Printing advice

[r_drew]

Does anyone have connections with or run a screen printing shop?  I want to print some t-shirst for my band but haven't done this before so I'm a bit of a noob.  Any advice would help.  Thanks!

[Spirit Flyer]

I dabbled in that back in the day. The T-shirt places get their colored shirts for less than a dollar a shirt and they make their money in quantity. The shops basically only want to give you a deal if you buy a ton of shirts. I'm not sure what the prices are by you these days, but it could very easily be $8 a shirt. It depends on how complicated the design is, especially the number of colors. Other things to consider are if the place you are using charges a setup fee.

I like iron-on shirts because you can make them yourself. Granted you have to buy the shirts, the transfers, ink for your computer and use a heat press to put them on, but it has all sorts of possibilities the screen printer can't touch. It's especially good for short runs (less than 50 shirts) or custom shirts, which cost more than $20 in a shop. 

My suggestion would be to evaluate your designs, your needs and then come up with a plan. You can order shirts online and have them shipped to you, but you should get a proof shirt before making a commitment. Like anything else you should just research it before dishing out some money. There's nothing worse than having a ton of band shirts you can't sell.