Advice on new startup?

[Rockers]

@DKgrafix problem with that is I'm out here in Asia, Singapore. Bummer I guess.

@tonypep noted, will start sourcing for a good one then. issue is prices are ridiculous out here and one of the distributors just got back with a SGD$1200(USD$900) for a flash cure unit. thats the problem when there's not many hobbyist out there.

@Socalfmf would love a trip up. Facetime it for me maybe?   

@pierre cheers!

@jsheridan one thing about asians are their stubborn mentality. hehehe. but again, we're not really looking to sell them for cheap. i'm just trying to figure out a cost effective one and minimize the mistakes. i came across a post early on about not settling on wooden frames and just head straight for the metal ones. which i thought was sound advice. we fully know that its not gonna be easy. i made a bad judgment call on my own just getting a single color press early on. so hopefully with this new phase, we're ironing out our options.

@Jon cheers for the heads up. we do have our backup guy to go to. but for me, we're trying to make this work with our own setup. tough work yes, but i have enjoyed the ride so far. 

@Frog cheers mate!

@ebscreen cheers mate!

I`m in Asia too, Japan to be precise. Very competitive here especially due to the close proximity to China. Mind you getting stuff done in China is getting more and more unpopular here in Japan and the prices over there have been going up a lot anyway. If you need some good equipment send me a message and I`ll hook you up with M&R`s regional sales person who is a good friend of mine. I know a very good distributer for equipment and supplies in Thailand too. They do all the big brands and some less known once too. Ulano has their Asia HQ in Singapore by the way.
Of course I can speak only for myself but I could not run a business which is based only on outsourcing work, I enjoy screen printing far too much in order to do that. And who do you outsource  too in your region? Most print shops in Asia are set up for min. orders of 1000s of pcs. I had a lot of guys from Singapore getting in touch with us as they could not find a place close by that would deliver good quality and take small qty orders. I would give it a go and do all the work yourself. Just make sure you have a website and facebook presence ready before you start your business.

[noiseloops]

I`m in Asia too, Japan to be precise. Very competitive here especially due to the close proximity to China. Mind you getting stuff done in China is getting more and more unpopular here in Japan and the prices over there have been going up a lot anyway. If you need some good equipment send me a message and I`ll hook you up with M&R`s regional sales person who is a good friend of mine. I know a very good distributer for equipment and supplies in Thailand too. They do all the big brands and some less known once too. Ulano has their Asia HQ in Singapore by the way.
Of course I can speak only for myself but I could not run a business which is based only on outsourcing work, I enjoy screen printing far too much in order to do that. And who do you outsource  too in your region? Most print shops in Asia are set up for min. orders of 1000s of pcs. I had a lot of guys from Singapore getting in touch with us as they could not find a place close by that would deliver good quality and take small qty orders. I would give it a go and do all the work yourself. Just make sure you have a website and facebook presence ready before you start your business.

are you sure pricing in china is getting higher? for us outsourcing work to the nearby regions has always been in the priority of malaysia ( due to locality and have the option of driving across the border), indonesia ( due to the cheap cheap pricing and comparatively high quality of work) and then all other south east asian regions such as vietnam, thailand etc. but like you mentioned these are for big orders and i will go thru them for work that more 20pcs per color. for a certain place in johor malaysia, i can even just drop the shirts that i want and get them to just print the shirts up.

i've never dealt with places like vietnam though i've heard those are the places to go to as they are really cheap. but for our startup, we're looking to get a few designs out on our own, and these will run in small numbers. i think why the quotes for min 1000 pieces are partly due to locality as it does not make sense to just ship 100 shirts and also sometimes due to you being Japan. if you know what i mean.

thank you for you encouragement again on getting it done ourselves. which i have always believed in right from the start. i know of ulana having a distributor based in SG. and again the issue with being out here in Asia is, the top heads do not really believe in local startups. they enjoy looking at the overseas distributor model. which i do not blame them as for just singapore contest itself, there isn't a demand for it. the demand is usually coming from the same few shops/companies. and they already have a business relationship with these few.

and those hook ups will definitely be helpful. expect that pm soon. cheers mate!

[jsheridan]

here's an idea..

find out a way to get those good euro inks over here in the states.. our epa has cut the access to the good crap and we could use some good china white out here.

[abchung]

are you sure pricing in china is getting higher?

definitely, people there are demanding more from their bosses, thus harder to find cheap labour.

i think why the quotes for min 1000 pieces are partly due to locality as it does not make sense to just ship 100 shirts and also sometimes due to you being Japan. if you know what i mean.

The most expensive part of my printing process is pre-press. To reduce the cost I need to get more shirt per order.

the top heads do not really believe in local startups. they enjoy looking at the overseas distributor model.

LOL.... I remember many years ago at a textile show. A main booth did not want to talk to me because I told them I was a small/start up. However, the distributor for M&R were extremely helpful, they did not care how small I was. So there are good distributors out there. Just keep on looking.

[JayzTeez]

I see you have the Odyssey listed. i would step it up one notch and go with the Workhorse Mach.  Its more of a professional press and its about 900 more than the odyssey.  yes the Odyssey will do everything the workhorse will do but the Workhorse will get you there more smoothly without as many struggles. 

http://www.workhorseproducts.com/categories/all-manual-screen-printing-machines

Go and watch the videos and decide for yourself. 

[noiseloops]

I see you have the Odyssey listed. i would step it up one notch and go with the Workhorse Mach.  Its more of a professional press and its about 900 more than the odyssey.  yes the Odyssey will do everything the workhorse will do but the Workhorse will get you there more smoothly without as many struggles. 

http://www.workhorseproducts.com/categories/all-manual-screen-printing-machines

Go and watch the videos and decide for yourself.

Thanks again for the suggestion. Initially  I did want to go for the mach series. But I think space for one is a major constraint in our workspace currently. Thus why we were looking at an entry level setup without taking up too muh space. Plus it'll be easier to move the press along if things doesn't work out with a table top setup.?