At the time in 2013 when I I had been experiencing more and more of these jobs coming in, it became a major importance for me to figure out a better way to print these items. I had know about DTG printing for many years but hadn't decided to dive in for several reasons. Many of the reasons are the high cost of the machine, the very new technology, a completely new industry, nightmares I had heard of from other printers, and so on. Since DTG first arrived in 2007 all of these issues were major reasons for not getting into it and simply screen printing all jobs of this nature. By the time 2013 came around, I felt confident that most of these issues had been resolved. I did my research at the time comparing ink costs, print speed, part replacements etc. I decided to purchase a MP10i Anajet DTG printer. Of course I was excited and I understood that their was a learning curve, but boy oh boy I struggled. Understanding the pre-treatment, trying different brand pre-treatments, different shirt styles and manufacturers, different colored shirts; it was a challenge. It took several months to become fairly decent at getting a sell-able t-shirt. However, the biggest problem was the printer. Anajet at the time didn't have field techs, only on-line support. Having someone work on my printer required me to drive 2 hours each way and often leave my printer there. It broke down a lot; not due to me printing, but it was simply a poorly designed machine. After a year and a half I was able to get the company to come to me and have a loaner printer on stand by for me at all times. This wasn't easy to do, but there was no other choice for them.
It has been a few months since Anajet agreed to work with me, and since that day, all of my hopes and dreams of doing DTG printing coming true. All of the short runs, whether 1 color or full color are sent to that machine, and our screen printing department is humming with the jobs it should be doing. I would say that DTG printing in it self is not super profitable in comparison to screen printing, but it is convenient (when working properly). The convenience alone makes my business more profitable since my screen department is not distracted by inconvenient jobs.
In recent times, companies like Brother and Epson have developed their own machines which makes me wish I had waited, but hindsight is 20/20. It has made us a better company due to the challenges we faced, I think.