Ever thought about starting a t shirt printing business but with investing very little into equipment? There are several ways to do it. Don't let anyone tell you that you don't have to invest anything because YOU DO! I say this because if you outsource each part of the process you will not profit as much and if one person doesn't fulfil their part you could lose your entire order from the client if not completed on time. For example if you get transfers made from a company that makes Direct To Film transfers, ships them to you to heat press but if you don't have a heat press and have to use someone to do it, if that person doesn't press them on time you are held behind and can't do anything about it, so don't get caught up in a trap. You can get transfers made by this company:
At the minimum you need 2 big heat presses and one small one for hats and a small one for left chest prints. Be careful with these, cheap is not the best and expensive is not the best either. You need quality but affordable. Save up some money because each press should cost about $700 each for the big ones and about $500 for the small ones.
You'll need pressing papers as well which can be found here:
Direct To Garment Pressing/Curing Sheets – DTG Printer Parts
Total cost of investment should be around $2500 approximately.
Pros:
1. Little to no money upfront
2. Quick profits
3. Requires no technical knowledge of machinery
4. No stress of owning equipment
Cons:
1. Turn around time can be lengthy if not producing in house and also color matching.
2. Sometimes you won't get accurate colors unless your supplier prints out a color chart and you input hex codes into your graphics BEFORE sending the file to the transfer company.
3. Your supplier could possibly have issues with their printer beyond their control and if your order is time sensitive you might be out of luck.
Eventually to turn big profits and full control you'll need your own equipment. That's the honest truth. With bigger profits comes bigger responsibilities though!
