Are you looking to start a textile printing business in the coming months? You are on the right track. This is because the textile printing business is one of the most lucrative printing business ideas. The garment printing business is very profitable and easy to scale. Within 90 days or less, you can start and establish your business if you follow the listed steps meticulously.
Recent studies have shown that there will be a 17.5% growth over the next five years in the digital garment printing market to a total value of $2.66 billion. This is more than enough reason to go into the industry as there are enough customers and profit to be made.
However, you need to think of the niche to serve, and the type of garments/textile to launch with, be it polyester, cotton, or a blend of both fabric; and poly-cotton. This is because each material texture has a specific material used to decorate and print on them.
For instance, polyester materials are more suitable for sublimating machines, and machines’ cost and maintenance vary one from to the other. Continue reading to see easy-to-follow steps to start and establish your garment printing business.
Step 1: Develop a Business Plan
Table of Contents
A textile printing business requires careful research, planning, and execution. The first step to starting a profitable textile printing business is developing a comprehensive business plan. This plan should list the objective, summary, goals, financial analysis, and marketing strategy for your business.
Knowing who to sell to and their needs matters a lot when developing your business plan. You also need to develop your audience persona and how to reach them with your products.
Step 2: Select a Printing Technique
As stated above, each fabric uses different printing techniques. The achievement of production also depends on the time you are willing to spend on the production and the printing method to be used. Every printing method has its benefits.
The types of printing methods you can use for your production include:
Sublimation Printing Solutions
Choosing to print on sportswear, jerseys, and other polyester garments requires a sublimation printing solution. There are Small Format Sublimation and Large Format Sublimation. These two are also easy to install and the operation is user-friendly. This printing method is one of the most affordable digital transfer dye sublimation printers.
If you are just starting and have low investment capital, you can opt for a small-format sublimation printing solution. If, however, you have all the funds to expand your printing business, then by all means opt for the large format sublimation printing solution.
Direct to Garment Printers
These types of printers print multiple coloured images directly onto the fabric with perfection and vibrancy. The results obtained are just as good as the ones obtained from screen printing, with a slight difference. However, the results are better than those obtained from heat transfer printers.
Screen Printing
This is one of the most used methods for T-shirt printing. In terms of bulk printing, screen printing is the best technique to rely on. It is more profitable and offers long-lasting results and quality. If you don’t want to go for heavy-duty production, you can opt for the MiScreen portable digital screen maker.
Crystal PRO and Spangle PRO
This printing machine is innovative for garment decorations with bling like T-shirt decoration and abaya decoration, you can also use different colours and different sizes as well. You can also design your fabrics with crystals when you use the Crystal PRO printing machine.
Step 3: Choose the Best Garment Suppliers
Your printing business cannot grow without quality garments and fabrics to print on. For this, you need to conduct detailed research to get the best manufacturer who can provide your business with quality textiles for printing at an affordable cost.
Textile manufacturers also help garment printing business owners make the right decision in choosing the right fabric type for their designs. After making the right purchase decision, you can then go ahead to settle on pricing and production size.
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- What is Custom Rigid Packaging and How Does It Benefit Businesses?
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Step 4: Settle on Production Space
Another important factor to bear in mind when starting your textile printing business is to decide on the physical location to operate your business. Deciding on a location to operate is required when you go to register your business.
You need to rent a space in a location where your target audience can find you easily. If you also intend to operate from home, ensure your social media presence is active and be sure your business can be found on the internet.
Step 5: Design Garment Pattern
After deciding on your location, you need to start creating your product inventory and textile design. When creating designs, keep in mind the needs and expectations of your customers, also take note of colours, words, and other factors on trend at the moment.
To ensure you don’t overproduce without reaching a loss due to slow or no sales, you can create your designs and store them virtually. Immediately you receive orders, you can print them according to demand, and you can also tweak the designs before printing.
Step 6: Packaging
Every good business must take it upon themselves to provide great packaging for their customers. It helps build brand trust and value. To reduce waste, you can opt for recyclable or biodegradable packaging options.
Make your packaging personalized to your brand and avoid looking like every other brand out there. Having unique packaging will help your customers recognize your brand at a glance and it could bring new customers your way too. Here’s a guide that will teach you how to reduce packaging costs.
Step 7: Mode of Operation
You have to decide on your mode of operation before you start your textile printing business. You can choose to be a wholesaler, supplying to other small business owners, or you can sell directly to consumers and build a brand. Isn’t that amazing? You can operate a B2B and B2C mode of operation. What it means is that you can be supplied to other business owners and direct consumers.
Anyone interested in this business can operate an e-commerce store instead of establishing a physical store to save costs. Based on your choice, you can print and package your products or follow a print-on-demand system The ultimate goal is to ensure that you can handle any mode of operation you choose.
Step 8: Marketing and Sales
Leverage the internet and social media to sell your products, generate leads, and build a solid brand. With the introduction of social media, you can easily reach your target audience with little to no money. If you have a strong online presence, you can use your blog to attract organic leads and sales.
It’s important you focus on customer service before, during, and after sales to ensure they keep coming back. If you treat your customers well, they will continue to refer other people to your business. No matter how great your business is, bad customer relationships will put you out of business faster than slow sales. Be a people-centric brand.
Also Read:
- How to Start a Greeting Card Business with Ease
- Top 10 Business Ideas for Nurses: Nursing Business Opportunities
- How to Set Up Your Own Business in Finland as Foreigner
Conclusion
While the textile and garment printing business is profitable and quite easy to start, it is sure to stay abreast with the latest news, designs, and software. Take note of when to switch upgrade and upscale so your business doesn’t go obsolete.
