# Confused Newbie Looking For Guidance



## squeed (Dec 22, 2010)

I am very new at this but I do have some clue of what heat pressing is all about, so let me explain my story and hopefully someone can provide me with some guidance. What I like about this forum is that it seems like the peeps on here really want to help each other, vs. just fume and vent on people, like I've seen on other forums. So here goes ...

I know that the "search" button works on this forum, but I'm so new to this, that "I dont' know what I don't know" meaning, I'm not even sure what to search for, for what I am trying to do.

Here is the skinny ...

I am involved in voulnteering for a sport that holds events every weekend, so I'm literally saturated in my target audience every Saturday and Sunday all year long. Watching the heat press operator at these events churn out shirt after shirt for a good $ amount, has made me want to jump in. 

I want to design my own concepts and offer them for sale through a website that I have yet to create, that I would advertise by talking to people at these events. Here are my issues:

Question #1 -- I don't really want to stock 200 custom made transfers at $1.50 a piece for 12 designs to launch this business. That's a $3,600 investment on a side business venture that I'm not sure will work. I know that I can buy a dozen custom transfers at $12.00 per transfer but that's still $1,728 of cash sunk into transfers that may sit for a while.

So, do I buy a sublimation printer for $900 and just make the transfers when I need them? Or am I missing something? 


Question #2 -- There are so many options on custom transfers, my head is spinning, Plastisol, Vivid, Non-Vivid, Transfers for 100% cotton vs. 100% Poly etc ... All I want to do is make some shirts. 

So, can anyone just give me some guidance on how to get started with this?

Question #3 -- The guy that I see at these events is selling his T-Shirts for $8, I think that is a reasonable investment for a T-Shirt. But when I look at the cost of low volume custom transfers, Shirts, Shipping etc ... It seems like margins are very low or impossible. So unless I'm willing to jump in and buy hundreds of transfers and hundreds of shirts and then sit on them for a while until they all sell, the economics don't work unless I sell shirts for $30 which I don't want to do.

The real question is this ...

If I want to launch a small side business where I offer 12 designs to start, is it best to go sublimation, invest in that equipment and just deal with it, or is there a way to do it with custom plastisol transfers?

I don't mind investing money to try this, but I figure that I'm in for $1K for a good heat transfer machine, another $500 bucks for my website, and then whatever I need in supplies etc ... 

I'm trying to do this on a shoestring because I don't have a lot of spare cash.

You can tell I'm all over the place here. Can someone share their advice on how to take the first step?

-S


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## IYFGraphics (Sep 28, 2009)

squeed said:


> I am involved in voulnteering for a sport that holds events every weekend, so I'm literally saturated in my target audience every Saturday and Sunday all year long. Watching the heat press operator at these events churn out shirt after shirt for a good $ amount, has made me want to jump in.
> 
> I want to design my own concepts and offer them for sale through a website that I have yet to create, that I would advertise by talking to people at these events. Here are my issues:


So you want to compete with someone who is on-site selling shirts, who has already established a market, spent the money to stock inventory, and works every event selling $8 shirts.

But you want to take the convenience and impulse buying out of the equation, and have them take the time to go to your web site and buy what will be a more expensive shirt that they will have to wait to get? (plus pay shipping)

Think about that for a minuet..... 



> Question #1 -- I don't really want to stock 200 custom made transfers at $1.50 a piece for 12 designs to launch this business. That's a $3,600 investment on a side business venture that I'm not sure will work. I know that I can buy a dozen custom transfers at $12.00 per transfer but that's still $1,728 of cash sunk into transfers that may sit for a while.
> 
> So, do I buy a sublimation printer for $900 and just make the transfers when I need them? Or am I missing something?


What type of shirts, just regular cotton tees? polyblends, or 100% polyester, sublimation only works on high poly content or 100% poly shirts, doesn't work on high cotton content shirts.



> Question #2 -- There are so many options on custom transfers, my head is spinning, Plastisol, Vivid, Non-Vivid, Transfers for 100% cotton vs. 100% Poly etc ... All I want to do is make some shirts.


Lowest cost is going to be some form of transfers....most likely ink jet transfers, these can be made on demand with the proper transfer paper and a ink jet printer, of course you will need a heat press for any process you consider.



> Question #3 -- The guy that I see at these events is selling his T-Shirts for $8, I think that is a reasonable investment for a T-Shirt. But when I look at the cost of low volume custom transfers, Shirts, Shipping etc ... It seems like margins are very low or impossible. So unless I'm willing to jump in and buy hundreds of transfers and hundreds of shirts and then sit on them for a while until they all sell, the economics don't work unless I sell shirts for $30 which I don't want to do.


The biggest problem here is if your going after the same market the price has already been set at $8 per shirt, you are right at that price point the profit would be low per shirt, so it would have to be made up in volume.

Have you talked to the guy selling shirts? myself, I would spend a little time talking to him asking questions, if he is friendly he might give you some insight into his business, how he turns a profit on $8 shirts, who knows he might want to sell you his operation, you never know until you ask.

Biggest mistake people make getting into the garment decorating business is first off not having adequate capital, so they want to get going on a shoestring which lends itself to inferior products and processes....they get discouraged because they can't sell an inferior product and call it quits.

It's easy to watch someone sell shirts at a event week after week and say he's making a ton of money because he's always there and always selling shirts, but the reality of an $8 tee is that there isn't a lot of profit in it, so the guy is doing it for some other reason, either volume sales, or a supplement to an existing business....or he just needs something to fill his time and loves what he is doing.

Regardless the old adage of "you have to spend money to make money" is true, inferior products lead to inferior sales, which is wasted capital and time. Which ever process you choose will require you to spend money and you will expect a ROI (return on investment), minimal investment I would consider would be $3-5k to start with and even at $10-$12 a shirt it will take quite awhile to get your ROI.

Not trying to talk you out of anything, just giving you some of the realities of what you posted as I see it, and maybe a few things to think about before you take the plunge.

Hope this helps.


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## lben (Jun 3, 2008)

Ok, you are right, you don't know what you don't know. There are 5 kinds of heat transfers that I'm aware of. 

Sublimation - requires sublimation paper, ink, and 100% polyester fabric - expensive shirts even at wholesale - paper not too bad, but ink is very expensive and you will need a dedicated printer (an Epson C88+ will run you less than $100) With sublimation you can also do mugs, mousepads, keyrings etc. Though sublimation does offer the best feel on the fabric I don't recommend it for something as large as shirts because of the price of the ink. You could get a CIS system with bagged or bottled ink but the cost on those systems is enormous.

Laser transfers - I don't have a laser printer so I can't really provide information on this, but suffice it to say that the laser toner is expensive and the papers are expensive, but you can get self weeding paper for this process.

Inkjet transfers - probably one of the most common types. Can print on cotton and cotton/poly blends, can use cheaper inks, again a C88+ with epson inks works just fine. There are dozens of types of transfer paper out there for this type of printing.

Plastisol transfers - actual screen printed transfers but instead of printing on shirts it is printed on transfer paper which is then heat pressed onto a shirt. These can be very pricey for small orders. See: www.transferexpress.com for an idea of cost and requirements. 

Vinyl transfers - these need a vinyl cutter, and are limited in capability as far as colors is concerned. They come in rolls of solid color vinyl and you cut out the design you want. You can layer the vinyl but I don't think I'd try to put more than 2 layers down.

You can also make your own website from a template at www.officelive.com. It is free for the low end templates and doesn't offer a store, but you can use paypal buttons on it.

You also don't have to start off spending a small fortune on an expensive heat press. A cheap Chinese one will work just as well until you learn the basics and want to move up a scale in presses.

I hope some of this info helped. Youtube is also a good place to research the different types of printing.


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## HTW (Aug 25, 2010)

Squeed,

Good job doing your research. What we recommend to people with these questions is what do you want to offer your customers? short runs such as teams. large runs for a local banquet for 1,000 shirts? 

cutting your own vinyl with a plotter works great for small runs of shirts, multiple colors becomes tough if are to layer a lot. Custom transfers are out there for those who don't own a screen printer or don't want to cut a screen for a 5 color job. 

There are inkjet and laser papers that you can print anything onto to have it transfered. Know what jobs are coming your way and go from there. When people come to your for shirts they are not looking to have their shirts the next day so do not be afraid of telling someone the job will be done in 10 days, they will say great sounds good. If they need it done faster than have a an idea of how much more to charge for that service.


Good luck and don't forget to pre-press.


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