Easy! There is not "best". There's only best for you.
1. Best for your plan
2. Best for your products
3. Best for your budget
Lets break this down by first determining:
1. What do you want to sell?
2. Who do you want to sell to?
3. Where do you plan to fulfill orders?
Things we aren't asking yet:
1. What is your budget?
2. Which technology have you 'heard' is best? what are others doing?
3. What do i need to invest in besides a printer? e.g. heat press, etc
Now based on the above here are the facts on printing technology
DTG (like the G4 and Epson F2100)
1. Quality of print 10/10 - colors, feel, wash, etc
2. Works on Light and Dark garments
3. Dark shirts - cotton only, Light shirts -cotton & poly (ish)
4. Full color digital prints (tons of colors)
5. Essentially Fade to nothing gradients
6. Prints WHITE
7. Space Requirements - Printer, heat press, table and pretreat
8. Production Cost - very low
White Toner Transfers
1. Quality of print 8/10 - colors, feel, wash, etc
2. Works on Light and Dark Garments
3. Works on cotton, poly & blends (almost all)
4. Full Color Digital Prints (tons of colors)
5. Does not fade to nothing (hard stops)
6. Prints White
7. Prints on tons of hard goods
8. Space Requirements - Printer, heat press, table
9. Production cost - moderate
Sublimation
1. Quality of Print - 9/10 - Colors, feel, Wash
2. Works on light colors only
3. Works on poly only
4. Full Color Digital Prints (tons of colors)
5. Fade to nothing gradients
6. Does not print white
7. Print on tons of hard goods
8. Space Requirement - Printer, Heat press, Table
9. Production cost - moderate / low
Print & Cut System - Roland VersaStudio BN20
1. Quality of Print - 7/10 - Colors, feel, Wash
2. Works on dark and light colors
3. Works on cotton, poly and blends (almost all)
4. Full Color Digital Prints (tons of colors)
5. No Fade to nothing and generally requires a border / bleed
6. Vinyl is white, so doesnt print white, but is vinyl
7. Creates stickers which can be used on hard goods
8. Great sign production
9. Space Requirement - Printer, Heat press, Table
10. Production cost - moderate
Cutters
1. Quality of Print - 7/10 - Colors, feel, Wash
2. Works on dark and light garments
3. Works on cotton, poly & blends (almost all)
4. Single colors / pallets
5. Must layer to achieve multi-colors
6. No fade outs, all hard stops
7. Vinyl had white, but a limited # of colors (100s?)
8. Can print solid color or multi-color stickers
9. Glitter!
10. Space Requirement - Printer, Heat press, Table
11. Production cost - low to moderate
So at this point in time lets chat examples
Now bringing up budget:
Since you know your plan and what technology you want, the budget can come into play.
If you have a solid business plan and reasonable credit... they are all affordable.
If you are looking to pay cash, then budget comes more into play.
Is there one tech you prefer you cannot afford?
Can your business plan use one technology to build to another?
Now that you have an education, you should learn more. Go to https://coldesi.com/
The other options is to call a ColDesi pro and get some recommendations. When in doubt consult the experts.
This podcast is inspired by a recent article post on https://coldesi.com/ called 5 Ways to Make Custom T-shirts at Home | ColDesi: https://coldesi.com/2021/01/make-custom-t-shirts-at-home/
Related Podcasts:
Episode 149: https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-149/
Episode 101: https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-101/
Episode 136: https://customapparelstartups.com/episode-136/
Products Mentioned:
G4 DTG Printer: https://dtgprintermachine.com/dtg-g4-direct-to-garment-printer/
Epson F2100 DTG Printer: https://coldesi.com/epson-f2100-dtg-printer/
Sawgrass Sublimation Printers: https://coldesi.com/2021/04/sawgrass-printers/
DigitalHeat FX White Toner Printers: https://digitalheatfx.com/compare-digital-heatfx/
Roland VersaStudio BN-20: https://colmanandcompany.com/roland-bn-20-versastudio-print-and-cut-system.html
Graphtec Vinyl Cutter Bundles: https://colmanandcompany.com/cutnpress.html
