Start 2 Print is a family run business based in Telford in Shropshire.
This section of the business is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of heat transfer machines, vinyl cutting machines, white toner technology and sublimation printers.
You will see us at various exhibitions and shows across the UK, including The Printwear & Promotion Show that is held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham each January.
Our company was started in 2011, at the time our owner was working full time as a Postman but wanted a little more from life. With no real working skills or qualifications, he purchased some printing equipment online which is similar to what is found in one of our business start-up packages and he started to work from home after he had finished work - making mugs, clothing, phone cases and lots of other cool items.
An agreement was made between him and his partner that when he replicated his wages, then he could look at giving up work and focus on printing full time. This took him around 6 months.
He targeted local business along with sports clubs, dance troops and a host of other activity type groups along with opening social media pages and a website, he built a successful printing business from scratch.
It was only after being in the printing industry for a couple of years that he remembered back to when he had first started up, working from home and teaching himself on how to use all of the equipment, the stress of getting lots of things wrong with nobody to help, this is when he realised that the service he had received those years ago when starting up wasn’t great, in fact it was rubbish..
Calling around 6 or 7 different suppliers at the time, nobody would seem to offer any real training or after sales support so he purchased the equipment and a laptop and had a go at setting it all up by himself, he had to get the vinyl cutter installed on to the laptop (which was challenging), he then had to get the printer working correctly and install a colour profile (after making dozens of mistakes with wrong profiles) and then he had to suss out the times and temperatures of each item to get every product perfect, every time. Then comes the other challenging parts like registering a business, tax, advertising products and then gaining business.
This was when we decided that we were going to offer equipment and full start up packages at an affordable price but what was going to make us totally different from everybody else was that we were going to offer real training and real after sales support that would genuinely help people to get up and running in a smooth and friendly fashion.
We have a perspective on this business that most equipment suppliers simply do not have and will never have, we understand starting a small printing business, we understand working from home around a job, we understand building a small business from a shop and we also understand the production process like no other supplier does.
We don’t only sell equipment and consumables now either, our sister companies are Black Belt Banter, which is a clothing label selling clothing and accessories and Gally's which is a high street printing business.
Both businesses use the equipment that we sell, we make everything that you will be making yourselves if you decide to get into this industry or if you are indeed already in it. Our experience is unquestioned and unrivalled.
We are now fortunate enough to sell our equipment and start up packages to various groups such as schools, universities, football clubs, rugby clubs, cobblers, embroiderers, screen printers, clothing shops, online outlets and a host of other cool businesses but what is fundamentally at our heart (and always will be) is helping the small guy to get up and running. It’s helping to make a difference and helping people to create an income that they never thought possible.
We are always happy to give guidance and help where needed, it can be daunting when bombarded with lots of different equipment or brands, knowing which one is right for you and what it is that you actually need to get your ideas off the ground. Rest assured that we will give you the correct advice.
Put quite simply, we enjoy what we do, and we want you to enjoy it too...
Browse the site, send us a question or feel free to give us a call, we are always happy to help…
0800 410 1661
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