This is a huge issue for many of us on many levels. Aside from patriotic considerations here are my thoughts on this.
We sell heat presses so that our customers can have the full package from us. Frankly we make our money on selling heat transfers so in our minds we want to sell a heat press that will work properly, and not cause us any problems. There are many great heat presses made domestically.
We chose to stick with Hix because they have been around the longest, and they make a very reliable machine.
When we look at problems from heat presses they are almost always from off brands and unfortunately many are from China.
We have purchased and looked at machines from China, Italy and other places . The simple truth is that if you buy a cheap press, you are getting a …. cheap heat press. There may be pressure issues, uneven heat distribution. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR T SHIRT PRINT BUSINESS IS YOUR HEAT PRESS.
We will continue to explore other heat presses but until we see one that is up to our standards we will not carry any from overseas.
In the mean time we continue to make our transfers easy to print with a wide room for heat and pressure to accommodate our customers .
Also please check out our new Deco trans designer. It is a work in process with more art to be loaded but so far the response has been terrific. We are using a proprietary paper that makes great , high quality, quick digit prints. We are also making stickers and posters.
So far this has been a ” banner year” , sorry for the pun . Thanks for your support.
Sincerely
Larry Levine
President
Artbrands llc