# low budget startup



## batzz (Mar 12, 2012)

I am really really new to this T shirt business. Not really very much familiar with the setup cost of different T-Shirt printing methods.
I plan to start my own t-shirt printing business where I take order designs online and print them on t-shirts and hoodies.

I want to ask is that with a startup budget of $1000, what is the printing method/business model I should go for? which printing machine should I buy?


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## batzz (Mar 12, 2012)

I should add here that I plan to take single t-shirt printing orders, like if someone wants their face or a family photo printed on their t-shirt


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## lben (Jun 3, 2008)

Well that narrows things down quite a bit. For what you want to do I would suggest heat transfers. I will also add that you will be limited to white fabric. If you try to do a heat transfer on a colored fabric the colors will get all messed up, unless you print on special paper made for dark fabrics, then you will need a cutter/plotter to trim around the photo. The reason is that white isn't a color that is available to print with. The printer just assumes your background is white and adjusts all other colors accordingly - like printing on a sheet of white paper. If you take that same design or picture and print it on a pastel shade of paper you will see the colors change because the printer still thinks the background is white. There is no way to get around this except by using the paper for darks.

So what you will need is: a heat press (minimum 15" x 15"), inkjet printer (Epson C88+ or Workforce 1100 or some other printer that uses pigment ink), inkjet transfer paper (JPSS is one that most prefer), and design software like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw, and if you want to do darks you will need a cutter.

Can you do this for $1,000? Sure, except for the cutter. A heat press will be around $400 (if you get a Chinese model from eBay); a printer $100-$180 depending of if you get it on sale; paper $25; and CorelDraw x5 for $150 on eBay.


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## Glenboy (Feb 6, 2012)

Hi there

Id say for printing single items with photos on youll be looking at inkjet or laser printing onto transfer paper and applying with a heat press.

A heat press alone can set you back $1000 but you can buy lesser quality ones for a few hundred but you get what you pay for and a cheap heat press could cost you money in the long run with wasted shirts and transfer paper.

There are a variety of printers that will do the job and these vary alot in price, im sure others in the forum have more experience than me in this type of printing and will be commenting soon.

Maybe outsourcing the print to DTG would be worth looking into?

less profit for you per item but no start up costs for machinery which is money that can be spent on a marketing campaign and website, these things are soo important in my opinion.

Wish you luck in your venture

Glenboy


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## nypdofficer1 (Feb 19, 2012)

Anything is possible. First, when you say you are going to take orders online, is this through your own website or are you using a third party website to establish yourself. Will you have preset designs for customers to choose from or will you print what the customer wants? If your printing what they want, do you know how to design their art and vectorize the image? 

From what I read from your post, I think you want to establish yourself as a screen printer. I would then suggest that you use your $1000 to take a class to learn about screen printing so you can get hands on experience printing and not just read about it. I would also get out and get to meet all your local printers. They may also be helpful to you and you could also work out deals to outsource work that you will probably need to do at first. 

Well I hope this has answered your initial questions. If not, post some more and others as well as myself will be glad to help. Best of luck to you!


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## lben (Jun 3, 2008)

Forget screen printing. If you want to put photos on shirts you will want to do heat transfers. While you can screen print photos on shirts you will need a 6 color press, color separation software, RIP software, design software, 250+ mesh screens, a knowledge of 4 color CMYK printing, an exposure unit, flash dryer or conveyor dryer etc. You are looking at thousands of dollars in equipment and software. Plus for every single order of a picture you will have to burn at least 4 new screens, 5 if you're going to do a nonwhite shirt.


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## yves99 (Mar 16, 2012)

So what you will need is: a heat press (minimum 15" x 15"), inkjet printer (Epson C88+ or Workforce 1100 or some other printer that uses pigment ink), inkjet transfer paper (JPSS is one that most prefer), and design software like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw, and if you want to do darks you will need a cutter


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## lben (Jun 3, 2008)

yves99 said:


> So what you will need is: a heat press (minimum 15" x 15"), inkjet printer (Epson C88+ or Workforce 1100 or some other printer that uses pigment ink), inkjet transfer paper (JPSS is one that most prefer), and design software like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw, and if you want to do darks you will need a cutter


Yeppirs, that's what I said. The most expensive parts will be the press and the software.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

Why not just sub it out until you make enough to do it on your own? We did that for our first year in business.


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## timothy31 (Mar 16, 2012)

thank you


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