I am starting an apparel company and am trying to decide whether to print in-house or get tees, etc from a company who does this only. Barring things like experience, what the amount of orders will be and other variables, I am wondering what the cost per color is on a t if I subbed it out. I know there are set-up and screen fees as well but really just wondering cost per color per t.

TIA and sorry if I left something out,

Travis

Hello Travis,

I apologize for the delay in my response. The forum has been experiencing technical difficulties. I have not been getting notifications for the new posts. We are working on the problem but it has been difficult to localize.

However the question you asked here is very vague and open. The price per T-shirt can vary so much depending on what is printed, how it is printed, and what garment is being printed. I think the question you should be asking yourself here is not so much about the cost. The question is do you have the space, the time, and the determination to learn how to screen print everything your customers will demand from you. Then you also have to think about the cost of setting up a brand-new shop. If you're just starting out I would suggest having the shirts printed for you to start out with.

That way you can test the waters and see what type of jobs you are going to be getting and how difficult they will be to print. There is a huge learning curve in learning how to screen print T-shirts. And that is not even to mention the learning curve in learning how to create the artwork and film positives you will need to screen print.

You should be able to make money by subcontracting jobs out and being the middleman. Then once your business starts to roll you might think about setting up shop and printing the jobs yourself. You could also set up a small one color screen printing situation during this time and began experimenting with printing your own one color jobs. That way you will get a good idea of what it might take to print multiple color jobs and if you want to do that.

I hope that helps out at least a little bit. Let me know if I can be of further assistance.