Wide-format photo inkjet printers aren't just for outputting images onto papers, canvases, and vinyls anymore. With the direct-to-garment flatbed inkjet printers that will be featured at this month's SGIA show in Orlando, you can also output your images directly onto 100% cotton and cotton/poly blend T-shirts, pre-stretched canvases, tiles, tote bags, and other photo merchandise.Many of these “direct-to-garment” printers use Epson printheads in conjunction with specially formulated aqueous pigment inks and re-engineered media feeds. Most require the use of tabletop heat press to fully cure the inks after printing.
“Direct-to-garment inkjet printers have opened up the decorated products market to establishments that would never have considered embroidery, screen printing, or digital transfer printing,” notes Patti Williams, of the digital-printing market-research firm I.T. Strategies. She predicts lower-cost flatbed inkjet printers will be used by some school and event photographers, artists, one-hour photo shops, copy shops, quick printers, retailers, and numerous other businesses.
Direct-to-garment printers run slower than screen-printing presses, but can economically print one shirt at a time. Some models can output images with broader color gamuts and greater detail than screen presses. And some direct-to-garment printers are portable enough to take to events for on-site sales.
Several companies sell direct-to-garment printers in the $10,000 to $20,000 price range. Models include Anajet’s FP-125, BelQuette’s FlexiJet, Brother’s G-541 Garment Printer, DTG’s Kiosk, and the DirectAdvantage system by Sawgrass Technologies.
If your studio can generate enough volume to pay for a printer and heat press, the profit potential can be attractive. You can buy white T-shirts wholesale for $1.00 to $1.20 each and ink costs range from $0.50 to $0.80 per shirt. (Costs are higher for dark T-shirts.). Custom-printed T-shirts typically sell for $18 to $30 apiece.
BelQuette’s Flexi-Jet is one of several direct-to-garment printers that is built around Epson printers or printheads. The Flexi-Jet is a modified Epson Stylus Pro 4800 mounted on a mechanism that moves the printer over the T-shirt or tote bag on a heated platen. It uses specially formulated aqueous inks that combine the soft feel of dye-based inks with the washfastness and lightfastness of pigmented inks.
4 comments:
Eileen, how portable are these devices? I like the idea of taking this type of printer to sporting events, etc. and marketing to a parent the opportunity to buy a shirt bearing an image of their kid that was taken only moments before.
Tim:
Both of the direct-to-garment devices I saw marketed at the PhotoPlus Expo are based on the Epson Stylus Pro 4800. And, they require a separate heat press. So, they would probably be "portable" only if it is feasible to safely set up a print operation in the truck or van you use to go from site to site.
I will do some follow-up research and see what I can find out. I'll write a separate post with links to the two companies that were selling direct-to-garment printers at PhotoPlus Expo.
If you are starting up a business with the direct to garment printer, likely you had some direction prior to your purchase. We will be doing and reporting our research and development of all the aspects of direct to garment printing.
Direct to Garment printers are great for creating on demand prints, limited editions and samples. Direct to garment technology eliminates the setup steps and overhead associated with traditional imprinting methods.
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