# Purchasing transfers vs. making my own



## PantherGirl (Oct 29, 2009)

Brand new to this industry! I got here by trying to find a way my clients could modify pre-designed t-shirt designs to come up with their own designs and found a transfer company (can I say their name?) that has the software - but you need to order the transfers from them. My question is - is this the way to go (it seems a little spendy), or is there an easier way to get t-shirts designed and transfers produced? 

Thanks for helping the newbie!


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## Nvr2Old (Oct 14, 2009)

Hi Shar,
Welcome to the t-shirt forum.
Do you currently have any design software such as Adobe Illustrator, Corel Etc.
If I know what you have and if you have any experience in software design, I may be able to steer you in the right direction.


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## PantherGirl (Oct 29, 2009)

Yes, I have the Adobe CS3, including Illustrator. But I don't have Corel Draw.


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## Nvr2Old (Oct 14, 2009)

PantherGirl said:


> Brand new to this industry! I got here by trying to find a way my clients could modify pre-designed t-shirt designs to come up with their own designs.....)


OK Shar,
I understand you have CS3, that's great!
If you don't have any particular design in mind, you can search the net for free vector designs, T-shirts etc. Make sure the author says its free to use for any purpose, then you can open the design in Illy to modify to your taste. I suppose you could modify any design and then call it your own, but I would not recommend it.
There are also ways to outsource your design, once it is print ready.
Spend a little time getting used to this forum, everything is categorized in certain subjects you are looking for. I noticed this post was started under plastisol transfers. This is something you may want to learn more about before deciding which method to use, as there are many choices. Direct to garment printing, heat transfers, vinyl transfers, screen printing etc. just to mention a few.


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## PantherGirl (Oct 29, 2009)

I'll do that, thanks. I posted it under Plastisols since those are the transfers available through this company. 

I'll continue my search, but it's been very time consuming to find quality designs available for free (at least I haven't found them yet), and then they're available one at a time. Some of my competitors have a library of designs clients can choose from, and I've been surprised at how many clients don't have a clue as to what they like unless you can pull out an idea book. There's definitely a market for software that allows you to modify existing designs with names, mascots, etc. and then pay to download the design once you've got it modified. If anyone knows about something like that I'd love to hear about it.

I still have a lot to learn. Thanks for your replies, JV!


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## Nvr2Old (Oct 14, 2009)

That sounds like a great idea for a new website!
Now if I just knew how to go about it........


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## HGE (Mar 3, 2009)

> Brand new to this industry! I got here by trying to find a way my clients could modify pre-designed t-shirt designs to come up with their own designs and found a transfer company (can I say their name?) that has the software - but you need to order the transfers from them. My question is - is this the way to go (it seems a little spendy), or is there an easier way to get t-shirts designed and transfers produced?


 
Yes you can say the name. It is really up to you, if you want to do the artwork and you are good at it I’d try to go that route (not the easier way). Have your customer give you a basic idea or style that they are looking for and do a mock-up or two for them. Most will want a revision or two, which can be time consuming. You will also have to create the artwork to different specifications for different transfer companies, usually vector art. 
It is true a lot of customers don’t have an idea of what they want, to solve that problem you could make a few samples of different types of artwork people are looking for the most, aka sports motifs, team moms, business, maybe a template or some frames to add pictures to, ETC.... whatever your customer base is. It will help guide them in the direction of what they are looking for.
As far as ease it may be worth the money to go the pre-designed way, you can always make suggestions on how to improve artwork or add on to existing designs. Sounds like the way you are leaning, so yes it would be worth the money if you cannot do the artwork or do not wish to do it or have customers that want to do it themselves.
GL hope all works out...


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