If you can get enough clients, then yea, its profitable, but thats any business really. I don't have any specific equipment recommendations, but you'll definitely need a flash dryer and a belt dryer if you're working with plastisol inks. As for advice, I would say do your research. Screen printing can get expensive pretty quickly, especially if you're planning to do it as a business and not just a hobby. Besides that, practice, practice, practice. Screen printing is not the easiest thing to learn. Its going to take time to learn proper printing and exposure techniques. Best of luck though, and be prepared to print a lot of boring art.

Save yourself some money and look for used equipment to start out with.

Thank you! My friend is going to teach me hands on everything he has learned over the years. I have been looking into flash dryers and belt dryers. I am trying to find some nice used equipment, so I can get the most quality for the money.

from my personal experience being in this same boat a few years ago, buy a shop primer and read it. buy the best equipment you can afford. as soon as you start to get out of the red you need to upgrade and it always seems if you upgrade one piece of equipment you have to several pieces, example you want to do over sized prints you need a new platen,screens,squeegee(which do get expensive when you are doing 6 color and up),flash dryer,and possible a new exposure unit or conveyor dryer. i say if your going to do it you better do it right!

For equipment check out http://www.digitsmith.com/

The learning curve is rough and takes time, the whole process is slow going from learning to getting clients. You also have to figure out your primary market and figure out your pricing...bands can't pay what companies can. Some clients don't care if their shirts are $20 per shirt and some will think $4 is too high.

We use TSCapparel.com and BodekAndRhodes.com for blanks, both great companies.

Don't use wooden screens

Once you get a solid client that reprints do everything you can to keep them...at my shop we print for the same people over and
over and over which makes it so much easier.

Exposure units are very important

Don't take on jobs you can't do - color print on a black shirt...you won't be able to do it :)

If you can check out and visit ISS tradeshow/expo...they also have some interesting classes for new techniques and so forth

Theres a ton more and most of that is basic info but I would suggest start small and grow as you learn.

Have fun! :)

I want to start with all of the equipment to print big full front shirts. I'm getting at least a 6/6 press. I'm doing alot of bargain hunting and trying to get the best deals.

Where did you guys start out with getting clients? I want to be the company that does more personalized jobs like start up clothing lines and band tees, rather than promotional products and baseball tees. But I am definitely going to aim for a local client base as well.

Thanks HillmanB! I will check into all of that. I am really excited to start learning and growing as a company.

devinandaniels said:I want to start with all of the equipment to print big full front shirts. I'm getting at least a 6/6 press. I'm doing alot of bargain hunting and trying to get the best deals.

Where did you guys start out with getting clients? I want to be the company that does more personalized jobs like start up clothing lines and band tees, rather than promotional products and baseball tees. But I am definitely going to aim for a local client base as well.

If you're expecting to print interesting art for bands and clothing lines, then prepare to be disappointed. Everybody wants to do that, but quickly realizes that the vast majority of their clients are local sports teams, schools, and businesses.

It can be profitable, but you will need to find a niche market, and you have to be excellent at every single order to survive. Most cities have tens if not hundreds of printers. Then there are just as many promotional product companies that contract the print jobs out to the lowest bidder, so you will have tons of competition.

As far as equipment, any major brand name manual press (M&R, Workhorse, Riley Hopkins, Anatol, etc) will work fine. As long as it holds tight registration and has microregistration adjustments, there isn't much difference between them.

• Buy a dryer that is bigger than you need right now. If you expand, you will need a dryer that can keep up with an automatic press, and large used dryers are less expensive than new small ones.

• If you will be printing with waterbased ink, buy a gas dryer with forced air circulation.

• Use aluminum screens.

• Buy a metal halide exposure unit. If you use a multi bulb setup, or inferior light source, your images will not be exposing accurately. Multidirectional light and prolonged exposure to light causes undercutting of the image. It is also very easy to over or underexpose a screen with lower quality bulbs. This is not enough to notice when printing large open spot color designs, but anything with halftones works best with a single, strong light source, exposed for a minimal amount of time. We had a Nuarc 800W metal halide unit that exposed perfect screens with 30 second and less exposure time.

• Buy a pint of black, red, blue, and whites from a few different ink manufacturers and print test prints with each. Find an ink that you like the best. We find that Wilflex inks print very smooth, and have good opacity. We use Matsui for wb inks.

• Buy sample blanks from different manufacturers to find what your "base" shirt will be for promo type jobs.

Thank you so much for the information.

Where should I begin to build a price lists of services? What is the going rate for screen printing?

Are there any preferred suppliers for blanks? I am looking into Staton and TSC apparel right now.

Look around at what others are charging. Know what your expenses are and what you need in order to stay afloat. Then think about what you need to pay your own bills. And various other expenses... Supplies, screens, etc. Don't undercharge for your services. Don't overcharge if you're a brand new company. Do good work; charge accordingly.

Loads of great info...Im looking to do the same myself..thanks guys!!

We started out under the same concept and it takes time.

Al the various forums, youtube videos, blogs all help. Its a series of trial and error to find the perfect methods that suit you, everyone has slightly differing techniques to achieve a fine print.

Be patient, allow yourself to have lots of 'Rags' and just keep working at it. Your company will be as good as your print work, customer service and ability to deliver to the clients specification and deadlines.

Its a long road, but its fun, creative and is a service that is definitely needed!

Any advice feel free to drop us a line!

You will need to invest on a large format printer also, it will save you time and money in the long run. Otherwise you will be dependent on someone else for all your film output which can get annoying when you are in a time crunch.

I had a quick question for everyone who has shops. Do you typically charge for a white base color? I'm currently printing shirts for a local company and I'm having issues with getting the yellow ink to lay on the royal blue shirts they chose. We obviously aren't going to charge them but for future reference I was wondering how you guys go about this and if you just eat the screen fee or if you include an extra screen fee.

andrewcilley said:I had a quick question for everyone who has shops. Do you typically charge for a white base color? I'm currently printing shirts for a local company and I'm having issues with getting the yellow ink to lay on the royal blue shirts they chose. We obviously aren't going to charge them but for future reference I was wondering how you guys go about this and if you just eat the screen fee or if you include an extra screen fee.

Most shops either charge for an additional color to under base or has a different price sheet for dark garments. Which I think it is better to just charge another color since it is silly to have two price sheets. Or you could just say add .50 cents for an under base or whatever you feel is a necessary cost and it could be on a at need basis