Press & Print Custom Apparel

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Executive Summary

Press & Print Custom Apparel is a direct-to-garment (DTG) printing and fulfillment business in the greater Houston, Texas metro area offering full-color custom T-shirt printing, hoodie and apparel printing, no-minimum orders and white-label fulfillment for e-commerce sellers and small brands. The business prints on-demand using a commercial DTG printer, serving walk-in retail customers, local businesses needing small-run custom apparel and online sellers who use Press & Print as their back-end print-and-ship operation.

Direct-to-garment printing has replaced screen printing for runs below 24 pieces by producing photographic-quality full-color prints on individual garments without screens, setup fees or minimums. The e-commerce fulfillment angle - where an online seller lists custom products, a customer orders and Press & Print prints and ships directly to the customer - creates a recurring B2B revenue stream that scales with the seller's growth without requiring Press & Print to manage inventory or marketing. Year 1 revenue is projected at about $122,100, growing to about $280,200 by Year 3. Startup costs are about $52,000.

Company Description

Press & Print Custom Apparel will operate from a 600 sq ft commercial studio in Houston, Texas.

Ownership. LLC, owned by founder Marcus Williams. Marcus has 6 years of screen printing and DTG experience and has been operating a small DTG operation from home for the past 2 years, building a client base of 85 repeat customers.

Services and pricing:
- DTG print (single shirt, white or light garment): $22 to $35 depending on design complexity
- DTG print (dark garment, requires white underbase): $28 to $42
- Hoodie print: $35 to $55
- Bulk DTG (6 to 23 pieces, same design): $16 to $28 per piece
- White-label fulfillment (e-commerce, per order): $12 to $22 print fee + garment cost + $4.50 packaging and handling
- Design service (simple layout or mockup): $25 to $65
- Rush (next business day): $15 surcharge
- DTG printing + garment (blank included, client provides design): combined price above

Printing equipment: an Epson SureColor F2270 or Brother GTX Pro commercial DTG printer.

Problem & Opportunity

Houston small businesses, event organizers and online sellers need custom T-shirts in runs of 1 to 24 pieces with full-color photographic prints and no setup fees. Screen printers require 24 to 48 piece minimums and charge $50 to $150 in screen setup fees per color - killing the economics of a 6-piece run. Online platforms (Printify, Printful) offer no-minimum DTG but ship from out of state with 5 to 10 day lead times and no local pickup or rush option. Marcus fills the gap: same-day to 2-day production, local pickup, no minimums and full-color DTG quality.

Products & Services

A commercial DTG printer in a Houston studio with no minimum orders, same-day to 2-business-day standard turnaround, local pickup and a white-label fulfillment service for e-commerce sellers who want the production quality of a commercial DTG printer without managing their own equipment. Marcus's 2-year home operation history provides 85 proven repeat customers and a tested production workflow at launch.

Market Analysis

Houston is the 4th largest city in the United States with a massive event economy (conventions, corporate events, sports teams, school spirit wear), a large small business base and an active e-commerce entrepreneur community. The demand for no-minimum custom apparel is broad and consistent - every school reunion, nonprofit walkathon, small business grand opening and birthday party is a potential order.

Target clients: walk-in Houston consumers with small custom orders (events, gifts, personal), local businesses needing branded apparel in small quantities, nonprofit organizations and sports teams and e-commerce sellers using Press & Print as their white-label print-on-demand back end.

Competitive Landscape

Screen print shops: offer lower per-piece cost at scale but require minimums and setup fees. Online platforms (Printify, Printful): offer no-minimum DTG but with 5 to 10-day lead times and no local relationship. Houston DTG competitors: 3 shops operate in the metro; none focuses on e-commerce fulfillment or same-day rush. Marcus's differentiation: 85-customer existing base, same-day rush capability, white-label e-commerce fulfillment and a 2-year production track record that eliminates the learning curve new shops have.

Our strengths and weak points. Strengths: Marcus's 85-customer existing base from the home operation means the studio opens with a warm audience rather than building from zero; White-label e-commerce fulfillment is a B2B revenue channel that scales with the client's sales growth without requiring additional marketing spend by Marcus. Weak points we plan for: DTG ink and maintenance costs are higher per piece than screen printing at scale; the business wins on no-minimum flexibility, not per-piece price at volume; Epson F2270 print heads require regular maintenance and cleaning; downtime for print head issues can delay orders.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

Pre-opening: text and email Marcus's 85 existing customers with a studio launch announcement and a 15% opening discount. List on Etsy for e-commerce custom print orders (Etsy is a significant discovery channel for custom DTG). Google Business Profile optimized for 'custom T-shirts Houston' and 'DTG printing Houston'. Ongoing: Instagram before/after print content, local Houston business Facebook groups, outreach to 20 Houston e-commerce sellers with a white-label fulfillment proposal and a referral program ($20 credit per new client referred).

The first 90 days. Days 1 to 30: set up the studio, run test prints on the printer and open the Etsy shop. Days 31 to 60: pitch 20 Houston e-commerce sellers on white-label fulfillment. Days 61 to 90: reach the first ten fulfillment accounts and start walk-in and local business orders.

Operations Plan

Marcus operates the printer and manages production alone in Year 1. Workflow: client submits design → Marcus reviews (file resolution, bleed, color profile) → prints a test on transfer paper if needed → prints on garment → heat pressed for cure → quality inspected → handed off or shipped. White-label fulfillment: e-commerce seller submits an order with ship-to address → Marcus prints and ships in a plain package with the seller's packing slip → no reference to Press & Print on the package.

Equipment: Epson SureColor F2270 (commercial DTG, water-based ink, 8-color system), a commercial heat press (16x20 in, pneumatic), a pre-treatment machine for dark garments and a laptop for design review and order management.

Risks and how we plan for them:
- Printer downtime. One printer is a single point of failure, so we keep spare parts, a service contract and a plan to partner with a nearby print shop.
- Blank garment prices and stock. We keep accounts with two wholesalers and quote with current prices.
- White-label clients leave. We sign written fulfillment agreements and spread sales across at least ten e-commerce accounts.
- Print quality problems. Every design gets a test print, and defects are reprinted at our cost.
- Seasonal swings. Holiday and event seasons are busy, so we plan staffing and ink stock ahead.

Management & Organization

Marcus Williams, Owner and DTG Print Technician. 6 years of screen printing and DTG experience, 2-year home DTG operation with 85 repeat customers. Outside bookkeeper for quarterly taxes.

Hiring plan. Marcus prints and sells in Year 1. A part-time print technician joins in Year 2 for peak periods.

Milestones Narrative

Year 1: studio operational by month 1, 10 white-label e-commerce fulfillment accounts by month 4, revenue about $122,100. Year 2: hire a part-time print technician for peak periods, add sublimation printing for polyester and sportswear, revenue about $208,100. Year 3: add a second DTG printer for parallel production, revenue about $280,200.

What the plan's numbers say. Year 1: sales about $122,100, loss about $7,200; Year 2: sales about $208,100, profit about $28,300; Year 3: sales about $280,200, profit about $70,700; Year 4: sales about $313,900, profit about $86,700; Year 5: sales about $345,300, profit about $86,100. The lowest year-end cash is about $40,700.

How we will keep score. Every month we compare real sales to the plan, check the cash in the bank, review the direct cost of each job or product, and look at what customers say. If sales are behind plan for two months in a row, we slow spending and delay hiring until the numbers catch up.

Funding Request

How much we need and how we will use it. Total needed: $81,500. This number comes from the Funding Need Calculator in this plan. It adds up:
- Startup costs of $52,000, listed item by item in the Startup Costs section (the largest are Epson SureColor F2270 commercial DTG printer $17,500; Working capital reserve $14,220; Commercial studio lease deposit and first month $3,600).
- A cash cushion of about $29,500. That is the deepest cash dip in the early months plus about three months of bills, so slow weeks do not put the business at risk. Lenders call this "working capital."
- Together that comes to about $81,500 (rounded up to the nearest $500), which is the total we are planning for.
Where the money comes from:
- Owner money: $32,000.
- Equipment financing (DTG printer): $17,500.
- Credit line / small business loan: $32,000.
Kind of funding we are looking for: Equipment financing (DTG printer): $17,500 at 9.0% interest over 5 years, about $363 a month; Credit line / small business loan: $32,000 at 12.75% interest over 10 years, about $473 a month. A loan is money we pay back with interest, and the monthly payments are already included in our cash flow.
How we will pay it back. We expect sales of about $122,100 in Year 1, growing to about $345,300 by Year 5. We expect a loss of about $7,200 in Year 1, a profit of about $28,300 in Year 2, a profit of about $70,700 in Year 3, a profit of about $86,700 in Year 4 and a profit of about $86,100 in Year 5. Year 1 is lower than a full year because the business needs time to open and build customers. The lowest year-end cash balance is about $40,700 (Year 1), so with this funding the business has money in the bank every year of the plan.
What we are offering the lender: the equipment we buy as collateral and a personal guarantee from the owner.
A smaller first step, if needed. If we cannot raise the full amount right away, we can start with a used printer or subcontract larger runs and add the second printer in Year 3. Duplicate this plan and lower the equipment costs to match.
What if sales are slower? We also tested a cautious case where sales come in 20 percent lower every year. In that case the plan shows a loss of about $31,100 in Year 1, a profit of about $32,900 in Year 3 and the lowest year-end cash is about $40,700, so the business still has money in the bank every year.
All numbers in this plan are estimates. We will update them as real results come in.

Appendix Notes

Documents to attach before you send this plan:

- LLC operating agreement.
- Texas business license.
- Houston business license.
- Commercial general liability and equipment insurance.
- Studio lease.
- Epson SureColor F2270 purchase and equipment financing.
- Pre-treatment machine purchase.
- Blank garment wholesale accounts (S&S Activewear, SanMar).
- Etsy shop setup.
- White-label fulfillment client agreement.
If you don't have any of this yet, no worries - let's continue.

The assumptions behind our numbers (change them in the Financials section to match your own):
- Walk-In and Local Business Orders: about 3,036 units in Year 1 at about $25 each, costing about $5.50 each to deliver.
- White-Label E-Commerce Fulfillment: about 1,848 units in Year 1 at about $25 each, costing about $5.50 each to deliver.
- Pay: owner / lead printer $58,000 a year (the same number all five years); part-time print technician $22,000 a year (people in Years 1 to 5: 0, 1, 1, 1, 2).
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: studio rent about $15,600, ink and supplies about $6,000, marketing about $5,000, insurance about $1,600, software and admin about $5,600.
- Tax rate: 21%.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate. Replace them with your own quotes and research.

Plain words used in this plan:
- DTG (direct to garment): printing a design straight onto a shirt, like a paper printer.
- Pre-treatment: a coating put on dark shirts so ink shows up.
- White-label fulfillment: printing and shipping orders for online sellers under their own brand.
- Blank: a plain shirt before printing.
- Equipment financing: a loan used to buy a printer, with the printer as security.

Startup Costs