Having an Edge I once looked into making t-shirt prints. The only 2 ways with an Edg eis to print on a material like an iron on. And then there is die sublimation.
The Die Sublimation seems to be the way to go for long lasting prints. It seems as if the set up cost is kinda steep.
I looked into before and If I'm correct just to get started it would be around 300.00 for materials. Then you need a special blended fabric shirt for die sublimation.
Now the iron on material isn't cheap either and then you need a heat press.
I hope some one else can enlighten you a little better that I.
-------------------- Bob Rochon Creative Signworks Millbury, MA 508-865-7330
"Life is Like an Echo, what you put out, comes back to you."
Posts: 5149 | From: Millbury, Mass. U.S. | Registered: Nov 1998
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If I can charge around $20/ sq. ft. for full color Edge prints, It's kinda tough to add shirt cost & iron-on labor and sell for less then $25 per shirt. Most designs will use about a foot or more with a small front & large back print. Even at that it feels more like a favor to my client then a good job. But if a client wants less then 10 process printed shirts, they would probably spend more then $250 on films & screens, then a minimum order may require them to buy more then 10 shirts. Of course the shirts will probably only cost $7 to $8 screenprinted so only short runs are worth edge printing. I've been wearing edge printed shirts with my logo for 4 years and they fade a little but still look great after several dozen washings.
I hope that after you have been wearing your shirts for over four years that you have washed them more than a couple of dozen times! LOL!
We bought screen printed shirts for our shop over three years ago and they are still going strong. We bought a set (one dozen polo shirts and one dozen hevyweight sweatshirts) four years before that and they still look o.k. albeit alittle bit paint spattered and normal wear and tear.
We thought about screen printing our own but can buy the shirts and sweatshirts for cheaper already printed from the screen shop than we can buy the shirts and such unprinted. Go figure! LOL!
We have thought about getting into doing the dye sublimation shirts but are unsure of the feasibility. It is a tough sell to tell to tell a customer that the shirt they want is worth $50-75.
We can understand that stuff is going to cost more for one offs but the average Joe off the street can not fathom the reason for the cost.
Just my thoughts on the subject....
Have a great one!
-------------------- Bruce Bowers
DrCAS Custom Lettering and Design Saint Cloud, Minnesota
"Things work out best for the people who make the best of the way things work out." - Art Linkletter
Posts: 6464 | From: Saint Cloud, Minnesota | Registered: Jun 1999
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HeHeHe Yeah Bruce, I was anticipating some mathmatician going after that. I had actually typed in "washed a hundred times" then I thought I didn't want to exagerate, and since I have so MANY t-shirts, well that figures into the equasion. And besides I said LOOK great...
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Dye sublimation is the way to go. My set-up consists of the Epson 3000 with the special dye sub inks, a heat press, and a mug press. It is expensive to get set up. You might try places like E-bay for used equipment. You could also use the smaller format Epson 850 or Epson 900. It is not a good idea to go back and forth between standard inks and dye sub inks, as each time you switch ink types you have to flush and thoroughly clean the ink heads. I use Epson photo quality paper. There are several ink suppliers and your cost per printed 8x10 will range from .58 cents to 1.45 depending on whose inks you use. You can only print on items with a high polyester content. The way sublimation works is that when the ink is heated it forms into a gas and bonds to the polyester fibers. If you transfer to a 50/50 shirt, after washing 50% of the ink will wash away. Hanes makes a t-shirt that is 100% polyester on the outside and 100% cotton on the inside. There is also a company that makes shirts out of the Akwatek material (the one Nike advertises that wicks moisture from your body) that is 100% polyester. These shirts wholesale are about twice what you'd pay for regular tees. There is a forum on Delphi called Dye Sublimation and Specialty Imprinting that you should check out if you are really interested in getting into dye sub. You can also check out my web page and get an idea on what items you can dye sub. It's at
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