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AdamB
08-08-2010, 11:31 AM
First of all, can I just shout a big thank you to everyone on this forum. For the past 24hrs I must have read every post on this site that I hadn’t read already (been up all night), all with some information that will prove to be a great bonus if armed with it. The members of this forum are not only highly knowledgeable but also friendly, and that’s where the difference lies with many other communities, and for that I must say than you.

So, ’this post’ (and I’m sorry if all I do is ask questions) is regarding my future. I’ll lay my cards on the table and try to explain why I am in this predicament. I have just completed 22yrs service in the Army and whilst in I have always took advantage to making a few bob on the side. I have done everything from customised CD’s to clocks, and about 10 years ago I learnt about web design. I have always been pretty handy with photoshop and the like so I took to web-design like a duck to water. Since then I have made a few sites that are up there with the professionals and really thought that ‘this’ would be my future. So, many months ago I bought a mug machine and have been ‘knocking out’ mugs on a regular basis through ebay, friends, family and other forums I am a member with (a perfect accompaniment to the web design thing).

But, there’s not just me in this story, I have a family. This includes the missis and twin boys (aged 5), so after many a talk, what started as enquiring about a market stall has now evolved into opening a shop. We have a business plan, a theme and a name and our ‘business’ will basically be a children’s clothes shop selling clothes and stuff for 2 to 10 year olds. We live in South Wales and the location is perfect and no one is in direct competition for the ideas we have. Yes, we know it will take a lot of work but we have some great plans ranging from loyalty cards to free gifts if purchases go over certain amounts. The shop is going to be themed with some great ideas we have and I also want to have a Train Track running around (above head height) going into tunnels etc as I have fond memories of Hornby shops and just wanting to go with my mum ‘to look at the choo choo’.

We are also going to add a personalised section in the shop, where customers can look through a range of ‘examples’ on display and then in a catalogue that I will produce to pick up items 24hrs later. Plus we will have generic ‘impulse buys’ like key-rings, coasters, pens etc near the counter.

So, a lot of planning has gone into this and I’m not naive to think that people will come to me for no reason in today’s market – we have to make’ the customer ‘want’ to visit us, and then once there grab them with visual and memorable display’s and most importantly great value and quality.

The shop opens in a few months and I want to add another sideline to it, which I can use in the shop and also through ebay etc and this will be t-shirts (plus other garments that can be printed).

This is where my questions lie, and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

As I mentioned, I have been up all night reading posts on this forum and the t-shirt forum and have come to the following conclusions – I don’t know what I need! I am looking to produce mostly t-shirts that will be white and dark (i.e black) colours. Ideally I want to be able to sell designs that are multi-coloured with a catalogue that customers can choose from. The competition doing t-shirts and stuff in out town is the iron on sheets that you can purchase from PC World!

So hopefully, anyone with any experience in the categories below can comment?

1. ChromaBlast printing:
I have read a little on this and have a few questions if anyone can help?
As far as I know (and please excuse me if I’m wrong), the process is done through using special ink through a printer onto special paper. This is then ‘pressed’ onto the item through the heat press and then pealed off.

But,
a. Can ChromaBlast transfer onto 50/50 shirts (50% cotton, 50% polyester)?
b. Can ChromaBlast transfer onto other things like hats, mouse-mats etc?
c. I read somewhere that (I quote)

“ … the blank area is washed away and the result is a very graphic and crystal clear print on the cotton surface.”
Surely t-shirts don’t have to be washed before they are sold, and if so can you see the “blank area” after pressing?

Any advice in ChromaBlast would be greatly appreciated, as in what the quality is like when printed and after washing etc.


2. The Magic Touch Process:
After reading and seeing many videos regarding this process it seemed to me that although it’s an excellent ‘end result’ – the process is a little fiddly?

As far as I know (and please excuse me if I’m wrong), the process is by printing a mask, then an image. Then laying the mask over the image and pressing, then pressing this to the garment – all of the sheets need to lined up perfectly.
Any advice in Magic Touch would be greatly appreciated.


3. Vinyl & Robo Cutter Process:
Although this is a tried and tested method I don’t think that it can cater for my needs. Some of the designs I have are multicoloured and as far as I understand vinyl is great for t-shirts ………… if it’s one colour only (like text and once colour vectors etc). Kids stuff and the designs I have in mind are multi coloured so this may be an option that’s not suitable?

This, plus the need to have rolls and rolls of different coloured vinyl’s and flock ready to use and the weeding bit seems very long winded to me ………… although I am open to advice?


4. DTG Printers (Direct to Garment):
This is the luxurious option, and the most expensive! I think the process is outstanding and easy, but with this comes a very hefty price tag.

I have been looking at ex-demo models and refurbished models to keep the costs down, but they are still ‘very expensive’.
Anyone ever purchased an ex-demo / refurbished model?


So, as you can see – I want to be able to offer garment printing on both light and dark materials. T-shirts will be the most popular range (adults and toddlers).

Sorry to ramble on, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

bms
08-08-2010, 05:00 PM
Congratulations... I think you've probably set the record for the longest post ever :D


1. ChromaBlast printing:
Process understanding - yes that's it.
Chromablast adheres to cotton, so it will work with cotton blends and cotton/ poly mixes. In turn, anything that has cotton or cotton blend in it will work, so yes it will go onto lots of other products besides t-shirts. The blank area "residue" is what is called "the hand" - a feel in the product where the special coating on the paper sticks to garment without any colour. I'll cheat here and post a FAQ from Sawgrass
http://www.sawgrasseurope.com/v.php?pg=416


2. The Magic Touch Process:
What you're referring to here is the WOW7.1 material from TMT. Yes it is fiddly to begin with, but you can print full colour onto dark t-shirts with transparent areas in the picture. Apart from screen printing or DTG there isn't much else on the market that will offer this process. The cost however is quite high for this material.


3. Vinyl & Robo Cutter Process:
You can multi-layer some of the flex material on top of each other and you can lay flock on top of flex as well. You can get some good results with flex and I'd prefer to cut flex for standard writing to put onto a t-shirt rather than TMT TTC3.1 paper as you get a much more solid colour. There's also the ability to print multi-colour onto special flex - TMT material of OBM5.6 enables full colour printing and you can cut this afterwards with the Robo. Or there is printable flex using an Epson printer using the genuine Epson durabrite inks.


4. DTG Printers (Direct to Garment):
Yes expensive - in the early days I'd suggest you link up with a company that can offer this service for you. Once you tell them the price of a one off t-shirt done that way they may think again ;) Stitch Up has a DTG printer and I'm sure he'd be able to quote for this work as and when needed.

There isn't any easy answer to wanting to be able to print anything on any t-shirt - unless you've got plenty of space for plenty of machines!

AdamB
08-08-2010, 06:23 PM
Thank you very much Martin for your reply - it's appreciated.

As I understand it, Chromoblast is limited to white items (these produce the best results) whilst you can try to experiment with pastel colours.

So, can I use the Chromablast printer to print onto WOW 7.1 material so I can also offer black t-shirts?

accdave
08-08-2010, 07:44 PM
My own personal advice, stick to vinyl & sublimation first.especially for personalised stuff.

We have a shop and to be honest don't get asked that much for anything other than text or simple silhouette drawings on balck t-shirts. On the occasions we get asked for photo's on black clothing we explain what we do and 90% of the time they buy a subli t-shirt. We also use subli-flock which is good for small areas.

With e-bay you have to compete with the every man and his dog selling HIGH QUALITY printed t-shirts, usually with Tesco transfer paper !!!!

One option you might want to consider is the ready made transfers that Transfer Press sell.

My personal advice, get the shop up and running and see what you get asked for..

AdamB
08-08-2010, 08:11 PM
My own personal advice, stick to vinyl & sublimation first.especially for personalised stuff.

We have a shop and to be honest don't get asked that much for anything other than text or simple silhouette drawings on balck t-shirts. On the occasions we get asked for photo's on black clothing we explain what we do and 90% of the time they buy a subli t-shirt. We also use subli-flock which is good for small areas.

With e-bay you have to compete with the every man and his dog selling HIGH QUALITY printed t-shirts, usually with Tesco transfer paper !!!!

One option you might want to consider is the ready made transfers that Transfer Press sell.

My personal advice, get the shop up and running and see what you get asked for..

Thanks Dave, so how do 'you' do your subli t-shirts?

purpledragon
09-08-2010, 12:28 AM
Subli shirts
print from sublimation printer with sublimation inks using photoshop or corel
place 50/50polycotton shirt on heat press
preheat press to 190 degrees
place image on shirt imageside down
cover with silacone paper (optional)
and press med pressure 60 seconds
hey presto 1 sub dyed shirt. can only be done on white or very light colours must be 50% polyester
Brett

bms
09-08-2010, 09:34 AM
So, can I use the Chromablast printer to print onto WOW 7.1 material so I can also offer black t-shirts?
No, WOW7.1 is laser printer only, Chromablast is inkjet. They aren't compatible with each other.

accdave
09-08-2010, 02:16 PM
Subli shirts
print from sublimation printer with sublimation inks using photoshop or corel
place 50/50polycotton shirt on heat press
preheat press to 190 degrees
place image on shirt imageside down
cover with silacone paper (optional)
and press med pressure 60 seconds
hey presto 1 sub dyed shirt. can only be done on white or very light colours must be 50% polyester
Brett


Saved me some typing :D

Justin
09-08-2010, 02:27 PM
Echo some of the above comments, keep your initial overheads as low as possible, even if it means contracting orders out to a DTG printer.

I looked at Wow a while back. It takes a fair bit of getting used to, they demo it at the show but have been using it for some time. Cost wise it really isn't cheap, I was getting DTG garments printed in small quantities (6/12) for less than Wow worked out at.

We had a large format solvent printer which was great for printing one off transfers but again the outlay is sizeable, Versacamm far cheaper and worth a look maybe?

Sublimation is probably the best way to go but whites only, I don't personally like subli t's but the print is great. I've multi layered vinyl in the past with some good results but it can be time consuming if doing a number of shirts.

I used to import transfers from Pro-World etc. and these sell very well. You need to test the market to see what will work for you but they're easy to apply, cheap and have a great mark-up ;)

AdamB
10-08-2010, 06:01 PM
Guys,
thank you all so much for your replies and valuable info, in particlular Martin & Stich Up who have also answered lots of PM's along the way.

So, I have been on the phone with a few dealers of DTG machines and although this is something I would love to get - I just don't think it's feasible at this present moment in time (maybe next year ;-)).

I think I am going to go with the sublimation method, to allow us to offer a range of personalised gifts that can be placed on t-shirts, bags and the like. Using this method only I would be limited to white (and very pale colours) only but I wanted to also allow the option of printing onto dark/black t-shirts.

I think I read somewhere (I've read a lot of posts over the last couple of days, so if it's on here I apologise) that 30% of the demand is for white/ligght t-shirts with the rest wanting black/dark - so with this in mind, I think I also need to offer something for these individuals.

I will bulk order ready made transfers (thank you to Justin for an excellent recommendation - Pro-World), the ones like 'I have my mum wrapped around my finger' etc - and will have these in catalogue to browse through.

So, anyone got any recommendations for a decent sublimation printer?

I think I want one of A3 size to allow a little versatility, then I think I need a press!

P.S - ANOTHER BIG THANK YOU TO MARTIN! I spoke to him today and he saved me many hours typing questions!

Justin
10-08-2010, 06:15 PM
Good to see you're getting everything sorted ;) It's a lot to take in.

I use the Epson 1400 which is A3, it's a great printer used with the bulk ink CIS. The Epson B1100 is a fantastic buy and is a current model. Other option would be the Ricoh 7000, also A3. This uses cartridges. Another good option and you don't suffer as much with blocked nozzles etc.

If I was starting out afresh and had the budget I'd probably go for the Ricoh, first set of cart's don't last long as it's priming the ink lines but next sets of cart's will last a fair while. I had the A4 version when they first came out, the 5050. Didn't get on particularly well with it and print quality didn't compare to the 6 colour Epson 1400 but I do keep one for day to day printing.

Kaz
10-08-2010, 06:15 PM
I've got the Ricoh GX7000 which is A3 size, and it's brill :D

Prints quickly and quietly, and not had any problems that you can get with a CIS system, purrfect :lol: