The Equipment Needed for a T-shirt Business

April 16, 2019
When a custom t-shirt business starts up, it needs commercial screen printing equipment to keep up with demand. If you are wondering, “What equipment do I need to start a ...

When a custom t-shirt business starts up, it needs commercial screen printing equipment to keep up with demand. If you are wondering, “What equipment do I need to start a t-shirt business at home?” Look no further. Below is our list of 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 expensive for a small business.

2. Computers. You’ll need a PC or Mac to use with graphics and cutting programs for our t-shirt business software. 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 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 cut out what you design on the cutter program.

You can save a lot of money by purchasing used t-shirt printing machines and other equipment. Learn how to vet used screen printing equipment.

For more information about custom T-shirts and screen-printing management software, contact us at ShopWorks.

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