DTG BEST PRACTICES BY MIND’S EYE

Humidity at 50% or greater, what happens when its below 50% humidit and how do you humidify?

DTG BEST PRACTICES BY MIND’S EYE

As we are in a more northern climate we run into humidity issues once the heat goes on. It is critical to invest in a hygrometer (unit that checks humidity) and keep it by your DTG (preferably one at each printer). Our printing area is roughly 2000 square feet, 28000 cubic feet when you consider the ceiling height.

We tried using a couple of small localized humidifiers and found that we couldn’t keep our humidity above 50%. As you know, low humidity dries out the ink of the face of the printhead and capping station, leading to more maintenance and potentially shortens the lifespan of the consumable printing components. We looked into a humidifier for our HVAC system but it was going to be several thousand dollars. Instead we invested in 4 mid-size humidiers from Lowes that ran about $80-90 each and we run them continously in the DTG area, they keep the levels above 50%. We look at them as consumables as we would have had to spend 10-15 times as much to add this feature to our HVAC system.

Pre-Heat Pressing shirts before Pre-Treating

1. Matt Down Fibers – we pre-press all shirts (light or dark) for 5 seconds at 340′ F to dry the shirt and to lay down the fibers, the light shirts go straight on to the printer the darks are then pre-treated, wiped down with a foam brush and then pressed again for about 30 seconds to dry the pre-treat
2. Less time to cure pre-treat – we press our pre-treated shirts for about 30 seconds, basically until they are dry
3. Makes prints look less fuzzy ? – without a doubt, pre-pressing of shirts prior to pre-treating helps to lay down ther fibers – especially on more lofty stle garments

Go over some of your  multi tasking thoughts and procedures – full production on the two Vipers we have is basically a 1 1/2 person job.  I think that shop layout helps to increase the efficiency of the operation.  (see Greg’s shop layout that he emailed).  There is more time for multi=tasking on dark garments than on lights.  The throughput on lights is great enough on two machines to basically call for all hands on deck.

Other practices that give you good prints with less waist or less wasted time etc. – take the time to do a test print or two on an old garment to verify the colors, size and positioning of all elements of the graphics.  Also, do a nozzle check before starting production, make sure you have plenty of ink in your printer and all your presses are on an

d to temperature before starting production.

Lastly, the Laser Allignment,  give me a short description on how you made it, where to get the parts and about how much money it cost to make it. – Basic screenprinter trick.  Print the image to be targetted onto an old shirt in the position you think is right.  Move the entire shirtboard system over to your laser alignment station and target the areas that were printed with the lasers.  Now you use the station as a targeted loading station, taking the “guess work” out of position printing.  The whole system can be built for less than $300.

How To Ignite The “Word Of Mouth” Marketing Fire



How To Ignite The “Word Of Mouth” Marketing Fire

There are many ways to pay to market your decorated apparel business: TV commercials, radio spots, magazine or newspaper ads, billboards or signs to name a few.  However, word of mouth advertising is many times the cheapest as well as most effective means of marketing yourself and your business.  The obvious key to this tactic is to spread the word to as many people as you possibly can, and hopefully that person will tell someone, then that person tell someone else, and so on.  Since you are good at what you do, it is easy to offer a customer a quality product in a timely manner which results in that happy customer telling others of the great work you do.  But how do you directly start that word of mouth fire yourself?

Start with wearing your work.  Whatever decorated apparel field you are in (embroidery, direct to garment printing, rhinestoning, or screen printing), wear what you do, and let your designs start the conversation.  Whether you’re at your child’s sporting event or shopping at the grocery store, wear a decorated shirt or jacket that shows off your work.  You’ll be amazed how many people approach you asking where you got it.  Even better, wear a shirt with your logo on the front and contact information on the back.  You’ve just made yourself a walking billboard.  While you’re at it, add your logo, website and phone # to a sign on the side of your car or on the back window.  Again, you’ve just created a mobile billboard.

Next, always be prepared to talk about your business and what you do.  Practice your “30 second commercial” for when you are out and about and may encounter a potential customer.  Your 30 second commercial is you introducing yourself and explaining what your business specializes in, and what sets yourself apart from other decorated apparel businesses.  An example may be, “ Hi I’m John with ABC Shirt Company.  We’re a local company that specializes in decorating shirts, hats, jackets, bags and more with embroidery, rhinestones and digital printed images.  We’re known for our high quality and fast turnaround times.  We’re your one stop shop for all your decorated apparel needs.”  Beyond your 30 second commercial, always have literature, samples, or business cards available to hand out.  Keep a sample book in your car to show people examples of what you can do, and some literature of special offerings you may have (10% off your first order, refer a friend and receive 10% off your next order).  Furthermore, keeping business cards in your wallet or purse ready to hand out is always a good idea.  You can even combine the business card with a 10% off your first purchase coupon (one side is your contact info and the other is the coupon).  Gives people an extra incentive to hang on to your card and not just throw it away.

Finally, make a conscience effort to appeal to multiple markets within your town or community.  Approach schools, churches, youth sports leagues, adult sports leagues, clubs, businesses, cheerleading or dance teams, etc.  In keeping with the igniting the fire theme, when you build a fire for a cookout, you don’t just light one side of the coals.  You light both sides and the middle to insure you have an evenly burning fire.  The same can be said for your word of mouth marketing fire.  That fire will spread faster and more evenly if you approach multiple markets instead of just one or two.  And starting that fire is easier than you might think.  Say you start with approaching a local youth sport league.  Those kids have parents that own businesses, belong to various clubs, are involved with their church, etc.  Those kids may also have brothers or sisters that dance or cheer, belong to the high school pep squad and more.  By simply attending a youth sporting event, you have indirectly approached multiple markets and started to ignite your own word of mouth marketing fire.

Patch Making Kit Part 1

Watch the “Patch making Kit” instructional video and get your kit here http://colmanandcompany.com…

Learning more about Garment Printing

The is a GREAT answer from Minds Eye Graphics to an inquiry about Garment Printers.

Thanks for the inquiry regarding our use of the SFW-DTG Vipers. We are still learning how to use the tool called DTG and the best way for it to fit into our existing screenprinting operation. Since we have 30 years of existing artwork we have both an advantage and disadvantage over someone who is just starting in the industry.

We can cover many of those items in a 15 minute phone call however can nowhere near cover them all.  I’ve found that the touch and feel opportunities work much better.

Regarding the maintenance & reliability issues you must understand the tool and equipment and that you will be doing regular preventative maintenance or don’t bother making the original purchase, sounds harsh but it’s the truth.

Also, a lot of the crap regarding lack of response to issues you’ve seen on the boards/forums relates to DTG products sold by another distributor, we know that SWF East stands behind their customers at all levels.

I’ve got a couple of options for you to see the DTG printers in operation.

Option 1: Visit the Atlantic City ISS show in 2 weeks where I will be presenting on adding DTG to your existing business as a seminar and SWF will have the full line available for you to examine. You can also contrast and compare the equipment with other vendors and owners.  I think the best place you will find to get opinions from others than sales guys is outside my seminar room right after I get done talking on Saturday afternoon.  Lots of input and discussion of the urban legends regarding the truth, lies and unknown aspects of the DTG process.  I think this is your best bet!  Info at http://www.issshows.com/atlantic_city/conference/about-the-conference

Option 2: You are welcome at any time for a scheduled visit to come up to our Decatur Indiana facility to view not only our DTG installation but our contract printing services as well.  You just need to contact us to schedule a time and we can set up your visit.

Rob Keuneke from our staff is in charge our of DTG equipment and would be responsible for scheduling time for your visit, he would be your best source for the “How does it work?” questions.

Option 3: Is Friday March 26, we are having an Open House with SWF sales and service staff on site at MEG where you could get to talk not only to us regarding how we use the products but with SWF regarding required investments and with their best service tech who understand the equipment on the nuts, bolts and circuit board level.  They are planning to bring along smaller entry level DTG equipment in addition to the DTG Vipers we are running in our production installation.  Details are still coming together but I’m 90% sure the open house is going to happen.

Option 4: I will be doing a paid webinar variation of the ISS DTG presentation on March 22 & 23 for the Z Dimension.

Option 5: Give us a call at 260-724-2050 and ask to talk with Rob Keuneke to schedule some time when you can talk with him or I about our experience, the easiest but no touch and feel.

Personally I think visiting the AC ISS event would be your best bet for the travel time involved, let Rob know which direction you want to go.  If you do visit ISS make sure and identify yourself to me in the seminar room.

This is a major decision and your degree of success will depend on how well prepared you are when launching.  Spend the time to get your questions answered and go into this with a  high comfort level.  You can have a lot of fun and make good money if you take the educated approach.

Take care and I look forward to meeting you in person,

Greg Kitson

President

Mind’s Eye Graphics, Inc.

www.mindseyeg.com

The New GlitzUp Rhinestone Hand Setter from Colman and Company

This rhinestone/rhinestud setting hand tool brings back the joy of setting fashion accessories! This tool combines two processes in one. No more hassle, setting rhinestones by hand or with tweezers separately to the fabric and then gluing it afterwards with an applicator. Simply place your finger over the applicator hole to activate the vacuum suction. The applicator picks up the rhinestone or rhinestud on its shiny surface with the glue side exposed to fabric. The stone/stud sits in the applicator as long as your finger is covering the air supply hole. Place the applicator on the fabric and release your finger. Leave the applicator on the stone for a few seconds to adhere glue.

Includes – Glitz Up vacuum applicator, tool holder, 3 applicator tips (1mm, 2mm, 3mm) and 12 packages of hot fix rhinestones.