Some questions about print and cut materials, printers and T shirts quality

[Boyan]

Hi,
I have recently started small sign making company here in Spain. I am thinking of opening a small shop to sustain me and attract clients for the things i am interested in / and where i make more money-CNc and Foam signs/ . One thing lead to another and now i have Roland GX 24 Vinyl cutter, large Liu Chinese cutter and most of all i bought a very good quality professional swing heat press. I really hunted a month for the heat press and travelled 1000km for it, as i concluded that this will be the central and most important equipment in the shop. I have already produced some T shirts and could confirm that the press matters, in reality the quality of the vinyl job seems better than my competitors/friends who are longer in the business, but have crappy presses.

I still have some questions after reading so much into the forums:

1. So i am thinking Dye sub printer. While trying to find used Ricoh A3, i decided maybe on new Epson for starters. The 1500W+refillable cartridges. meanwhile a friend left me a normal WF-7110 for a week or 2, normal inks. Its the cheapest of them all and i am a little confused. My RIP/ Qimages/ recognises it as 360ppi and overdrive at 720PPI, so how's that everywhere else they say some ridiculously high number for print quality???? So in relity, does it print better quality than the gel Ricoh or not?

2.Looking at some second hand print and cut Rolands. i cant remember where, but someone suggested http://www.marathonthreads.co.uk/digita ... cut-films/ . But before buying a printer i would like to see that materials in action. Especially the ones that imitate screen print/ dark and clear/ . Anyone seen that and touched it? How do they look. And which of these options are the must have? One important thing is that if i invest so much money in machinery, i will definitely start very seriously doing T shirts and selling them via various channels.

3. T shirt quality
I checked most of the T shirts they sell here in spain/ Ambor, Rolly, FOL, / and man, it's not good quality enough for me , i would say absolute crap, i personally will not buy such a T shirt. So i am a bit stuck. the only good quality t shirts i have seen so far are Uneek, a guy brings them from Uk. Any other options that are not very expensive? White, various blues, military green, grey, black
Next comes the price. till now i have concluded that i have to buy 1000-2000 to start with, as otherwise the calcs do not work correctly. Am i right?

Does somebody know of mixed lots where i can achieve a great price, leftovers, misplaced labels, etc.?

thanks!

Any advice will be appreciated

[Earl Smith]

Try Uneek in Germany, I think they are the EU mainland supplier. www.uneekclothing.de They speak english too.
For good quality t-shirts , polos, sweats you could also try Hakro and Promodoro. http://www.promodoro-shop.de/frontend_10/
There is a firm in Denmark called ID (I think) and their prices and quality are even higher/better.
None of the stuff from these firms would be called as Cr#p.

AS for your other questions about cutter etc I hope some other, more informed member will post about it.

Good luck.

[Boyan]

Thanks, will look into that. I will speak with them about samples/prices. Am i right to assume that companies will send me samples of the stuff i want to see if i buy them?

[Earl Smith]

They usually do but you will naturally have to pay for them.

[socialgiraffe]

I know that Ralawise have a European distribution network.

They sell a lot of ranges, some cheap and some really expensive. They might have a range you are looking for. www.ralawise.com


As far as printable film is concerned. It really depends on the garment you choose. Some films work better with some makes than others. Once you have a garment you are happy with I would recommend then testing all the films available to find the one that you like the most.

Siser is one of the largest manufacturers and I think that are Spanish which may help in terms of getting samples etc.

I have not used the garment film you have put a link to, but it does look interesting.

[pw66]

Resolution of a sublimation printer is not critical when printing onto fabric, but it is when printing onto hard items such as mugs or panels.

Not all Fruit of the Loom is crap - they make several grades of t-shirt. The 'original' is crap but the 'Super Premium' is quite good.

Russell make nice t-shirts.

Some Uneek products are good. Unless you are buying carton lots they can be expensive, because they do pack and single pricing.
Falk and Ross offer simple pricing structures, and they have a depot in France.

Seems strange that you are worried about quality, but are prepared to buy seconds.

[Boyan]

Thanks for the information. I am willing to buy seconds, as i will be making T shirts for retail, so one offs to check interest, or to have some cheap stuff will be great.

Ok, so FOL will be checked, their better models. I will need something that is thin and nice, as summer here in Spain is ridiculously humid and hot, so any thick cotton in the summer is a No.

Today a friend showed me Print and Cut on t shirt, honestly it was tragic. Maybe his supplier is not using the right stuff. I have Dark Iron On Inkjet paper here, that in reality is quite good to the touch and feel, except 2 problems. One is it still has that paper like sound, though its obviously a vinyl. next problem i have with that paper, maybe i am doing something wrong, i can not cut it perfectly. Roland GX, very slow cut, new cutter. Still the edges are a bit torn, any idea?

So i will follow your advice and buy samples from Marathon and press them on my T shirts, otherwise i will always have doubts. And having in mind i would like to invest in a printer, i have to do that. next would be the Siser range, and if i dont like it, will see about the printer, will outsource only when needed.

Luckily these days i bought off from closing business 30 t shirts for less than 1e each, and OMG, these are good ones, probably 3-5e quality . So its a start

[Earl Smith]

http://www.keyaeurope.eu/
These people supply good , cheap t-shirts. You will see them all over Spain and Greece. They are ok and wash well for the price.
If you have problems with English you can PM me in spanish or german and I will try and help. But only about t-shirts as I am not so good on the print and cut info.
Dont write on the open forum in a language other than english, it is not allowed.