It depends on your business plan. Starting out on a heat press is good so you wont be sitting on product but once your sales and volume increase transitioning to print shops and manufactures is next.
What funny is if you go back to all these content people and who they're linked to they all told you to get a heat press, get transfers, get dtf, get this get that. Now their all switching up and saying don't get a heat press, you don't need all this equipment. There 4 types of people in the tshirt industries. 1: Manufacturer 2: distributor 3: equipment sellers 4: printers and embroidery. If you wanted to start a clothing line all you needed was #4 I wonder what next they go say you don't need a silkscreener
Without a community, customer base, audience or social media following, nothing else matters. You can have 12 heat pressed shirts or 1200 screenprinted shirts, you won’t sell anything and be stuck with inventory. Which is the #1 reason brands go out of business. The best plan is to make a sample, and get preorders, and let your preorders determine what method of printing you do. For example: If only 12 people pre-ordered, it would behoove you to waste all the money it takes to screenprint (screens, films + set up charges)… So… in that instance… DTF would be best for small orders (of colorful artwork). Vinyl would work well for 1 color art. BUT… if you get hundreds of pre-orders… THEN, you use the money from the preorders and go get the shirts screenprinted. Because screenprinting is best served to handle large volume. Mass quantities. So, remember… small orders = manual print yourself. Large orders= screenprint. And don’t use your own money. Use the customers money to pay for your goods and grow your business. Mitigate your risk. Be smart. Because most start ups make the mistake of blowing their own money or credit cards to start, and end up in debt. Use OPM.
What I learned from this video is that we are not manufacturers... We are a brand! The main focus for your brand should be the sales and marketing aspect of the business, as well as the time saved and the quality of the brand you developed. Thank you for this gem! 🌟
To each is own. Some people start off somewhere. I’m sure you guys did as well. Heat press works. It all depends on your “vision” and if your brand connects to to people. Once you grow, you can move on up. Do what works best for you and your budget and stay patient and in your lane. Gotta remember these guys are well established now and funded so they can be able to afford these things and then some. Props to them but if all you have is heat press and transfers, then push your brand and make sure it connects with the people and build from there. In designing when your start off, “less is more” works. If you look at their basic shirts it’s just the logo and brand. But again it means something it connects. Do that and once you get big and start producing more volume then you can move on up. Take your time. Chasing money equals less money. Love the message your producing and trust your equipment. No pun intended, but trust your “vision”. Importantly trust God! Blessings to y’all’s brand!
I trust my Vision now and you hit me with the most importantly TRUST GOD which I believe the Holy Spirit has been telling me this for a few months now. Thank you 🙏🏽 so much and God bless you tenfold
You just gave me the gem I needed this morning. I use to have my t-shirts silk screened and was able to sell many more than I do now that I have been trying to heat press on my own. I have been stuck and you pulled me out the mud. Than you so very much for your help, your input, for being there for everyone like myself who needs the info, the support and the community. I would be literally LOST without you guys. Much love & praises fam. ~.~
I appreciate the game and don't think it's bad advice per se, but it doesn't take into account or doesnt explain growth and transitions. This is kinda like telling a recording artist to stop messing around recording and mixing their music at home at go to a professional studio with great outboard gear and professional engineers and telling the artist to only focus on writing, rapping and singing. If you dont have a budget, you have to start where you are and grow into your transitions. It also doesn't take into account the ability to test and market design concepts on the fly. Overall, I do respect the game you're giving for people who have reached a certain level and thank you for blessing us.
For sure! Appreciate you for watching! One thing I think we should added was the cost breakdown for both. Buying in bulk isn’t as expensive as people think. Once you buy the heat press equipment & materials it’s around the same price.
Man, this knowledge is valuable as hell. I started my brand in 2015 and I have been struggling with juggling my 9-5 and doing my clothing line. I have finally got to a place where I am ready to elevate my brand to the next level and it was by stumbling across your brand. I started in New Zealand but I am now living in Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne with its sense of fashion and culture has reignited my passion for clothing. I just ordered a heat press and I am kind of guttered now because when I first started I outsourced my clothing. Thank you guys for helping me figure out the best way to move forward I will be following your steps definitely.
I think a Heatpress is better at smaller quantities. When you first start you probably wont be ready to scale. You need those bigger profit margins in the beginning. Once you get to a certain level sure.
I started pressing my own shirts in 2018, and even with a lot of success. I’ve always felt like doing everything in house was better but as my business grows I’m seeing the value in outsourcing. This video is very informative
It all depends on the brand client base. If you are not scaling yet.then use what you have. Do t abandoned it. Because you got to start somewhere. You work with what you have. That's what yall are missing. You can market and all that. You have to start somewhere. Next not everyone has the money to go the screen print route just yet. So they're going to have to heat press until they can. Don't have them spend money they don't have even on pre-order. They can still market and focus on sales. But people have to start somewhere. Example: Why would I spend money screen printing if the clientele isn't there yet? Sothats where heat press come in. Then upgrade when the scaling comes up. Everyone's situation, financial and market is different.
💯Litrally facts.✅👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾😁💫♊🇯🇲🇬🇧♊Heat press to start out.(You get to start and Budgeting wisely.) Screen print when orders are massive, big money is rolling in and profits is vey high.⭐Love what you do, do what you love, then the money will flow nicely. Practice makes progess.✅💯🌍🤩💃🏾😃😁💫
Needed to hear this. I’m spending hours weaving and pressing 25 shirts. It is stressful when it messes up too. Definitely going to use my time better. Delegate and elevate.
Spending the money on outsourcing is really just an investment in your business. Heat pressing your shirts to cut costs is just cutting yourself short. Thank you for these gems!
What I learned is that I design, create content, and get my brand out there! And leave the manufacturing to the pros because that’s time I’m losing and shoutout to y’all man this video really helped me for my brand!
Great advice! I'm an upcoming one-man-army clothing brand; however, I do use a heat press machine for my garments. What makes heat pressing easier for me is using affordable dtf transfers. They last longer and the process is quicker to apply. And I still keep a great profit margin. I do plan to outsource my production soon, but for now, I'm trying to save as much money as I can to prepare for that transition. And as far as sales and content creation, I make sure to budget my time to complete those tasks.
Keep up the work, fam! I work alone sewing all my garments myself and applying my decoration myself it’s def hard work being a one man band but keep working! Just trying to inspire myself and others putting in this kind of work
I came across this video at the right time. I have been looking into starting to sell t shirts and I was about to invest in a printer and heat press but called a local print shop for a quote yesterday and this is the first video I saw this morning. It's like this was the confirmation I needed. Great video.
What I learned is to scale my brand fast to a 6 or 7 figure brand I need to Delegate & Elevate. My time is valuable & find manufacturers / experts to create the garment. I need to focus on selling the Why, the products & making valuable content. My favorite videos are when you guys get other brand owners to talk about they’re successful strategies, the mindset of running a brand & just tips on helps upcoming brand owners! It’s like every brand owner has a different tip that helped them Elevate & Delegate the knowledge y’all giving us is great. Very informative video! Appreciate it again 💯
Honestly as a brand owner I’ve been trying my best to do everything myself and it’s exhausting not saying heat pressing is bad but its good to source something’s out it really does help
Great info fellas. It's easy to get caught up working in your business and not on your business. Sales, sales, sales....gotta have that cash flow! Keep the content coming. 🙏
💎 I learned that my time is valuable and I can add more time to designing by getting away from the heat press and getting somebody else to produce the product! Scale fast by saving time! Take the shirts to a local screen printing shop and bring an order form with design and sizes on the form! 🔥 thank you for all the gems you guys give us! 🙏🏽😊
You guys are the REAL deal when it comes to scaling a clothing brand. I was ready to swear on using heat press exclusively.. and all by myself until I got notified with this invaluable VIDEO. Now I got VSN!!!! 😎🔥🔥🔥
Really been trying to figure out a way to get my products done quicker and with great quality. I started with the heat press for shirts and sweatsuits , I was literally hand painting hats! But like dude said in the video, I was selling only as much as I was producing and I wasn’t satisfied with that. Screen printing is absolutely what I need. I create ALL my designs myself but it’s hard asf being the designer , the salesman AND the manufacturer! That time consumption is definitely real.
i been following you guys for a few years & ive learned to delegate as well as operate from within your city im a professional emerging artist i got my studio right around the corner from a black owned screen print shop in the heart of the arts & culture district going to walk in and talk with them after work because my job art studio & the screenprinting shop is all within 2 miles of each other learned work smarter not harder is another efficient way of maximizing the progress with any amount of time
Something I've found is my local print shop has great pricing but the delay on print can be up to a month or two. So I'm looking to just print everything myself to start. When you start ordering huge bulk is where I see the value.
This definitely helped. I started off outsourcing and now I'm heat pressing. This makes me think I skills go back because I feel like I have no tone to print when I have a 9-5 and I'm an artist. Man..... I needed this game! And those shirts. Lol
Man I needed to watch this. I thought it was gon lightweight be on some hater vibes but seeing how genuinely happy you are to help inform others just let me know I don’t need to go buy a heat press. Delegate and elevate fasho a saying that’s gon be stuck in my head as I pursue my clothing brand. Thank you bro
It’s encouraging and discouraging but you guys said it, don’t stop what you’re doing but work your way towards outsourcing bcus it’s beneficial to your brand
Sheesh! Thank ya for the gems 💎! I was just in the process of buying my first heat press, now I’m going to shift my focus to finding the best screen printing company in my area instead!
I think it depends on how you approach it. If you get caught up with the Heat Press and try to make EVERYTHING, I 100% agree with this sentiment. But I purchased a press to speed up how quickly I can go from design to sample and to minimize overhead on inventory cause I use LAA blanks. Buying 100 LAA printed shirts are a significantly higher risk than buying a heat press w/ plastisol transfers and 12-24 tees from LAA. Blanks alone for 100 pieces will be close to $1000, and with the print, neck label + fold/poly, it's probably going to be a $1500-1600 investment upfront, and again, what happens when that specific design doesn't sell at all? Now you're stuck with 100 shirts that can't be used for anything else, versus pressing the tees allows you to minimize risk on each design cause you only have to invest in small batches of transfers & blanks. Utilizing the heat press w/ plastisol transfers are a great way to keep things moving and growing while you offset some of the production to bulk once you start seeing some momentum. I'll be covering all of this on my channel soon, once I can get majority of my IG followers over to RU-vid 😆
To each is own. I started with almost no money and a heatpress. I was told I was wasting my time. I'm not bringing in 6 figures, but I'm doing good for a company that is 4 months old. The line that hit me the hardest was, "time at producing the garment"
I appreciate what you said in this video. I have been trying to create content. Heat press shirts and get my website like I want. You’re right there is not enough time in the day.
I have been thinking about this a lot lately…for some reason it makes sense when someone else say it…I needed this…Billionaire Vision going up because of this Video…thank you
While I agree that once you get going and your merch is selling it is wise to transition to outsourcing, this isn't really "advice". Every single person that wants to start a brand wishes they could just outsource their entire manufacturing process out to someone else to focus on the sales side of things. Which is why Print On Demand is so huge. Despite them taking so much of your profit, it takes out all the manual work needed, giving you time to look for the sales. But some people want to build a brand, not just make a product. Therefore they start small, in a garage or spare bedroom, and need to start with the basics based on their budget. Heat press has a fairly low cost of entry and is a good way to start. Just like you guys did, pressing your own products. You started out doing the work yourselves to build the brand, then transitioned to a screen printer to scale your brand when the brand was strong enough to support that outsourcing. If people had the money to immediately throw at a screen printer from day 1, they would. But then again, there are no guarantees that the shirts would sell immediately that way either. So building your brand step by step, steadily, from the ground up takes work. And if you want it bad enough, you will get out there and prese every piece of garment you sell until the finances & sales look good enough to make that transition. So again, I don't see this video as advice. Only what to do when you are in a position to scale the brand. Appreciate the video though!
This video reignited me. I was using a heat press like 2 yrs ago and gave up because I wasn’t getting any sales and it was hard to get my business to the next level. Thank You so much #504love💜💜
I love ya'll! I'm not a manufacturer. I love that part. I always focus on content. Thank you for confirming this technique. Because guess what it really is a technique a strategy that us designers didn't know we needed until this video🌟
Y'all leaving out a part. Where does the capital for screen print on that scale come from? You have to start small first. You have to establish and make your brand aware before you go jump into sales. Going directly to screen printing does equal preorder sales that come from it.
This video was very beneficial to me. Trying to balance the 9-5 work life and run my own business doing everything myself I left myself with no time for much content! Thank you so much for the helpful tips
11 color tee is how much per shirt? This is a good idea if you have too many orders to press yourself. If you're still starting out its more beneficial to have less inventory and more designs until one hits. Then manufacture when the demand is high
💎 my best takeaway from this video is I am human and I can’t do EVERYTHING. Like i envisioned puttin my heat press back up and makin the shirts myself but you guys are right. That process is sooo time consuming and also gettin acquainted with a screen print shop wouldnt be terribly because networking is the way you get ya brand recognized in my opinion. You guys are doing the damn thing and I appreciate every video.
This video was definitely confirmation I have been scaling 5 different business but I always do everything on my own this year I learned I really need a team to scale and it has been my focus for everyone out there for real you definitely need a team clothing brand is my 6th new revenue journey so I appreciate yal dropping quality knowledge
Man.. thank you for this video !! I was about to spend my money on heat press but i am stil not sure and what you say here is make sense.. good advice for me.. thanks
Nothing wrong with starting with a heat press. It allows for testing graphics and styles with minimal cost. Once you have that work done and can scale up, then you can either dive deep and open a screen printing business or farm out your work to an established shop. I ran a screen print business by myself for 5 years. I was well past the point of needing to hire help when I sold it. I only have the heat press stuff to this day and it comes in very handy while taking up very little room in my shop. Everyone has to start somewhere in garment art and there is absolutely no justifiable reason you cant do it with a heat press. None!
The Gem I am Getting From this is mass production. Having the product on demand allowing you to take driver seat to push the brand. Not only does outsourcing, and using a third party help with production it also serves as a way of making connections. As in the expert from Tommy Tees. It a way of associating your brand with other brands in collaboration. Just bringing up TommyTees helped that business and yours. I also see it as finding someone who has a machine and wants to do that work, there goes room for employment. There were Many Gems ad i could Type all day, what stood out to me was many ways to upscale your business.
I looked into doing it this way, it really wasn’t cost effective for starting out. Maybe it’s just my location but my profit margin was nonexistent if I outsourced to a local screen printing company. Not to mention the upfront costs of buying the minimum order for each design. None of the places I looked into allowed outside products being brought in for printing either. I can spend the time selling but why bother if I’m only getting pennies for each sale? Instead I am cutting costs and time buying the screen printed transfers and pressing them myself. I’m not looking to become a huge brand, I’m not looking to make millions so maybe I’m not the target audience for this but I feel like this would only make sense if you are already kinda established or have a large following/audience and have the upfront money to afford it. I started out with $300, and had to stop and save up for a few more months to even afford to buy the blank shirts.
Yo my name is Ro from Berrprintz Customs. A gem I got from the video is saving your time and using it in other areas to help you brand scale which is what I thought I was doing using screen print transfers but it’s still take my time for me to print my own stuff to save a dollar or two
I use my press and shop stuff to make small batch stuff and content, personal items to wear and test new designs. Then get larger quantities through a supplier and partner. I love my in shop stuff but the creation is part of one leg of my brand.
This is good information but its super misleading to a person that is starting off a clothing brand. Because I am quite sure you guys started off with a heat press and thats how you grew your brand to the point of out sourcing. When starting a brand yea its about sales but its also about your customers loving your product and in order to get customers to love what you sell is to know the ins and out of your products and how to produce it if necessary... and when you reach a certain point in business then grow your business with manufactures. its about "growing" your brand. This video is super good advice to a thriving brand.. but its not beginner friendly.
I’m doing both. Building a brand I’m touching everything. There is a difference between branding (marketing) Manufacturing Shipping Bro it’s a lot more than that.
Y'all reeled me in watching this video. I'm definitely taking in your information. Scaling and upgrading your business via a better machine and process. Utilizing your time networking and selling.
Really solid work you brothers are doing. Gave me the idea to ask my wholesaler about silk screen printing so I can focus more on spreading the word about our brand. Greetings from Germany.
This is most definitely important. I remember trying to screen print my tshirts AND the tags which was very time consuming. Thank you guys for much needed gems
Im so prone to DIY, and thankfully came across this video as I thought of tshirt merchandise for fundraising: took one minute to step away from the marketplace madness for heat press, vinyl cutter, and materials 😂 off to out source
Just hearing that I can make things go faster by using a screen printing company vs a heat press was great information and that I was on point buying in bulk on my own 👍
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥Yall boys must of knew I was using a heat press this whole time, thats why yall made this video huh ?..😭😭😭 yall boys stay giving out free game ! keep em coming 🔥🔥🔥🔥
You have to start with what you can afford. Most people starting out aren't going to start with 800 shirts. What wasn't discussed was pricing or whether the screen printer has a minimum number of prints needed to start. What are the costs to startup?
You just help me make the biggest decison out the gate for my Brand, man thanks a million for a great content and direction. Ill be joing the facebook group also
I learned that you wanna do something that is not as easily accessible like a heat press that someone can get for $100 on Amazon and take your time and focus on other aspects of the business and utilize the maximum amount of time you can on bettering your brand. One less thing you have to truly worry about!
Most brands have a life cycle and the majority of them are short.. However, having the physical equipment assets and skill to operate them gives you the opportunity to actually offer a real service in a sustainable industry.. Only black people try to sell you how not to own any assets. - Everyone they’re suggesting you go to in the video owns a heat press and white.. Perhaps these heat press and screen printers owners, most of them who started with a heat press, don’t know what they’re doing? Black people - No, find the intangible way to grow wealth- a whopping 1% of the wealth.. This channel has 57k subscribers, what percentage is going to have a successful “brand” heat press or not? The ability to innovate and bring a new idea to market fast/er is priceless.. And there are millions of niche markets out there that you can serve- tens or hundreds at once. The biggest joke in the garment embellishment industry is the perspective customer with this cool new brand that is going to blow up - and the joke is always told in black tongue..
Black people are not the only ones selling people how not to own assets, they get the info from white people. Who you think came up with these master classes that never give the complete story. So don’t get on here acting like black people created this concept and are hustling people.
As a black business owner I find this video way wrong. There is nothing wrong with having a heat press with a vinyl cutter. Why cuz you can make your own designs quicker than going to a shop. You can come up with a design and then make it and put it up for sale the same hr. Now onething he was wrong about its telling them to get the shirts and take them to the shop. Which 99% of shop won't let you bring in certain garments and if they do we have a no guarantee that your getting back all the tshirts you brought in. Let's say you bring in 500 don't expect to get 500 back expect between 450 to 475 and your signing a waiver to this before the shirts are printed. I rarely listen to these content people cuz most are full of shit. One content person will try and tell you to go get this equipment and go get that. Then another one will say you don't need no money to start but want to sell you a $1597 course. Then another content person is getting free equipment and now has to lie about other equipment to get you to buy it from their affiliate link. Then another content person like this one will tell you you don't need a heat press. Then another will tell you to buy a heat press and dtf transfers, silkscreen transfers and so on. Onething I would like to see is that machine push out 800 pieces in 1 hr. but I feel you on what your saying.
@@elevated-apparel I agree. There is nothing wrong with having a heat press when just starting out. Not many people can afford to be buying a whole bunch of clothing from manufacturers etc. The heat press can be time consuming but as you said the fact that you can make a design and than heat press that same day does make a difference. But as he also stated in the video when scaling up especially if you have the financial resources it would be best to go to a manufacturer to get them in bulk!
@@elevated-apparel this is so true you nailed it right on the head. I've been studying and doing extensive research about clothing for two months now everyday. That's one of the many things I've noticed is that there's just too many different perspectives as well as to many of these content creators trying to just sell you something in return. I personally feel it's best to start out simple for better understanding of this industry. So getting a heat press or doing your own screen prints helps tremendously. Realistically why would anyone want to just go to a manufacturer and order over 100+ shirts. There will be trial & error before you can perfect whatever it is you're doing.
Hi Love the idea of a screen printer and the 🤯 at up to 1000 shirts in an hour is whoa!! Nothing wrong with using a heat press until you can find a great-quality screen printer or can afford one. My takeaway from this video is that I need to stop procrastinating and get my butt in gear. The ideas in my head won't print themselves. Thanks for the information you generously share with us. Appreciate you.
Thank you for your videos. The transparency is everything - you guys are spot on about your business tips and I'm definitely a fan of your content. Trying to hustle and motivate out here!! Be easy
I have a heatpress and find this valuable but in the beginning if you have no customers or clientele I mainly make custom shirts for people not large quantities of the same shirt I figure once you build the business then switch over once you gain the customer base I use a screen printer for large orders 25 or more I'm still learning and building good advice
The type of high quality shirts that I want to use to get my designs printed on cost $20+ per shirt unless im ordering hundreds of them which makes no sense starting out especially since i have so many different designs and not enough money to order that many. So this makes more sense to me to start. I don't need to make tons of each shirt. Actually. I can make one sample, post it online and then when someone orders them I can make more of them.
What I learned is that time is as valuable as the product. The heat press is still a good way to go but if you wanted to take it to the next level screen printing is the best option for mass production, an to let someone else print them while I focus on promoting and designing the product.
Great information, but unless you have cash upfront, starting with a heat press and working your way up to putting in a large scale order would fit most budgets. I have started small and slowly working my way up. Having a vision and working towards it is advice I can give.. I started with a vinyl cutter and cheap Heat press off Amazon. I've now added a Heat Press Nation 15x15 w/slide out platon, a Epson F170 Sublimation printer that once I make money to upgrade that will turn into a Epson F570 (Larger Sublimation Printer) ,,The advantage to starting slow is not having to make large purchases upfront if a design isn't working..Keep Crushing It!! Stay HUMBLE, Stay HUNGRY, Stay FOCUSED...~The Jarhead Entrepreneur
IM GLAD somebody said this man, I learned the hard way I was gettin ready to quit lmaooo I would be selling things then get a complaint that the HTV peeled off but I learned with htv you HAVE to have a Heat press pillow so that it can be on there thoroughly. But even then it’s hella stressful bc we ARENT manufacturers we already gotta worry about selling things but doing everything will burn you out quick
This is so helpful. I’ve been debating whether or not it’s worth it to use a heat press. Now I know. If I had those shirts it would really help with my debut collection. I’ve been working hard on kittl trying to find the perfect designs. As soon as I get PS and Illustrator coming soon.
I wouldn’t necessarily say that this is bad advice BUT majority of the ppl who start out making T shirts , they start with a heat press. Which is NEVER a bad idea. That heat press saved & made me hella money when i first started. My local print shop wanted $750 to print 50 shirts & that was only one color , one side and they wouldnt even let me use the shirts that i had already ordered off of jiffy. I was pissed. So i did my pre orders, found a dtf company and took shit into my own hands. The grind is really in the marketing because you HAVE TO BE CONSISTENT. Different strokes for different folks tho.
Been watching y’all’s videos for the last about year and literally every video we’ve taken a tip and used it successfully in our brand. Right now we are right at the cusp of building the brand still and having unstoppable momentum. We have about 6K followers and been using FB/IG ads and influencers. The 100 t shirts will help us follow another strategy that you all talked about in one of your videos the “High/Low” strategy. We could price point those T shirts low and possibly build our mailing list because if I’m correct two successful young men said a mailing list is more important than followers! This would be a great way to start our ‘23 year off strong and get ahead of that momentum! 🤞🏽🤝
Love the video learned so much from the video. I’ve been using Screen Printing since I started the Brand thanks to you guys earlier videos. I’m trying to scale the brand and the T-shirts that you guys are giving out will help me out. Thank you for all the love that you guys go.
Y'all started something with this video Marlon and Nick 😂😂😂 I love y'all guy's keep these videos coming. Me personally transfers last longer then screen print in the wash test. Screen print is faster for sure but heat press not a bad idea especially if you got alot of colors in your designs transfers will make more since to do. I've learned alot from you guy's on starting a clothing brand y'all never disappoint keep it coming.
