# How can I make my own professional heat transfers?



## BrianRichards (Dec 12, 2010)

Hi guys,

This will probably be a long post (and it will probably include some newbie questions) but please bear with me.

Recently I came up with a business model for a t-shirt company. I'm a student so this business will be completely self run by myself (for now) out of my house through an e-commerce site. I will be (mostly) programming the website myself as I have some experience in coding aswell as 2 class periods to work on it every day.

I've been looking into the two different methods for printing (I think theres only two?)- screenprinting and heat transfers. From what I've read (if i've read correctly) is that screen printing is generally better for producing t-shirts in large quantities, and that the machines are expensive, messy, and generally bad all around for small orders.

On the other hand, heat presses are relatively cheap aswell as the heat transfers, and require minimal amounts of work to setup. Because of this, I've been leaning towards going with the heat transfer method. The only real problem I've seen with it is getting custom transfers. I looked online at some vendors and saw that they are very expensive to get made if you are ordering in a small quantity.

The way my business is set up, that shirt could only sell once, so if I were to order a custom pack of 12 for say, $20, and I only sell one shirt, then I've made no gain.

Basically, I typed this whole thing out to ask if there was anyway I could make my own professional heat transfers. Like, is there a printer that can print designs onto this kind of paper that I can then transfer to a t-shirt with a press? can they print at different sizes, etc? That way I could print the designs as I need them, so I'm not buying designs that won't sell and wasting my capital.

If there is this type of thing, could you recommend me a model? I'd prefer one that has the same or similar quality that you would get if it had been done professionally. Also, if you think heat transfer is the way I should go, could you let me know a brand or model of heatpress I should get? Or are they all basically the same?

What's a fair price to charge per shirt? Is $10 too low?

Currently I only have $1000 capital, but I have a great supportive family that would be willing to help me out some, and I could take out a loan, etc.

Cheers guys.


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## allhamps (Mar 15, 2007)

*Re: Starting a t-shirt business*

Wow, that was a lot. Welcome aboard. If you are going to be doing your own custom artwork, that you only want to sell one of, then maybe you should consider printing the design on transfer paper yourself, via an inkjet printer. There are several types of transfer paper out there that will work well for that. Unfortunately, I don't have specifics as I don't do transfers. Another option you might consider is heat press vinyl, and your designs can be cut via a machine and then pressed. Of course, this would mean another piece of equipment, and may eat into your capital a little more. However, there again are some reasonable vinyl cutters on the market, and you may even be able to get a good package deal with a cutter and a heat press. Check out some of the preferred vendors listed here on the site. They often have discounts for forum members. It's good that you can program your own site. Then you just have to focus on hosting and a shopping cart. Personally, I know just enough about programming to make me dangerous, so I use a package deal provided by Yahoo. I get the hosting, a domain name, a shopping cart, and the website that has templates, but lets me add custom things with the little programming I do know. Don't forget about marketing. There are tons of t-shirt sites on the internet, so make sure you find your niche and go from there. Good luck.


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## bornover (Apr 10, 2008)

*Re: Starting a t-shirt business*

Hi Brian and welcome to the forum. There are a number of ways to put graphics on to garments; screen printing, dye sublimation, direct to garment (DTG) printing, and various types of heat transfers (plastisol, vinyl, pigment ink, foil). Before you spend your money to buy equipment, you might think about spending time on this site and doing some more research so you have a very good understanding of the various printing methods, costs involved, skills needed, and other important stuff like print durability and washfastness.

You will also need to learn a bit about marketing and how to drive customers to your store. It could be a store in a building, booth at fairs and events, website or something else. But the point is that you need to create and awareness of your product with potential customers and how they can acquire it. It does not good to have equipment and be able to make product if you don't have people looking for your product wanting to buy it. You run out of friends and family very quickly, then you need real customers.

Hang out here a lot and you can learn a great deal about this industry and also find out about other resources in the industry.


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## muneca (Sep 30, 2008)

*Re: Starting a t-shirt business*

hey there...welcome to the forum & good luck to you!


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## BrianRichards (Dec 12, 2010)

*Re: Starting a t-shirt business*

Thanks for the kind words guys. I appreciate all the advice that you have given me.

I did a little more research and to me heat transfers still seem the way to go. Unless something drastically changes my mind, I think I will be buying an Epson WK 1100 with CIS pre-installed along with a heatpress.

Thanks again.


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## D.Evo. (Mar 31, 2006)

*Re: Starting a t-shirt business*

Welcome to the forums Brian!

I'll second Mark - before you jump into anything - do a lot of reading and research on different printing methods and see which one is for you. There's more to t-shirt decorating than screen printing and transfers 

There are a few interesting threads here comparing different printing methods, you may want to start from these: 
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/general-t-shirt-selling-discussion/t48532.html
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/general-t-shirt-selling-discussion/t37985.html

Good luck to you!


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

:: edited thread TITLE to be more descriptive and moved to a more appropriate section of the forum  ::​


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## BangkokShopper (Sep 24, 2013)

Hello,

Thank you to the OP, exactly what I was looking for.

Can I know what you finally bought and how it works ?

Thank you again.


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