Printing T-shirt

[euansb21]

I'm interested in selling t-shirts with transfers on them online. Can anyone suggest a good supplier of transfers or any problems i could expect to encounter with such a new venture?

[RockLinks]

Hi there,

Will you be adding the transfers yourself?

[euansb21]

Hi - That is one of the options I'm considering. Depending on the available options, i'd prefer not to have to spend time cutting out transfers printed from a computer!

[RockLinks]

Will you be able to do custom prints? If so i may be able to get you some work.

[10 Yetis]

Hmm... the best bet is to try and get a 'heat press'. Often you can get them second hand if you browse about and they do one t'shirt at a time. Without shelling out for one of these you would be pretty muich knackered. They range from £200 upwards depending on what you want.

You can even buy professional transfer papers now that are very robust and long lasting that can be printed on from all kinds of printers (buy from a professional company not the amateur transfer sheets you see in PC World/WH Smiths etc).

I have experience in this area so feel free to ask further questions, including ones about marketing your products. (there is no conflict of interest as I no longer work with the company who does this).

[euansb21]

Hi 10 Yetis - The heat press will be a definite purchase if we decide to further this venture and have a source available. The T-shirts can be sourced from a supplier we already deal with, but surprisingly they have come up blank when asked for a reputable company to purchase tranfers from.

From your past experience, do you have any wholesale companies you could recommend for stock transfers? If we do decide to produce our own, what brand of transfer paper would you recommend – we’ve had variable success with the normal high-street bands but we were factoring in that we were using a standard iron – all very scientific and professional!

Hi Rock Links – custom prints would be one of the lines we are considering for this venture.

[RockLinks]

Great, if you start doing it let me know.

[10 Yetis]

It will take me a few days to find some old samples, but I will try to dig the details of the company out.

They were based in Derbyshire somewhere (how much help was that!)

[Bizgifts]

If it's of interest to anyone we can print and supply these 'one-offs' and also send direct to your customers.

We do not use computer printout style transfers, we use a textile vinyl which is both elastic and durable, we use this material on workwear and also football kits.

To get an idea of the designs have a look at our store on ebay at www.kustomtees.co.uk

For selling via a website and have us send direct to your customer have a look at an existing retailer who is just completing their site at www.getshirty.biz

You can have your own designs, use ours or both. Contact me for more info. We also supply embroidered garments for business and leisure.

Mark

[kyber]

Be careful you do not infringe copyright.... it can be very expensive. Use your own designs (not passing them off as representing, say, Disney characters) or those clearyl produced and licensed for the purpose (sounds like Mark offers this).

Stuart

[RockLinks]

I think this is the reason why t-shirts are so expensive, they are to complicated to make :D

[TargetTesting]

euansb21,
I've got a friend who runs a t-shirt business (http://www.futurefreak.co.uk). He seems to make a reasonable living out of it.

However, although he has an online store I think he gets most of his business (especially initially) through his shop on Camden Market.

He's also catering for a specific market...not sure where he gets his designs from, but only start out with a few good designs. He also prints on other materials now. I think the babies bid go quite well.

Just a couple of points you might want to consider.

RockLinks: If you're looking for custom t-shirts in the near future give him a ring.

Regards
Bill

[RockLinks]

Hi Target Testing,

Im not in need of them myself but i know alot of people who are. Tell him to get in contact with me im willing to help all t-shirt printers :D

[euansb21]

does anyone know of a supplier for textile vinyl transfers?

[Bizgifts]

If you can give some more specifics on the transfers I can help you out.

Info such as finished size, quantity, number of colours.
If you could email an image it would be most useful.

Mark

[euansb21]

We're still in the process of deciding on what type of designs to offer. Ideally we'd like a supplier who already produces a range of transfers. We'd purchase in bulk, then hopefully be able to attach these to a t-shirt and sell for a proift.

[Bizgifts]

I'd by happy to quote on such transfers.

Price will be dependent on size, number of colours and quantity.
When you have finalised your designs just send the details over with images and I'll work out some costings for you.

Mark

[redjim]

I also have a mate in the clothing sector and one thing he lets his customers know is that he does not use the cheapest t shirts out there; for two reasons:

The print can fade quick or stitching pucker up

They last longer, better for the customers and a better advert for the business

He wouldn't give exact details (for obvious reasons) but it has cost him business with some clubs & voluntary organisations but it has gained him more corporate contracts.

[Future Freak]

We're still in the process of deciding on what type of designs to offer. Ideally we'd like a supplier who already produces a range of transfers. We'd purchase in bulk, then hopefully be able to attach these to a t-shirt and sell for a proift.

Get in touch with www.targettransfers.com - I get my full colour transfer paper from them - but they also do pre-made transfers and can also make your transfer designs too. They also do the most durable transfer paper for inkjets I've found so far in my tests - Evolution 2 paper.

[Sarah-Ink Promotions]

If you want to buy printed t-shirts to sell, please contact me and i'll quote you for them. If you wanted to transfer print yourself try www.themagictouch.co.uk for heat press and paper. If you need any further info please contact me - I have years of experience in this industry!!!

Hope this helps!

Sarah

[donniedarko]

I'm also in the process of creating an online t-shirt selling website. Is it worth waiting for orders until I get the design printed or should I get some printed before launching a t-shirt design? Obviously, a potential downside to the latter option being that I might not sell them all and also would not be able to advertise a particularly large amount of designs.

Any opinion on this would be great.

Also, on the subject of using company logos, is it actually illegal? I see plenty of t-shirt websites with, say, the Atari logo on their tees and I doubt that they all get permission for this. Are they simply using the logo without permission?

[WelshPixels]

There is one massive gap in the British t-shirt market, gamming t-shirts!

Not the usual Mario or Sonic t-shirts, I am on about t-shirts for the more hard core gamers that play things like Quake, Doom, HL2 etc etc. I play a few games for a few clans and we are screaming out for a decent supplier.

In the US and in Japan is very easy to find these t-shirts but not here in the UK.

There is no real copyright issues as most of the t-shirts are based around gaming phrases rather than logo's.

Just a thought guys. If you are interested PM me and I will give you a more detailed description of what I mean.

[DotNetWebs]

I'm also in the process of creating an online t-shirt selling website. Is it worth waiting for orders until I get the design printed or should I get some printed before launching a t-shirt design? Obviously, a potential downside to the latter option being that I might not sell them all and also would not be able to advertise a particularly large amount of designs.

Any opinion on this would be great.

Also, on the subject of using company logos, is it actually illegal? I see plenty of t-shirt websites with, say, the Atari logo on their tees and I doubt that they all get permission for this. Are they simply using the logo without permission?

Hi Donnie

I am no expert but I am pretty sure you would be in breach of copyright etc. if you sell T-Shirts that have registered trade marks on them.

To be honest I only answered this question so I could say what a great film Donnie Darko is!!! :D

[donniedarko]

Donnie Darko is indeed a great film!

I also think that it would be breaching copyright but as so many t-shirt sites have these logos I doubt that they're all getting permission to use them.

I've PM'ed about the gaming t-shirts.

[donniedarko]

Also, how much does everyone think I should be paying for the combination of a blank t-shirt plus getting my design printed(a price for 20 t-shirts with the same design on them would be useful)?

Thanks.

[Bizgifts]

When getting pricing on you shirts there are a few pointers to consider -

Weight of shirt - choose something in the 180-220 gsm weight range, less than that and your product will seem cheap

Colour of shirt - whites are cheaper than colours

Number of print colours - screenprint pricing will be based on how many seperate colours are in your design.

Remember that if you are going to get a batch preprinted you will need a range of sizes, so 20 shirts will give you for instance 3 x S, 5 x M, 7 x L, 5 x XL. Ideally you need to order more, but if they dont sell, you're stuck with them.

If you print to order you won't have the above headache, just a good stock of plain t-shirts.

Mark

[fastfences]

I also think that it would be breaching copyright but as so many t-shirt sites have these logos I doubt that they're all getting permission to use them.



That, of course, doesn't make it right, though!

Why not just seek permission?

Cheers, Nigel

[donniedarko]

Bizgifts, thanks for your advice. Getting a batch preprinted does indeed have the problem in that you may get stuck with some stock. However, with this kind of product a lot of sales will come from impulse buyers and people in this kind of mood will be deterred if they see a long delivery time.

I think the best idea may be to use both methods. I may preprint what I believe will be the more popular designs and print on order the less popular ones. As I gain more experience, I can tailor my method of working to suit the business best.

fastfences, I absolutely accept the fact that it's wrong to get permission if this is indeed the legal requirement. Unfortunately, it'll take time to find the owner of the logo and then to get a reponse(I haven't tried it as yet though) and then I assume they will want some kind of payment. However, I shall investigate this area further.

Thanks very much for your helpful comments!

[jklondon]

I am looking to get around 5-10 t-shirts printing as a marketing exercise (to be worn by my army of leaflet distribution agents) whats the best format to use - our logo is multi-coloured - could be stripped down to 3 colours.

Any suggestion or even quotes (PM me). Interested in getting a supplier ASAP.

Thanks

[donniedarko]

Can someone recommend me a good blank t-shirt supplier? I want tees that are at least 200gsm.

Also, does anyone know of a good t-shirt printing company?

Both of these would be long term things as I'm setting up a t-shirt design selling website.

Many thanks,

James

[donniedarko]

One more question, does anyone know where I can find good designers? I would ideally like to provide them with some other reward for creating designs for me other than money(as I don't have a lot) and am thinking of maybe links to their websites/portfolios. I would ideally like to have a community big enough to submit their own designs and feel having their design picked for print reward enough but I need to create that size of online community first.

I'm thinking of approaching the local art college and posting on various online forums.

Any advice on this would be grand. Thanks.

[Bizgifts]

James,

Feel free to PM me with what you have in mind, I'd be glad to put some costings together for you.

Mark

[Kate]

Can't help with any of the queries, but have one of my own to add.

We have nylon childrens aprons which we use in our sessions. We need to put our logo on them and have used both home transfers (with a domestic iron, time consuming and don't last for more than a few months) and got them applied professionally (cost over £1 per apron for 500 and still started to come off 4/5 months later),

I think we maybe need to look at a plasticised sticker of some kind, or a better quality transfer, but none of the t-shirt printers we've contacted locally are interested in the job. On the label it says they are PU Coated Nylon, handwash only, drip dry. They do get put in the washing machine, which obviously doesn't help the tranfers, so we may be asking the impossible!

Can anyone help with either techical advice or let me know if you could do a quote?

[Bizgifts]

Kate,

I don't think a plastisol transfer would be the best solution.

We use a product called Nylotrans which has been developed for difficult nylon substrates including pu coated.

Can be washed up to 40 degrees C.
Not to be ironed directly (reverse side only)

PM me if you would like to discuss in more detail.

Mark

[donniedarko]

I'm going to start selling t-shirts with my own custom prints on. How much in terms of cost for me should I be aiming to go for? If I can get them made, per t-shirt, for £6 each, would this be a good price?

[Hannah54]

Hi, im doing a business plan for a university module. My group is setting up a fake t shirt printing website.

I was just wondering if anyone would be willing to let me know of any t-shirt suppliers that you deal with and especially what are best sellers? t- shirts, long sleeve, short sleeve etc... or even other things you sell like boxers, thongs any other printed items.

Thank you!

[Kimballhal]

Hi there,
I would like to start a T-Shirt Printing company..! Need some advice.
Thanks in advance..!

[japhosha]

It's a year late (to kimballhal's questions) but this may interest others if they are thinking of doing the same - setting up a t-shirt printing company. First decide if you want to provide a service (act as a 'middle man' between your customer and the t-shirt printing company) or if you want to actually be a t-shirt printer. If its the former you will need to set up an online presence (take a look at shirtlab , one of our sites) and get to know the industry. T-shirt printing is not as simple as it sounds - it has many variables and as a consequence things go wrong easily. The easiest way to do this is to learn screen printing either using t-shirt forum websites or by spending some time actually doing the job. Without this knowledge you cannot hope to know how to create the website that will ultimately get you business, nor will you know how to advise potential customers on the subject of screen printing. The second option is to set up your own printing process. This is going to be more expensive and you are going to have to learn the processes in much more depth - inks, squeegees, screen production, artwork production etc. If you want to start out small and easy (but not cheap-sorry!), then you could look at digital printing. Whichever way you decide to progress, take things slowly, do your research, get to know the industry and make sure you concentrate on quality. Oh and have fun doing it!