Starting a business in any of the many facets of the garment decorating industry can be a lucrative and fulfilling endeavor. With so many decoration methods available, it can be overwhelming when you are doing your research. While each of the methods, such as silk screening, direct-to-garment, embroidery, sublimation, and heat printing (to name a few) has its place in the industry, one thing is consistently true: each utilizes a heat press. More importantly, heat printing is a great way to start a business with minimal investment and high profit yield. In this webinar, Jodi Weiler of GroupeSTAHL offers an in-depth explanation of the many styles of heat presses and the differences between each of them so you can decide which one is right for you and your future business.
In the T-shirt industry, we are all used to the everyday orders for BAKERSVILLE BOBCATS or Joe’s Pizza Palace with simple lines of text and a standard black T-shirt. Having a fashion sense doesn’t come naturally for some, so in this webinar, “Fashion Frenzy – 2012”, Andy from Transfer Express® shows the latest trends from the runway and shows you how easy it is to incorporate them into your everyday business.
Among the trends seen in the fashion industry’s trend reports:
Colors: Neon is staying strong, the orange and navy combination is a must, and pastels are hot for spring.
Prints: Flower prints make a comeback, polka dots were seen all over the runway, and African safari prints and colors ruled.
To add another level of fashion, Andy also explains how to layer transfers to add more dimension and texture to your apparel. Using screen printed transfers, including Transfer Extreme Essentials™, with rhinestones and digital transfers adds a unique and trendy multi-media look. The process to layer transfers is easier than it sounds and allows you to advance your skills as a garment decorator.
If you didn’t see this webinar live, check it out to see how simple it is to add these trends to your standard t shirt orders.
In the most recent February edition of Printwear Magazine, a great article was put together by a screen printing veteran, Terry Combs. The article, “Transfer Solutions”, took a look inside offering heat transfers into your business. Your businesses, as he explains, is not just embroidery or digital decorating or even just screen printing, you need to start looking at your role as a “garment decorator”. The possibilities of what you can offer as a garment decorator are endless in the industry. So this leads in to your options of using heat transfers as a medium to create your custom apparel.
So why use heat transfers? What’s the big appeal and why are more and more people beginning to use them in place of embroidery, direct digital printing or direct screen printing?
Heat Transfers make printing for leagues easy. Having extra transfer sheets on hand is easier for last minute players.
1) Team Business: Name and numbering uniforms using traditional methods is time consuming and not the easiest way. With heat transfer sheets, they “can be applied quickly and conveniently”, says Combs.
2) Inventory: There’s no need to waste inventory on unwanted apparel or sizes that no one needs. Print on demand with heat transfers. You can store sheets of designs and only print when an order comes in.
3) Minimums and Turn-Around: With heat transfers, minimums tend to be lower than going to a direct printer and turnaround time is closer to three days instead of two weeks. Some companies will even ship out transfers the same day.
4) The only investment: A heat press is the only piece of equipment to using heat transfers. It’s a low investment and little education needed to work one. As Terry Combs says, “do not, under any circumstances, cut corners on a heat press.” It’s what makes the transfers stick and you want it to be a quality heat press.
This is just a small snippet of what was explained in the article so I encourage everyone to read it and learn how important heat transfers are in today’s garment decorating industry.
All you need is a heat press to create a wide range of apparel and accessories and help control inventory.
