Starting A Garment Printing Business

1659 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by KnightsOfAngora, May 26, 2014

KnightsOfAngora

Discussion Starter · May 11, 2014

Right now, I was not able to find a job after graduating a Vocational Program unrelated to T-Shirts, clothes, and other things.

So, I was wondering, as a person, I want to start a promotional goods business. But I have very little or no money to start a business.

So, should I look into purchasing heat press equipment, or should I go for direct-to-garment printers? Because from what I know, heat press cost a few hundred each, but direct-to-garment printers cost over 10,000. So should I start with less expensive equipment, or, just jump into using a direct-to-garment printer, instead?

I would like to figure out where it would be good to start from, if you ask me.

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Polito

· #2 · May 11, 2014

I'd start with a heat press. You'll also need a plotter and a printer that can output A3 light transfer.

These 3 things will give you the ability to print names, numbers and simple vector graphics in any colour (CAD) and on any colour garment. You will only be able to print multi-coloured complex designs on white garments.

Find a good screen printer to do your screen printing for you.

My experience with direct to garment printers is that they are time consuming, fiddly, extremely expensive and often the print looks rubbish.

Finally,

(Oh, and get a cap machine as soon as you can afford one) Don't be afraid to say no to a design/job. With time you will learn to recognise the jobs that will break you heart for little or no return. You should focus first on schools and colleges - names & numbers and work your way up from there. Hope this helps - good luck!

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binki

· #3 · May 11, 2014

Source everything for a year or so and just do sales. Use the profits to buy equipment if you want to after that.

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KnightsOfAngora

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 25, 2014

binki said:
Source everything for a year or so and just do sales. Use the profits to buy equipment if you want to after that.

So are you saying I will be fine without equipment actually. Because for now, I would just like to start with a Heat Press and work in my house, or a very small office the size of a bedroom.

Then in a couple of years, if I could survive, I would like to have my own warehouse, eventually, where I have wide assortment of equipment (Silk Screen Machines, DTG Machines, Dryers, Embroidery equipment and others) and offer a variety of services, pretty much.

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binki

· #5 · May 25, 2014

KnightsOfAngora said:
So are you saying I will be fine without equipment actually....

Pretty much. There is no cost to that, get the sale, buy the stuff. If you do get a heat press you can do a lot of things with it. You will also need software to create your designs.

We started with nothing and just sourced everything. Then we purchased Corel X3 on Ebay and after a year started buying equipment. A few years after that we moved to a retail location and then added employees late last year and now we are looking to buy a space.

So pretty much what you plan to do is what we did.

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ChristFollower

· #6 · May 25, 2014

Binki has great advice there - Aside from mastering an entire new skillset (graphics software, design, screenmaking, printing, etc.) you also have to learn to sell.

Trying to do it all at once can be daunting... and, you might find out that selling's not for you (which doesn't mean you don't print, it's just good to find out if you will need a salesperson).

If you can sell, great - you may decide that you'd rather outsource all the work and focus on selling! There's plenty of vendors who could use the work.

If you can learn the sales end, and still want to produce, then a year or two of selling will give you some income to buy equipment with, and you'll have contacts that can produce more complex work until you're ready to take it on, giving you time to learn all the ins and outs while printing simpler work.

If you look on Craigslist and Ebay, you'll find a lot of used business equipment in just about any trade, where people jumped in and bought equipment before they should have. They discover they don't want to do this after all, and take a financial beating when they sell their like-new equipment.

I think Binki is spot-on here. Find wholesalers near you, ask to meet with them and explain your goals. You'll find someone supportive to work with, and it'll be a win-win. Plus, you'll have an income with a very minimal investment.

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KnightsOfAngora

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 26, 2014

ChristFollower said:
Binki has great advice there - Aside from mastering an entire new skillset (graphics software, design, screenmaking, printing, etc.) you also have to learn to sell.

Trying to do it all at once can be daunting... and, you might find out that selling's not for you (which doesn't mean you don't print, it's just good to find out if you will need a salesperson).

If you can sell, great - you may decide that you'd rather outsource all the work and focus on selling! There's plenty of vendors who could use the work.

If you can learn the sales end, and still want to produce, then a year or two of selling will give you some income to buy equipment with, and you'll have contacts that can produce more complex work until you're ready to take it on, giving you time to learn all the ins and outs while printing simpler work.

If you look on Craigslist and Ebay, you'll find a lot of used business equipment in just about any trade, where people jumped in and bought equipment before they should have. They discover they don't want to do this after all, and take a financial beating when they sell their like-new equipment.

I think Binki is spot-on here. Find wholesalers near you, ask to meet with them and explain your goals. You'll find someone supportive to work with, and it'll be a win-win. Plus, you'll have an income with a very minimal investment.

I agree with the idea of at least finding a solution where I could possibly start out with the least amount of capital as possible. For some reason, what happened was is I thought using Sublimation equipment would be much easier then I thought it was but apparently, you guys were stating that there is somewhat of a learning curb having to be dealt with. I think maybe I should discuss this with family members whether to walk away from the idea of purchasing heat press equipment (I was mainly aiming to get a flat press and a hat/cap press) and offering either, freelance sublimation services, or, start a funny logo clothing line, or a clothing brand.

If I decide to go to the path of going for a Clothing Line or a Clothing Brand, (I am debating between Funny Logos or something of a Boardsports Brand like you would see at Zumiez retail stores) I will look into outsourcing my work for a while till I get the hang of using any form of equipment (commercial grade sublimators, DTG, silk screening, etc.) But if I want to offer garment printing services for local Schools, Business, Churches, Organizations and so forth. I will probably purchase equipment then, test out how to do sublimation on sampler fabrics and work with Heat Press equipment from then on. I am not sure on what path I would like to take. But I have to decide and according to which path I would love going, I will probably base my decision on whether to get hat and cap presses, or not.

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