When a custom t-shirt business starts up, they need commercial screen printing equipment. There are many different types of printers and accessories that they could buy, but the basic equipment is all the same. Below you’ll find the most important items to have on hand when starting up this type of business.
1. Printers. The printer is one of the most important items you’ll need. You can do a lot with just one printer, but the best businesses have several different kinds to choose from. The four types that printing businesses use are inkjet, laser, sublimation, and solvent printers. Solvent printers offer the best graphics, but they are very pricey and might be too much for a very small business.
2. Computers. You’ll need a PC or Mac to use with a graphics and cutting program. You’ll also need it for payment, inventory, and ordering functions. Our suite of software is ideal for helping you manage your business.
3. Graphics programs. Graphics programs are essential to creating custom images and art for the shirts and other media. CorelDraw and Photoshop are two very good programs for this.
4. Transfer paper. You need quality transfer paper for transferring the images from the printer to other materials. This requires the use of a heat press.
5. Heat press. You’ll need at least a 16’x20″ heat press for transferring graphics over onto shirts.
6. Cutter. You’ll need a cutter and the program included in it to create stencils for screen prints. The cutters cuts out what you design on the cutter program.
You can save a lot of money by purchasing used equipment. Learn how to vet used screen printing equipment.
For more information about custom T-shirts and screen-printing software, contact us at ShopWorks.
