[Jewwell]

Hi my name is Jewwell, and I am very close to starting my t-shirt business. I know for sure that I need to purchase a heat press, but I am also wondering what is on the shopping list to get started? I am not sure of how much the vinyl cutters will cost but the one I saw (Roland) was very expensive, I did hear some mention Silhouette? So I guess I am wondering to get started, my main piece of equipment is a good heat press, do I also need to invest in software at this time? Or just focus on the heat press at this time?

 

[lben]

Some cutters come with their own software, some come with software that works through other software. My Graphtec CE5000-60 is a 24 inch cutter/plotter that has more downward pressure than the Roland GX24 and because of the way it cuts, it can cut tighter corners and circles (important if you think about doing rhinestones). It has a program that it comes with that works through corel and illustrator.

I would recommend nothing smaller than a 15" x 15" heat press. You can get them for a fairly reasonable price on eBay. Just make sure it has digital heat and temperature settings.

You will need vector software such as adobe illustrator and coreldraw. There are free online vector programs but I don't know whether they are compatible with the various cutters. There are a lot of videos on youtube that you can watch to learn the basics on.

And there are 2 kinds of vinyl. One is pressure sensitive for making decals and signs, and the other is heat sensitive that is used with a heat press to make clothing.