Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish, and he can eat for the rest of his life. These are the words by which Art2ScreenPrint runs its business, showing printers how they can take on more jobs in house, writes Michal Lodej.
As digital printers grow and look to diversify, textile printing is one of the many routes that they might take, however, due to a lack of experience, equipment or even time, they may look to outsource this production, cutting down on their profit margins.
While owner of Kent-based Art2ScreenPrint, Jim Heracleous, can take on these jobs for digital printers, he is more likely to offer them training and advice on the right investment, so they can do it themselves, instead.
Mr Heracleous, said, ‘Most printers who venture into printing on textiles start off using sublimation methods, however, as the jobs get more complex, sublimation just isn’t good enough. If you are only printing in one colour, which a lot of textiles are, then purchasing an expensive machine is too big of an investment.’
He continued, ‘That is where we come in. We can offer equipment ranging from as low as £200 for silk screen work and can offer single colour hobby starter kits right through to six colour devices.’
The machinery is certainly a point of interest as the company designs and manufactures all of it itself, including a stretcher that can hold eight screens at a time. Digital Printer is not the only media outlet to be lured in with these products; the company has appeared in a BBC news feature about local businesses, with its own Evolution Pro carousel making an appearance.
As well as the wide range of equipment the company offers it focuses most its time on training. The commitment to educating its customers can be seen on the Art2ScreenPrint website, where a long list of tutorial videos are available to watch for free, demonstrating different machines and how to use them.
‘We spend more time teaching people to use the hand screen printing methods now than charging them to it for them,’ added Mr Heracleous. ‘Starting with just a small investment and a little bit of knowledge they can get started and then grow from there. Growing a business; that’s what I teach them.’
Mr Heracleous has a long history of working within the textile industry, which stretches back to 1974, and now his daughter Nikki is working within the family business and runs the print shop.
While the company has plenty to offer the beginners and the SMEs, it is still used by a lot of bigger print businesses that cannot reproduce traditional screen methods with their digital presses.
‘Even for digital printers, some jobs are cheaper to do by hand. For very small jobs it’s just not economical for some of the bigger guys to take on themselves. Also, when it comes to using special colours or metallic effects on textiles, the digital guys can’t do it,’ said Mr Heracleous.
When it comes to the war on profit margins, diversification is certainly one of the best way printers can make more money, and printers will be hard pushed to find a way more effective than with the help of Art2ScreenPrint.
