# One stop shop VS. printing shop VS. buying your own...



## cody (Oct 28, 2006)

Hi, so once I have my blanks and my graphics ready to be silkscreened/whatever onto my garments, whats the best(cheapest) way to go about this? Is having a place that silkscreens garments with your graphics the best way if you can get a good deal if you have them silkscreen in bulk, or should you buy your own silkscreen machine? What does a company even charge for silkscreening in US/Canada for bulk garments?
thanks


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> What does a company even charge for silkscreening in US/Canada for bulk garments?


You would need to contact companies to get pricing. Ask the companies about their "contract printing pricing".



> Is having a place that silkscreens garments with your graphics the best way if you can get a good deal if you have them silkscreen in bulk, or should you buy your own silkscreen machine?


This sort of depends on how you define your business. 

Do you want to be a "printer" or do you just want to "sell your designs"?

If you just want to sell your designs, you may not want to spend time learning the ins and outs of how to make quality screen prints. You may also want to avoid purchasing screen printing equipment and supplies. By outsourcing to a screen printer who is already setup, you can focus on other areas of your business.

If you want to be a "printer", then it make sense to start investing in the equipment, supplies and training needed to do that type of work.

It all depends on what your goals are. Some of the largest sellers of t-shirt designs don't ever print a shirt...it's all outsourced.

However, some brands do decide they also want to get into the printing aspect.

As for specific pricing though, it's best that you contact a few screen printers in your area and ask them for pricing on your specific graphics in the quantities you need to see what the pricing will be if you bring your own shirts. 

There's no one best way for everyone.


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## TeddyRocky (Mar 23, 2007)

Like Rodney said, it all depends on what your company wants to be. Our company provides graphic design, but instead of outsourcing our shirts to printers, we decided to take it into our own hands, so we are becoming a screen printer as well... But beware that it takes awhile to learn proper screen printing, some people might not even want to bother going through the trouble because it does take A LOT OF TIME, EFFORT, and MONEY. At the same time, if you are one who enjoys learning new things and being able to add another skill on your list, go for it! It's all about your personal preference.


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## TeddyRocky (Mar 23, 2007)

cody said:


> Hi, so once I have my blanks and my graphics ready to be silkscreened/whatever onto my garments, whats the best(cheapest) way to go about this? Is having a place that silkscreens garments with your graphics the best way if you can get a good deal if you have them silkscreen in bulk, or should you buy your own silkscreen machine? What does a company even charge for silkscreening in US/Canada for bulk garments?
> thanks


I hope you checked the prices before designing graphics for them...As the cost depends on the amount of colors in your design. Some printers will charge more if you bring your own garments. Costs will vary, and if you create a relationship with one that you like, they will most likely cut down costs for set up fees and such.


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## Tenacious (Apr 11, 2007)

A big part of my business revolves around out source printing. I have 4 printers and 2 embroiderers and by supplying my own clothing, dealing with the ordering, and shipping I save a ton. They all cut cost if you let them know you're in the business and will be using them often. I added 10 more shirts to an order and didn't ship them myself and they marked my price up 300% on the blank shirts. I'll never do that again. I would surely supply your own clothing if you are dealing with major distributors it will save a lot in the long run.


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## Bill Hood (Apr 11, 2007)

As Rodney stated, most of the big boys don't print their own shirts, but outsource the printing to large print shops. Most of the really big jobs are going to Mexico and other Latin American companies. The shops that I consult with in Mexico are printing GAP, Old Navy, American Eagle ... you name it. They print up to fourteen color designs onto supplied garments for as little as $0.12 per print. The most I have seen anyone getting on these large orders is $0.30 (again for up to fourteen colors).

Coca-Cola was having their screenprinting done in the Far East the last time I checked. Hanes has their tagless transfers printed near Monterrey Mexico and then shipped to Turkey and other countries for application on the shirts.

A small manual shop set up will cost you somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000 to do it right. You can actually print T-shirts in your garage with a set up that will cost you less than $50 total. The shops that you will probably want to go to are automatic shops that will have as much as $250,000 invested in the their equipment.

You can choose from having a few shirts printed up on a direct-to-garment machine to test the waters and if the designs sell well, then you can go to a screenprinter to get them printed in larger quantity. 

I would think buying your own equipment would not be a good idea. Equipment purchases are those who want to get into the screenprinting business and not just print their own line as a general rule.



Hopefully, this will give you some food for thought.


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## mikiec (Aug 2, 2006)

I wanted to open a website selling my own designed t-shirts. I bought the kit and do the printing 'in-house' because I knew that I wouldn't be able to carry a lot of stock and I found that unless I bought lots of each design, I was left with pennies of profit on each sale if I outsourced the printing.

My plan was (and still is) to print my own sales and at the time when I feel comfortable enough with my own screen printing abilities, I'll offer the service to other businesses. At some point this should allow me to give up my 9-5 and concentrate fully on the t-shirts.


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## TeddyRocky (Mar 23, 2007)

mikiec said:


> I wanted to open a website selling my own designed t-shirts. I bought the kit and do the printing 'in-house' because I knew that I wouldn't be able to carry a lot of stock and I found that unless I bought lots of each design, I was left with pennies of profit on each sale if I outsourced the printing.
> 
> My plan was (and still is) to print my own sales and at the time when I feel comfortable enough with my own screen printing abilities, I'll offer the service to other businesses. At some point this should allow me to give up my 9-5 and concentrate fully on the t-shirts.


Thats exactly what I am doing right now. But it is hard to concentrate on screen printing for small business's, get two clothing lines up and running, be the graphic designer, and being the book keeper/secretary. Im getting ready to launch the screen printing business first as it will/can bring in stable income at first, well more so than a clothing line would.


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## cody (Oct 28, 2006)

I should have been more clear, sorry.
The is to rather have everything done at a one stop shop in China, or to have US made blanks and sent to each shop that specializes in different stuff. And I would have that done in Canada/US/Mexico to keep everything local so it would fall under NAFTA.
Either or, whatever's cheaper.


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## denise beaulieu (Sep 6, 2007)

Hi Bill, 
You mentioned The Gap, American Eagle, etc. outsourcing the printing to Mexico. I am interested in doing that with my tees, how can i find such printers??? Or would you suggest starting local, Boston, for a beginner, my first order would be about 800 shirts?? Thanks, Denise.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

denise beaulieu said:


> Hi Bill,
> You mentioned The Gap, American Eagle, etc. outsourcing the printing to Mexico. I am interested in doing that with my tees, how can i find such printers??? Or would you suggest starting local, Boston, for a beginner, my first order would be about 800 shirts?? Thanks, Denise.


I would suggest starting local. Are your 800 tees going to be all of the same design? 

Bulk printing pricing is based "per design", not on the total amount of tees printed across several designs.


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## denise beaulieu (Sep 6, 2007)

Hi, thanks for the reply! I will not have the same design on all of them. that kills me a bit, i can't use bulk unless the price is so cheap i can sit on inventory, and even then i could maybe do 50 of the same. any ideas?? denise


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

denise beaulieu said:


> Hi, thanks for the reply! I will not have the same design on all of them. that kills me a bit, i can't use bulk unless the price is so cheap i can sit on inventory, and even then i could maybe do 50 of the same. any ideas?? denise


I don't know your whole scenario (if you need specific suggestions for you, you may want to start a separate topic), so it's hard to suggest something specific for you.

But you can get t-shirts screen printed in quantities as low as 12 pieces per design from most companies. It's just that the PRICING will be based a lot on how many *per design* you buy. So if you buy 12 per design, you won't be getting as good of deal as if you would have bought 25 per design. If you buy 25 per design, you won't get as good of price break than if you would have purchased 50 per design. The more quantity per design that you buy, the better your pricing per shirt will be.

If you don't want inventory. You either have to buy the equipment yourself to do the printing, get a heat press and try plastisol transfers (search the forums for more info on that), or outsource to a Direct to Garment printer to have them print the orders on demand.


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## DanLew (Jul 17, 2008)

You can also employ someone to sit on a sewing machine all day or someone who has experience with screen printing, but remember labour is expensive these days, someone that can tune out a shirt every 30 seconds is what you want!


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