way of making a good living rather than settling for something you don't like. I wanted to be in the design business, not the printing business. I want creative work and I want an avenue where I can challenge myself and show the world what I can do as an artist, a designer, and a creator. Not having to print shirts gives me more time to design shirts. Plus if I printed my shirts, then every day I'd have to print shirts, package them, address them, and mail them. That would be a drag for me. And I wouldn't be able to do nearly as good of a job at printing as the big companies. With a fulfillment service, I can make money while I sleep or do whatever, and they take care of all the boring grunt work. It gives me total freedom. Also it's a big intellectual challenge to make designs that sell. I love it. It's a wonderful game. Lastly, using a fulfillment service allows you to have passive income. Harv Eker said that whatever business you have, you should ultimately make it a passive business, meaning it will keep generating money for you even when you don't work. You can take long vacations and the money just keeps rolling in without you doing a thing. Harv said the ultimate goal is to have financial freedom, which means to have plenty of income without working (unless you want to work).