T-shirt Printing Business is a lucrative business when managed properly. A T-Shirt is a basic need of a human being, thus, the business will always prosper as long as there is a human being – your CUSTOMER.
When starting a T-Shirt Printing Business, you need equipment and people with the right skills required.
Let’s start with the equipment. You need the following:
- Printer – You can start with 3 types of printers: sublimation printer, eco solvent and pigment printer. Epson brand has been a popular choice.
- Inks (Ecosolvent, Sublimation, etc) – Keep stocks of the commonly used inks in your business. Typically, you need inks for each color – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black.
- Cutter Plotter – Cuyi, Yasen, and Graphtec are your top choices
- Heat Press – There are a lot of unbranded heat press machines in the market
- Sublimation Paper or Dark Transfer Paper
- Regular and Printable Heat Transfer Vinyl
- Silkscreen – This is only good if you are doing silkscreen printing (a labor-intensive type of t-shirt printing)
- Plain T-Shirt – Orlando, Yalex, Softex, Gransler, Blackhorse, Blue Corner, and Gildan are some of the most common brands of plain shirt in the market.
- Computer Set – You need a computer set that can support both Adobe Photoshop and Coreldraw as well as a storage space that can keep hundreds or thousands of t-shirt designs.
- Adobe Photoshop or CorelDraw Design Software
- Design Templates – This is very handy especially for common or standard designs in the market. There are lots of packages for sale in the market with design templates
- (OPTIONAL) – Direct to Garment (DTG) Printers. This is an expensive machine that allows you to print your designs directly on a garment or plain t-shirt. No cutting, plotting, and heat press required.
- (OPTIONAL) – Direct to Film (DTF) Printers. This is a printer that uses film and ink powder to print on a t-shirt. You will still need to undergo all steps or procedures for digital printing.
The most critical part of a t-shirt printing business is your workforce. You need an employee who was the skills to do personalized designs on Adobe Photoshop or CorelDraw.
You can hire a remote employee or a permanent in-house employee to provide the custom design requirements of your potential customers.
