Custom screen printing in the U.S. alone is a $12.8 billion industry. Business is good, but growth doesn’t mean we’ve solved our fundamental problems. Here are some Hard-Won Wisdoms for Garment Decorators worth remembering.
The Lies
- “You can save $5 a gallon on cheaper emulsion.” Evaluate emulsion by your production numbers and ease of use, not the price tag. Hours lost to pinhole repairs and poor resolution dwarf any savings on consumables. Time is money, factor downtime into every purchasing decision.
- “If I could just hire a good printer…” You probably have unrecognized talent already in your shop. Employee retention was one of the industry’s biggest 2025 challenges, shops should consider investing in existing teams rather than hunting for superstars. Train people, give them good tools, organize them sensibly, tell them what to accomplish, and give them incentives.
- “My press prints 1,200 shirts an hour.” Rotation speed is the most overrated stat in our industry. Setup, adjustments, platen swaps, and breakdowns all print zero shirts an hour. The meaningful metric is good shirts per production day. AI-driven predictive maintenance and automatic color matching are now being built into presses specifically to maximize that ratio.
- “I’m a screen printer.” You’re a decorator. The custom T-shirt market alone is projected to grow from $4.67 billion in 2025 to $11.37 billion by 2035, and the print-on-demand market is expected to explode by 2033. DTF, DTG, sublimation, transfers, pad printing, laser etching, you need sources for all of them. Equally false is the claim that digital will replace screen printing anytime soon, the present is coexistence and smart selection, not one method winning.
- “I cure my shirts at 365 degrees.” A colleague who visits shops nationwide estimates at least a third aren’t curing properly. Your dryer dial is one of dozens of variables: time, humidity, shirt temperature going in, ink thickness, garment color, fabric type, atmospheric pressure. A cold rainy Monday in Maine needs a completely different setup than a dry Arizona afternoon. Learn everything you can about curing, it’s not set-it-and-forget-it.
The Truths
- 20% of your customers provide 80% of your profit. The Pareto Principle. Take it further: 4% of your customers likely generate 64% of your profit. Make them a real operational priority. And recognize that another 20% of your customers may be eating 80% of your time, some unprofitably. Review pricing at least twice a year.
- Get one big thing done every day. Chuck Lacy, who ran Ben and Jerry’s during its meteoric rise, shared this one. Focus on one meaningful accomplishment each day. You won’t get paralyzed by the never-ending to-do list, and every day there will be visible progress.
- Show me somebody that makes no mistakes and I’ll show you somebody that isn’t doing anything. Crucify employees for errors and they’ll hide them. Acknowledge mistakes, address repeated ones is operating procedures and training, and accept that your best workers will sometimes make the biggest ones.
- The best testing device in your shop is a washing machine. Pyrometers, heat probes, scratch tests, all useful. But the only definitive test is whether the print survives a wash. Industry QC checklists agree: the wash test is the final arbiter.
- Dye migration is real. Some 100% cotton shirts bleed; some 50/50 shirts don’t need low-bleed ink. Red shirts with white ink are the most notorious offenders, but surprises lurk everywhere. Your toolkit needs low-bleed, silicone, water-based, low-temp, poly-blocking inks, and grey and black barrier bases. Test your shirts before committing to big runs. Dye migration is a number one question in our industry and it’s not going anywhere. (here is a link to tell you how to do the test)
The shops that will lead are the ones that treat their craft as a system, invest in people over miracle products, and diversify their capabilities. Stop believing the lies. Keep the truths close. And do one big thing today.
Also should talk about Price structure: HARD WISDOM PRICES
Let’s have a real conversation as an industry.
If we’re being honest, pricing in our space is becoming a race to the bottom — and it’s hurting everyone. Between hobbyists, side hustles, weekend operators, and even larger companies chasing volume at razor-thin margins, the long-term health of our industry is at risk.
This isn’t about calling anyone out. Everyone starts somewhere. But when price becomes the only differentiator, quality suffers, businesses struggle to grow, and the professionals who invest in equipment, staff, training, and consistency are forced into unsustainable decisions.
We need to shift the narrative.
Instead of competing to be the cheapest, we should be competing to deliver the most value. That means:
• Educating customers on quality, consistency, and reliability
• Building pricing structures that support real businesses and real jobs
• Respecting the true cost of production, expertise, and service
• Setting expectations that professionalism has value
• Supporting an industry culture focused on long-term success, not short-term wins
I don’t pretend to have all the answers — but I do know this: if we don’t start talking about it, nothing changes.
Let’s raise the standard together. Sorry the the rant just feeling a little sour on this subject. I know there have been talks before, but nothing changes and i figured maybe a platform like INK Kitchen has a big enough reach you guys could be the start.
I don’t think you sound like you’re ranting at all. This is written very well, and I will add it to the narrative in a few weeks. Thanks for contributing!