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Starting Out Printing T Shirts
Hey, I’m new to all this so bear with me please!!
I’m looking at starting my own t shirt line but don’t know where to start. I’ve been doing research, looking at companies like print mojo who will do all my printing and that for me, and basically just looking at different printing techniques such as screen prints etc. From reading some threads on this web site, i think vinyl could be a good way to start if i want to do it myself.
I’ve looked heat transfer machines, such as Xpress and ones on hanes2u http://www.hanes2u.com/transfersolutions/transfersolutions.php and gather these can be used for vinyl printing.
But is vinyl printing a good way for me to start out?? I know there are some very educated people on the subject that post here so any help would be appreciated.
Cheers, Rob
P.S Are companies that do all the printing and shipping etc for me worth the while??
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12 Replies
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Hey Rob welcome you may get a better answer if you popped in to say hello first and introduced your self 😎
Lynn
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Cheers for the heads up lynn!! 😉
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sorry for the short reply mate… but ide suggest…
unless you already have a market or outlet for other products the introduction of t-shirt printing could be a fruitless effort mate… one offs are easy enough to come by but with little profit and high waste margins i cant see the attraction in this line of business. -
Hi Rob,
I use vinyl and sub printing and have used bought in transfers for promotional t-shirts, workwear etc but as Rob says unless you already have a contact or buyer for your designs then it will be hard to launch your own range.
The companies who print for you will have minimum orders which will probably be too many for you to start with, then you got labels, packaging and tickets etc to add to the price.
To get someone to do a few or one-offs will be expensive and with so much competition out there it would be hard work to sell them. Just look at ebay, there are usually about 100,000 t-shirts for sale at any one time, they are cheap and with all the costs to list and paypal you would have to sell alot to make even a basic wage.
The other way to do it is start doing work wear/promotional t-shirts and with the equipment ( cutter/heat press ) you can do a few one offs etc, find customers and go from there. There are ways to add your own label without removing the original ones.
It will be hard but if it’s just a hobby or for a little extra cash you can do it without risking much.
Hope this helps
Lee
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Cheers for the replies!
Sorry i havent been too clear with what i mean i want to do.
Basically, i want to end up with my own range, although to get there i need a platform and recognition.
My aim is to start low. Where i live there are plenty of bands and my initial idea is to approach them.
My friends band are pretty big where i live (They’re called Our Souls, check them out on my space – http://www.myspace.com/oursoulsforever ), and there is a core group of us of at least 30 that go to every gig, I know i can sell t shirts to them. My mate has said if i can do them a good offer, they’ll buy some shirts off me.I know obviously i might not be able to sell to all bands around my area, but i have links to quite a few of them and know a couple of people in some others and between all the bands, their fans and friends, i might be able to get a good reputation for printing shirts.
As the bands have their own followings in my town, a web site that sells their t shirts could attract hits. By putting my own designs on there, hopefully some one will buy them. If they dont they dont.
I know i obviously need orders first, thats why i’m just doing research now and looking for my best option. If i buy all the equipment and what not and only sell 100 t shirts (if i’m lucky), if it all goes down hill after that, i’ll be happy because i took the risk. I can always flog my equipment over the net, even if i do make a bit of a loss, it was worth the risk!
If my shirts sell, whether they be bands or my own designs, then i’ll just see where i can go from there. I have a plan, I have a name, a theme for my shirts, i just want the recognition and advertisement first for my web site.
I know i’m going on a bit now, so, would heat transfer machines and vinyl print be useful for me if i were to start in this direction?
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Quite simply
Yes.
Unless you go for a 3 colour carousel screen printer which will be way cheaper for the startup but you will spend a fortune on screens over time unless you reclaim them after each run. -
Rob,
10/10
for enthusiasm.
but t shirts for bands are not new.
and most want promo stuff for as little money as possible. as do the fans.
if you are starting out, you need to be able to do it better and cheaper than all the others. Or be very original with your designs, so as to create a demand , but without the band permission, you could be infringing copyright stuff.
sorry to sound negative, but you may be better off buying in t shirts first before making your own, if you can sell them, then buy the kit.Peter
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I print T shirts for a band promotion company,
I charge them £18 the shirts are a fiver, the transfers I can fit 2 to a sheet of dark jet, a little bit of silver flex and some white, small piece of yellow flock and a black border on main logo.
each shirt once ready takes about 5 minutes in all costs are about £8 or so to produce.
If you create something they like then they will pay for it.
Mind you these T shirts do look very good even so the £2 Gildan ones we sell we can knock out for up to £18 depending on the designs and how personalized they are.
I would say there’s very good money in T shirt printing, we print only a moderate amount and it supplements our income nicely.
We can screen print but tend not to as vinyl is so much easier, more time consuming but way easier in terms of wasted stuff.
Go for the companies they all seem to be happy to pay £12 to £14 for polo shirts even in quantities of 50+
If they aren’t happy to pay that point them in the direction of motifs or somewhere like that that charge £14 for a Kustom Kit UNprinted polo shirt and then £4 per area on top of that!
To date I have not placed a single advert anywhere, my work is all word of mouth, get known for quality work and you’ll do just fine. -
I’d recommend the site http://www.t-shirtforums.com/
We are launching our own niche clothing brand here in Melbourne Australia.
You will need to invest a few thousand dollars to get this setup. This will reduce that cost of your garments. I’m lucky my current casual job is doing accounting for a clothing manufacturer here in Australia.
As everyone has said this is a very competitive market and hard to break into unless you create a brand or have some very unique designs as already has been said. But I say go for it bite the bullet, research everything and plan it out.
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(mod-edit) please read board rules
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Bizgifts – your post is an advert for your company or services which isn’t allowed on this site.
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Rob
The cheapest way of doing small print runs is to find a company with a DTG Print Facility, great for multi colour printing up to 30-40 items, far more cost effective than screen printing. If you need more than 50 – go for a traditional Screen Printer.
I will get edited for mentioning companies that offer this service, we use word of mouth too so ask around.
Best Wishes
Nick Swindon
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