# Dtg roi



## bahstonsox (Jan 22, 2008)

My company has been using plastisol transfers for about 5 years now. We have been thinking about bringing in a DTG setup and was hoping to get some advice. 

-We are an online store so we sell mostly at retail. (think cafepress/spreadshirt type of store but not quite as large
-We do an avg. of 125 prints per day mostly one-offs of our design catalogue and mostly dark shirts
-We spend about $.50ct per transfer on avg. however we sit on alot of inventory and it prohibits our creativity quite a bit. 

My budget for a DTG setup is about $30-$35K and I am leaning towards a Brother Graphitee 381.

Is there any advice you would give for someone who is thinking about moving from ink transfers to a DTG?... 

The cost is high but I am thinking that the flexiblity will outweigh the costs in the long run.. any help would be much appreciated.


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

What is the average price you sell a shirt for?


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## bahstonsox (Jan 22, 2008)

JeridHill said:


> What is the average price you sell a shirt for?


About 14.99. With promos avg 13.99. Shirts cost are 2.10


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

Well you will definitely want to look at ink costs. You're margins aren't that large, but with the volume you have they can easily work. Labor, ink costs, maintenance and misprints will slow down your ROI.

If you average $2.00 on ink plus $0.50 on pretreat, shirts cost $2.10 plus shipping, most likely $0.25 per shirt, your total price is $4.85 per shirt. If you are able to produce 15 shirts with white ink per hour and your labor with taxes, etc is $15 per hour, that's an additional dollar per shirt. Electricity, and other expenses, let's bump that up another $0.15 and to even out the shirt at $6. Let's say 1 in 25 shirts are misprints so for 125 shirts, that would be an additional $30.

There is also maintenance, etc, so overall you have a lot of hidden costs not associated with initial numbers. Assuming this is a single sided shirt, with occasional cleaning, let's say overall you did 125 in a 9 hour shift, these are the final numbers.

125 shirts x $9 - $30 = $1,095. Let's say your investment was $30K, you would recoop your investment in about 28 days, or rough 6 work weeks. Of course, there are other charges and hidden numbers, but the reality is, DTG is a good model for your business.

No matter what machine you end up choosing, do your homework. You want good quality with good production. Output means everything. Get samples with time settings and ink costs along with resolutions used to print the jobs. These factors will help, but also dig into cost of maintenance and replacing parts. There are various issues that can arise, but again, with the numbers you are pushing, your ROI is quicker than most. The idea is to figure out what you are trying to achieve and the percentages you want, then find the equipment to match.

Good Luck!


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