by Digital Output staff
A print provider is constantly evolving and changing its business alongside current trends. Digital Output wrote about bFIVE40 of Little River, SC back in August of 2020—not even a year into the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the time of the interview, the company was knee-deep in creating customized inflatable punching bags, referred to as Bonk Fit.
Above: bFIVE40/BFIT540 works with Ninja Transfers to supply DTF transfer sports apparel to developmental sports teams, new leagues, and smaller organizations at a cost-effective price.
The popularity of this application allowed bFIVE40 to ramp up production. The result, bringing dye-sublimation and latex printing technology, a heat press, digital cutters, and automated sewing machines all under the roof of a 7,000 square foot production facility. In 2020, bFIVE40 staffed seven employees and five years later that number has grown to 15 members. Business is good, and not surprisingly expanding into new markets.
Sportswear Offering
Growing in line with the employees is the product lineup. bFIVE40 got into producing sublimation baseball uniforms in 2021 and shortly thereafter introduced sportswear line BFIT540 to include basketball, soccer, volleyball, and golf. Thanks to DTF, it is able to offer a low-cost custom print alternative for teams that are budget conscious.
Donna Brin, founder and managing member, bFIVE40/BFIT540, saw the benefit of DTF early on. “We added DTF in 2024 as a low-cost alternative for sublimated sports uniforms. It allows us to work with sports teams whose budgets vary and we can offer a less expensive product for developmental teams, new leagues, and smaller organizations.”
Instead of purchasing a DTF printer, bFIVE40/BFIT540 outsources to Ninja Transfers. Ninja Transfers leverages over a decade of experience in custom apparel. Initially the company created transfers for its own apparel, but today it helps decorators and businesses nationwide.
DTF transfers are ordered based on size, with pricing according to the website as low as $0.02 per square inch. The graphics are printed directly by Ninja Transfers and then shipped out to customers.
bFIVE40/BFIT540 uploads pre-designed graphics for clients directly to ninjatransfers.com. The printed transfers are then sent to bFIVE40/BFIT540 for heat pressing in house with a Stahls’ Hotronix heat press machine.
When deciding to bring DTF in house or outsource to a partner like Ninja Transfers, Brin says key in her decision was achieving cost savings for her customers as well as speeding up the delivery time of every one of the customized orders.
Eight months into this endeavor, both goals are met. “The designs come fast from Ninja Transfers and are ready to execute right out of the shipping container, which means we are not tying up resources on our end with employees wasting valuable time,” explains Brin.
Sports Job
A recent example, Coastal Rays National turned to bFIVE40/BFIT540 for uniforms and fan apparel for a travel baseball tournament in FL.
“There was less than 48 hours to produce more than 100 custom uniforms with no available print capacity and a full pipeline. DTF enabled us to provide a quality product at a good price point with fast turn,” shares Brin.
Once graphics and the appropriate player names were acquired, everything was sent off to Ninja Transfers. Turnaround was quick and bFIVE40/BFIT540 had everything it needed to begin the transfer process within days. Each transfer took less than two minutes including setup.
The Coastal Rays National team was pleased with the final results and enjoyed wearing the uniforms at the tournament.
Next Steps
DTF printing continues to be a popular topic of conversation. For those interested, but weary of taking the technology on in house, outsourcing to a site like Ninja Transfers might be the answer. Doing so serves as a great stepping stone to offering a new service for customers.
This is exactly what bFIVE40/BFIT540 has done.
Brin is a creative entrepreneur as evidenced by her start as a business owner. Recognizing the potential of DTF beyond sportswear, she utilizes DTF to personalize shirts and ribbons for oversized stuffed animals as a contract manufacturer for bigplush.com—coming full circle in the toy business.
No doubt, in five more years, we’ll be speaking with Brin to learn about more exciting innovations bFIVE40/BFIT540 has taken on.
Jul2025, Digital Output Magazine
