Rally towel printing is a great way to add to an existing custom t-shirt printing business. OR a very profitable niche to base your business on.
The G4 DTG printer was designed from the ground up to be a world class custom tshirt printing machine. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of other applications the printer is suited for.
And making custom rally towels is a real money-making option!
Rally Towel Printing | Where it all started
If you look at your customer list you are probably doing work for local schools and sports teams.
One item that you can and should be offering to them is rally towels. There are many stories about where and when the first rally towels originated.
Some will tell you it was the Minnesota Twins “Homer Hanky” from 1987 but it was far earlier than that.
Or if you’re a different kind of sports fan you might have heard about the with Roger Neilson coach of the Vancouver Canucks waved a white towel overhead in protest to what he felt was poor officiating in 1982. It got him ejected from the game but fans began bringing the towels to games and waving them in support of their team and head coach.
Another great story but still not the original.
The original, official rally towel emerged in 1975 just as the Pittsburgh Steelers were about to go on a run of winning 4 Super Bowls in 6 years. The Terrible Towel – a legacy that still exists today – was born.
Nowadays you can find rally towels for every team sport at virtually every level. With the advent of direct to garment printers like the G4 DTG it is now easy and relatively inexpensive to directly image onto rally towels in full color both quickly and affordably.
DTG Printing Profits |Custom Rally Towel ROI
With a G4 printer, PTM pre-treatment machine and a couple of auto release heat presses it is possible to produce 50+ rally towels per hour in full color.
And it’s particularly profitable, like in most DTG sweet spots, to make $2.00 to $4.00 per towel for short runs. Most screen printers won’t touch a screen printing rally towel job at quantities under 72 pieces. Perfect for DTG!
Screen Printer Competition
Most of those screen printers have a minimum of 72-100 towels for an order.
They charge anywhere from $40-50 for setup fees to print the towels.
And the majority of those are one color only screen printed towels. Prices will range from $3.50-4.50 each in those quantities.
Wholesale, blank rally towels can be bought through distribution for under $1.00 each, and when you’re printing with DTG you typically have under a dime worth of ink on the towel.
So, you and G4 DTG printer can offer your customers full color (not one color) images on rally towels in much smaller quantities.
Direct to Garment Printing Advantages
Because there are no films to print, screens to burn or cleanup you can “wave” the setup fee with your customers or use it as a negotiation point.
Simply put, if you can turn around 50 towels per hour at $3 profit each, your G4 DTG is making you $150 an hour!
And, it doesn’t stop there.
You can also get golf towels that are grommeted and include a hanging clip. These blanks will be a little more expensive than rally towels but they will generally be in smaller quantities and will command a much higher price point.
It is still very realistic to make $150+ per hour printing these – even more if you specialize in custom one off towels or market to niches like bachelor parties where it is not uncommon for the groomsmen to go on a golf destination getaway for the bachelor party.
By the way – you can use the exact same towels and market to sporting clays ranges, gyms, and even hotels as well.
