To start a screen printing business you need four things: a registered business with a seller's permit, a manual press setup that costs roughly $2,000 to $8,000, a pricing model built around volume orders, and a steady source of repeat clients — teams, schools, and local businesses that reorder. The gear is the easy part. The customers are the business.
We don't run a print shop, but we run our own cleaning and HVAC companies on the exact website and lead system we build for other owners. So the licensing and equipment notes below are the standard path, and the part we actually know cold — getting found and turning inquiries into reorders — is where we'll be straight with you.
A 4-color/4-station manual press ($600–$2,500), a flash dryer, an exposure unit, a small conveyor dryer, screens, squeegees, emulsion, and a starter ink set. Enough to print one to four colors on shirts, hoodies, and totes.
An automatic press, a gas conveyor dryer, commercial space, and a second pair of hands. Make this jump only after the manual press is regularly maxed out and you are turning away orders.
On a manual press, a one-color print on a $3 blank shirt typically sells for $9 to $15. The margins look great per shirt, but they only add up on orders of 24 or more — single-shirt jobs eat your time in screen setup and reclaiming. Price your setup/screen fee separately so small jobs still pay.
The shops that survive aren't chasing one-off shirts — they own a handful of repeat accounts. Start here:
That last one is where most new shops leak money. They post to one social account and rely on word of mouth, then wonder why the orders are lumpy. A page that ranks for local custom-apparel searches and captures the quote request turns a hobby into a pipeline.
We'd rather you spend on screens than on a website you're not ready for. Hold off on hiring anyone if:
When inquiries outgrow what you can chase by hand, that's when a real site plus lead capture earns its keep. Our AI lead capture answers "can you do 50 shirts by Friday?" at midnight and takes the name and number while you sleep.
Once you're taking orders, our $249/mo plan gives you a hand-built site, 24/7 AI lead capture, hosting, and updates — you own the site and domain, month-to-month, no contract. Need to rank for local custom-apparel searches? $597/mo adds the monthly SEO content engine and lead attribution. We build you a free working demo in 48 hours, before you pay anything. One shop per market.
Keep planning with our start & grow a business guides, see what ranking pays with benefits of local SEO, or check real numbers in local SEO cost.
We don't post stock testimonials. On a 15-minute call we screen-share the real dashboards behind our own businesses — live leads, rankings, and the exact page that produced each one. See the proof →
Start manual. A 4/4 press handles most small orders and proves demand before you risk tens of thousands on an automatic. Upgrade only when the manual press caps your daily output.
On volume, yes — a one-color print on a $3 shirt sells for $9 to $15. The profit lives in reorders, not single shirts, which barely cover setup time.
No special trade license. Register the business, get an EIN, and get a seller's permit so you can buy blanks wholesale and collect sales tax. Check home-business zoning if you print from a garage.
Send your shop name and city — we'll confirm your market is open and build a working demo within 48 hours. Free, no card, no commitment.
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