Impressions - January 2010 - (Page 49)

ferent brands from your T-shirt distributor and see which works best. (Red shirts have an especially reactive dye, making them good candidates for your testing.) Another timing question: When should you actually purchase the equipment? In other words, when do you have enough business to warrant purchasing the machinery? You can answer that question, at least in part, by looking at the value of the business you’ve been turning away or sending to a contractor. If you’re turning away, say, $21,000 in screen printing orders that could be handled with direct-to-garment equipment, it’s not hard to justify the purchase. That’s only part of the answer, however. Another way to determine whether it’s time to take the plunge is to look at your sales during the last few years. If they’ve stalled or decelerated, it may be a good idea to jumpstart revenue by adding a new decorating process. You also can answer the question by looking at your equipment payment and ﬁguring out whether you’re likely to land enough new business to cover it. For instance, if you’re looking at a lease payment of $400 monthly, can you decorate enough garments with the new equipment to generate that amount of money? If you ﬁgure a proﬁt of around $5 per shirt, you’re looking at around 80 shirts per month, or 20 per week. For some shops, that’s a quantity that can be attained extremely quickly; in fact, some decorators have paid for their machines in a matter of months. These back-of-the-napkin equations don’t even account for the halo effect the new equipment creates — the business that you generate on other products and services just by having direct-to-garment technology. For instance, a customer may place larger embroidery orders because of his higher satisfaction in doing business with your newly versatile shop. Besides all of these “big-picture” considerations, you’ll also want to think about the myriad practical considerations, like where you’ll place the equipment and whether your shop has suitable humidity levels. (Humidity can affect ink ﬂow, which, in turn, can affect image quality and machine performance.) The area also should be clean so that the equipment isn’t getting mucked up with dirt and debris. Other practical considerations include the cost of consumables and other supplies, as well as a heat press, if you don’t already own one, and the physical layout of the work area for your new equipment. Remember, success isn’t just about purimpressionsmag.com Another business plan consideration is where you will put the machine. You have to have a clean, humidity-controlled area that’s as free of dust and lint as possible. Also consider how much work space you need. Photo courtesy of Donna Tarter, Donna’s Decorated Apparel, Etc, Picayune, Miss. chasing the hottest new piece of equipment, even when it’s one as versatile and powerful as a direct-to-garment printer. That’s because, ultimately, it’s not the machine that matters most — it’s the business plan built around it. Don Copeland is digital products manager for SWF East, Tampa, a company which offers the DTG line of digital direct-to-garment printers. Copeland has been in the digital graphics end of the screen-printing and sign industries for the past 18 years. In addition to selling embroidery machines and software, he is responsible for research and development of new digital decorating products, evaluating equipment and supplies, and testing of inks and substrates. For more information or to comment on this article, e-mail Don at dcopeland@swfeast.com or visit swfeast.com or dtgamerica.com. Use Info•Action #35 at impressionsmag.com/infoaction See us at ISS Long Beach January 2010 << Impressions http://www.swfeast.com http://www.dtgamerica.com http://WWW.HEATPRESS.COM http://WWW.HEATPRESS.COM http://www.heatpress.com http://www.impressionsmag.com/infoaction http://www.impressionsmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Impressions - January 2010

Impressions - January 2010
Contents
First Impressions
FYI
Art Inspires Winning Decorators
Tees Drive Core Business
Increase Online Visibility of Your Web Site
Production
For Screen Printers Only
Business to Business
Classifieds
Online Directory
Ad Index

Impressions - January 2010