By now you should know your market and have developed a suitable image and label for your T shirt printing business. Now it’s time to move on to sourcing your t-shirts and choosing a printing method which does your designs justice.

Material Sourcing:

Whatever quality of t-shirt you are looking for, you’ll find them being manufactured in china. Bear in mind that these manufacturers will charge base rates for shipping and manufacture, so the larger quantities you can buy, the better deal you will get. If you’ve got a particular cut or fabric you’d like use then send them out a sample and they will probably be able to match it quite closely.

Inks and tools for screen printing are best purchased from local suppliers who can offer after sales support and equipment. If you are providing a custom t shirt printing service then the same applies but you can get ink cartridges more cheaply from budget suppliers on the internet.

Printing:

When it comes to printing you’ve got one final choice to make: Screen printing, or digital direct to garment printing? If you are looking to design your own t shirt range then the choice will primarily depend upon the bulk and quality of the printed T shirts you require. If you want to produce t shirts from other people’s designs on demand, then the screen printing cost will be prohibitive, but Direct to Garment Digital Printing will suit your business model very nicely.

If you are screen printing, then it will be important to ensure your designs translate well to the medium; screen printing is not easy, particularly for newcomers so be prepared to experiment and have some failed prints before you get the hang of the process. If you are short of time and capital, consider getting shirts printed by an expert screen printing company to ensure your products look and feel as good as they can.

By following this guide, and researching in more detail the action points it raises, you’ll ensure a successful launch and a relatively trouble free t-shirt label. Best of luck!

So you want to start a T shirt fashion label? This could be part of an endeavour to sell your own t-shirt designs or to provide a custom T shirt printing service for customers. Whatever your business plans, the first step to success is market research.

Research:
As any business advisor worth his salt will tell you: Know your market! Identify what age range, gender and class you want to market your t-shirt label too and study the fashion trends of this group, if you want to provide a custom t-shirt printing business then study the marketing, websites and styles of established T shirt printers.

Design:
This should be guided by the results of your market research. T shirt printing technique, cut, and the fabric for your t-shirts should be based upon the prevailing trends of your rivals; there’s plenty of room for innovation in your actual printed t shirt designs once you’ve met the expectations of your target buyer.

Label:
The all important t-shirt label; this is your brand and a promise to the consumer that any t shirt bearing this label will meet with your t shirt printing, style and fabric quality promise. Try out lots of different names, but focus on adjectives and nouns which resonate with your target market. So if, for example, your t shirt designs are for young academics, try something like “Geek Pie”.

Read on in the next part of this guide to find out how to source your t shirts for printing and to find advice on the all important process of choosing between screen printing and digital direct to garment printing which will complete your journey to becoming a fully fledged fashion label.

Step 1) Choose a T-Shirt Friendly Design

Your design, be it a photograph, a drawing and/or text, can be as complicated or as simple as you want, but please note that just as humans can only fly with the help of surfboards, hang gliders and airplanes, screenprinted t shirts are created with screen printers, ink, and by humans, not magic. Thus, if you want your design to look great it must be compatible with the technology and materials that PSI Screenprinting use as well as fundamental elements of design and color.

Some points to remember when choosing colors, fonts, and t-shirts:

-A dark t shirt printed with light ink can sometimes cause a screenprint to look translucent. This does not mean it shouldn’t be done, but choose your ink and colors wisely. When printing colours onto dark t-shirts a white base of ink is laid down first to print the colours on to. If this isn’t done your colours won’t show up on the dark t shirt. For example, with a water-based ink, yellow over black can look off-green. With Plastisol, ink it will be very washed out and not vibrant.

-Detailed t shirt designs screen printed on a low contrast background, such as maroon ink on black t-shirt, will not show up as well as, say, black ink on white t shirt…but any colour will go well on white…except white of course.

-PSI Screenprinting use Adobe Illustrator to turn your bitmap designs into vector graphics, which means they will have clean lines and can be resized without losing their resolution. Another thing to keep in mind when designing your tshirt is that the font you choose must be a font that we have installed on our computers. The best way to get around that is to convert your fonts to outlines or curves, depending on which software you are using, yourself before sending it to us. If you are not sure, contact us beforehand and we can easily step you through this.

Step 2) Choose Your T Shirt Sizes
There is nothing more frustrating than that t-shirt of your favorite band…that you can’t even squeeze over your head; or, all 16 members of the girls’ netball team wearing XL uniforms. Make sure you order a variety of sizes that correspond to the demographic who will be wearing them.

Step 3) Choose Your Quantity
How many t-shirts do you need? Be sure to order enough tshirts the first time around because it will be cheaper for you in the long run. If you are ordering for a big event, a team, or organization, keep in mind that a couple extra t-shirts is better than being one short on game day!

We can help you with all of these. Just get in contact us via phone, email or our contact forms and we will step you through it.

Water Based Inks:
The Water based formula uses water as a solvent solution to hold and transfer dye and pigments to the t shirts. This lends many properties to the ink; most notable is its ability to fully permeate the t-shirt, leaving little or no surface residue. Particularly useful for printing onto t shirts which require ink to soak into it, water based inks will cure right into the fabric. This makes them ideal for cloths or bed sheets and especially useful for jobs like T shirt printing.

That is not to say screen printing t-shirts or other garments must be accomplished with only water based inks. Indeed, fashion trends and production processes change, and so the use of non water based inks is becoming more popular in the screen printing of clothing. This is primarily due to the invention of new co-solvents which enhance water based printing solutions with unique properties which make them more suitable for screen printing custom designs to clothing.

Plastisol:
You can usually recognize plastisol by its slightly raised appearance and feel on fabric. You might have an old T-shirt with a strangely rubbery textured logo or image printed onto it; if you do then the main disadvantages of plastisol will be apparent in its possible cracking and elevated profile above the fabric. Plastisol also carries a heavier environmental weight than water based inks –the main ingredient of plastisol is PVC.

On the bright side, plastisol usage and disposal has become much more efficient over the years, and it is significantly less energy hungry than Water based inks which demand lengthy drying time in high temperatures. It is also still unbeaten when it comes to printing bright, clean and complex designs, which make it ideal for high quality t-shirt printing.

Color:
The first thing you need to consider when planning your t shirt screen printing design is the number of colors you want to use. The screen printing process is monochromatic by nature, but it can be repeated multiple times to add additional colors to your image. The tone and opacity of colors will also impact your choice of ink but be aware that you’ll never get an exact color match as you might in conventional printing.

The T-shirt as a Canvas:
Your t-shirt color, fabric and size will influence the final look and feel of any inks and design applied to it. If you are just starting out with screen printing then it’s best to stick with a medium sized, white cotton t-shirt, as this will present the least challenging surface to screen print onto both in terms of design and physical properties.
While background color is a more conventional design challenge, bear in mind that stronger t-shirt colors will show through water based inks, so design appropriately or use thick mixed plastisols which can cover even the darkest base colors.

You should also carefully consider size and placement of your design. A conventional centre front print will avoid most problems, but be wary how you stretch the t shirt fabric when screen printing. More unusual placement might require screen printing before the t-shirt is stitched together!

With the inception of heat transfers and direct to garment digital printing, and the consistantly improved ability to digitally print on to dark t-shirts, it would be easy to assume that the manual screen printing process will die out. While the digital methods are a fantastic and cost effective solution for short runs of t-shirts with a high colour content it is still far more cost effective to screen print on larger runs of t-shirts.

Rather than see the digital t-shirt printing advances as a threat, screen printers should see them as an added opportunity to offer services and capture customers that perhaps they couldn’t previously. When that kid comes in with a full colour photo of their favourite band and wants to print it on a shirt, in the past we would have had to turn them away. With the advent of the digital processes we are now able to offer them that service of a one off full colour t-shirt and with the right equipment, even on a black t-shirt!!

So rather than fear these digital advances I believe screen printing professionals should embrace the added revenue they can bring to their existing businesses and the plethora of new products they can now offer.

I think it will be a long time before a digital print on 1000 t-shirts will be a cheaper and longer lasting option than a screen printed image.

Here at PSI Screenprinting we can offer you both solutions. So digital prints are good for high colour short runs whereas screen printing is definitely the best option for low amount of colours or longer runs. Contact us now for a quote on your t-shirt printing needs.