Getting the best possible print from your DTG machine usually means running the garment printer slower but at higher resolutions or with more than 1 pass. However achieving a better looking print also results in lower output of shirts per hour. In this business money is made by printing shirts, so the more shirts you can produce the more you make per hour.
We decided to run a test on the Epson F2000 DTG printer to show how to increase the hourly net on this DTG machine by 84% AND have a better looking shirt that customers will love.
The image that printed was 11.25″w x 11.65 h. It was printed on a standard high quality 100% cotton shirt as well as the RTP Apparel Ready To Print pre-pretreated white shirt (Style #1600). To show the quality difference the “standard” shirt was printed on a Level 3 (1440×720 16 pass) while the RTP Apparel was printed on a Level 1 (1440 x 720 8 pass). The print times were incredibly different with the Level 3 taking 2 minutes and 37 seconds while the Level 1 print on the RTP Apparel took only 1 minute and 25 seconds (click on the image below to enlarge).
- Level 3 Print on Standard Shirt: 3 minutes 7 seconds = 19.25 shirts per hour
- Level 1 Print on RTP Apparel Shirt: 1 minutes 55 seconds = 31.3 shirts per hour
This above is an increase of 12.05 shirts per hour or 84.7% increase in productivity per hour.
It is clearly visible that printing on the RTP Apparel Ready To Print shirts make a much smarter choice for ANY DTG business running the Epson F2000. Even though the RTP Apparel shirts are more expensive than a standard shirt, you can still make more money per hour using RTP Apparel.
- If a standard white shirt is $2.00 and RTP Apparel is $3.75 (based on 144 pcs) that is a $1.75 difference.
- Since we are printing 31.3 shirts per hour = $54.77 additional cost of RTP Apparel above a standard shirt for the same # shirts.
So, let’s look at your “NET” per shirt if you plan on making $x per shirt
| Net Per Shirt | STANDARD T-SHIRT | RTP APPAREL | INCREASE $ PER HOUR |
| $3.00 | $57.75 | $39.13 | -$18.62 |
| $4.00 | $77.00 | $70.42 | -$6.58 |
| $5.00 | $96.25 | $101.73 | $5.48 |
| $6.00 | $115.50 | $133.03 | $17.53 |
| $7.00 | $134.75 | $164.33 | $29.58 |
| $8.00 | $154.00 | $195.63 | $41.63 |
| $9.00 | $173.25 | $226.93 | $53.68 |
As you can see from the above table, the “break even point” of using RTP Apparel is approximately $4.50 per shirt. However, at $4.50 per shirt and a Level 3 print mode will bring in about $86 per hour – which is not a bad payday however the quality of the outputted shirt will vary DRASTICALLY – and your customers will notice the RTP Apparel difference.
BUT, if your are margins are MORE than $4.50 per DTG shirt printed then using RTP Apparel shirts will increase your hourly net over using a “standard” shirt. Simply running at a $6.00 per shirt margin you are pocking an extra $140 for an 8 hour day. That’s the equivalent of an extra $35,000 per year in your pocket ABOVE what you would have made ( $231,000 vs $266,060 with RTP Apparel). These numbers are based on 2000 printing hours per year – 50 weeks, 5 days a week, 8 hours a day.
You can see however, even if your shop is not that busy, but are pushing to make more than $4.50 per shirt, then RTP Apparel is a no brainer choice when it comes to running your DTG business. Not only is more money made per hour, but the quality of the final printed shirt is substantially better.
The question isn’t “Why would I use RTP Apparel since they cost more” but the real question is “Why aren’t you using RTP Apparel to make more money?“.