Tshirt printing has many different facets to printing on different styles of apparel.

There are several categories that may help you when choosing your T-shirt printing needs.

T- Shirt F.A.Q

Know the Processes:

Short Run - T-Shirt Printing

Heat Transfers :

Pros: Multiple Colors, inexpensive in comparison to doing silk screening for setup, multiple placements, great for small runs of shirts needed on the fly. Setup time is cut significantly. Photographic images can be reproduced.

Cons: Fades after a few washes, not as durable as standard plastisol used in T-shirt printing. Colors are not as vivid comparing to florescents, glitters, sparkles, metallics, foils and discharge printing.

DTG /InkJet t-shirts:

Pros: Printing is directly on the shirt and then goes through a heat press to lock in the ink into the shirt. Multiple Colors, inexpensive in comparison to doing silk screening for setup, multiple placements, great for small runs of shirts needed on the fly. Setup time is cut significantly. Printing is directly on the shirt and then goes through a heat press to lock in the ink into the shirt. Photographic images can be reproduced.

Cons: Fades after a few washes, not as durable as standard plastisol used in T-shirt printing. Darker garments are harder to create a high enough contrast to give dark garments the same feel as in plastisol printed shirts. This process takes a lot longer to manufacture than traditional screen print or transfer so for larger runs it can take extra lead time and turn around times can be extended greatly! The colors can be vivid, but the contrast, brightness and specialty inks are not tailored for this application as of yet. So if neon green were your t shirt printing choice on a color, you may find that you have to try a different shade to get similar results, or rethink your design.

Bulk Run T-shirt Printing

Silk Screen Printed shirts:

Pros: Prints that are cured properly last and last. They last through the washing machine, and it often takes a long time for the print to begin to diminish when using the right inks. Colors are more vivid and glow in the dark, discharge, glitter, foil stamping, and other specialty inks and print processes may be incorporated. Once a project is setup, print time is decreased and is much easier to pump out many shirts, with less turn time needed.

Cons: Limited to colors on design to keep costs effective in smaller runs. Runs under 24 shirts are not done simply because of the time it takes to create each screen. Each color and each placement require setup and this can take time on the manufacturing end to fine tune each print and placement. This is why it is best to order in bulk as the setup and labor are often the higher cost factors and time eaters in each project. Much harder to reproduce a photograph, mainly limited to solid colors and half tone printing :

For more info on halftone printing or color separation click here.

Products in: /T-Shirts & Apparel Printing