Screen-print shirts for local teams, schools and events

Every youth team, fun run, church group and family reunion needs thirty shirts by Friday. Online printers are cheap; you're local and fast.

Who pays you

Teams, schools, small businesses and event organisers pay you per shirt, in batches, usually a deposit on order and the balance on delivery, by transfer or invoice. Blank shirts are bought wholesale and marked up within the price.

Outcomes

0 receipts. Nobody's reported back on this one yet. Receipts open when accounts launch.

How it works

Small groups need small runs of printed shirts, hoodies or tote bags, usually with a simple one- or two-colour design, usually by a date. The big online printers are cheap per unit but slow, impersonal and terrible at small runs with a rush. A local printer with a manual press, a flash dryer and a heat press can turn a thirty-shirt order around in days and charge for it. Each happy team refers the next one.

What it actually takes

A manual press, screens, emulsion, exposure setup, a flash dryer, a heat press or conveyor dryer, and inks. A few hundred used, more new.
Somewhere with ventilation and a sink where ink and emulsion are welcome.
Basic design skills: cleaning up a logo, separating colours, preparing film.
A wholesale account for blanks and a price sheet by quantity and colours.

Where it goes wrong

Complex designs. Photographic, six-colour prints are a different business. Stay with one to three colours.
Misprints on customer-supplied garments. Print on blanks you supply, and order extras.
Underquoting setup. Screens take time regardless of order size; charge a setup fee under a minimum quantity.
Slow payers. Deposits before you order blanks, every time.

Published 15 Aug 2026