Direct Printing on T-Shirts

Over at her Great Output blog, Eileen Fritsch has posted an article on inkjets that allow you to print directly on t-shirts. While the technology is certainly no threat to silk screening, it certainly holds interest for the creation of "one-off" shirts such as those you might like to create from your own photos.

You're not going to be buying one of these babies for the home office - prices run from $10-20K. I'm linking to Eileen's post for a couple of reasons: first, it's just plain cool; second, you might ask around at your local print shop or specialty photo shop to see if they're getting into this game; third, for the more enterprising among you, this technology may represent a business opportunity. My kids swim competitively - a professional photographer at one meet took photos of the kids and allowed parents to proof and purchase photo packs poolside. Can you imagine the sales opportunity if he'd had one of these babies churning out t-shirts on the spot? Eileen estimates shirt and ink costs to total around $2/shirt; with retail prices between $18-30 each, you're looking at a pretty decent ROI.

Great Output: Flatbed Inkjets Print Directly on T-Shirts