# What T-shirt printing Equipment?



## stakehouse (Jun 13, 2008)

I am currently receiving a number of orders for T-shirts and I am looking for some advice. At present I have a cutter and heat press as well as sublimation capability, however as orders start rising to between 100 and 200 t-shirts, time is becoming a constraint. It should also be noted that available printing area at my premises and the need to be able to print full colour images on dark garment is also a massive constraint. Could you tell me whether direct to garment printing is the way to go and if so what is a good budget priced printer with dark garment printing capability.
Any help on this matter would be appreciated.
Thanks
Stakehouse


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## COEDS (Oct 4, 2006)

I would check into Ace Transfer Company, Inc. for plastisol transfers. These have the look and feel of screenprint without the mess and chemicals. I have used them for over 2 yrs and have no mistakes. They have great sales people and will help you to succeed. Using transfer will allow you to expand without purchaseing any additional equipment. .... JB


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

I don't think it would be smart to print orders of 100 (even 24+) on a dark shirt using a dtg printer. I think you will find it more profitable to do either platisol transfers or outsource the job to a screen printer if the graphic can be printed that way. There is a post in this forum with about 20 different companies that do plastisol transfers. I would start off contacting some of them. Then I would open the phone book and start calling the screen printers close to you to see if you can setup an appointment to meet with them about doing contract work for you. Good luck.

Mark


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## vctradingcubao (Nov 15, 2006)

DAGuide said:


> I don't think it would be smart to print orders of 100 (even 24+) on a dark shirt using a dtg printer.


On a Kornit or a white-ink capable Epson based DTG? 

And I've read some posts that a DTG is also not advisable to use for 1 pc orders because of the time consuming art/file prep work.

So for black tees, it should be 2 to 20 pcs?


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

The original poster said space was an issue. So right there, the Kornit is out because of its size and the size of the textile dryer. As for the other white ink printers, it is going to depend on a couple of things. Orders under 12 will probably have to go to dtg printing as the profit is greater there for more users (expertise will vary depending on the user). But if you look at the time it takes to pretreat 24 shirts and then on average get around 6 to 10 shirts an hour printing a full size white ink / CMYK color shirt... I think you notice that you will have around 3 to 4 hours into this job in just manual labor. If you have time to order plastisol transfers, the cost per a design could range from a couple of bucks to up to $5 if you do it as a 4-color process plastisol transfer (see F&M Expressions). A plastisol transfer takes around 20-30 seconds to align, press and peel. Thus, you have 15 minutes in manual labor. Here are the questions that you need to ask before you can go down this road:
1. How fast does the customer need this order done.
2. Can this designed be done as a plastisol transfer or screen printed?
3. How many colors are in this design?
4. Would the customer be happy with the finished product as a plastisol transfer?

Each shop will have a different # that the break even point will be where they need to switch from one technique to another. The sweet spot (AKA highest profit) for dtg printing tends to be between 2 to 5 shirts if you are doing the same graphic. This is because the artwork and getting the printer ready to go only needs to be done once. There is a spreadsheet on Digital and Screen Printing University On-Line Forums for Digital Garment Printing, Screen Printing, Embroidery, and more. that goes over this. You should check it out.

One of the best things I have seen is a decorator that did digital transfers, dtg printing and plastisol transfers. They printed out a sample of the same designed using all the different technologies: inkjet dark transfer, dtg print and plastisol transfer. They should the samples to the customers and explained the pros/cons (including pricing and time frame) to the customer. This allowed the customer to make the decision that was best for them.


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## stakehouse (Jun 13, 2008)

Thank you for all the information, within the space of a couple of hours I have learned that DTG is not all that high performing for large quantities and that Plastisol is an option, although being based in the UK limits the number of companies that I can use. Anyway I am always interested in other comments so thank you to date.

Stakehouse


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## tfalk (Apr 3, 2008)

I had a similar quandry for an order of 275 jackets with a 2 color screen print on the back. I contacted a local screen printer, they wanted $4/jacket plus setup and screen fees.

Since I'm using adult and youth sized jackets, we were able to get 1 of each sized design on a single transfer sheet, effectively doubling the yield. Ordering them from Ace Transfer, our cost is going to end up around $1.80-$2.00 per sheet if we order 200 sheets, effectively giving us 400 pieces. 

Instead of $4/jacket, we're more like $1/jacket, we are not at the mercy of the schedule of the screen printer and we end up with a bunch of extra designs that we can then heat press onto T-shirts and sell at a tidy profit. I received my transfers in about 8 business days (I told them ahead of time there was no hurry), they could have had them to us earlier if we needed.

At this price, why buy equipment that takes up a lot of room?


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

Ted is correct... on some cases. Sometimes you have a large number of colors in your graphic that is going to push the cost of the plastisol transfers up. Other times, the graphic is a digital photo that can't be really reproduced any other way than digital print (i.e. inkjet / laser transfer, sublimation or dtg printing). Just because you paid for a dtg printing, screen press or heat press... does not mean you have to use it to make money. There may be a better way to do the job and it could be more profitable.

Thus, it becomes important to understand what techniques can be used to fulfill the order in an acceptable way and which one will give you the highest profit margin. Once you figure this out, you will be on your way to making more $$$$... and that is what it is about.


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## bob emb (Apr 5, 2007)

Bob Emb here,

As Mark said if you go with a plastisol transfer and the amount of colors gets funky and you have a lort of gradient in those colors you will get bashed on price.

I had a customer come in a few days ago with a simple 2 color job for about 100 pieces, I told him to go to a screenprinter.
He would pay less than what I would have to charge with my KORNIT.

But if you have dark shirts with a lot of colors you will be at the mercy of a plastisol guy and the scrrenprinter wont even talk to you. SO WHO DO YOU CALL not ghost busters but someone with a really big DTG printer- me.

If I can answer any questions just give me a shout on the net.

Bob


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## Printzilla (Mar 22, 2007)

bob emb said:


> SO WHO DO YOU CALL not ghost busters but someone with a really big DTG printer- me.
> 
> Bob


OMG ROTFLMAO 

That is awesome!! I am totally putting it in my sig. 

How ya doin Bob? Long time no talk to!


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