The act of sticking a printed design to a fabric using heat and pressure is known as heat transfer printing. Printing a design onto a piece of transfer paper or purchasing ready-to-press designs online both options are available to get a shirt.
The cost of using a commercial heat press machine to heat press a t-shirt is approximately $3 to $5 with a basic setup. Using advanced features like a larger heat plate and a grip attachment can increase costs. For the first few t-shirts pieces, it costs more than the average costs.
Everyone in today’s society is seeking something to generate money from home, especially because you can put the money you save on rent back into your business.
With the development of print and cut printers, technological advancements have opened up many opportunities for this form of printing.
These allow us to create photographic-quality images and are ideal for printing full-color logos, lettering, graphics, and numbers on nearly any form of the workplace, promotional, or leisurewear clothing.
As you are trying to start up a t-shirt business lets know about the cost and profit of heat-printed t-shirts.
What Do You Need For Heat Press Printing
For a t-shirt printing business, you need three basic components.
Transfer paper: So, what exactly is heat transfer paper? It is a type of specialized paper that uses heat to transfer printed designs onto shirts and other garments.
Adhesive sheets: Self-adhesive plastic sheet, it is a large plastic sheet or film with an adhesive layer on one side that is used as a decorative surface treatment.
Printer toner: Laser printers, as well as copiers, require toner, which is a specific ink.
It is dry & powdered in nature, but it is electrically charged in order to cling to the opposite-polarity paper or drum plate.
These will always help you to transfer your designs onto t-shirts and other garments or mugs.
Cost Calculation of Heat Press A T-Shirt
let’s talk about machine expenses. you can buy a 15×15 heat press for about 500-800 dollars. For t-shirt printing it’s effective.
But if you want to print also heavy items like hoodies you must go for a larger size. which will cost you some more money.
Cost depends on 2 things in the printing business. one is what is the product that you are selling and the other is how complex of your design is.
On average the blank and two steps of transfer paper which you need for a t-shirt print will cost you 4-5 dollar.
Don’t be concerned about your electric cost; high-quality heat presses are extremely energy efficient. The majority of heat presses require only 110-120V of power, which means they can be put into an ordinary household outlet without overtaxing your electrical system and lowering your utility bills.
Now here is a table of costs to print a t-shirt
Transfer Type | Cost ($) |
Individual initials | $1.00 – $1.5 |
Individual small names | $1.5 – $2.00 |
Small numbers | $2.00 – $2.3 |
Name on the back | $2.3 – $2.7 |
Number on the back | $2.7 – $3.00 |
Both number & name | $4.5 – $5.00 |
So, it will cost you to heat press a t-shirt approximately $3 – $5 to print.
Time is the most important investment in any form of business. You must know how much time you need to print one t-shirt.
When printing pre-made patterns, it takes about 10-15 seconds to flatten out your garment and another 30-45seconds to press your design onto the garment.
It takes a total of 1minutes! When you factor in the time it takes your press to warm up, you’re looking at an approximate pressing time of 2-2.5 minutes.
Profit Calculation After T-Shirt Heat Press
You can calculate your profit easily and accurately by using the formula below::
Profit = Sale Price – Manufacturing price
You can see most customized t-shirts cost $25-$35, however, a customized cap or mug might easily cost $20-25 or more. Hoodies, on the other hand, might cost between $35 and $40.
You will find out that, you only need to sell 25-30 t-shirts to get your machine buying price back in your pocket.
Conclusion
It is clear as daylight that the t-shirt printing business is very profitable. So if you are looking for some extra money and a home office you can start up on your own as it is very easy to handle. It’s also possible that you are planning something big like an industrial setup in this sector, you can also take your chances in this customized apparel business.
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