Impressions - May/June 2024 - 37

build to, and they'll understand they'll never
get there selling $5 T-shirts and printing
them manually, because they can't compete
with the big autos that can knock [a bunch
of] them out in in 20 minutes, 15 minutes.
At the same time, when I say there's no
wrong answer, it's because you see it all over
the place. You see a guy in New York, you see
a guy in Florida and a guy in Colorado, and
you see three price sheets, and each one...is
double the other one. And you think, how do
you look at this? You're talking about $1.50
a print all the way up to $10 for a print. But
who's wrong? Who's to say they're right at
the end of the day.
AC: Unless somebody's not making a profi t,
and then that's the wrong answer, right?
SB: Indeed! But who knows? Maybe that dollar-fi
fty printer is in his basement. He's doing
all contract work. He does nothing but run
his machine nonstop. I look at that 13-auto
shop I walked in on. I learned there that their
margin is around 50 cents a garment. Th en I
understood why this owner is upset because
the machine is down. You have to keep it running
all the time... diff erent things like that.
So that's pricing...
From there, I think because of the Internet
and because of what people have been able to
do on YouTube, people coming into the industry
are very, very focused on two things:
equipment, and what they can make. Obviously,
it's cool to have all these gadgets and
things. But it doesn't matter what you can
make unless you can sell it. So, you've got this
machine, you've got that machine, I can make
stickers, I can do this, I can do that, but you
have nobody to sell to, in which case you've
just got a bunch of paperweights sitting around
you. So, we need to be really focused on sales
and growing and trying to fi nd opportunities
and identifying opportunities based on who
we can sell to.
AC: It sounds like you're talking about fi nding
your niche again. Once you've fi gured out your
segment, suddenly things like costs and the
kind of equipment it makes sense to invest in
come into focus. Any other hurdles newcomers
might want to know about?
SB: I think many people want to know when
to get into their fi rst space, how much work
there needs to be. Th e best advice I got on
this was from a friend's dad who said, " Pick
a location that will pay the rent. " Often we
see screen-print shops in the back of these
Stan Banks discusses getting started in apparel
decorating as part of the 2024 Impressions
Expo conference series in Atlantic City, New
Jersey. Image courtesy of Impressions Expo
May/June 2024
P.37
multiplex warehouse spaces, where there's no
traffi c, no way to be seen or anything like
that. So, I would say, pick a location that will
eventually bring you enough foot traffi c from
signage or whatever the case is, so you start
getting customers. Th at's going to help you
take care to rent rather than just relying on
word of mouth. A lot of people come out of
their home into a building and are like, " Man,
I'm losing $1,500 or $2,000 a month that I
could be keeping in my pocket. " Th e truth is,
if you pick the right space or you need the
space, it'll all make sense.
AC: Interesting. One more quick question:
What would you say to anyone thinking about
getting into the decorated-apparel business
these days? Is there room for fresh blood out
there? Obviously, it's a little scary, investing in
equipment and putting your name out there.
What would you say to those people?
SB: Th e fi rst thing I would say is the questions
you have from on the outside looking in
are going to be completely diff erent from the
questions you're going to have when you're
on the inside looking out, because hands
on is going to give you the experience you
need. Is the business over saturated? If you
are staying at the bottom of, you know, the
crafting market, yeah, sure. But once you
get your feet into this and you identify your
niche...there's so many areas that you can
dive deeper into just based on who you know
and what you are already naturally focused on.
So, I think there's more than enough work
out here. Obviously, there's getting eyes and
attention these days with the way social media
and the internet are going. But there's
still room to make money if you jump into
it and you do the things that we've been
talking about. 
To learn more about Stan Banks and see the wide
range of educational materials and class and
business-coaching options he has on offer, go to
tshirtsidehustle.com. For the complete, unabridged
version of Adam Cort's conversation with Stan, go
to impressionsmagazine.com/video-categories/
ask-the-experts.
ask-the-experts.
http://www.tshirtsidehustle.com http://www.impressionsmagazine.com/video-categories/ask-the-experts http://www.impressionsmagazine.com/video-categories/ask-the-experts
Impressions - May/June 2024

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