T Shirt printing – tips, tricks & info please?

[Robert Lambie]

are you crazy john? why invest in something you know nothing about mate?

[David Rowland]

oh my

[Iain Gordon]

Nothing wrong with investing in something you know nothing about…I did it with my plotter and things 9 months ago….Mind you, i still know nothing about it, but that’s what makes it interesting

Iain

[John Cornfield]

Hi Rob,

Sounds mad and i agree with you but it is not just as clean cut.

Came across the opportunity of one job that will pay for half the equipment right away, fairly simple transfer onto coloured T shirts.

I stuck my price in and what do you know we got it fortunately they dont need till next month so then looked and getting the press and printer and what do you know found a going concern that was shutting up.

With this job it reallywont take that much to get the money back and if i strip and sell off the equipment after this job will at least break even though probably will be up on the deal!

[Lorraine Clinch]

Hi John

Sounds like a good deal to me! I bought into the sign business blind, and I’ve never been happier-and making a good go of it, too.
Grafiflex PU is the vinyl of choice for me, as it cuts and weeds well, washable up to 80deg and you can iron over it and it won’t smudge.
Only ‘problem’ I have foung is that if you heat it for longer than 15 seconds, or hotter than 130 deg C its a pig to remove the backing.
It is also less expensive than Metamark’s which I was using before, and has none of Grafityp’s attributes!

Hope this helps

Lorraine

OOPS!!!!! Just re-read your post, and realised you are printing 😳 Red face (luckily I can’t be seen!)

[David Rowland]

Ok John, no worries. Which printer was it?
Is it Magic Touch based?

Dark T-shirts from a Silk-Screen perspective are not easy, they all require a base-white colour so for transfer based process, the image is normally cut around with a plotter (or stanley) after it has been printed, it’s a bit fiddly for starters.

However if we was printing 100’s of T-shirts (chest print) then I would outsource the transfers to be commericaly made and then apply them ourselves or print the t-shirts the silk screen route.

We have a little Epson £200 inkjet jobbie, the inks are pretty heavy duty for t-shirts and produces and output that look like an desktop inkjet. However I have also access to a Xerox DC12 which produce litho quality output and when used with T-Shirt transfers it does produce stunning results.

My advice to you is to make a head start and test putting the print onto your dark shirt, see how you get on and then stick it in the washing machine for a few tests. If it all works, you are ready for business.

[Kevin.Beck]

just to throw something else into the pot.

why not sub out your first order to a screen printer..

if its a large order, then screen printing is faster and cheaper than going the cut decal route.
once the screen is made printing 100 will only take close to 1 hour (single colour print)

cut transfers are for low numbers.
you`ve got to cut the designs out, weed the design, pre press the shirt and then apply the transfer, in some cases, wait till it cools and then apply heat again.

[Simon Kay]

I didn’t get where I am today by knowing anything about what I was doing?!!

We jumped in to dye sub knowing nothing. Steep learning curve but worth it.
We jumped into Hot Foil. Same.
We jumped into Vinyl. Same deal.
Are we mad.
Very possibly.
But you’ve got to take the odd risk now and again or you may as well just sign on.

Good luck. If we can help just let us know.

[John Wilson]

I’m doing some sublimation printed tshirts the now, full A4 image on the front of the tshirt

What’s the best way to figure out how much to charge for the inks as it’s for charity and I dont want to charge them more than needed but dont want to undercost it

I have a bulk feed ink system fitted to my epson 1290 with 6 x 125 ml of CMYK Lc Lm Sublimation Inks…. I think it’s £65 per bottle 😕

I’m tryin to do the tshirts for cost and no more.

[Simon Kay]

Hi John,
Normally it depends how I feel about the charity. However I would probably only charge for the t-shirts – too much hassle to work out dye price for an A4.
Or I wouldn’t charge them a bean. Depends how many they want I guess.
Not much help I know. Sorry.
It’s a judgement call really.

[Robert Lambie]

Ok maybe I should explain my quick reply…
As much as I see money to be made in the garment or promotional market. I very much see this as being already swallowed up with the bigger players or the market stall type setup. i do not mean that in anyway insulting to anyone, i just mean, with large overheads and the like looming, higher profit margin are much harder to come by in this feild.
I already know johns setup and I honestly don’t see how this new move is going to be a money spinner for him. But were I do see how he can make good income from what he is doing at present.
My father started out over 22 years ago in the city centre of Glasgow with one of the first Gerber 4b’s in Scotland we were also one of the very few in our area with the full kit on t-shirt printing and promotional products. Some of which was supplied by xpress. Some may even remember the company bannaman, who supplied us with banner making/printing machines all those years back. To cut the story short we dropped the promotional side of the business to concentrate on signs. We found it far less hassle with much more profit to be made. I don’t just say that in a “flippant” oh it didn’t work way. We tackled it properly. We had 20 staff with 2 sales guys bringing in large orders on t-shirts, coasters, boxer shorts… you name we did it. It simply came down to, too little profit for to much hassle.
If you have existing work needing done then fine, why not use it as your learning curve… but I personally would sub it out. You will gain the kit for free after the order like you say,
So you will always have it for future needs.
i personally would invest more in what i know & know to pay best for us. that is signs and the like…

[Freddy.Tait]

hi john
stick with your shirt printing gear dont get rid
its a good little earner,
you dont want or need hundereds of items to print
a lot of people go wrong at that hurdle
(sub the big jobs out and keep the small orders
for your self
for instance
the stag and hen night and one off small orders will
be enough to run along side, your biz

remember this draw your self a triangle and put on each point these
1= on the top point quality
2= on left price
3= on right speed

(a note for your customers)
we provide three type of service.
FAST,CHEAP,GOOD

you may have your choice of any two,

if you want it fast and cheap – it wont be good
if you want it fast and good – it wont be cheap
if you want it cheap and good – it wont be fast

printers pyramid

……… quality
…………/\
………../..\
………./….\
.price /—–\speed

YOU CAN HAVE ONE SIDE OF IT , BUT YOU CANT HAVE TWO

all the best from
freddy in sunny scarborough
.
and dont forget when rushing to get things done for the weekend
“the only man that got everything done by friday
was robinson crusoe”

[John Wilson]

quote freddy:

remember this draw your self a triangle and put on each point these
1= on the top point quality
2= on left price
3= on right speed

(a note for your customers)
we provide three type of service.
FAST,CHEAP,GOOD

you may have your choice of any two,

if you want it fast and cheap – it wont be good
if you want it fast and good – it wont be cheap
if you want it cheap and good – it wont be fast

printers pyramid

……… quality
…………/\
………../..\
………./….\
.price /—–\speed

YOU CAN HAVE ONE SIDE OF IT , BUT YOU CANT HAVE TWO

all the best from
freddy in sunny scarborough
.
and dont forget when rushing to get things done for the weekend
“the only man that got everything done by friday
was robinson crusoe”

Cheers Freddy

Just got round to reading your post….. nice way to look at it