# DTG Printing. What's The Average Price?



## BluePhantom

I've Been Looking Into DTG Because I Like The Feel (Pun Intended) And Not To Mention The Quality.

So I'm Guessing That DTG Printing Is Cheaper Than Screen Printing When It Comes Down To Multiple Colors (5-Up) Is This True?

What Average Price Could I Expect For A Design That's Only 1 Color (Black) At A Run Of 100 Shirts? Not To Mention That Its Line Art(Sketch); Therefore, It Should Take Way Less Ink Than An A Picture.

What Price Could I Expect For A Bright Colorful Full Sized Picture At A Run Of 100 Shirts?

Thank You For Your Help.


----------



## Tshirtcrib

T-jet2 explains that white t-shirts with images of 8 inches wide by four inches wide will cost $0.25 per t-shirt on ink alone, the same 8 inches by 4 inches on a black or dark t-shirt will cost anywhere from $0.75-$1.50 per t-shirt for simply ink itself.


----------



## taylormade

I was wondering the same thing... when searching around the internet it seems like it can range from 10-20 dollars for the printing itself.


----------



## rejoice

I have been chatting to a DTG printer in Sydney and here some approximate prices that we have been talking about (quoted in Australian dollars).

$160 deposit for a sample run... can get up to 16 prints from that... or as many as you need and then the remainder of the cash goes towards your order

The first order of up to 6 designs and a minimum of 300 t-shirts would get you a price of $5 per print... then any re-orders would be the same price and from memory 15 is the re-order minimum

At an average the cost becomes $5 for the print and $3 for the t-shirt (Australian Dollars) with a total of $8... not a bad price for the quality and possibility to print intricate and elaborate designs with an unlimited colour count... your t-shirt is is only limited to your imagination and creativity

Note: Priniting with a white underlay for dark shirts adds an instant $3 per print... this would be at a total cost of $11 (still not bad for a finished shirt ready for sale - minus any shipping and labelling)


----------



## Robin

Its going to be different for each dtg printer. We have the Brother, and every design has been a different cost. 

example.... front left chest logo will only be about 20cents worth of ink.
A full coverage 14 x 16 design we did last week, was $1.87 worth of ink. 

We are still finding our swing with this stuff, the ink is expensive, but our customers are paying our prices. Im loving this machine!!


----------



## zoom_monster

BluePhantom said:


> So I'm Guessing That DTG Printing Is Cheaper Than Screen Printing When It Comes Down To Multiple Colors (5-Up) Is This True?
> 
> Time=Maybe( depends on run size), Ink= N0, Artwork=probably yes
> 
> 
> What Average Price Could I Expect For A Design That's Only 1 Color (Black) At A Run Of 100 Shirts? Not To Mention That Its Line Art(Sketch); Therefore, It Should Take Way Less Ink Than An A Picture.
> 
> _If I saw the pic and new the print size it could be estimated. For 100 shirts one color, I would probably screen them because it would take less than an hour 10 min. On the ink jet it might take 3 or so hours depending on overal size and how fast you can cure the shirts. If you charged $10, you'd make a lot more by screening, but only if you do it yourself. Of course, a grand gross is not bad for 4 hours, but costs coming out first are a lot higher also._
> 
> What Price Could I Expect For A Bright Colorful Full Sized Picture At A Run Of 100 Shirts?
> 
> _Full color could go either way(on 100 light shirts)it's a different story because of seperations (screens, artwork) set up time, and overall throughput time. If a job is a first run it might take less time on an inkjet. This would be a slam dunk on 40 pc and less. If you charged $15 you'd be giving it away for screenprint but you might be doing OK on your direct to garment_
> 
> Thank You For Your Help.


 

Never go off of prices published by the distributors. These make them look good... but are marginally based in the real world. The only way to know is to document every job. Personally, I weigh my ink cartriges and document what each job uses in grams of ink. I can corelate that to image size (sq inches and % coverage). This way, I can look at a potential job and know wether to charge more or less, or make suggestions to the client to keep their prices down. Also, another factor is the overall size. A 12X14 print with 10% coverage prints in the same time as one with 100%, so one must account for a time(garments per hour) factor to make sure that is covered as well. I have found also that very dirty artwork can use more ink. Jpgs with a lot of "artifacts" or poorly upsampled images will tend to use more ink. In answer to the question.... my "average" costs are pretty close to .40-.80 on white and 3X that for darks but I still need to know what actual costs are _can_ be a lot more. By doubling your actual material costs and covering your overhead, you can make a tidy profit and grow your business. When you first purchase a machine you can quantify a lot of this durring your experimentation/learning phase, but by keeping records, you can get down to the bone if you have to on price to know for sure you are not giving away some jobs and making money on others. If you haven't got your machine yet, get referals of people who have a machine like you want and get their imput. For basic light t-shirts we charge $15 to 22 for the first shirt and about 20% less for the second. Dark (with white) start for about $26 to $33 with a 15% discount on a second shirt.


----------



## Gunslinger

We post are breakdown on our site. I am not taking custom orders outside of our local area, but it might give you an idea of pricing based on a T-jet 3 direct to garment printer.


----------



## PinkFreud

Hey Michael/Gunslinger/Debz......Kudos to your website....I must say it is one of the most well thought out presentations for retail digital garment printing I have seen on the web....I have mostly concentrated on bricks and mortal retail with much success....I look at the web as a means of having a "store" in every city in the world....I currently have 3 machines and 2 employess and with that it is all I can do to keep up with local retail and short run wholesale. I plan to expand into the web in due time but with proper promotion and marketing I think I will need a higher output machine in addition to my current set-up. I have test marketed on MySpace.com and the results were overwhelming.
I want to make a suggestion as it relates to your business model and pricing . In my store I sell non custom full color on white for $15 and full color black for $19.98....Custom shirts of course are priced higher...I have a set price for the many 1 shirt orders....I try to encourage these customers to buy additional shirts by offering a significant discount for additional shirts.....I also offer a dozen shirt special that is such a good deal (compared to the 1 shirt price) many customers who only intended to buy a single shirt end up getting a dozen.
For small run wholesale orders (over 1 dozen) we offer a standard price breakdown as quantities increase similar to what you have listed on your website...I am opening another retail store in LA next month...Feel free to email me if you would like to discuss some ideas I have concerning online promotion and marketing.


----------



## Gunslinger

PinkFreud said:


> Hey Michael/Gunslinger/Debz......Kudos to your website....I must say it is one of the most well thought out presentations for retail digital garment printing I have seen on the web....I have mostly concentrated on bricks and mortal retail with much success....I look at the web as a means of having a "store" in every city in the world....I currently have 3 machines and 2 employess and with that it is all I can do to keep up with local retail and short run wholesale. I plan to expand into the web in due time but with proper promotion and marketing I think I will need a higher output machine in addition to my current set-up. I have test marketed on MySpace.com and the results were overwhelming.
> I want to make a suggestion as it relates to your business model and pricing . In my store I sell non custom full color on white for $15 and full color black for $19.98....Custom shirts of course are priced higher...I have a set price for the many 1 shirt orders....I try to encourage these customers to buy additional shirts by offering a significant discount for additional shirts.....I also offer a dozen shirt special that is such a good deal (compared to the 1 shirt price) many customers who only intended to buy a single shirt end up getting a dozen.
> For small run wholesale orders (over 1 dozen) we offer a standard price breakdown as quantities increase similar to what you have listed on your website...I am opening another retail store in LA next month...Feel free to email me if you would like to discuss some ideas I have concerning online promotion and marketing.


I will drop ya a line later today, Pink ... I was curious about your LA move you mentioned in a thread at T-Jet support forums.

Also thanks, learning the flash stuff was a pain, but worth it. I started web design back in 1996, so it's nice to know I haven't lost my touch. I've still trying to finish the corporate site (very nice like the gunslinger one), and one for our little resteraunt (not as flashy) ... but right now, getting the online store up is priority between custom jobs.

Debz has been on myspace for awhile now, to easily keep in touch with her family scattered around southern california (we are refugees from Hollyweird). I had a personal myspace, to try to connect with folks locally here (specifically, gamblers and amatuer musicians) and blog about the resteraunt ... but I got spammed to holy hell, and dumped it. I am going to set up a Yahoo 360 thingy, but after hearing the boost folks are getting from myspace ... I don't think I have any choice but to grab a new account with myspace.

And opposite for us, our success has mostly been the online stuff (almost 15 years now).

I think I see your point on pricing, but not sure. Could you elaborate?

For retail, I wanted to make it simple, and as competitive as possible, without getting silly about it. I learned early on that trying to undercut the competition is a complete waste of time and energy, and can possibly bury a company. If printers want to sell white tees for 10 bucks to try to keep up with K-mart, more power to em ... but it just won't happen. LOL, Debz told me when I first got my prints up at the shop, a couple of teen girls had come in and liked the prints but thought 19.95 was too much ... well, K-mart and Wal-mart are on the other side of town, but they don't carry MY prints. I will never get as big as those guys, and just don't need that kind of headache.

... back to keeping it simple, we decided to drop the price a bit to 17.76 per shirt for retail, and offer a buy 3 - get one free deal (any extra shirt will get same 25%, there on, I think ... I'd have to check my settings for the online store), and free shipping on orders over $100. We haven't sold very many prints (the fastart stuff just hasn't gone over very well) at the brick and mortar, which I expected since most folks come in to eat, not shop for tees. So I stopped printing for inventory, and am concentrating on the new designs, taking pics for the online shops, and getting them hung up all over the resteraunt to gauge popularity.

Hopefully, in a week I will officially launch the online store (I think I have 19 prints ready), Rodney will FINALLY allow me to post to the gallery!


----------



## s7rico

WWW.CONTRACTDTG.COM

The owner's name is Justin and he's on this forum also. He got back to me quick when I had questions on my project that I'm working on. His pricing is awesome compared to what's out there (i've done my hw). And he offers printing on a bigger area than most. Actually I haven't seen a DTG company yet that can print 13 X 17! Anyway I think its worth the trip to his site..........7 Rico


----------



## JustinUSSPI

Also any user using a T-Jet Jumbo 2 has a printable area of 24"x53" and the T-Jet Blazer Pro has a printable area of 17"x45"




s7rico said:


> WWW.CONTRACTDTG.COM
> 
> The owner's name is Justin and he's on this forum also. He got back to me quick when I had questions on my project that I'm working on. His pricing is awesome compared to what's out there (i've done my hw). And he offers printing on a bigger area than most. Actually I haven't seen a DTG company yet that can print 13 X 17! Anyway I think its worth the trip to his site..........7 Rico


----------



## the funk

Many of the DTG printers have a large printing space. That's one of the things that helps to set us apart for other methods. Big, beautiful, full color prints that can go over seams, over necklines, and off edges.


----------



## freshinkclothing

I got this link in reference to a client wanting shirts printed at $0.25 cause of the ink costs! I don't think anyone would print shirts for $0.25 per shirt!


----------



## binki

ink cost is only one component. you also have pretreatment and time to consider as well as your non-consumable or overhead costs. 

Price to customer should reflect value to customer. A one off photo print might take you 30 minutes or more to do when you consider taking the order, getting the art, getting a proof ready, getting approval, juicing up the printer, doing a test print, pretreating the shirt, loading the shirt, printing the shirt, curing the shirt, calling the customer to pick up and handing it to him. And that is with no complications! What would you want to make for something like that? 

On the other hand suppose you had the exact same order for 100 shirts. What would you charge for that?


----------



## zoom_monster

freshinkclothing said:


> I got this link in reference to a client wanting shirts printed at $0.25 cause of the ink costs! I don't think anyone would print shirts for $0.25 per shirt!


 Fresh, Print price has very little to do with the cost of ink. If you could print 30 shirts per hour, would that $7.50 cover ink cost...?? perhaps, but what would you use to pay your worker, the lease and the electricity to turn on your lights? Tell this "client" he can shop somewhere else. Tell them to go to a screenprinter, Their cost for ink is only a couple pennies....


----------



## charles95405

fresh..don't put too much credence in what is posted before your post as they are 4-6 years old...there has been many changes and improvements over the years


----------



## Justin Walker

... Many, many changes!


----------



## binki

Justin Walker said:


> ... Many, many changes!


some of us are still printing with those 6 year old printers


----------

