Only about 50% of businesses last 5 years! FIFTY PERCENT!!! The possibility of failure or success is literally 50-50! If you’re going to be starting a DTG t-shirt business, you’re going to have to make key moves to make sure you’re on the success side of those odds. With such high stakes like these, you can’t afford to go into this business lightly! With our help, you can minimize your start-up risks by considering these 5 easy tips for starting your own DTG business.
- Narrow It Down!
A common mistake that most new printing businesses make is that they are so excited about the shiny new printer, that they end up forgetting the fact that prior to starting a business, they need to have an established idea of what exactly they will be printing.Whether being a clothing brand or a printing business, you’ll need to know from the start what kind of garments will you be printing on, what will they look like, and everything needed to narrow down your choices for a specific target audience.Consider your customer base (whether established or not) and what you think/know they will respond best to. Don’t blindly go into this businesses without knowing what you will be offering!
- Do Your Research!
Another mistake that new printing businesses make is not properly researching what they’re about to go into logistics-wise. You’re going to need permits, a business license, trademarking your company name, and other official documents you will need before you can be officially open for business. Consult with a DTG consultant on what is needed to start a DTG business.Don’t foolishly try to operate “off the books” or you can find yourself in trouble and on the failure side of the 50-50 odds. On top of permits/licensing, you will also need to research start-up costs, your competition, and knowing your customer base by staying up to date with trends in your niche market.Ensure you’re making cost-effective decisions while still upholding a good quality service/product. But also know what to expect out of your operating costs to establish your price point to put you on the right path to ROIs and pure profit. A key idea that will also influence this is to research your competition. Know what your competitors are charging in order to help set a price point to not only stay in competition but also influence your customer base to choose you over others.The most important part of your research should be your customer base! How can you please them and how can you get more? Research trends in your niche market by checking out the top posts in popular hashtags/blogs/communities where your market can be found. A handy method to implement in this would be the “$1.80 Strategy” by Gary Vee to maximize interactions and get some traffic on your pages. - Design Cost-Effectively!
It’s vital & handy to save on start-up costs by becoming familiar with the basics of a cost-effective design program. This can save costs by empowering your business to only contract graphic designers for more complex custom jobs when required. There is a wide variety of digital art software ranging from free to $500+ but a common misconception is that you need the most expensive software to create the best art.While true in some technical ways, a true artist can naturally take any medium they’re given and produce great art. This can easily be done with any of these softwares for users of all levels from beginner to the veterans of digital graphic art.An important note is that DTG printer use raster design files for printing so Adobe Photoshop and similar programs will work best for designing your t-shirts. PSD or PNG files (12in x 17 in, 300dpi) are normally used for DTG so be sure to use a program that can support transparency files. Vector designs from programs such as Illustrator or other vector programs traditionally used for screen printing are no longer required now that you can literally print any design ever with DTG print technology. - Find A Supplier!
The biggest overlooked fact when going into the DTG business is that you will need a good quality product to not only give value to your customers but to be able to properly print with a DTG printer.While being an investment, it is a 100% win-win situation to have a garment that prints beautifully and makes your customer happy. DTG printers work best with high quality garments with tight weaves such as ringspun cotton for best results with the pretreatment and printing process. To ensure you get the best deal on your blank t-shirts of choice, be sure to contact the manufacturer and inquire about starting a wholesale account with them. - Buy A Printer!
While you can go the outsourcing route with 3rd party services, this can be very costly for your business and cause you to miss out on potential money with sky high costs which result in super low profit margins while remaining competitive with your pricing. Ideally, you want your very own direct to garment printer so that you take control of your business by being able to print on demand all by yourself without missing out on all of that potential revenue that you’d be losing with the high costs of outsourcing.
When considering a DTG printer, it is key to consider not only a good price but a high quality product to produce the best quality prints for your customers. You must also consider your what your production and maintenance costs will be with a DTG printer.Below is a very useful chart illustration a 5 year comparison of ownership costs for the top DTG printers in the market:
The FreeJet 330TX & 330TX Plus are the winners by a landslide in terms of production and maintenance costs while boasting multiple award-winning DTG print quality on a wide range of garments from 100% light/dark cotton t-shirts to 100% light/dark polyester, a feat that other DTG companies still have not mastered.
To learn more about the FreeJet DTG Printer Series and to learn more about what DTG can do for your business, visit omniprintonline.com and call 1-855-373-3538 to set up your FREE business consultation with one of our helpful DTG Consultants!
