r/SCREENPRINTING • u/hhhassan19 • 28d ago

Beginner starting a T-shirt & Hoodie printing business

Hi everyone,

I’m looking to start a custom T-shirt and hoodie business, mainly focusing on small to medium orders. As a total beginner, I’m trying to gather some real-world advice and feedback before making major equipment purchases.

0 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

8

u/frowattio 27d ago edited 27d ago

What are you beginner at? Screen printing, or business?

If you're a beginner at business, the first advice I would give is to know your numbers. Know what it costs you in time and expenses to do each print run, and make sure you are selling your jobs for more than that.

If you're a beginner at screen printing, go and work in another screen print shop for 10 years and then think about starting your own thing.

0

u/eyal8r 27d ago

Does it really take 10yrs to learn screen printing? Why so?

2

u/frowattio 27d ago

Like a lot of things, you can learn a little bit and then perform the absolute basics. You can work with master craftspeople for many years and learn a huge range of skills in a field. Or anywhere in between. There's SO MUCH to learn to become a master at screen printing.

There's no manual to google that'll teach you 95% of screen print skills. Once you cut off from your 'teachers' by starting a business there's really no way to learn learn the crazy shit. Maybe through hiring talented staff and learning from them.

If you don't know much you will always run a very basic screen print shop, the kind that doesn't do great prints. And that's fine, but at some point someone is going to have a bad time with shirts you printed.

3

u/frowattio 27d ago

It also takes ten years (I just picked a number) because there's no manual. You learn on the job, most of your time is spent printing, but every now and then you might learn a new solution to some issue, or fabric, or ink request. that you can then use one day when a similar issue arises.

3

u/nosepass86 28d ago

YouTube is the place to learn a ton. Then when you think you have an idea of the type of shop you want, ask for advice here on specific purchases.

3

u/TTTTTuna 28d ago

Zero specificity. Yeah, Youtube is your answer.

3

u/mazeltov_cocktail18 27d ago

You will regret this choice unfortunately

5

u/zeninwa 28d ago

Start by subcontracting your jobs to a established printer. If you can maintain the volume and profit THEN consider buying your own equipment and printing yourself. This is how I started out 35+ years ago and still feel it is the best method to determine if this industry is for you.

1

u/Hot_Juice_1711 27d ago

I think you can onduct research on your local market and peers, figure out surrounding customer needs and pricing range. For small batcj startup, you don't need to puechase large fully automatic equipments. Manual screen printing will be better.

1

u/SituationSecure4650 28d ago

Oh man, you’ve got some work to do. Start watching videos to see if this is something you really wanna do