What to Buy & Where to Buy It!
As you probably know by now, the Placeit team has a thing for t-shirts (some of our team members even have their own online t-shirt businesses). So we decided to go ahead and figure out what the best screen printing equipment out there was.
We selected products from three of the biggest marketplaces online (Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba) we put together a list of screen printing presses for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as a list of screen printing starter kits you can purchase if you’re just getting into the screen printing world.
Also, we decided to add a top 5 of software and websites where you can design for screen printing. Check it out down below, and as always, if you have any comments or questions feel free to leave a comment.
- Best Screen Printing Presses on Amazon
- Best Screen Printing Presses on eBay
- Best Screen Printing Presses on Alibaba
- Starter Kits for Screen Printing
- Screen Printing Supplies
- Screen Printing Design Tools
- Marketing for your Screen Printing Business
- Goodie: T-Shirt Design Resources
Best Screen Printing Presses according to Amazon Reviews
Amazon is without a doubt one of the biggest sellers online and we found a couple of great options for someone who is just stepping into the screen printing world. Depending on your needs, or how many colors and shirts you’ll be printing at once, you’ll need a number of stations and color options that your t-shirt printing machine should have.
Best Manual Screen Printing Presses on eBay Based on Seller Score
eBay is another website where you can find a manual printing press that suits your needs. We selected the best printing machines on eBay based on the seller score and ordered by how many colors and printing stations it would allow.
Best Manual Screen Printing Presses on Alibaba Based on Seller Transactions
Alibaba is the world’s largest online business-to-business trading platform for small businesses and they offer a huge range of screen printing machines, from manual screen printing machines to automatic ones. The ones featured below are aimed at medium-sized screen printing shops.
Screen Printing Starter Kits for Your T-Shirt Business
Now, other than having the best screen printing machine out there, you’ll need supplies to get you started. Instead of going out and buying everything and probably getting confused along the way with the many supplies available, why not get a starter kit to kick things off:
Screen Printing Supplies for Your T-Shirt Business
So, you’re past the starter stage and you’re already an intermediate or pro screen printer, here are some places where you can buy screen printing supplies online. Remember that you can also check out your local options by googling “screen printing supplies near me”. If your main goal is to print t-shirts you’ll need to find a wholesale blank t-shirt provider as well.
- Screenprinting.com
Ryonet offers (since 2014) all the supplies you could need for your screen printing business, it was founded by Ryan Moor originally selling on eBay, and now on their own online store. Their headquarters are located in Washington but they have branches all over the country. - ScreeningSuppliesStore.com
Selling offline since 1974, Screening Supplies Store is a branch of Xenon Products. They have in-house products as well as other brands and they focus on having great prices for their customers. - DynamicScreen Printing Supplies
Dynamic sells everything from equipment to supplies and kits for your screen printing needs. They also offer screen printing classes and troubleshooting for more experienced printers. They’re located in California.
Screen Printing Design Tools
Now that you have the best equipment and supplies for your screen printing business you should have the best designs and there are design tools out there that will help you create them for your clients.
- Illustrator CC – Illustrator is a great software program to have in your design kit because it was created to be precise. When you’re designing, by using vectors you can make images as big or as small as you want, letting you create designs perfect for screen printing. The downside? It has a quite steep learning curve and the price could be restrictive for someone just starting out.
- Photoshop CC – Photoshop is a tool meant to edit photographs, so if you’re going to be screenprinting these, then photoshop is the way to go. The downside is similar to Illustrator in the sense that learning how to use it can take quite some time.
- Placeit Design Templates – Placeit is an easy-to-use website where you’ll find design templates for your t-shirt needs. Also, there are agnostic templates (for you to use however you like), as well as themed ones like a bachelor party, sorority templates, and marching band ones.
- Corel Graphics Suite – Corel is similar to Illustrator and will give your professional results. Some designers consider it to be easier to use than Illustrator. There are a lot of Youtube tutorials where you can learn how to make screen print-ready files with Corel.
Marketing Your Screen Printing Business
Promoting your screen printing business is key to having customers come knocking on your door. Beautiful, professional visuals can make your business stand out from the rest. Look at some of the images below to see what you could achieve with mockups.
Want Free T-Shirt Resources?
When you’re starting with a t-shirt design, it’s hard to come up with ideas. We put together this .zip file for you to have the resources available and make your design process so much easier (but honestly, if an easy design is what we’re talking about you should just go ahead and try our t-shirt design templates).
Anyhow, here are 37 free resources for your t-shirt designs!
Now that you have the full information on what equipment, supplies, design, and promotion tools to have, you’re ready to stand out from the crowd and take your screen printing shop to the next level. Remember that making a good impression is very important for getting new customers, so mockups in real-life settings and shot professionally are the way to go.
Make sure you have the correct equipment, as well as suppliers and design tools to make the most out of your screen printing business. What’s next? Check this guide on how to start your t-shirt business on a shoestring budget.
“The easiest way I’ve found to market my designs is using Placeit’s mockups”
Philip Anderson 5/5