What is discharge printing? Have a look at the video below and keep reading to find out more…(WARNING: Loud music alert in the video!)

Well, in order to get bright opaque colours onto dark coloured t-shirts, you have to use a “base” print. This is a “bridging” layer of usually white ink that you print the colours on top of. So white goes down on to the t-shirt and then all the colours go on top of the white print. This gives them “pop”. If they went directly onto the black t-shirt they would look very dull and transparent, which some people don’t mind, it gives a “vintage” look to the print.

But it also leaves you with a heavy feeling print. What a lot of people call “plasticy” (I know…a very technical term). The technical term is “heavy hand”.

This is undesirable for a lot of people. The trend at the moment is to have very soft prints that feel part of the t-shirt, or have a “soft hand”. So this is where discharge printing is awesome. Discharge ink actually bleaches the colour out of the fabric and replaces it with the colour you have mixed into the discharge ink. So the result is an opaque but very soft print, as you have dropped the white base print you would normally have to do in order to get the opaque colours on dark t-shirts.

When initially printed the print looks very dull. The colours are almost completely transparent (as you can see in the video). But as they t-shirt goes through the heat in the drying tunnel, the discharge activates and bleaches the dye out of the t-shirt and replaces it with the colour printed. Cool hey?!

Now, before you run out and place your order for discharge printing there are a few things you need to be aware of.

Firstly, different garments discharge differently. Between suppliers, colours, styles and even between identical t-shirts. It comes down to how the garments were dyed, what colour the base fabric was and also if the garment is constructed of 100% cotton, which it has to be, well in most cases, we have successfully discharged American Apparel Tri-Blend t-shirts. For this reason we can’t guarantee results, but will always print a test garment first, and if any issues arise we’ll get your approval before proceeding.

Secondly, PMS colour matching can’t be guaranteed. Colours will be as close as possible. Because of the potential inconsistencies of the original base colour of the t-shirt fabric, you sort of don’t know what to expect. It may also slightly change between different coloured t-shirts as they can discharge a little differently.

Lastly, it costs a little more than standard inks. Once the ink is activated it can’t actually be stored and at the end of the print run needs to be discarded. So to allow for this wastage and the additional time it takes to mix up the inks the pricing is marginally higher…but don’t worry we are talking cents not dollars!! And hey, you have an awesome super soft print on dark t-shirts!!

So I hope you are keen on trying out a discharge print on your next run. Let us know if you’d like some print samples. Just get in touch by calling 1300 853 474 use our contact form to let us know what you are after and we will get in touch from there.

We have been stoked to work with Earth Hour over the last couple of campaigns to provide their t-shirt printing.

This year we donated the wardrobe for their TV commercial. All those people are wearing trackies and t-shirts that we supplied. They prepared a special branded copy for us. You can see it below…

Here is what was involved with doing their t-shirts…

Their logo is a full colour image. This originally posed a few problems for us. We sampled it using four colour process but they just weren’t satisfied with the limited detail and colour range that four colour process can replicate.

We decided to try digital vinyl transfers just for the full colour part of the logo and we screen printed the text. They were stoked with this and decided to run with them.

Transfers aren’t something we would usually recommend for this sort of job but in this case turned out to be the most appropriate solution.

We screenprint the white text areas first and then heat press the vinyl on after.

We can do the same thing for you. Just get in touch and let us know what you need. Call us on 1300 853 474 or use our contact page. We’d love to work with you!

Make a statement, bond a team, and raise money for a good cause – it’s not surprising that charitable activities and screen printed T-shirts so often go hand-in-hand.  Grandma’s cupcakes might taste magnificent and sell … well … like hotcakes … but T-shirts are bigger and they stay fresh longer.

Inedible or not, there are still quite a few ways you can put T-shirts to work for fundraising:

• Team-themed shirts can foster team identity, unity and spirit both during and after a fundraising event
• Participant tees can advertise and generate enthusiasm for an event while it runs and become wearable memorabilia (to wildly varying degrees of raggedy-ness)
• Profits from the sales of beautifully designed T-shirts – branded or not – can provide much-needed funds for charity
• Themed T-shirt design competitions can promote community awareness of a charitable cause (recent examples: http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/8448256.Rosie_s_T_shirt_boosts_charity/ and http://www.wickedlocal.com/plymouth/news/schools/x710522855/Sheriff-sponsors-South-High-T-shirt-design-contest-to-increase-awareness-of-domestic-violence)
• Charity fundraisers can wear branded T-shirts while seeking donations, to draw donors to them and publicise the charity’s identity and purpose
• T-shirts specially designed or signed by celebrity sports stars, musicians or artists can become coveted raffle prizes (check these out! http://www.yellowbirdproject.com/)

Bold messages on clothing can be a marvellous way of making a statement – people really notice them, and a favourite T-shirt might well be worn time and time again, until the poor thing is falling apart and haunting the dreams of half the wearer’s local community.  I do declare … and declare … and declare …

Of course, designing one of these threadbare treasured tees isn’t always easy.  While many of us love to wear a funny slogan and make others laugh, or help wake others up to a social problem which annoys us, or simply proclaim our support for a cause we believe in, we might not all be quite so keen to wear a colour that makes us look anaemic, or to feel like we’re walking billboards for corporate sponsors of an event. (This last possibility obviously needs to be carefully weighed against the advantages of offering advertising on T-shirts in return for corporate sponsorship, which may well be worth more than profits from sales and continued publicity after the event.  It all depends on what you want to achieve!)

There’s no hard and fast rule to achieving ongoing broadcast-by-tee once the shirt has been sold and/or the fundraising event is over and done with, but there IS a simple question which should help steer you in the right direction during design: Will this tee be worn with pride, for its own sake? If the answer is a resounding yes, spare a moment to pity the rag piles.  They’ll probably be lonely.

Happy fundraising!

We constantly get inquiries asking what the difference is between screen printing and digital t-shirt printing. So we put together a short video to explain the differences between the two methods.

If you would like to see a video of the digital t-shirt printer in action just check out this post

This video talks about the differences between screen printing and direct to garment digital t-shirt printing. Screen printing is the industry standard method of the two and was invented by the Chinese. It is applied by creating a stenciled design on a mesh screen, which is then placed on top of the shirt.  The ink for the design (either water-based or plastisol) is pushed through using a squegee. Ink used are either water-based or plastisol inks. Plastisol is the current standard in the shirt printing industry.

Direct-to-garment digital printing or DTG is a new innovation in textile printing. It makes use of a customized inkjet printer and specially formulated inks. A special white ink has also been created for textile inkjet printers, which is useful for dark-colored shirts. The white ink is used as a base on which other colors are layered to create the desired effect.

Screen printed shirts are best known for their long life and the variety of designs and inks that can be used. The printed design is expected to last as long as the shirt itself.  Moreover, it is the only quality option for retail purchases, like the ones you find at the department store. However, screen printing also has higher entry level cost because the screens have to be set up first. Longer runs decrese the price though.

Digital printing is your best option if you’re thinking of having only a few shirts designed for a special occasion or as a gift or when you are using a high-color or photographic design. However, the quality of digitally printed designs is not as good as screen printed ones, and the ink tends to fade over the life of the garment. It is best for short runs only and not for larger batches.

So how do you choose which printing method to have? Think about what you need, what you envision the shirt to be like and how you’re going to use it. Keep an eye out for online cowboys who offer only digital t-shirt printing, when in fact you may be better off with a screen-printed design. Know what you want and ask for the best method to use based on your needs and your design.

So how does it work?

Well basically it is just a large format inkjet printer…not too much from the one you would have at home to print out your photos etc. Instead of printing onto photo paper it prints on to t-shirts. It uses specially formulated inks that work on textiles. They have even developed a special white ink that prints onto coloured t-shirts. Check this video to see ours in action…(Note: The printing part of the video is sped up 600% in the video for times sake…its not a super printer)

The benefits are that it is good to print onto short runs under 10 pieces where set-up prices for screen printing would make things expensive. It also prints photographic images at a very high resolution.

There are negatives to the method though. The inks don’t have the long life of screen printing inks and will fade over time. The printing is expensive if you want larger runs done. It isn’t a retail quality product in our opinion, but does fill a gap in the market where people need one off or short run t-shirts.

The other problem is that there are a lot of people entering the t-shirt printing market with these machines. They tout them as the next big thing and promote the fact that there are no set-ups etc but don’t give the full picture of the life expectancy of the print or compare it with traditional printing methods.

It basically comes down to what you need. If you need a short run of t-shirts or photographic or high colour images and the longevity of the product isn’t a major concern then digital t-shirt printing is worth doing. If you are after a professional finish and a long lasting retail quality product then screen printing is definitely the best option.

Let me know any thoughts or questions you might have below in the comments.

They held a massive sale that went viral through social media. Thousands of people turned up and trouble started brewing. This is what the BBC had to say –

“Up to 10 police officers were injured after scuffles broke out when 2,000 people descended on London’s Brick Lane for a sale by a US clothing chain.

The Met Police said it was called to the American Apparel event, the first day of a planned four-day sale, because of the unexpected turnout.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

More video footage here – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8601361.stm

While we don’t approve of the behaviour it is a good example of how popular this gear is and how well you would position yourself if you were to print on them.

Check out the range here – http://www.americanapparel.net/wholesaleresources/

Let us know if you want to use them – http://www.psionline.com.au/contact-us-psi-screenprinting/

Hopefully your t-shirts will cause a riot like this!!

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!