Mining to the depths of DTG printing
After working night shift as a coal miner for 15 years, Wollongong-based Shannon Riley decided it was time for a new direction. He was inspired by the paintings and designs his daughter was creating, thinking that selling t-shirts could be a profitable little business for the two of them.
He has since moved onto creating his own designs (based on the coal mining industry he knows inside out) as well as custom projects for local businesses.
But none of this would have been possible without the Epson F2160.
The curse of old and outdated DTG printers
“I started off with a second hand machine, but it ended up being the wrong thing to do at the time,” says Shannon. “I bought an old Viper off Gumtree. [The seller] didn’t want to set it up for me. It was really hard to get going and the program wouldn’t work at first. It just ended up being a nightmare. I did a couple of jobs with it and they didn’t turn out right, there was a lot of mucking around with it.”
Not wanting to make the same mistake twice, Shannon invested considerable time into researching the various options available when he came across Machines Plus. Having been turned off DTG by his experiences with the old Viper, he was actually interested in another type of machine all together.
Advice and recommendations you can trust
“I was going to go with a UV [printer], where you don’t have to heat anything,” he says. “Gus changed my mind, as he said it wasn’t good for the skin.”
Gus Altmann, Founder and Product Specialist at Machines Plus, says that UV printing is not designed to be used for t-shirts and other garments worn close to the skin. “The ink contains volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can cause skin irritation, and should be kept away from kids especially,” he explains. Instead, it is designed for hard surfaces (such as pens, USBs and even tiles).
After his experiences with the Viper, Shannon was looking for a printer that was easy to use and did all of the hard work for him. “The Viper was really hard to use, [even] just the program,” he says, “but Gus reassured me that [the Epson] is quite easy to use - and it is.”
“Gus sold me on it because he knew what he was talking about.”
What does he think of the upgrade?
It’s been more than 6 months since Shannon invested in the Epson F2160 and it’s clear that he’s enjoying the much easier printing style offered by the latest in DTG technology.
“I’m only a new business, so I haven’t had much to do with anything else bar the Viper and the Epson. And it wins all over the Viper. The ink for the Viper was annoying, as was cleaning it, whereas [the Epson] is just a cartridge - you put it in and it cleans itself.”
So what’s next?
Currently doing most of his printing on the weekends, Shannon would love to get to a point where he can leave his job in coal mining and focus solely on his garment printing business.
“I want to do my own designs, really,” he says. “Everyone does stickers and stuff like that for coal mining but not shirts and jumpers.” He plans to add more of his custom designs to his store soon.
We cannot wait to see what’s on the horizon for Shannon and Shanic Printing & Design.
Machines Plus is a supplier of quality digital garment printers and accessories for the garment decorating industry. Gus and his team help digital decorators to get ahead in their business by selling the latest in machines, consumables and apparel for direct to garment printing (DTG), heat transfer, dye sublimation and UV printing. They supply big name brands like Epson, Roland DG and SawGrass. They partner with customers, matching the right solution to their business and provide unbeatable value and experience. Gus and his team support customers in regional Australia as well as major cities, both domestically and internationally.
