# 15cents transfer - way to go for 500 shirts?



## KaySh (Oct 12, 2011)

Hi all,

I have been using vinyl cutter / heat press combo to make personalized shirts in small quantities for a while, but now I am trying to place a bid on school event t-shirts for my kids' school.

I hear they got a "very good deal" on shirts via someone who had connection for the same event last year, so they are hoping I can do the same.
I am not going to cut / weed vinyl for 500+ tees, so I will be ordering custom plastisol transfers.
To compete, I am going to use the 15cents transfer by F&M.
Front design is two-colored (navy and white). And single color design on back.

I can order the white part and navy part separately (to make it "single color" for 15c transfer) and combine them when I press them, correct?
And their white ink does not require base ink?

I know pressing that many shirts three times per shirt is very hard.
Maybe I could bribe my kids into pressing some...
Am I crazy not outsourcing the printing to a screenprinter?
The total cost for the transfer per shirt is about 90cents after shipping.
Is outsourcing going to be cheaper?

I am just not comfortable with the thought of putting everything in someone else's hand, since I have never used anybody other than myself 

Thank you for your input, pros!!
Kay the newb


----------



## denniswkim (May 16, 2009)

Look at the price for the FM two color. Comes out a little more expensive, but not much when looking at 500 + transfers, plus then you have a single press front, and single press back. Additionally, if you can gang you designs into 13 x 19 for front and back, you could possibly go to another supplier, who can do an entire gang sheet for you on all prints, even two color.

I have used Versatranz, and Transfer Express for large gang sheets. I believe you can also order gangs from F&M and look at their two color prices.

Look around and consider you prints. If you can reduce the number of times you have to print each shirt, it will definately make it easier on you.

Dennis


----------



## NeonTees (Apr 25, 2010)

Transfers sound cheaper but consider the time. At approximately a minute a shirt you have 9 hours or so of pressing time and 1500 or more times to close that press to do those 500 shirts. I love transfers and use them often, just not for large jobs that can be screen printed. If you can find a good local contract printer that will take those jobs it may be easier. Just my $0.02.


----------



## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Are the shirts being supplied?.....If so, that means you have to get them to and from the printer....

As far as subbing it out, you should be able to get that job done for about 1.00 per shirt (depending on your location)...

As far as transfers, while the 15 cent ones sound like a deal, double pressing the white and navy will not work....Plus it adds a lot of time to your work....Is the colour on the back also navy?....If so you might be able to gang both the front and back on one sheet....Dowling has a 50% off deal on your 1st order...http://www.t-shirtforums.com/tf-classifieds/t209637.html Larry and his people are real good folks...


----------



## RespecttheCraft (Feb 19, 2010)

Yes I agree that sounds very labor intensive. If your cost for transfers is near a dollar per shirt I would recommend subbing out. I would probably charge 1.05 per garment for a job like that. Weigh the value of your time vs the money you save. And any reputable company would make things right if they printed bad product.. You don't always have to put your hands on it!


----------



## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

With transfers you can do 120 prints an hour so for a 2 sided shirt, 60/hr or just over 8 hours with 2 people working.


----------



## missswissinc (Feb 21, 2012)

well I would suggest getting if you can a copy of the bill they paid for the shirts last yr. Last I checked cotton went up and I know your looking at atleast 2 bucks for a shirt if you can get your rep to work with you if have a dist you work with. This way you can figure out what would work the best. I just got back a qoute for a contract job and to do 3 colors front and back would be less then $2.50 and that is for 300 shirts and screens are included into the price qoute. maybe see if you can call some printers and see what they would charge just to screen print. for that amount of shirts I think screen print would be better. If it was 50 then I would say yeah heat transfer but that amount hell some screen printer would do that job real quick.


----------



## KaySh (Oct 12, 2011)

First of all, thank you all SO much for your input. I really really appreciate it.

The single color back is going to be one of the colors used for the front.
So ganging them and ordering bigger two-color transfers is an option.
I will definitely look into that.

The event is in April, so I have plenty of time to finish the order.
But I agree, if I could afford two-color transfers, it will be so much easier.

Royce,
Can you tell me why "double pressing the white and navy will not work"?
They won't be overlapping.

Shirts are not supplied. I was going to buy basic tees from Sanmar (local) or anybody cheaper. I just bought variety of basic tees from shirtspace.com to decide which one.

I live outside of Seattle. Have you heard of any reputable screenprinters around Seattle by any chance?

Mike - 
I am hoping to find out how much the school paid last year. Then I will know if I am completely off the mark or not. But I was wondering if asking is against etiquette... like cheating?

Off to research some more!

Kay the newb


----------



## missswissinc (Feb 21, 2012)

Hey Kay its not against etiquette for asking how much did they pay for the shirts to be done last yr. I've done that with alot of clients and believe me its better to know what was paid for the shirts so you know if your either in the ball park or your way out of the ball park. You don't want to basically make a small amount of money but you want to make sure you make a certain amount of money that pays for the time it will take you to get the shirts done. so lets say it takes you oh 12 hrs to do the shirts for kicks well like I said you want to make sure you make a certain amount of money per hr to show it was worth it. If you make less then Min Wage then was it worth it not in my book. I wish you the best of luck and I hope you get the job.


----------



## KaySh (Oct 12, 2011)

Thanks Mike.

I asked other parent (& a PTSA member) about asking and I was told the same thing - it should be no prob.
I am a PTSA member as well but I don't personally know the people who are handling the shirts.
(This is a PTSA hosted fundraiser event)

I think I am going to ask them. Yes I will! I hope the other shirt company is not a good friend of them!

Just like you said, Mike, I would like to get paid for the labor and such, but I am not doing this particular one to make a big money. I will keep just enough. I don't know exactly how much is "just enough" yet, but we will see... my business is just starting!

I will keep you all posted.

Kay the newb


----------



## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

KaySh said:


> ...people who are handling the shirts.
> (This is a PTSA hosted fundraiser event)
> 
> I think I am going to ask them. Yes I will! I hope the other shirt company is not a good friend of them!
> ...


Yup, someone always knows someone else 'who is a friend', 'who can do it for less' or whatever when you deal with schools. 

Be prepared to be undercut or have someone just go off and get the shirts while you are negotiating with someone else. 

Get a down payment asap before you do any work. 

Most players in this area are juiced in and it is a hard nut to crack. We know as we have cracked that nut in some places but not others. 

Good luck with the order.


----------



## NeonTees (Apr 25, 2010)

There is always somebody willing to do a job for pennies. Try not to be "that guy". I you start low, it's hard to go up. Sometimes it's better to walk away.


----------



## KaySh (Oct 12, 2011)

Right. I totally agree. 
If I set the price too low, I am going to have to do the same next year, until someone else shows up with better price and take my place. 
I will back off if their asking price is too low, even for a fundraiser for our own school. 

Kay the newb


----------



## jleampark (Sep 6, 2007)

Personally, I would not use the $0.15 transfers from F&M. I tried them and -- for me -- the hand was way too heavy and plastic-y.

I use Semo Imprints, Seay Graphics or Transfer Express for my designs. You could probably gang them up and get a good price.

At a minimum, order some $0.15 transfers to try out for yourself. See if you would wear a shirt with them. I think they would work ok for sweats but not a tee.

Joe


----------



## KaySh (Oct 12, 2011)

Thanks Joe for your input.

That is exactly where I am headed right now!

I have ordered about 30 sheets of 15c transfers, just to see how they are. I used one of my designs that has so many components that I don't want to weed (I do vinyls) - perfect one to try transfer for 
I am going to try them on my personal shirts or kids shirts and see how they turn out.

I am talking with a Versatranz rep to get a quote on the 500+ two color transfers.

Kay the newb


----------



## Hegemone (Oct 18, 2011)

All these companies send out sample packs of their products if you ask. I was ok with the F&M samples. The application was super clean for me and still way better then some of the more poorly printed plastisol shirts I have gotten over the years. They all offer good products for the most part so make sure to do some shopping around to fkugue out what's going to work the best for your shop.


----------



## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Most transfer companies have a variety of inks to choose from....The 15 cents ones are an "Athletic" formula, however, F&M also offers a "Fashion" formula if you want a softer hand....


----------



## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

KaySh said:


> I am talking with a Versatranz rep to get a quote on the 500+ two color transfers.
> 
> Kay the newb


My Custom Transfer Prices | Versatrans

Ask them is they still do 50% off on your 1st order...


----------



## drdoct (Jul 26, 2011)

Don't try and double up your transfers. You'll end up overcooking them and they won't wear good. I posted a picture somewhere on here of a sample I did. Now I don't repress anything. Everything has been wearing much better now that I'm not double/triple cooking it. 

F&M would be great for the back transfer as long as it's within their limit. They were also cheaper for me when doing a 2 color logo (you can gang on them). Also it's a 7 second press time so it's much quicker than previously mentioned. I can do 100 front and back easily in an hour on my production press, especially if it's the same thing over and over. Really though the bottom line is do you want to hustle and bust it to make $50? Not me. But I'm not trying to pay rent off it either. I've got a screen printing set up but it's not nearly as efficient (I'm not anyway). In fact, I've got 300 different articles of clothing that I just ordered transfers from F&M because it's worth the $100 spent to not have to deal with 2 different color inks and going from different size shirts to sweats and even shorts. I'll waste $100 in time just futzing around with setting it all up and doing my screens. 

I was surprised at my results from the 2-1color transfers to make a 2 color logo tests. Disappointingly surprised.


----------



## stphnwinslow (Sep 20, 2010)

You may run into quality issues with white ink with plastisol transfers. It might not meet your standards if you're a regular user of white vinyl (just from my own personal experience).


----------



## KaySh (Oct 12, 2011)

Doc,
Thank you for the info. If you ever find your post about your double-up test sample, I would love to read it.
Right now, I am planning to order two-color ganged transfers from Versatranz for 500 white shirts.
But I need to do 50+ dark color shirts as well - same design but different color combo.
I was going to resort to the double-up 15c transfer method for them. Ordering 50+ two color transfers is a bit too expensive for this project...

So, you think over-caking is the problem?
Those two colors are not overlapping, so maybe I can cut them into shapes and place them on a shirt so that I only have to press them once...
Nah, that is going to be too much work.
I am going to have to run some numbers and try to find a better way to do this.

Steve,
Yes I am a regular user of white vinyl....
I love the vividness of vinyl colors though I hate the hard hand when the graphic is big.
I am still waiting for my first 15c transfers.
I cannot wait to test them.
Man I should have ordered them in white, not black like I did!

Thank you both for your input!
I don't know if I am getting this job yet, but right now it's looking good. 

Have a wonderful weekend,
Kay the newb


----------



## drdoct (Jul 26, 2011)

Here you go. It never got any responses.


----------



## KaySh (Oct 12, 2011)

Thanks for the post, Doc!
It's a great post. I am sure a lot people took a mental note 

I have a lot to think about!

Kay


----------



## drdoct (Jul 26, 2011)

It acts like a screen printing that was overheated/cured. Very brittle and flaky. The black flag is fine still. This shirt gets washed at least once a week though with no special care and probably bleached too. After doing that test and seeing how it overcured the ink, I decided to not repress my .15 after peeling. I think it leaves the best chance, but will only know after another 3 months.


----------



## denniswkim (May 16, 2009)

If it's the same design for the additional 50 units, you can pay a color change charge and get them to print 500 in one set of colors, pay the color change charge, and then print the other 50 in the other colors. with Two colors I think you are looking at an additional $30.00 for the color changes and then the cost of 550 transfers.

Might be worth a look instead of 2 $20 charges for each color setup, and then the cost for 100 @ $.15 each. that looks like about $55.


----------



## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

I am doing my own test of a shirt that has sections with 1, 2 & 3 pressings (same transfer just extra time)....It was very clear early on that the 2 and 3 pressing areas were not holding up as well....To me it seems the extra time & heat has over over cured the transfers so they started cracking sooner.....


----------



## drdoct (Jul 26, 2011)

Royster, I thought you were crazy when you were saying that a long time ago. Crazy smart and experienced because I think you're right on the money. Extra pressing doesn't result in extra better results or durabiltiy, the opposite in fact takes place.


----------



## KaySh (Oct 12, 2011)

DENISSSSSSSS!!

Thank you so much for the info!
I did not know what "color change" on the price list meant.

You saved me a lot of money 

Since I ordered 30 of those 15cents transfer just to see how they are, I am going to experiment with them too.

Kay the newb


----------



## denniswkim (May 16, 2009)

Your welcome kay


----------



## mmonk (Oct 23, 2011)

I did a job last fall with CMYK/process design with a chest 1 color. It was for 200 shirts...that was 400 presses. NEVER AGAIN! on a manual press. maybe if I had one of them fancy air auto ones that I just pressed a button....UP! DOWN! UP! DOWN!..."you do good work daniel son".


----------



## AJU (Sep 29, 2007)

Question, what is the fabric you are using. How about the performance regrading stretch and rebound, cracking, shrinking, comfort, and washing. If you want additional business from the school or kids, this is your opportunity to provide a good product, not a throw away unless that is all they are looking for.


----------



## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

Compared to vinyl I think you'll like them. I used them for awhile and they were a bit shiny but that goes away in the first wash, never had any complaints about it.


----------



## KaySh (Oct 12, 2011)

David,

I am offering 100% cotton. 
I like the softness of 50/50 but whites look too thin and almost cheap to me. Colors don't have that problem (maybe it's just me). Since this is for a fundraising event, they want to keep the cost as low as possible, so tech tees are not an option. I know there are budget tech tees out there, but nothing is cheaper than white cotton tees. But that does not mean I will be offering low grade, cheapest of the cheapest white cotton tees. I compared a couple of different ones and chose the one I thought was the best within the budget.

But I understand about offering something other than boring regular shirts. I am giving adults some style options. Adults are mostly females, so I am offering v-necks and ladies cut shirts for pretty similar prices, rather than boxy unisex shirts they will probably wear as pajamas after the event.

Kay


----------

