now the madness starts!

[socialgiraffe]

Great packaging there SSP.

One small thing that I am sure you have already thought about. Put the size information on the outside of the pack somewhere I would also incorporate an image of the whole tee shirt so that customers can see the whole design.

[pisquee]

You can't use an HP for sublimation inks. Stick to Epson, or printers from manufacturers using Epson heads.

[ssp]

You can't use an HP for sublimation inks. Stick to Epson, or printers from manufacturers using Epson heads.

yes your right i did some more reading up and I am now looking at another large format printer. thanks for the heads up on that!

[pisquee]

Epson 9600s sometimes come up on Ebay, and go for around £600
You'd then need a set of refill carts, which are around £100

Ideally you'd want to flush the old inks out with printer cleaning fluid/flush.

In the service menus, there is "INIT FILL" command, which flushes out the current inks into the maintenance tank, and loads the new inks in.

[ssp]

I am looking for a large bed heat press at the moment, I have seen a couple and need to book an appointment to go see them in use before I decide. I did think about screen printing but it's just not an option for me. My biggest issue at the moment is my cap press.... The platen I got isn't right for the caps and the supplier can't get other sizes, but I will get that sorted.

Thanks for the info on the epson, I will look into those tonight.

[ssp]

so today i got on with things and did a couple of other shirts, also the rear package card i am redesigning at the moment to show a virtual tshirt render with the contained t-shirt front and rear (thanks for the idea socialgiraffe!). As for sizes rather than having to add to the print i can just have xs,s,m,l,xl,xxl stickers placed on the boxes or tagged to them using plastic sizing clips this saves multiple prints of the same item card.

So here are a few pics from today, I am working on a few more, and also a display stand for them and promotional material, I have had some great reaction to these so far and the other designs i have done so i am hoping these may go somewhere.

Just incase you are wondering where the blister packs are from , they are from a company called mr-blister here in the uk, the ones in the pictures are T45, i need a slightly larger version and also one for the baseball caps/snapbacks i will be doing. More on that to follow.

[mrs maggot]

have you had any feedback yet on the wearability (comfort not durability) of the t shirts ?? just curious, as they are a completely different feel to normal cotton shirts

[socialgiraffe]

Hi SSP

Love your work and as a graphic designer myself I know how excited you will be after finding this avenue for creating your art.

However proceed with caution...

before purchasing a wide format printer and large heat press, ask your self if that is really they way you want to go. Yes it does mean you can print full coverage, but ask how many garments will be like that or do you just modify your designs?

Perhaps look at the TMT white printer (Ask then for some sample transfers and they will send you some). This, in my opinion, will open up a better revenue stream as you will be able to print on black and coloured garments. Read up on the forum as I think there maybe problems with the A3 version of the printer at the moment, but the A4 one is getting rave reviews.

I work within the music industry and know the two biggest screen printers in the country for printing garments for Arena tours etc. I was speaking to one of them the other day and they said that coloured garments out sell whites by about 9 to 1. They also said that oversize printing is quite rare and they reckon its less than 5% of their work. Just a thought for you

Not trying to tell you about your business and all I am saying is think carefully and with your creativity you are bound to do well.

[ssp]

Hi SSP

Love your work and as a graphic designer myself I know how excited you will be after finding this avenue for creating your art.

However proceed with caution...

before purchasing a wide format printer and large heat press, ask your self if that is really they way you want to go. Yes it does mean you can print full coverage, but ask how many garments will be like that or do you just modify your designs?

Perhaps look at the TMT white printer (Ask then for some sample transfers and they will send you some). This, in my opinion, will open up a better revenue stream as you will be able to print on black and coloured garments. Read up on the forum as I think there maybe problems with the A3 version of the printer at the moment, but the A4 one is getting rave reviews.

I work within the music industry and know the two biggest screen printers in the country for printing garments for Arena tours etc. I was speaking to one of them the other day and they said that coloured garments out sell whites by about 9 to 1. They also said that oversize printing is quite rare and they reckon its less than 5% of their work. Just a thought for you

Not trying to tell you about your business and all I am saying is think carefully and with your creativity you are bound to do well.

Yes i understand where you are coming from and i do appreciate all the input, i am looking to get some gray and khaki colour tees in also. I did see the direct to garment printing at the P&P show the other week, yes they very good and what they did was nice and it is something i am looking into.

The main reason for sticking with the whites at the moment is simply becuase I am also looking as sales in the states in area where white tees outsell everything else. I have friends in the latino community who are going to have a selection of my designs and basically wear then and let me know the response. Also some samples are going to established shops out there also.

I am looking into cotton tees and where i can go with them with my designs. I still have to sort the baseball caps out and getting different snapbacks and other styles in then packaging them. I already have an insert design for them i just have to sort the platens for my press out.

I do need to find a cheaper source of poly tees that still have the same quality as the xpres tees do, I do like the allwedo range i found it very nice and good quality.

Darker colours is something i will go into but before i set up on a direct to garment which would have to be an A3 minimum size i want to see as you said a reliable product.

The other option is screen printing but its a route i dont really want to go down, DTG is more what i would want.

Really appreciate the advice here, well worth the sign up fee!

[socialgiraffe]

For a source of polyester tees you could try BTC Activewear.

There is a new garment on the market made by Gildan. Its called the 42000 Core Performance and list price is £1.95 for white.

DTG's are brilliant and there are some very experienced users on here who will be able to help you with your choices