What would you buy if you had £1000-£2000

[Dave271069]

As a hobbiest and not a big business just yet, what would you buy if you had between £1000 and £2000 to spend, imagine you have most of the equipment required for sublimation, eg a4 printer, heat press, mug,press, vinyl cutter.
ive been looking at small embroidery machines today maybe for breast logos etc but I would like something capable of embroiding baseball caps, is this possible on this budget and also 3d vacume machines.

anyway just putting it out there, what would you buy?

[New Horizons]

I would use some of the money to increase my stock levels by bulk buying at quantity discount prices. Every item I then sell automatically has an increased profit margin on it.

With machinery, I always look at how many items it would take to sell to recover my investment in it. From my own perspective if that is going to realistically be more than six months, then I walk away. I also look at the benefits to the customer of being able to add extra products. Do they have real value, or are they just a novelty.

[logobear]

I think I agree with NH - but maybe half on stock, and half on marketing..... develop your website and Facebook presence, sponsor a few local events or offer prizes to boost yuur visibility in your area. Maybe a stall for markets, events etc
Small scale embroidery is difficult to make pay, as there will always be someone who can do it better and cheaper.

[Dave271069]

I like the idea of a stall for markets and boot sales, would need to look more into this, lots of boot sales very close by to us, what would you sell? How would you display? Would you make one off or stock up on certain products,? Tshirts etc seem to be my main line at the mo but can do all sublimation, Mmmm maybe I could invests in a nice generator , decision decision,

[socialgiraffe]

I have made the mistake of purchasing machinery to expand my range of items before, and in my case it was embroidery. Forgetting the fact that to do embroidery well is a very very very steep learning curve. Whatever enquiries you think you are getting right now, these will need to increase 400% minimum to make the machine pay. You also need to be careful as you could end up with all these machines but with only one pair of hands and there will always be a machine that is doing nothing. A machine doing nothing is not earning any money but instead collecting dust.

Knowing a bit about your business, and ignoring the marketing tips (not because they are bad ideas but because I presume your marketing is already sorted) then I would bank the money, save a bit more and then work towards being able to produce full colour garments either with a Versacamm or more likely a TMT white toner system or even a DTG.

You could always buy a cap press and print and cut caps. There are a lot out there that are not embroidered (incidentally even a lot of embroidery companies steer well clear of caps).

I think I have said before, do you want to be known as Dave the guy who can sort you out with anything or Dave the guy that does superb garments. If its "sort you out with anything" then you need A LOT of kit and you could find, as I did at times, that you have just spent an hour setting up a machine, printing and finishing the item only to find the invoice at the end was for less than £10.00

I would also hold off on a 3d machine. It seems to me that the only thing it does well at the moment is phone covers. I can see these machines coming down in price and until there are more jigs and more items (for example I think 3d will be able to do full wrap mugs soon). then there does not seem much point to them unless phone covers are your thing.

I may well spend some on stock, but as you know, stocking up on garments is a minefield and unless you are going to stick to one or two clothing brands and limit the colours the money will not go that far. Look at Gildan who have 45 colours in the 5000 range. To stock one of each colour in each size will cost £300+ (plus VAT) and you only have 1 of each size and colour!

I think I can only draw from my own experience, spending on machines to expand the range has always cost me dear and been a complete failure. Spending money on something that increases my options on something I am known for has done me really well. Two examples below...

Embroidery, machine cost £18,000. After two years the machine had earned about £9000. Which is not that bad as most industral machines you look at 5-6 years to get your money back. But still only got half the money (ignoring materials and time) after two years.

TMT white system. This is being installed tomorrow. I have orders for about £4000 for coloured mugs already which can only be done with this system.

The TMT system has raised this interest/orders because I have emailed my customers with the new product that I am already known for in white. If I emailed them about something like embroidery I would not get a look in.


I know that I am a B2B supplier so some of the above will not apply to you, but I personally think the core principles are the same.


(sorry for waffling!!!)

[Dave271069]

Not waffling! And all really appreciated advice!

[pisquee]

I would look at the equipment I had bought for starting up the business, and review whether any of them are holding back the business - in terms of time they take to do a job, how well they do a job, how reliable they are, how well built they are in terms of how much longer they will last,or whether upgrading to a bigger one would improve product offer or production methods.
You say that you're "not a big business just yet" which implies you want your business to grow - so look at your equipment and see if any of it is stopping you from growing how you'd like.
Would buying a better quality press improve this for you, or upgrading to an A3 printer (or A2, A1, A0...)

We started with an Epson 1400 with CISS, along with a cheap Chinese 15" press. We knew that our business not only had the potential to grow, but also it needed to, there were products we needed that needed bigger/better equipment. We now have Epson metre wide printers, a metre wide rotary press, and a range of high quality flat bed presses.

[viccar]

More stock and a shed to put it in (i have all the equipment i need right now)

If i realy had lots of money i would extend and make a new bigger workroom or a big workshop down the bottom of the garden.....dreaming now........

[smo]

Advertising and marketing would be a smarter way than putting it into machinery, unless you already have enough orders to make it pay. I'd certainly avoid embroidery machinery at that price point, the quality will be poor and it will be slow and very limiting. To give you an idea the cap frame driver for one of our machines is £850+vat alone, thats to go onto a top end machine but gives you an idea of how much professional kit costs.

[smo]

for example I think 3d will be able to do full wrap mugs soon

It already can, we can do a full mug wrap on ours