Can You Start A Printed Garment Business With Heat Transfers?

Many people get the notion that they can start a printed tee shirt business using only a heat press with computer printed heat transfers. This is a common question I get asked on my website and I finally decided to address this topic with a closer look. There are ways of making money with heat transfer processes. It is just a matter of either finding your niche or using the right transfer process. 

It is very risky and difficult to start a garment business with computer generated heat transfers. They are just not capable of producing the high quality results that demanding consumers are looking for. The computer printed, heat transfer style garment is best suited for novelty and point of sale situations. In these instances the customer is willing to settle for less of a product for the convenience of immediate satisfaction and/or memorabilia. 

And in that very sector the direct to garment digital printer is becoming the latest standard with cutting edge technology that allows the computer to print the image directly onto the garment. Referred to as DTG or Direct To Garment Printing, this process is advancing fast and is capable of printing dark colored garments as well as the light colored shirts that ordinary computer printed heat transfers are limited to. 

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You may be able to find certain niches with computer printed heat transfers in which you can actually make some decent money. Some people do sublimation mugs and make a great side income for themselves. Your product line may include but is not limited to tiles, “dog tags”, license plates, ceramic mugs, light switch covers, clipboards, hardboard tiles, tote bags, plaques, neckties, travel mugs, ornaments, pet tags, business card holders, name badges, coasters, and clocks and of course mouse pads. 

For tee shirts the easiest way to achieve the best results with the least expense and without having to screen print yourself is to have plastisol transfers printed of the designs you wish to sell. All you have to do is stock the plastisol transfers and the blank shirts. Then press them as you get orders. You will be able to do whites, blacks or any color garment as well as most any style of garment. You can even have them made for baseball caps if you have a cap heat press. The plastisol heat transfer is the next best thing to screen printing without all of the costs and labor. I know of no other heat transfer process which can achieve the same results as screen printing except for plastisol heat transfers. 

Today you might also use direct to film heat transfers which offer a much more dynamic application solution for complicated multi colored designs and lower quantity orders. Now it is possible to buy a heat press and place it in your spare bedroom or dinning room so you may heat press garments. All you need to do is preorder the DTF transfers and then heat press them yourself. Obviously, this can cause some issues such as production time limitations. You will need to plan your jobs well and account for the time it will take to heat press each garment, one by one. 

The first drawback to heat pressing shirts is that you must have your designs printed and stocked ahead of time. You would also have to stock all the various garments you wish to offer. Then you can press the plastisol heat transfers or DTF with a standard heat press at the time of sale.  It is a great solution for point of sale type scenarios. But I think this option is the best and least expensive method of breaking into the printed apparel industry without the risk of ruining your name and reputation using inferior computer generated heat transfers. Digital transfers have too many limitations as opposed to DTG, plastisol transfers, or DTF. 

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But with any heat transfer process or even DTG, each shirt takes more time to “print” than if we were direct screen printing on an automatic textile press. For example, a 24 shirt order is easy enough to heat press and will not take too much time. But let us jump up to 100 or 500 pieces. Then you will spend more time heat pressing each shirt than you did on any other part of the process. Time is money and printing tee shirts can be like printing money but you need to print as fast as possible to gain the highest profit margin. On that note, it is best to buy your DTF transfers instead of trying to buy a DTF machine. Maybe one day your work load will warrant such an investment. Just be aware of slick salesmen and financing companies. 

It is always best to do your research. Do not let start up heat transfer business companies persuade you into a process that they will promise you it can do what screen printing can do. Sadly, that is just most often not the case.  There is a lot of good information on the internet about heat transfers, but there is also a lot of bad information. Just take the time to learn all about your options when considering starting a custom printed garment business. 

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The truth is, if you are serious about building a screen printing business which provides custom printed apparel, you will end up using different embellishing methods for different jobs. Every screen print shop should have at least one heat press with multiple transfer processes available for your customers. Diversity and having the right tools for the job will help you satisfy your customers and keep than coming back for many years to come.