[Michigan09]

I'm looking into getting involved in a t-shirt operation and one of my biggest questions is this...

If we are buying t-shirts wholesale, creating designs, and then having another company screen print the images onto the shirts, how do we get the t-shirts to the screen printers. Do we buy the shirts and have them shipped to our facility, and then ship them to the screen printer and then shipped back?

Will wholesalers ship the shirts directly to the printer if we ask them to?

Are there any high quality screen printers who provide high quality t-shirts wholesale?

 

[Ribcage]

If you are going to buy your own shirts, it would be better to ship directly to your screen printer. I would imagine your wholesaler would be happy to do this for you.

On the other hand, you may find that some screen printers will offer a price for supply and print that will give you the margin you need. All that shipping around costs time and money. I'd rather find a reliable printer to do it all. You could try posting on the referral section on the forum.

Sent from my HD2 using T-Shirt Forums

 

[MAAG]

I like the reply given by ribcage!

Still you have to make sure the shirt are of the desired quality so you may want to have the first shipment to you for verification. Or, as said before, have the printer source the garments for you.

The least hands that touch the garments, the lower the cost!

 

[ryan barker]

a lot, if not most, screen printers don't like it when you bring in your own shirts for a variety of reasons. whatever shirt you can get, so can we, so barring some bizarre shirt necessity, i'd leave it up to the screen printer to get the shirts. that way, if there's a mistake and a shirt gets ruined, it's our responsibility as opposed to you eating the cost because, yeah, when you bring in your own shirts you are responsible for the quality of the shirt, errors in shipping *and* production mistakes (within reason, of course). our mark-up isn't terrific, but it is there, and after shipping costs, the time involved and paying for a screw-up or two, is it really worth it? it may be, it may not be.

 

[Fenrir]

I imagine there's a wide divide between "I want my dog's photo on this awesome t-shirt I found at TJ Maxx for $0.75!" and actual good bulk shirts. However, I would discuss it with your screen printer, depending on how big their operation is, they will more than likely be able to get the same thing either for the same price you can, or better. But if their regular distributors don't carry it, you may have to drop ship it to them. Find out before you commit to anything! I'm sure they won't mind if you ask.

 

[ericwin]

My contract screen printer allows me to drop ship apparel direct to them as does most and perhaps all of their contract customers. I've used two other contract screen printers who also accepted apparel I have drop shipped to them. Your mileage may vary so you should check with any screen printers you may consider using.

Good luck.

Eric

 

[ryan barker]

i'd say most of us will do shirts given to us, just that we discourage it.

 

[debbbbsy]

Hi,

Many printers will allow you to provide your own T-shirts. They will quote you a print only price, but will offer no guarantees on any misprints. They will allow a % for any soiled garments.

We are a print company, we buy in such large volumes we get carton rate on everything (even 1) and a discount,this varies depending on the brand and free delivery with no restrictions.

As a new customer with no buying history, you may find it just as cost effect to negotiate with various printers and get the best deal.

Debbie

 

[VTG]

My contract screen printer allows me to drop ship apparel direct to them as does most and perhaps all of their contract customers. I've used two other contract screen printers who also accepted apparel I have drop shipped to them.

For the record, this practice is pretty common with Contract Printers. Most of them will accept apparel orders that are "drop-shipped" from your wholesaler, and many will also "blind-ship" the finished product directly to your customer.

Keep in mind, some Contract Printers do prefer to work with certain apparel wholesalers (preferred vendors), so it pays to ask who they normally use or who they like to work with. This does not necessarily mean that you can't use the wholesaler of your choice (if it's different from their list of preferred vendors), however, using a wholesaler that they prefer may make things go a little smoother.

 

[VTG]

a lot, if not most, screen printers don't like it when you bring in your own shirts for a variety of reasons.

The main reason that "everyday" Screen Printers don't like customers to supply their own garments, is because these Screen Printers rely on the "mark-up" of the garment in their pricing formula. Without a garment to "mark-up", they can only charge for their printing services, and they know that they won't be able to survive on their service charges alone. These folks generally do not do "Contract" printing, as it's really not in their best interest based on their pricing formula.

If you're a Screen Printer and you want to build a little more flexibility into your business model (with respect to your pricing strategy) then don't include a garment "mark-up" in your pricing formula. As an alternative, you can create your pricing formula based on your "Cost of Production" + your "Cost of Goods". Contrary to what some people may believe, you can still make the same "Profit Margin" (or perhaps even more) however, your margin will not be determined by the price of the garment.

At any rate, pricing strategies are an entirely different topic than what the OP was looking for ... so I'll stop right here.

Good Luck.

 

[ryan barker]

some of us are rather being 'forced' into the contract printing. the small job we're doing right this minute is just a print job. if i could have talked to the customer first, i could have shown him how he would have saved money letting us get the shirts for him. granted, it wouldn't have been a huge savings, but a savings to him nonetheless. different scenario here since the OP is getting them wholesale, but i just don't see the point of it ~ is he going to save any money using a contract house?

 

[Islandfever]

Being new to this, I've only filled 2 orders that were both contract printed. I had talked to 2 different printers and one told me there would be a small mark-up on the shirts if they ordered them for me (forgot how much -seems like it was 50%) but they also said that I could have the shirts drop shipped to them as well with no mark up. They also said they would blind ship for me too. I found a place that gives me case price for shirts regardless of amount so that was lucky for me. I ended up using a local printer (the aforementioned was not local) who allowed me to drop ship, no mark up for printing and since the jobs were both local, there was no other shipping involved. SO, it just depends on the individual I suppose. Keep looking, you may get lucky and find someone like I did who was eager to print for me and gave me a great deal (no set up charge).