T Shirt Press n logos, advice Please!

[Lorraine Clinch]

Don’t buy a heat press from China! (off Fleabay that is 👿 )

I buy my material from Graphityp, used Metamark’s before, but it’s really thick & rubbery, and difficult to weed-small letters fall off, then you can’t tell which is the correct side to stick down on the ‘i’ & ‘o’s etc.

Use Solvite wallpaper repair adhesive to stick down (on to the carrier) any thing you may accidentally lose. This seems to work, and doesn’t show after.

[John Gregson]

Hi Cheryl,
T’shirt presses are now widely available from sources like ebay for around £350 but I would recommend spending a bit more and getting one thats going to last and produce the goods.

I bought a cheapy on ebay and I wish i’d spent more as the results aren’t fantastic and its broke down a few times. I use mine for hen/stag shirts no problem but I wouldn’t use it on football shirts as I don’t think the cheapy’s can attain the right pressure/heat.

For a professional heat press try XPRES or magic touch.

T’shirt vinyl from XPRES (Super flex or Ultra Cut, 500mm wide) is around £5 – £6 per metre, weeds differently from normal vinyl but you can get good results.

With a good heat press sublimation is another option for producing a wide range of promotional items.

Hope this info helps

Cheers John

[Dave Harrison]

Hi Cheryl

Have a look at the Atkins press , its solid cast body makes it absolutely bomb proof, I’m sure they’ll outlast anything !

I personally don’t think there is much money in printing up T-shirts / sweatshirts. Its very time consuming for the small amounts of profit. However saying that it’s nice to have a press just to make your own t-shirts etc !
The other thing I do is press up a shirt with customers details on and give it away free with their van livery ( just add on a tenner to the bill )

There you go mate. . .. that ones free after that they are £15 each ! sorta thing !

Try PAG for t-shirts ( but you have to buy a box of 72 )
try victory for press vinyl.

[Martin Pearson]

Cheryl, never did it myself so can’t comment on machines, suppliers etc but if you try doing a search on the boards then you may be able to learn a lot as this has been covered in the past, don’t know if they are still about but we use to have quite a few members who did heat presing, sublimation printing.

[Dave Bruce]

Best vinyl for shirts I have used is from Victory, and you can haggle the price. It has a sticky carrier so if a letter comes off just press back on. I use the waste backing paper from my vinyl s a ‘silicone’ sheet between clothing and heatpress (shiny side down).

Like Dave said not a lot of profit in it really but nice touch after you have done a van to offer workwear for the employees. Most guys I do a van for now order 2/3 polos for each worker and sometimes sweatshirts.

One offs are a pain and waste of time really.

Cheers

Dave

[Pat Byrne]

Re: football shirts
What vinyl is best for football shirts, bearing in mind how often they will be washed.
I have an enquiry to do a few team sets and the last thing I want is for them to come back to me with numbers/ names peeling off.
Anyone using the pre cut numbers that are available.
Working off a Secabo press
Thanks
Pat

[Dave Harrison]

Pat

grafityp and victory do special vinyl for nylon football shirts, sports bags etc.. its quite hard wearing unless totally abused !
best to give them a call.

[Cheryl Smith]

thank you ((((((everybody)))))))) muchly appreciated.

[Lynn Normington]

Cheryl the magic touch also do the vinyls etc. as well as the presses also as others have said buy the best you can afford, and if you buy in this country you get the back up.

Lynn

[Lee Ballard]

Hexis also do a nice garment vinyl, used it alot with no issues. Grafityps SA garment vinyl they used to do was nice to use but they have stopped doing that one and I haven’t tried their new sticky backed one. Personally I don’t like their non-adhesive backed vinyl, ok for large items, not too helpful for small text etc.

My own common mistake with garment vinyl is forgetting to reverse cut the stuff (hot) so watch out for that one 😀

[graffica]

Hi Cheryl,
I´ve had a garment printing business in Spain for the past 5 years or so.
Before that I had a sign business here for 12 years which I sold.
I still do a few signs for vehicles, windows and banners, but concentrate on garment printing.

A couple of guys who replied to you said there´s not much money in it. I totally disagree.
It can be hugely profitable, so don´t be put off. Yes, 1-offs are a pain but you charge accordingly.

As an example:
10 coloured T-Shirts (supplied by you) with a 1 colour small logo on the front can be done in 50-60 mins. from cutting, through weeding to heat pressing on the shirts. For this my profit is just over €80.00 …. that´s still 80 quid because although your shirt costs are higher than in Spain, so are your mark-ups.
If you want a detailed cost breakdown, please let me know.
Expenses of course for electric, phone, petrol etc. come off your gross profits.

Do this 5 hours a day, 5 days a week and you´ve got 2000 quid in your hot little hand.Polos and Sweatshirts are more profitable still.

Just a couple of advantages amongst the many over sign making:
You don´t need premises or a large work area … you can work literally from your kitchen table.
You´re not dependant on weather for outside applications and installations.
You don´t have to buy any materials apart from the thermo-vinyl and shirts. Everything is in your control.

Good suppliers in the UK: Definitely Victory Design or Xpres for thermo-vinyls.
Garments etc: Ralawise, Pen Carrie, UK Leisurwear, Blue Max. (All have websites). There´s no minimum order with these companies. If you want just one, they´ll supply it … plus carriage.

You´ll get a lot of info. and see all the suppliers at the Printwear and Promotion exhibition at the NEC, March 4th. to 6th. Might see you there.

Go for it, Cheryl.

All the best, Chris

[Cheryl Smith]

thank you Chris (lady or man) not that it really matters, would be nice to see your pic tho. really helpful and encouraging words, will research some more when I get a free mo.
x

[dekorstudion]

Hello, everybody

Chris, could you give some pricing (what to charge customer) for
transfer on

4pc of work pants (carpenters for ex.) with a
logo in 2 rows 7 chars each placed down on the leg (approx size 80x250mm)

10 t-shirts with logo on back 100x300mm

1 sweatshirt.

I Have a sign shop in Sweden so i know the pricing will not be dead on, but to give me an idea. Because I’m having trouble to charge right.

i use a print express 40x50cm press with digital timers temp etc.etc.
have lot of vinyls.

almost only use for my self and get a few questions a week that i doge.
Hard to get pricing on transfer printed clothes here.
Those who screen and so on i have found prices for but not transfer

Thx a lot

Christer Wingh
Dekorstudion

[Lee Husselbury]

Hi Cheryl,

I also do t-shirts using vinyl/flock and the various transfer papers. I have always had good results and yes the one offs are a pain but you might get repeat custom and every little helps. I use ralawise for garments and the magictouch/graphityp/xpres for consumables. Get in touch with them and ask for samples, they sent me more than enough.

I do mini-tshirts for promotions too and a customer who sells them online ( i also put the wording on his felt patches using flock as they have 100’s of designs and it would cost them a fortune to get each done in embroidery.

i’ll try to put on a pic of the mini t’s which i’ve used transfer paper on.

[Martin Pearson]

It probably comes down to the fact that it can be a bit time consuming for what you can charge and if you are kept busy making signs then you can make more profit just sticking with the signs. If you are looking to expand and employ people or you have quiet spells then it is another form of income and those people who are getting "T"s done are potential sign customers.