Heat Press

Starting with a heat press is the most economical way in which to test the waters of your new business endevour, You can purchase a heat press similar to the one pictured above for as little as $359. This particular model has an imprint area of 15"x15" however they are available in many different sizes for different applications. You can use transfer paper to transfer any image from your computer printer to any garment. The costs involed in this process are for the printer ink, transfer paper, and of course the garment you are placing it on.

Sublimation is another alternative, this is a process where a special ink passes through an inkjet printer onto regular paper. Then the printed image is heat transferred onto the substrate. Because the transfers are produced digitally, the sublimation process provides many benefits to companies who need the ability to transfer images onto different surfaces. If the surface receiving the image has a polymer base, a superb photo quality image results. Unlike other transfer methods, the inks, when heated, transfer into the polymer. The inks when transferred produce superb vibrant colors.
In the early days of sublimation, due to the slow speeds of ink jet printers, the process was only of use to provide strike-off's or one-off's. Now, with the massive increase in speed and print quality in the last 2 years, the process is a viable alternative for short to medium production runs, opening up new markets to companies that they never even dreamed possible. This process is not for use on natural fibers, such as cotton or rayon, you need to only use synthetic fibers such as polyester. The costs to produced decorated garments using this method include the subilmation inks, the heat press, and the garments upon which to imprint.
You can also use a heat press to apply tackle twill lettering to sports uniforms, rhinestones, and studs from tranfers, and vinyl lettering and cut out designs.