One of the things that never ceases to amaze me with people just getting into printing Tshirts, is how difficult folk tend to make it for themselves ;-). You know, starting a Tshirt printing business really doesn’t need to be as difficult and as frustrating as many people make it, in fact it can be incredibly straight forward.

What it all boils down to, is very simple. It’s one word:

Focus.

Many people who come to me for advice on starting a Tshirt or other garment and/or gifts printing business, make things incredibly complex for themselves simply because they have no focus.

What – EXACTLY- do you want to produce?

Who is your target market, initially, and what products are you going to be providing?

If your answer to this (and I get this a lot) is “Tshirts, and lots of other items, to anyone” – then you have no focus, and as a result, it’s going to be very difficult for you to know whether you’re getting setup with the correct gear.

Let me give you an example of someone who does have focus, so you can see the difference.

Occasionally, a customer will tell me: I’m starting a business printing mainly one-use Tshirts for Stag & Hen / Bachelor & Bachelorette Parties & other events.

The rest of the conversation will go something along the lines of:

Me: OK, no problem. Are you going to be printing just text, single colour etc., or photographic?

Customer: Mainly photos & other designs, multi colour, some text too.

Me: OK, do you need to print on dark, or are you OK on white & light colours?

Customer: White & light colours are fine.

Me: Great, does it need to be cotton?

Customer: Doesn’t really matter.

Me: Do you need a big range of shirt styles?

Customer: No, as little choice as possible, I want to keep minimal blanks stocks.

Me: OK, I’d go for dye sublimation. Nice and simple, fantastic, permanent high quality vibrant prints onto white and light coloured polyester Tshirts (there’s a growing range of 100% polyester and specialist dye sublimation garments). All you need is a dye sublimation printer and a flat heat press. Set up cost from around eight hundred to a thousand, or more, depending on which heat press you go for – but dye sublimation is easy on the press, so you don’t really need anything fancy.  Also – if you want to add to your range in the future, with this same setup you can press onto a huge range of other dye sublimation blanks – and if you add a mug press, you can produce mugs too, which are a great seasonal seller.

This is just one example of someone who is starting out with some focus, so it’s clear which is the best print process for them starting out.

But here’s the way a conversation goes more often than not:

Customer: I want to start a business printing Tshirts and other garments, and lots of other items.

Me: What kind of markets are you planning on selling into?

Customer: Nothing. Tumbleweed blowing past.

Me:  Do you know if you’ll be wanting to print onto cotton garments, or polyester?

Customer: Both? I’m not sure.

Me: Do you know if you’re going to want to print onto dark garments as well as white and light coloured garments?

Customer: I’m not sure.

Me: What’s your budget.

Customer: I’m not sure.

The issue here is that the customer doesn’t know who their target market is, so they can’t know what they’ll want, they don’t really know what they want to produce – so I really can’t advise them on a way forward. Sometimes folk getting into printing, vastly underestimate the startup costs of certain processes too.

One customer recently told me all of the things she wanted to do – which was more or less everything and anything you can think of, including garments & homeware items of all shapes & sizes.  My honest answer when it came to what she needed to get setup, was probably a couple hundred thousand dollars budget, a fairly large factory, and at least half a dozen staff. She was blown away, as she was wanting to do this on her own with a budget of a few hundred.

So what I said to her, and what I say to many, many people – is that you’re better off taking a step back, and focusing initially on one particular type of customer, to whom you’re going to sell one particular type of product.

Figure out who they are, what they want exactly, how you can reach them, how much they’ll be willing to pay,  what the competition is missing when it comes to this particular market that you can take advantage of, and get started focusing purely on this market, with one type of printer, one main type of garment, and then grow your business from there.

When you’re this laser focused, it’s very easy to know exactly what set up you need, as you’ll know exactly what kind of garments you need to print.

For example, if you’re focusing on shirts for small independent rock bands who will be selling them at gigs, you’ll probably want black cotton Tshirts & hoodies.  This really narrows things down when it comes to what equipment you’ll need.

If you’re focusing on one use Tshirts for parties & so on, you’ll probably want white & light coloured garments, and there probably won’t be a huge sway towards cotton, so dye sublimation will probably be the best way forward.

It also really helps to have a good understanding of what business model you’re going for too as well as knowing who your customers are.

For example, you may be planning on selling large volumes of Tshirts wholesale – but are you shipping stock  to the customer – or on a drop ship basis, large volumes but split up into individual orders being delivered directly to the end user with their own unique design? This would change which print process would be suitable, if it was the former then screen would be the obvious choice, but if it was the latter, you couldn’t really go the screen route as you’d need a new screen to be exposed for each individual order.

It all comes down to having properly planned  what it is you’re about to do – you know the old saying “failing to plan is planning to fail” – it’s a cliche, but it’s a very true one.  If you don’t know exactly who your target market is before you start, you’re leaving everything to chance, you may well end up with completely the wrong kind of setup. Even more importantly, if you don’t know who your target market are, how are  you going to promote your business? I can tell you from personal experience, even if you have a physical shop on a popular high street – “build it and they will come” is an utter myth.

So if at this stage you’re not sure what gear you need – just take a step back, and as yourself “who, exactly, are my target market?”. If you know the answer to this, then you can figure out what they need – what kind of garments, what do they need to be made of, what base color(s) do they need to be, what kind of designs will they need, basic one and two colour, or full photographic? Once you’ve gone through this process, you should have a far better idea of what kind of kit you’re going to need to get started – and then as your business grows, you can also target other markets and invest in adding other print processes as strings to your bow if required.

If you’re considering inkjet transfer Tshirt printing, or CYMK laser transfer printing, and/or contour cut heat transfer vinyl, then you’ll probably be wondering which is the best cutter plotter to go for.

You may have heard about the Silhouette Cameo, in which case you may be wondering whether the Cameo is the best contour cutter for you, or whether there’s another cutter you should be looking at? 

Do I actually need a vinyl cutter?

I’d recommend starting out asking this question, and this comes down to understanding which Tshirt printing method or methods you are going to be employing.

If you’re planning on only printing via dye sublimation printing for example, then you won’t need a vinyl cutter potter – just a dye sublimation printing set up and a heat press.

If you’re going to be using bought in transfers, or bought in embroidered heat transfer appliques, all you’ll need is a heat press.

You don’t need a cutter plotter for Tshirt screen printing, or DTG printing, or for self weed laser transfer printing with a white toner laser printer.

If you’re going to be using either CMYK laser transfer printing or inkjet transfer printing, you’ll need a cutter, especially when it comes to printing on dark garments. You’ll need the contour cutter for cutting out the unwanted background.

You can get away without doing this for white or light coloured Tshirts if you prefer, although if there is a lot of white background in a design, cutting and then weeding it out will enhance the handle of the garment once the transfer has been applied.

You’ll also need a cutter plotter of course, for Tshirt transfer vinyl.

You’ll buy the vinyl either on the roll, or in sheets, then cut it using a cutter plotter such as the Silhouette Cameo, before finally weeding out the background, and heat pressing onto the Tshirt, hoodie or sweatshirt.

There is also self weeding Tshirt transfer vinyl or flex, for which you don’t need a cutter. You print the text or design in black, using a CMYK laser printer, and then heat press the media to create the transfer, and during this process, the text or image automatically becomes separate from the background, which is known as “self weed”.

Is the Silhouette Cameo machine, the best vinyl cutter plotter for Tshirts?

If you’ve decided you’re going to be using a Tshirt printing method which does require a cutter plotter, the next question would be, what is the best vinyl cutter plotter for Tshirts, and is it the Silhouette Cameo?

The first thing I would say, is that in my opinion, whether you’re going to be using Tshirt vinyl, or cutting out the background on laser or inkjet transfers, the Silhouette Cameo will do the job fine.

However, whether you should go for small desktop cutter, would depend on the width of the media you want to use.

If you’re mainly going to be using Tshirt vinyl on the roll – a desktop cutter probably isn’t the best choice.

On the face of it, it would seem that when it comes to Tshirts, a small desktop cutter plotter like the Silhouette Cameo, would be fine – with a max cutting width of 12″, and a max length of 10 feet, without a cutting mat.

Surely this is more than enough for Tshirt printing?

It is, but the issue comes when you want to buy Tshirt vinyl on the roll, as a lot of the suppliers of vinyl sell it on rolls at 15″ or above, meaning they’re too large for the Cameo, and other small desktop cutter plotters.

It’s not that you can’t get 12″ rolls of vinyl, you can – it’s just that you’re restricted to who you can buy from, if you want to buy on 12″ rolls, and it’s likely to cost you more.

The most cost effective way to buy vinyl, is usually on the roll at 15″ wide or above. You can cut the rolls down to 12″, or have them cut down, but then you’re losing 3″ or more of the roll width, which means your vinyl cost increases as a result.

You can buy Tshirt vinyl in smaller rolls and sheet form, you’ll usually find the cost is higher, although, you’ll need to compare the cost to the cost of vinyl on the roll once it’s cut down, to know whether you’re better off buying rolls or sheets.

If you know that you’re going to be mainly focusing on Tshirt vinyl – for this reason, you may be better advised to look at a 15″ or 24″ vinyl cutter, such as the popular Graphtec CE600 15″, or the same 24″ version of the CE600.

In terms of which is best 15″ or 24″, again it mainly comes down to the roll width of the Tshirt vinyl you’re going to be purchasing. If you find that some of the vinyl you want to work with is sold on rolls wider than 15″, then going for a 24″ cutter would make sense.

Decent 15″ cutters such as the Graphtec, will set you back around $1,200 new, and 24″ around $2,000.

If you don’t have the budget, then I’d consider looking for a used top brand cutter plotter, vs going for a brand new no brand cutter, the same advice I offer when it comes to heat presses.

Don’t have the budget for a bigger cutter?

If you don’t have the budget, and you don’t want to go for a used cutter, then starting out with a desktop cutter such as the Silhouette Cameo and being restricted on roll width, isn’t the end of the world.

It may make your costs a bit higher when using Tshirt vinyl, but when it comes to the overall impact it will have on your profit margins, it’s unlikely to make much of a difference, especially when you take into account the monthly depreciation value of the more expensive bigger cutter into the equation when doing your profit and loss.

So whether the Silhouette Cameo is the best cutter for you, it really depends on your intended use, your budget, and whether or not it will cause you much of an issue to not be able to load the larger rolls of vinyl.

The Cameo has a max width of 12″, meaning that you could create maximum text or image height of just under 12 inches (realistically probably about 11.5), with a max width of 10 feet (without a cutting mat).

So it’s plenty big enough for most transfers for Tshirts and other garments.

If you’re planning on creating larger stickers, or using the cutter for other applications, then just pay close attention to the maximum cutting size & work out whether the cutting size of a smaller desktop cutter plotter such as the Cameo is going to restrict you from doing what you were planning to do.

The best desktop vinyl cutter under $300

I think it’s fair to say that the Silhouette Cameo is one of the most popular, best selling desktop cutter plotters, for home use, for crafting, for t shirts, particularly for startup businesses or anyone with an entry level budget.

The Cameo is very popular for the craft market, it’s a very well known machine within the crafting community, the current version at the time of writing, is the Silhoutte Cameo 3.

If we’re talking about the best cutter for vinyl period, or for Tshirts period, without taking into account budget or size, then it’s probably not a fair contest given that many of the other cutters we would need to take into consideration, would be much bigger, more industrial cutters with much higher price tags.

But if we’re asking whether or not the Cameo is the best vinyl cutter at this price range, then I do think it’s very fair to say that the Silhouette Cameo is a contender for title of the best desktop vinyl cutter under $300.

Dual Carriages

The Silhouette Cameo has two carriages, which means it is able to both sketch and cut at the same time, meaning you don’t need to stop and change from pen to blade if you’re cutting and drawing at the same time.

This isn’t going to be of much use for Tshirt vinyl, or inkjet or laser transfers, but if you’re using the cutter for other kinds of products, such as tags and labels for example, being able to sketch and cut at the same time is a great feature.

Autoblade

One of the really clever things about the Silhouette Cameo, is the autoblade, which means that the blade automatically changes it’s length depending on what you’re cutting.

This is such a great feature, oh and by the way, if you do go for the Silhouette Cameo and you seem to be having cutting problems, usually with the blade cutting to deep, just make sure you have the auto blade pushed all the way in, if you look at the blade and notice there’s maybe a 1mm gap around the ridge, that’s not right, there shouldn’t be any gap. You need to push it down so it’s properly locked in. This seems to be an error many people make. See the video below for more info.

Silhouette Studio

One of the great things about the Cameo, is the software, Silhouette Studio. As with the Sawgrass Virtuoso dye sublimation printers with VPM and creative studio, Silhouette Studio is a tool which is designed to make life as simple and easy as possible for the operator, so it’s a great thing for beginners.

While you can bring in text and images from other programs including Photoshop, Silhouette Studio has plenty of fonts to choose from, and if you want to buy templates & designs rather than making your own, there are masses available at the Silhouette Design Store, and they’re really not expensive (at about $0.50 each).

It’s really straight forward to create your own designs including text, using Silhouette Studio.

Cheaper Vinyl Cutters?

You can get cheaper, non branded cutters, but as with other machines including printers and heat presses, it’s not necessarily the best idea to buy based purely on price, especially when the difference is fairly insignificant.

The Cameo has a lot going for it, including Silhouette Studio, IMO this alone is worth the $50-$100 that you could save on going for a cheaper small desktop cutter.

What about Cricut?

There’s another small desktop vinyl cutter brand on the market which is also very popular, called Cricut. Cricut do a few models, but the one which is closest in terms of price and features to Cameo, is the Cricut Explore Air 2.

Wins for Cricut Explore Air 2

• Capable of faster cutting (although you probably wouldn’t use the fast mode for Tshirt vinyl).
• Slightly more precise when cutting more intricate designs.
• Much more cutting power, 4Kg vs 210g (wouldn’t make much difference for Tshirt vinyl or transfers)

Wins for Silhouette Cameo 3

• Bigger max cut when cutting out printed media.
• Bigger max cut length, of 10 feet (without a cutting mat) vs 23.5 inches
• Silhouette Studio, from what I can gather, is a design space which is easier to use.

Just to explain the bigger max cut with printed media. This is probably one of the most important wins for Cameo 3 Vs Cricut Explore Air 2 when it comes to Tshirt printing.

If you’re cutting vinyl, then the max cut size with the Cricut explore Air 2 is 12 x 23.5″, Vs 12″ x 10 feet with the Silhouette Cameo 3. I doubt this would be an issue for you for Tshirt printing, it’s doubtful many Tshirt printers would need to produce transfers larger than 12×23.5″.

For me, though, the potential issue with the max cut with printed transfers, which restricts the size of printed transfers that the Cricut Explore Air 2 will cut, which depends on which browser you’re using.

• Google Chrome: 5.5 x 8 inches
• Mozilla Firefox/Safari/Internet Explorer/Edge: 6 x 8.5 inches
• iOS apps: 6.5 x 9 inches

For more on this, read this post on the non crafty crafter.

If you’re just starting to research setting up a T shirt & giftware printing business, one of the things you’ll need to decide on is the heat press, and one of the questions you’ll come across, is swing away vs clamshell heat presses, which one is right for you?

The difference between swing away and clamshell heat presses.

They both deliver heat and pressure, they both achieve the same end result in terms of heat pressing transfers to T shirts & other items. But they do it slightly differently.

Swing away heat presses

Swing away heat presses work with the top platen remaining parallel to the bottom table, and the heat platen then swings away (hence the name) around the back of the machine.

As you can see by the photo to the left, of the Geo Knight DK20SP swing away heat press, you need to swing the top platen all the way out to the back, in order to have full access to the bottom table.

Clam or clamshell heat presses

With clam presses, the top platen opens and closes like a sea shell, hence the name.

So the heat platen lifts up, not remaining parallel to the lower table as with swing away presses, but with the heat platen facing the operator.

As you can see on the photo on the left of the Geo Knight DK20 clamshell heat press, operating a clamshell heat press is just a case of opening and closing the press.

The Pros of Clamshell Heat Presses.

• Cheaper
• Lighter weight & more portable
• Faster production
• Space saving

Cheaper

While you will find some budget swing away heat presses (Geo Knight offer the Jet Press hobby/craft presses, and Hix have  the SwingMan Hobby Lite) generally speaking, clamshell presses are less expensive than swing away.

Usually if you’re looking at a range of heat presses from the same manufacturer, you’ll find that their clamshell presses are the cheaper presses in the range.

This is true with Geo Knight, the DK20s swing away is $250 more than the DK20 camshell. With Stahls, their Hotronix Fusion swing away heat press is at the top end of their range at $500 more than the Stahls Hotronix auto open 16×20″. The Hix Swingman 16×20 is around $400 more than their HT600 clamshell, and the Insta 256 swing away is $300 more than their 158 clamshell.

Lighter Weight

Again, there are exceptions to this such as the Geo Knight Jet Press 12 and 14, and the Hix SwingMan Hobby Lite but swing away heat presses are usually a lot heavier than clamshell heat presses.

An example of this is the Geo Knight DK20s is 200lbs, and the DK20 clamshell is 103lbs. The Stahls Hotronix fusion is 137lbs vs the Stahls Hotronix auto open at 87lbs.

Faster production

With clamshell heat presses, all you need to do is open and close the press, while with swing away heat presses you need to open the press and then swing it around the side and to the back, and then back again. So the process is slightly quicker than operating a swing away heat press.

Space Saving

As clamshell presses are operated vertically, they don’t require any more horizontal space than their footprint, while swing away heat presses require the depth of the heat platen all the way to around and to the back of the heat press.

This means that you can push a clamshell press up to a wall, or into a corner for example, while with a swingaway press you’ll need 20″ (or whatever the depth of the platen, to the right and behind the heat press.

See, clamshell heat presses available on heatpressnation.com, eBay & Amazon

The Pros of Swing away Heat Presses

• Heat platen is moved completely away from the operator
• Press thicker items

Heat platen moved away from the operator

This is probably the no1 reason that many people prefer swing away heat presses over clamshell presses.

With clamshell presses, the heat platen lifts up to face the user, or more specifically, to face the back of the users hands, wrists and forearms while working on the bottom table.

With some of the premium clamshell presses including Geo Knight and Stahls, you’ll notice that the top platen does lift up higher than with others, while many of the cheap imported clamshell heat presses don’t open up quite as far, meaning the heat platen is fairly close to the back of the operator’s hands.

Press thicker items.

Due to the way swing away heat presses open, with the top platen lifting up while remaining parallel to the bottom table, you’ll usually find that swing away heat presses have a larger maximum item thickness.

This wouldn’t usually be an issue with T shirts and other garments, but if you’re wanting to press onto thicker items such as wooden blocks, signs, acrylic panels, tiles, etc., then just double check, if you’re thinking of going for a clamshell, that it will take the thicker items you’re wanting to work with.

It does change depending on the brand and the model, but as a rough rule of thumb I’d assume a max thickness of around 3/4 inch to an inch with clamshells (around 2-3cm), and around one to two inches with clamshell pesses. 

Remember this is just a guesstimate, if you need to press an item of a particular thickness, then make sure you check with whoever you’re buying your heat press from, that it’ll take the item.

See, swing away heat presses available on heatpressnation.com, eBay & Amazon

So you now know the difference between swing away vs clamshell heat presses. Also see heat presses FAQ, Cheap Heat Presses? The Pros and Cons, Best Heat Presses For Tshirts.

The fact that you’re searching the web for a used Geo Knight heat press for sale, means you know at least something about Geo Knight heat presses. You may have heard that they’re a great heat press brand. You probably know that these heat press machines are almost bomb proof, they’re really built to last, and that even if you’re buying one a few years old, it’s likely to have many years in it yet, maybe even decades. 

In my humble opinion, from experience (I’ve had a great deal of experience with Geo Knight heat presses, including used Geo Knight heat presses) if you’re on a budget and considering buying a new cheap heat press machine, buying a used known brand heat press is a good alternative, and buying a used Geo Knight heat press is probably one of the best decisions you can make. 

Built to last!

The reason I think Geo Knight presses are such a good idea to buy used, is they’re such workhorses, they really are built to last!

These are proper, good old fashioned commercial heat presses, built as business machines. They’re built to be serviced, to be repaired, and to last a LONG time.

These are not the semi disposable heat presses that you’ll find being sold by box shifters all over the web, which often end up as scrap metal within just a year or two.

If you buy a Geo Knight heat press a few years old, the chances are it will still have many more years of life, and will outlive most of the brand new cheaper imported presses that you may also be considering.

I visited the Geo Knight factory in Brockton MA many years ago, and was given a tour by Aaron Knight (very nice guy). One of the things that amazed me while I was there, was the number of really old heat presses that were in for servicing.

It became clear to me that these presses aren’t made to last a year or two, they’re literally made to last decades, they’re made to be serviced, to be repaired when needed, and it’s very unlikely in opinion, that any Geo Knight DK heat press is going to end up as scrap metal in anything under ten years, most will probably las a lot longer.

There are many Geo Knight presses across the country, and the world, that are fifteen to twenty years old, or even older, that still have plenty of life in them, so these really are heat presses that are made to last.

Built to perfom

Geo Knight heat presses are also built to perform, they’re relied upon by printing firms all over the world, they have to perform well.

These are not heat presses that are designed for the hobby market (with the exception of the Jet Press range).

These presses are made for industry, if they didn’t perform well, Aaron Knight and his team would have a real problem on their hands – so you can trust that if you’re buying a Geo Knight heat press, not only is it likely to last, it’s also likely to not give you issues in terms of performance.

For an example of the kind of support you can expect from Geo Knight, read this post on the T shirt forums.

In particular the used Geo Knight heat presses that I think represent the best potential bargains, are:

Geo Knight DK Clamshell Heat Presses, DK16 & DK20

These are the two small format T shirt sizes clamshell heat transfer presses offered by Geo Knight.

I’ve had a lot of hands on experience with these presses, and like all of the DK presses, they’re a very well designed and well made heat press, they work great, and they’re built to last.

The DK16 is 14X16″, and the DK20 is 16×20″.

They also make the DK7 cap press, and the DK8 “label press” which is a 6×8″ press popular for labels, and for bags. They also make a Twin version of the DK7 & DK8 for increased production speeds.

DK16 & DK20 Features

• All-Thread™ table loading design (great garment thread-ability, see the video above)
• Fully digital temperature control 32°-600°F range
• Automatic digital timer & dual pre-press timer
• Digital Pressure Bar Graph
• Super-portable light machine weight – 83 lbs !
• Extreme high pressure capability
• Hardened high-strength pivot points
• Interchangeable tables
• Solid Steel framework
• SuperCoil-Microwinding™ heater technology
• Self lifting gas-spring, & wide opening
• Temperature readout accuracy +-2°F – can show °C or °F
• User selectable end-of-cycle alarms
• Records number of pressing cycles done
• Teflon-coated 3/4″ thick heat platen
• Auto open upgrade available
• Stand available
• FREE LIFETIME Tech Support!
• Lifetime warranty on heat platen
• 5-year warranty on frame
• 3-year warranty on controller
• 1 year warranty on parts

DK20S

This is Geo Knight’s flagship small format swing away heat press. Again, I’ve had a lot of hands on with this Geo Knight swing away heat press, and they’re great presses.

Built like tanks, at around 200lbs they’re not a press you’ll want to pick up and move around much, they’re a brilliant performing heat press which will just keep on going.

There’s really not much that could go wrong with these presses, and if there was anything wrong, you’d just email or telephone

If I was looking now for a heat press on a budget, and if I didn’t need portability, I’d probably be looking at a Geo Knight DK20S or a DK20SP, and I wouldn’t be concerned too much with how many years it has behind it, these presses will just keep on going.

DK20S Features

• All-Thread™ table loading design
• Fully digital temperature control 32°-600°F range
• Automatic digital timer & dual pre-press timer
• Digital Pressure Bar Graph
• 70 Programmable presets
• Solid steel welded framework
• Instantly interchangeable & rotatable tables
• SuperCoil-Microwinding™heater technology
• Accommodates materials up to 2″ thick
• Temperature readout accuracy +-2°F – can show °C or °F
• User selectable end-of-cycle alarms
• Records number of pressing cycles done
• Teflon-coated 3/4″ thick heat platen
• Twin shuttle attachment available for increased production speed
• FREE LIFETIME Tech Support!
• Lifetime warranty on heat platen
• 5-year warranty on frame
• 3-year warranty on controller
• 1 year warranty on parts

DK20SP

This is the automatic, air operated version of the DK20S. In addition to the features of the DK20S, the DK20S doesn’t require any user effort to press, there’s no clamp, you just press the buttons on the side of the machine to press at the required pressure, and it auto releases at the end of the cycle.

I used a DK20SP for a couple of years with one of my previous businesses, brilliant press, great if you’re doing a lot of production.

Keep in mind that you need a compressor, so they’re really made for industrial environments, although you can of course get quieter compressors. When it comes to the compressor, remember that the larger tank capacity, the less often the compressor will need to kick in, so the compressor noise will be less of an issue.

Geo Knight Digital Combo

In addition to the above there is the DC16 Digital Combo, and the DC16AP, which is the automatic air operated version of this heat press.

I’m not the biggest fan of the combination presses. I wrote about this in more detail in the post 5 in 1 Heat Presses or Combo Heat Presses, but basically when it comes to the idea of using a combination press vs separate heat presses, I don’t believe that the potential saving is great enough to offset the negative aspects of using a combination press vs individual heat presses.

But with that being said, I still think the DC16 is a great heat press, forgetting the combination press aspect and just treating it as a 14×16″ digital swing away heat press.

At $1295 new, it’s not a cheap heat press, but it’s a very heavy duty well made swing away heat press, with most of the same features as the DK20S, including the ability to press items up to 2″ thick.

And here’s the really interesting thing about the Digial Combo DC16 for anyone setting up a T shirt printing business on a budget – you can pick them up for an absolute steal!

I’ve seen used Geo Knight DC16 heat presses selling, in good working condition, from a few hundred dollars.

If you have a limited budget, to me it makes a lot more sense to invest in used press of this calibre, than to spend a similar amount on a brand new cheaper imported press.

Simply because these heat presses are industrial presses, built to last and to be serviced and repaired, which isn’t always the same with cheaper imported machinery.

Geo Knight Maxi Press

It’s worth stating that for most people reading this, the Geo Knight Maxi Press will be way too much in terms of size and cost. However, there will be some people on this blog who’re looking at setting up on a bigger scale, and if this is you, the Geo Knight Maxi press are well worth a look.

Available as air operated and manual clamshell presses, the Maxi press is available with 32″ x 42″ platens, and 44″ x 64″, so we’re talking wide format here.

They’re serious wide format production presses, starting at $8,950 for the 32″x42″ manual, $ 14,250.00 for the 44″x64″, and the air operated versions start at $12,250, but you can pick them up used with plenty of life left in them, for fairly reasonable amounts.

Maxi Press Features

• SuperCoil-Microwinding™ heater technology
• Ultra thick heater block assembly
• Solid steel pressure bars
• Heavy steel frame structures
• Unique heavy duty linkage assembly
• Even & Adjustable applied pressure
• Adjustable platen height
• Solid lower platen base
• Self leveling heater block assembly
• Solid loading bed with ultra thick nomex padding
• Automatic start/stop/reset timer – hands free operation
• Heavy duty locking casters for easy movability and solid support
• Weightless ease of use due to gas shock hydraulic self contained springs
• FREE LIFETIME Tech Support!
• Full one year warranty on heating element, controls and entire press

If you’re thinking about producing a number of different kinds of products, including T shirts and caps, and/or mugs and other products, you may be thinking about going for a combination press, combo press, or a “5 in 1 press”, “6 in 1” “8 in 1 heat press”, etc.,

Are combination presses a good idea?

Simply put, no, not as far as I’m concerned.

In my humble opinion, the one kind of heat press that should be avoided if at all possible, is the 5 in 1 heat press, or combo heat press.

There’s one exception to this, and that is with just one combination heat press by Geo Knight, the Geo Knight Digital Combo DC16.

Please stick with me, and I’ll explain why…

There’s one very well known, very trusted US made heat press brand who make a digital combo press.

It’s $1295 new, just for the main T shirt press with the flat platen, and the other attachments are $250 and up, each.

This is the Geo Knight DC16, which is the original combination press.

The majority of the 5 in 1 heat presses, 6 in 1, 8 in 1 and so on heat presses which are sold as digital combo heat presses, are much, much cheaper semi disposable heat presses, made with much lesser components, far less reliability, far less durability.

There are two main negative aspects of buying a combination heat press, in my opinion, which are:

• Reduced Production
• Potential for a complete stop in production

Reduced Production

For me, the main negative is that having a combination press is a drop in production potential which comes from only being able to press one kind of product at any one time.

For example, if you had mugs and T shirts to produce, with a separate flat press and mug press, you can do both at the same time – same is true if you had an order for caps and Tshirts at the same time.

When you’re using a combination press, though, you need to do them one at a time, along with a bit of waiting time while the platen gets cool enough to handle, so your production capabilities are reduced quite a bit.

Potential for a complete stop in production

The other negative is that if you have a combination press and it has any kind of issue which requires repair, if the issue is with the digital controller or any other part of the main heat press assembly, and not an issue with one of the individual attachments, this means all of your production stops until the issue is fixed.

If we’re talking about a Geo Knight DC16, then I wouldn’t be too worried about this. The chances of having an issue in the first place are fairly slim. If you do, the Geo Knight support is great, they’ll do what they can to get you back up and running as quickly as possible.

If we’re talking about a cheaply made combination press made in China and imported, then in my opinion, the chances of having a problem are much higher, as are the chances of it taking quite some time to get the issue fixed, which will depend on the reliability of the aftersales service of your supplier.

Why I wouldn’t even recommend the DC16 as a combination press.

Even though Geo Knight are a great, reputable heat press manufacturer, and I highly recommend their heat presses, I wouldn’t even recommend the DC16 as a combination heat press, for most people.

The reason for this is that I don’t think the saving is significant enough to make it worthwhile, when offset against the negative in terms of lesser production capability.

The DC16 isn’t a cheap heat press at $1295 for a 14×16″ heat press, and then the mug press attachment is $400 extra, the cap attachment is $300, the plate attachment is $250 – so once you’ve added one or two attachments, it becomes a fairly pricey setup.

You could, for example (comparing all brand new prices) have a DK16 and a DK7 cap press for $1,670 – or a DC16 with the cap attachment for $1,595. Or a DK16 and a DK3 for $1825 – or a DC16 with the mug attachment for $1695 .

The one exception

There’s one exception, and that is – when available used for a bargain price!

As a flat press (just with the standard Tshirt platens) the DC16 is a great swing away heat press, with most the same features as the brilliant $1600 DK20S, including the ability to press items up to 2″ thick.

I’ve seen the DC16 sell at times on eBay, used, at prices which make them a brilliant option, especially when it comes to just using as a flat press with the standard flat platen.

Looking at recent sold items on eBay, one went for $300, another sold for around $400, and at these kinds of prices, they’re very difficult to beat.

Geo Knight presses are made to last! As I wrote in used Geo Knight heat presses, these presses are proper industrial pieced of equipment, made to work for decades – they’re not the same semi disposable machines that are made in the tens of thousands and imported to the US and other countries where they might last a few years before ending up as scrap metal.

So if you can get hold of a Geo Knight DC16 for just a few hundred dollars, you have a flat heat press that has the potential to keep you in business producing Tshirts and other flat items for years & years.

If you’re thinking of also doing other items such as mugs, and/or caps, you could get setup with the flat press first if you can get hold of a used DC16, and then keep your eye out for a used DK7 cap press for example, and a used DK3 mug press, and end up with a great production setup, allowing you to produce all these items at the same time.

Just to explain the difference. Let’s assume that you jump into your woocommerce or Shopify orders page on Monday morning, or you login to your Etsy or Amazon shop, and you discover you have 30 Tshirts to produce, 6 caps and 10 mugs.

Depending on what T shirt printing method you’re using, each shirt might take 30-40 seconds in the press, so once you’ve prepared your transfers, you maybe have 30 mins or so of pressing to do.

Similar pressing time for caps, so you’ll only need the cap pressing tool for 5 mins or so.

The mugs will take more like 3 minutes each, maybe a bit more.

So if you had a flat heat press, a mug press and a cap press, you’d multi task, and complete the entire production run within an hour or so.

Compare this to using a combination press, you’d probably do the caps first, get them out of the way, wait a bit for the platen to cool enough so you can handle it comfortably with heat resistant gloves, swap to the flat platens, do the T shirts, wait again for the platen to cool, swap to the mug attachment.

If you’re only pressing the occasional T shirt, or the occasional mug, then this isn’t going to be much of a problem, but I don’t think you’re going to be bothering to invest in setting up a printing business just to do the odd one or two items?

If you’re hoping to be getting into some fairly reasonable profitable production volume, then I think you’d be far better off with individual heat presses vs a combination or 5 in 1 heat press.

If you’re thinking of getting into dye sublimation printing, you’ll be wondering which is the best dye sublimation printer for you to go for.

Do you go for an Epson, a Ricoh, a Sawgrass Virtuoso?

For me this is a very easy question to answer. Sawgrass Virtuoso, no exception, no doubt.

In my experienced opinion, nothing else comes close, if we’re talking about small format Dye sublimation printers.

Before I continue, let me assure you that I have nothing to do with Sawgrass, I don’t work for them, I’m not sponsored by them, I have no ulterior motive to say what I’m saying – it’s simply my opinion that when it comes to small format dye sublimation printing, there is no other sensible option but Sawgrass Virtuoso.

A short history about small format dye sublimation printers.

Going back to the early 00s, when I was fairly new to the Tshirt and gift printing industry, small format dye sublimation was all about Epson printers. Everyone back then was using an Epson, there was no alternative for small format dye sub printing.

When they worked, they were fine, but they were a bit of a nightmare to keep working – and to be fair to Epson themselves, this wasn’t just down to the printers themselves, but also due to the fact that they were open systems, meaning that they were mainly running with continuous ink systems or refillable ink cartridges, which could lead to problems.

The other major problem back then, was that if you had a problem with your printer, and phoned Espson for support, they weren’t interested once they heard that you were running dye sublimation ink, as they classed this as third party ink, which meant that they wouldn’t support you under the warranty.

Jump forward a few years, and Ricoh gel jet printers came along, the GXE3300N A4 and GX37110 A3, followed by the SG3110 and SG7110. (SG stands for System Geljet, by the way, not Sawgrass as some people assume).

These printers were like a breath of fresh air compared to dye sublimation printing with Epsons. Ricoh small format printers (A4 and A3) are brilliant workhorses, they just keep working!

I remember being amazed the first time I’d left a Ricoh with sublimation in, switched off during a vacation, to return, switch it on, and start printing straight away without even having to do one head clean!

There was some shock initially at the price per ml of the ink cartridges vs what people were used to paying.

People (me included, at the time) had failed to take into account the fact that this Gel ink is more efficient than standard inks, it goes further, and on top of this, there’s a lot less requirement to use ink for head cleans.

So, for the small format (A4 & A3) sublimation printing business, Ricoh printers were a brilliant development, and things improved with the next generation of Ricoh printers, the SG3110DN & SG7110DN.

The problems with Ricoh printers

The only real problem with Ricoh, was the same issue with Epson, which was there was no printer warranty for anyone using dye sublimation ink. If you had a problem with your printer, as soon as you phoned Ricoh and mentioned the fact that you were printing with dye sublimation ink, they didn’t want to know.

Other than this, if you were using cartridges, and therefore had a fully closed system (which is how printers are designed to work) then the only occasional issue with Ricoh printers is the banding issue, which is a very simple one to fix. It’s just a case of re-setting the head position, in the menu on the printer, with the up and down arrows.

There will be the occasional fault, too, of course, but it’s rare with Ricoh, they’re well made printers.

Problem Solved by Sawgrass

After this situation had been going on for quite some time, with the warranty issue on Ricoh printers, Sawgrass came up with a solution to resolve this issue while hugely improving things for dye sublimation printing businesses in one fell swoop!

They created a new improved A4 and A3 dye sublimation printer, using the same physical framework of the SG3110 and SG7110, but with upgrades under the hood.

At the same time, they developed the amazing Virtuoso Print Manager, which is like power driver (the previous Sawgrass print driver) on steroids.

As if that wasn’t enough, they also created Creative Studio, which is an online design suite specifically for garment and giftware decoration, and bundled this all together, along with… Fully inclusive warranty.

The warranty for everything, is all handled by Sawgrass. So if you have a problem of any kind, there’s just one place to contact, and you don’t need to worry about your printer not being covered under warranty.

What’s so good about the new Virtuoso printers? Aren’t they just re-badged Ricoh SG3110 & SG7110 printers?

This is a common question, and it’s a fair question.

From the outside the SG400 & SG800 look just like the Ricoh SG3110DN and SG7110DN printers but with a Sawgrass badge.

But there’s more to these new dye sublimation printers than meet the eye.

• More colors
• Faster printing
• Increased print resolution
• Increase print quality
• More economical ink usage

More colours

An increase in the color gamut of approximately 26%.

Faster printing

The Virtuoso printers print up to twice the speed of the previous Ricoh printers, at up to 156 prints per hour.

Increased print resolution

Maximum print resolution of 1200×1200 dpi, vs 600×600.

Increased print quality

The new XY drive system provides a higher quality print, thanks to improved dot formation and placement.

More economical ink usage.

The new HD inks are more dense, which makes them go further.

Game changer for dye sublimation printing!

I don’t think new dye sublimation printers quite appreciate how lucky they are to be getting into the business right now, with this fantastic fully comprehensive system available at such an affordable price.

I also don’t think many people who’ve got setup to print via dye sublimation within the past year or two realize quite what a bad move they made by avoiding the Sawgrass Virtuoso system in order to save a few dollars on the initial setup costs!

The benefits above are just the beginning of it, I’ve not even touched yet on the amazing power of VPM and creative studio…

Virtuoso Print Manager

VPM is more than just a print driver.

It has the simplicity and ease of use of a print driver, but with some of the features that would usually be associated with expensive commercial print rips, some of which cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars!

Including hot folders with customizable presets, image nesting, web to print workflows, advanced color management including spot colors…

Sawgrass are continually improving and adding to it to, I’ve seen a number of improvements since it was first released.

Creative Studio.

Creative studio is an online product design tool created specifically for dye sublimation printing, and there’s literally nothing else quite like it (or at least there isn’t, that I’m aware of, at the time of writing).

You simply select the product you’re going to be printing (or use the search tool), then add your image, if you’re printing your customer’s own logo or photo, etc., scale it, add text if required, select font, color, size, and then print.

Not only this, but there are hundreds of design templates ready for you to customize, and a huge and growing library of curated, copyright free images and fonts for you to use, all within creative studio!

For example, assuming that a customer comes along and wants a wooden trophy shield printing with a soccer theme. Instead of creating this from scratch, you can look for a template which you think works for the job, and then simply change the team name, and the text, change the colors accordingly, and create the design in a fraction of the time it would have taken you to create it from scratch.

Then, you can simply click on the mockup maker icon to save a product mockup of the design on the wooden trophy (or whatever your client has requested) to show them how it’s going to look, and gain approval prior to printing.

You can also use the mockup maker to create your own unique product images for online and offline use!

Warranty and support.

In addition to all the above, the warranty and support offered by Sawgrass is another reason to go for Sawgass virtuoso.

If you have a problem, you can get support from Sawgrass via phone, online chat, or email – and they have a remote support tool so you can give the support team access to your system if needs be.

The warranty in the US is one year, in the UK & Europe it’s 2 years.

Need to print bigger?

The bigger brother to the SG400 & SG800, is the Virtuoso VJ 628, a 25″ printer which has become particular popular with printers of large Chromaluxe Aluminum panels, with up to 8 colours, and a max print resolution of 1400×1400.

While the smaller two printers in the range are Ricoh based, the VJ 628 is manufactured by Mutoh.

Technically speaking, it’s still classed as a small format printer, but at a max print width of 24.4 inches, it’s the first “small format” dedicated dye sublimation printer which is capable of printing full bleed 24″ prints.

It’s not just about the print width, though. This is a seriously good printer in terms of resolution and color definition, and can be used with a range of different ink set options.

This printer uses Epson print heads, but unlike the small format Epson heads that were a pain to work with dye sublimation inks, these are the Epson DX7 print heads, the same heads that are used in many commercial level wide format printers including Mimaki, Roland and Mutoh.

The VJ 628 comes in two main configurations (there are a few more configurations, but most suppliers sell it set up for one of these two main ink configurations), dual CMYK (for faster print speeds), or 8 colour for the best colour definition.

Keep in mind that, of course, if you’re wanting to print at the full 24″ full bleed, to print on the 24″ Chromaluxe panels or other similar sized blanks, you’ll need a suitable size heat press, such as the Geo Knight DK25 or DK32.

What about cheaper sublimation printer?

When it comes to the smaller sublimation printers, there are cheaper options, which can look quite appealing, and which have sold very well on eBay and other websites for the past few years.

These are Epson or Ricoh printers, usually with a continuous ink system or refillable cartridges.

I’ll just give a few warnings about cheap sublimation printers before I conclude this post.

Greater chance of errors and faults.

Over the years, I’ve helped many people with problems with their printers. When it comes to Ricoh printers in particular, I started to see a pattern.

Just about every time there was what appeared to be a terminal issue with the printer, when I asked them what ink they were using, it wasn’t Sawgrass ink, it was a cheaper imported non branded sublimation ink, and when I asked what kind of cartridges they were using, they were refillable.

I had supported many customers who were using the Ricoh printers with Sawgrass cartridges, and there was rarely a phone call from one of these customers with a serious issue. What became very common, however, was phone calls from people who couldn’t get support from where they’d bought their printer from, who were unable to print due to a serious issue, and who were using refillable ink cartridges.

What I came to believe, is that many of these problems are caused due to the fact that the use of refillable cartridges means it’s no longer a closed system, as it would be with standard cartridges.

Air, and possibly other things such as small particles of plastic from the stopper in the tops of the cartridge, or bits of dirt in the funnels used to refill the cartridges, could end up getting trapped in the pipes and then causing damage to the print head.

This, and/or an issue with cheaper poorly made sublimation ink, and/or cheap poorly made refillable cartridges (or a combination) are more than likely to be the cause of these kinds of issues, in my opinion.

Not Necessarily Cheaper Printing

As well as the cheaper purchase price, many people opt for a cheaper sublimation printing system with non-Sawgrass inks based on a potential saving in print cost.

The first thing to say about that, is that the print costs with Sawgrass Virtuoso printers, is much lower than many would assume, also, the ink cost is one of the smallest factors in the overall cost of sale of a dye sublimation printed garment or gift item. So to go for a cheaper system for the sake of a potential slight saving in printing costs, probably isn’t the best business decision, when you take everything else into account.

Plus, this potential saving that many think they’ll get with a cheaper dye sublimation printing setup, is often not quite what it seems.

Yes, the price per ml of some of the cheaper systems may be half the price (or even less), but as well as the potential for issues caused by cheaper, lesser quality dye sublimation inks, and refillable cartridges, there’s also the fact that…

Cheaper dye sublimation printer setups can use as much as double the ink

No, they don’t tell you that in the sales copy! 😉

You see, Sawgrass are a big company, with a lot of resources, and they’ve been doing this for a long time.

They have put enormous effort over the year into developing fantastic dye sublimation inks, to the highest quality standards, and they’ve also done a tremendous amount of work over the years on the color profiles.

The result of this, is that their systems produce brilliant results, with all designs, whether you’re looking for super vivid colors for a cartoon style design, or very realistic photographic printing.

If you haven’t got the resources to do all of this, which I suspect is the case when it comes to generic cheap dye sublimation ink being imported under various different names, how do you get around it?

The simple answer is, is with over saturated ink profiles.

Simply putting more ink down can hide a multitude of sins, but what it can also mean is that people have bought a system based on the ink costing half as much, and don’t realize that they’re actually using twice the amount of ink too!

Not only this, but systems like this may produce acceptable looking cartoon style designs, it is very difficult to get realistic photographic prints when you’re putting down too much ink.

I’m not saying there aren’t now other manufacturers of dye sublimation inks who also, like Sawgrass, produce brilliant inks and great profiles, capable of great results for all types of imagery.

At the time of writing, I’m not personally aware of anyone but Ricoh offering anything anything of this quality, but this doesn’t mean there isn’t anyone either now or by the time that you’re reading this. So all I would say is, if you are looking at an alternative to Sawgrass, just do your research and be sure you’re making a good business decision.

Some businesses come to decide that they would be better off outsourcing their transfer printing, and just do the finishing part in-house, the heat pressing. 

The pros of outsourced transfer Tshirt printing

• No Tshirt printing equipment required
• Simple
• Fast production
• Test the market without significant investment in printing machinery
• Choose the best process for each job/design

No Tshirt Printing Machinery Needed

If you’re outsourcing the transfer printing, you don’t need any form of printing equipment or machines, other than the heat press. This means you need to invest less money setting up.

Simplicity

All you’ll need to do is pick up the required transfer, and heat press it onto the garment in the desired position, really not much to it.

Fast

This is a faster print process than printing your own transfers and then pressing, as the transfer production has been done for you in advance. It’s not as quick as screen printing, but working with bought in transfers is going to be quite a bit quicker than all of the other Tshirt printing methods, since there’s no printing involved.

Test the market without significant investment in equipment.

If you’re starting off with outsourced transfers, the only investment you’ll need to make in Tshirt printing machinery, is a heat transfer press. This means you can get started without the same level of investment that would be necessary if you were going to be printing your own transfers.

Choose the best transfer process for each job or each design.

If you’re printing in-house, you’re restricted to whatever transfer methods you’ve set up to use. For example, if you’ve got a dye sublimation printing setup, and a contour cutter & inkjet transfer printing, then you can print via dye sublimation, and contour cut vinyl, and injket transfer for light and dark garments.  

So if you’re producing your own designs, or producing a job for a trade client, and you decide that this particular job would be best done by screen, it’s unlikely that you’ll consider getting setup for Tshirt screen printing for this one print job. 

If you’re outsourcing your transfers, however, you can choose the very best transfer method for each job without being restricted by budget, space or experience. 

The cons of outsourced transfer Tshirt printing

• Less control of production
• Longer lead times
• Higher production costs

Less control

If you’re not doing your own transfer printing, you’re losing some control over the process vs doing everything inhouse. Although, if you’re working with an experienced supplier, and if you’re very clear with your specifications, and if you ask for a sample prior to production, there’s no need for this to cause any problems. 

Longer lead times

When you’re outsourcing any form of production, you’ve got to consider lead time, due to the fact that you’re going into a production queue. You may be quoted a lead time of a week or more, in some cases it may be two or three weeks, or longer. This isn’t due to how long it will take to actually print your transfers, it’s about how long it will take until they can start your transfers, due to the other work they already have. Just beware the obvious busy periods, such as the run up to the holidays.

Higher production costs

It’s fair to say that if you were to use the same production method that your transfer printer is using, then it should cost you less in-house as you won’t be paying their profit margin. 

However, it’s not quite as simple as this – because outsourcing your transfer printing enables you to have your transfers printed using techniques that may be way outside of your budget. For instance, if your startup budget would only allow you to print your transfers via inkjet or laser transfer, then it’s very likely that your production cost when outsourcing your transfer printing, will be lower. 

What kind of Tshirt printing businesses use
outsourced transfer Tshirt printing

Outsourced transfer printing is usually more cost effective in larger volumes of the same design, so for this reason, it’s mainly own brands and bulk/trade Tshirt printers who would outsource their transfer printing. 

I have many conversations with people who’re thinking of getting started with a Tshirt printing business, and it’s very common that at the stage that folk are considering putting their hands in their pockets to buy Tshirt printing machinery, they’ve not actually given much thought at all to which process they are going to be using. 

If this is you, if you know you want to create Tshirts, and perhaps other items, but you don’t actually know which process you’re going to be using, then just leave your credit card in your pocket for now, and find out exactly which decoration process is right for you, first. If you don’t do this, you could easily end up with completely the wrong Tshirt printing setup.

Inkjet Transfer, Laser Transfer,  Dye Sublimation, Vinyl, Direct to Garment, Screen printing, Outsourced Transfers…

This isn’t even all of the possible printing methods for Garments and giftware, but it covers the majority of Tshirt and gift printing processes.

If you’re starting a small Tshirt and Gift printing business, more than likely one of the above processes will be what you’ll use, or more than one. 

Inkjet Heat Transfer Printing 

This is one of the oldest digital Tshirt printing methods. It’s one of the easiest and one of the cheapest, so it’s a very popular process for new Tshirt printers, especially for personalization printing. Click here for more information about inkjet heat transfer printing.

CMYK Laser Heat Transfer Printing

CMYK Laser heat transfer printing is another popular process for personalization printing. It requires a bit more upfront investment than inkjet transfer printing, but not a huge amount more – and it gives you a really wide scope, including being able to print onto hard substrates including wood, glass, ceramics and candles.

White Toner Laser Heat Transfer Printing

This is still laser transfer printing, but via special laser printers that have been modified to have a white toner, to allow for self weeding full color transfers to be printed on both light and dark garments. Self weeding means no need for a contour cutter, and no need for weeding out the background, but there are some cons to this process, mainly in that it’s a mcuh more expensive process to get setup with, and it’s quite a fiddly multiple step process too, so it’s not for everyone.

Dye Sublimation Printing

This is a fantastic process for a very wide range of giftware products, however there are some cons when it comes to Tshirts, which means dye sub isn’t the best choice for everyone when it comes to Tshirt printing. Even if you don’t choose dye sublimation printing as your main Tshirt printing method, though, there’s a very good chance you’ll decided to ass dye sub as a string to your bow, at some point, regardless of which kind of Tshirt printing business you decide on.

Heat Transfer Vinyl 

Another very tried and tested process, heat transfer vinyl is used to print Tshirts by contour cutting text, designs and nunbers out of Tshirt Vinyl, and then heat pressing the vinyl onto the Tshirt. This process doesn’t require a huge amount of investment, you don’t need a printer for it – you need an optical contour cutter, different coloured Tshirt vinyl, and a heat transfer press.

Tshirt Screen Printing

One of the most well known Tshirt printing methods, particularly suitable for larger volumes. Although digital tshirt printing has become increasingly popular and accessible over the years, screen printing is still the leading method for printing Tshirts, other garments and other items, in larger volumes.

Direct to Garment Printing, DTG

Another great Tshirt printing process, DTG is one of the most expensive digital Tshirt processes in terms of initial outlay, so it’s not the right process for most small startups. If you have the budget, though, and you want great print results including stunning full colour and photographic prints on light and dark 100% cotton Tshirts, then DTG is worth considering. 

Outsourced Transfers

This involves outsourcing your transfer printing, and just doing your transfer pressing in-house. It’s not a bad option for own brand printing, and bulk Tshirt printing. 

So, you’re going to be focusing on your own designs, building your own brand, rather than printing Tshirts for other companies or individuals?

If you’ve recently decided this, and you’re now wondering which may be the best Tshirt printing equipment to buy, just hold your horses. 

You see, most people have got the cart before the horse, and start looking at buying equipment before they’ve even researched which garment decoration method or methods they’re going to be using.

You can’t possibly make a decision on which equipment to buy, until you know which printing process you’re going to be employing. 

Even when it comes down to the heat press, the one piece of equipment which is universal (which you’ll more than likely use regardless of which process you decide on)it still makes a difference – you could end up buying the wrong kind of heat press if you invest in the press before knowing which print process you’ll be working with.

So let’s dive into this:

Which are the best Tshirt printing methods for own brand/own design Tshirt printing?

The first thing I’d suggest you decide, is whether printing in-house is actually the best idea for you, right now. It’s at least a good idea to keep in mind that this isn’t the only option. 

The two options to consider, as well as 100% in-house production, is:

• Complete outsourcing
• Outsourced transfers

If I were starting a business now, and I was focusing mainly on Tshirts and other garments, with my own brand, I would probably outsource initially, and bring production in-house only once I’ve got the orders to justify it.

You may be confused at this point, given that this blog is supposed to be about the best Tshirt printing machines, and here I am, suggesting that you don’t buy any Tshirt printing machinery at all ;-). 

But you see, printing in-house is not necessarily the best option for everyone.

Also, printing your own Tshirts may be the right option for you a bit further down the line, but it might not be the best option for you right now.

Pros of printing your own Tshirts

• Lower costs & higher margin – Maybe, but not necessarily
• Faster leadime, possibly
• More control
• print on demand

Lower Costs? Well, Maybe.

Yes, printing in-house may lower your costs, and therefore increase your profit margins, but this depends.

It depends on whether your budget restricts you from getting involved in lower cost garment decoration methods. 

For example, many people creating their own designs, and building their own brand, would not be getting setup with screen printing, with a multi-head automatic screen printing carousel.

Many would be restricted to lower cost setups such as inkjet transfers, laser transfers, or contour cut vinyl, which are likely to be much higher per Tshirt than the Tshirt printing cost would be if they were to outsource to a professional Tshirt screen printing setup with the best equipment.

Faster Leadtime, possibly.

If we are comparing apples with apples, then yes, you’ll achieve faster lead times in house, as you’ll be the only client, you won’t be in a queue. 

But, of course, this depends on whether your budget would allow you to use the same Tshirt printing methods, and the same level of equipment, that the Tshirt printers you could outsource to, may be using. 

For example, a bulk Tshirt printer using state of the art direct to garment Tshirt printers, or screen printing using a semi automatic multi head carousel, would churn though an order for 100 Tshirts in the time it would take most people to eat lunch ;-).

So depending on the workload of the printer at the time you contact them, which will usually depend on what time of year it is, it’s likely that your Tshirts will be ready faster, than it would be if you were printing the same quantity of T-shirts using contour cut vinyl, or self weed white toner laser transfer printing, for instance. 

More Control. 

If you’re printing in house, it gives you complete control over the process. No one cares as much about your brand as you do, it’s fair to say that no one is going to put the same amount of effort into ensuring that your designs are absolutely perfect, as you are. 

Having said that, it’s also fair to say that an experienced Tshirt printer will have more knowledge and experience, and may be able to achieve exactly what you were looking for.

With all that said, if you’re still sure that you need to be printing in house – below are the various printing methods you could look at using to print your garments and other items. If you’re interested in finding out more about each process including the best machinery for each process, just click on the links below to find out more about each method.

Inkjet transfers.

This is one of the lowest entry level processes, in terms of setup costs. All you need is a heat press, an inkjet printer, and inkjet transfer paper – plus a contour cutter if you’re wanting to print onto dark garments. 

CMYK laser transfers

The setup cost is generally slightly higher with CMYK laser transfer printing, but not massively so, maybe a couple hundred dollars more based on the price of a laser printer vs the cost of an inkjet printer. There’s a wide range of different transfer media available for CMYK laser transfer, including for hard items such as wood, glass, ceramics and even candles. 

Contour cut heat transfer vinyl

This isn’t a printing method as such, it involves cutting out text, numbers & designs from sheets, or rolls of colored Tshirt vinyl, with the use of a contour cutter, to be heat pressed onto the garment. It’s a popular method particularly for text and numbers. It’s also fine for simple designs, but just keep in mind that the more detailed the design, the more time consuming and somewhat tedious weeding out there is to do.

Dye Sublimation Printing

This is a brilliant process for a wide range of giftware products, and it is also good for Tshirts and other garments, but with a couple of major drawbacks in terms of fabric type and colour. 

Direct to Garment Printing

Direct to garment printers, or “DTG” printers, can be a great option, if you have the budget for it. Direct to garment refers to printers that are made to print directly onto the Tshirt, you’ll still need to cure the print after, with a heat press, as with most Tshirt printing processes.

Tshirt Screen Printing

One of the most popular methods for bulk Tshirt printing. It’s  very difficult to compete with Tshirt screen printing for cost, with other Tshirt printing processes. Starting printing via screen though isn’t quite as straight forward as setting up to print Tshirts via digital methods, or vinyl. You’ll need a bit more space, for screen making/developing, screen drying, the screen printing itself, curing the prints, a wash off bay – and it’s a more industrial and a messier process. 

So you’re considering starting up a business offering custom, personalized Tshirts, and you’re wondering which is the best machinery to get started with? In which case, you’ve come to the right place ;-), as this post is specifically for you.

Start with process first, ignore machines/equipment for now.

The first bit of advice I have for anyone starting any kind of garment and giftware printing business, is to start off first thinking about the Tshirt printing method, or process, you’re going to be using, rather than trying to figure out at this stage which is the best machine to start with.

From my experience of helping customers setup in the garment and gifts printing industry over a period of nearly 20 years, many people start off looking for Tshirt printing equipment before they’ve even decided on which method they’ll be using.

This is really a back to front approach, but many people do this because they’re not aware of the several different options when it comes to printing Tshirts.

You’re starting the right way, by educating yourself as much as you possibly can, by coming to blogs like this, so hopefully you’ll know exactly what kind of Tshirt printing business you’re getting into, and what method(s) you’re going to be using, before you start looking at buying any equipment. 

In-house is the only real option for personalisation 

The first thing to point out about personalized/customized Tshirt and giftware printing, is that there’s not really an alternative but to print in-house, in my humble opinion. 

When it comes to trade Tshirt printing, and own brand development, then I think outsourcing is a very valid option, but the thing with personalized/custom tshirt printing is you’ll be usually doing just one, two, or a handful, for each customer, which doesn’t really work for outsourced printing. 

I’ll now get into the various different Tshirt printing processes that you might want to consider. If you’re interested in finding out more about any particular method, just click on the title and you’ll get to a page with more in depth info about that process, including guidance on which specific equipment to consider. 

Inkjet transfer Printing

This is Tshirt printing method which requires the lowest level of setup investment. You can really get setup quite cheap for inkjet transfer printing, so if budget is low, this isn’t a bad process to start with. The trade off though is that you don’t have a lot of scope available to you in terms of other items other than Tshirts, and it’s definitely not the cheapest in terms of printing costs.

CMYK laser transfer Printing

Similar to Inkjet transfer printing in terms of setup cost (slightly more, due to laser printers generally costing a bit more), but you have more scope when it comes to other products including Tshirts. You can also get laser transfer paper for hard substrates including things like candles, wood, glass and ceramic. There are a wider range of different kinds of transfer papers for Tshirts too with CMYK laser transfer printing Vs Inkjet.

Dye Sublimation Printing

If you’re getting into personalization printing, dye sublimation is definitely a process you’ll want to consider at some point, due to the HUGE range of other giftware items you can really easily print using this process. It’s not the best for garments though due to some restrictions re fabric type and colour, but it is one of the best choices for sports tops and other sports clothing. It’s generally slightly more expensive in terms of setup costs than inkjet transfer or CMYK laser transfer, but not a great deal.

Heat transfer vinyl

This involves cutting out colored transfer vinyl from a sheet  or a roll, using an optical contour cutter, and then heat pressing onto the garment. It’s a popular method for customizing Tshirts with text and numbers, and it’s fine for fairly simple, single colour designs. You’ll just need a heat press and a contour cutter, so depending on which cutter you go for, the startup costs will be very similar to inkjet transfer and CMYK laser transfer printing.

Direct to Garment or DTG

If you have the budget for it, DTG/Direct to Garment printers can be a great way to print Tshirts, especially for vivid full color images and photographic images. DTG is way outside of the budget of most startup custom Tshirt printing businesses, though, at around $5,000 and upwards for the DTG printer alone, and when I say upwards, the sky is the limit!

One of the above, or a combination of one of the above is going to be the right method for you, depending on what kind of designs you’re likely to be printing, and your budget. Have a good read through each of the posts above (by clicking on the header link) in order to get a better idea of each method. Once you decide on which method or which combination of methods you’re going to work with, you can then start looking at the best Tshirt printing machinery & equipment.

By the way, you’ll notice I’ve not mentioned Tshirt screen printing above. This is because although screen printing is a brilliant method for printing Tshirts, is’t not one that really works for custom Tshirt printing.

This is because of how much time and effort goes into preparing the screen or screens (a separate screen is required for each color in the design), which doesn’t make it the sensible approach for a business which mainly entails printing just one Tshirt from each design.