All t-shirt suppliers use this code when describing their different garment options, and you might have been wondering, what is GSM? We thought we might go through that for you to help clarify this term.

GSM stands for Grams per Square Metre – so it’s referring to the weight of the fabric. However, a lot of people often form the opinion that lightweight fabric equals poor quality and heavyweight fabric equals good quality…..this is not always the case!

In fact, a lot of t-shirt suppliers who have lightweight t-shirts available actually charge more for this option.

So what does equal quality?

There are a few different types of fabric finishes available, and these are usually the things that determine the quality of a fabric. Here’s a brief description of a few different terms you might come across when you’re looking for your next run of tees:

• 40s or 40 singles / 30s or 30 singles / 20s or 20 singles etc – This refers to the fineness of each strand of cotton thread used to weave your t-shirts. A higher number means a finer thread, so in turn a softer, finer fabric is created with better drape/hang – it basically flows better and sits nicer on your body.




• Brushed Cotton means exactly that! The cotton is brushed to remove any excess lint and fibers from the fabric, resulting in a soft, smooth feel.




• Combed Cotton uses a combing method to remove short fibers and to straighten or arrange longer fibers into parallel order to create a smooth, fine yarn. Combed cotton is usually used to produce finer (lightweight) t-shirts and is softer than Brushed Cotton. – American Apparel, AS Colour, Gildan (64000 style only)




• Ring Spun Cotton is made by twisting and spinning a rope of cotton fibers. This results in a really soft feel yet very strong fabric. – All American Apparel, AS Colour, Gildan (64000 style only)




• Enzyme Washed Cotton has gone through a special process using enzymes to produce a really soft finish and smooth look to the fabric. – American Apparel Power Wash tee

So next time you’re looking at your t-shirt options, take the GSM into account but be aware that there are other factors for consideration!

A few months back we were sifting through our enquiries we get through the website, and we came across an intriguing email. It read…

“Good afternoon from the UK. I am writing because I have a request. I work for a company called FESPA, we are a federation of associations in the Screen and Digital print industries. We also arrange events and exhibitions for the industry. In October this year we have an exhibition in Singapore (FESPA Asia www.fespaasia.com) Having identified your company as being the leader in online screen printing in Australia, I would very much like to have a conversation about the potential of your CEO/Managing Director being able to present to other screen printers in the Asia Pacific Region at our event. I look forward to hearing from you.”

Now…we do get all kinds of spammers through the website, so initially I put this down to some sort of Nigerian scam, but it certainly stroked the ego a bit so I had to check it out.

Low and behold it turned out to be legit!

I thought, “What an awesome opportunity!” and was stoked on the idea. But as the show gradually got closer, anticipation gradually turned to flat out fear. I hadn’t spoken in front of people since school, and that was 20 years ago.

I hurriedly prepared my slides for my presentation titled, “The 8 Key Secrets to Growing Your Screen Printing Business Online”, and while getting the “keys” down I started thinking, “I’m going there to give give people these keys, and we haven’t even mastered them yet”

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a bit of a perfectionist and I don’t like to start or do something until the process is perfect. This was a real challenge for me, I was going there to share this stuff I “knew”, but also knew that we weren’t as good at it as we could be. I felt a little hypocritical I guess.

But I pushed on and the day came to jump on the plane to Singapore.

Once I arrived at the show, I met everyone and then nervously awaited my turn to present. I had a 45 min slot and was a little worried about filling the time.

Then it was my turn…eek!

The MC was very generous with his introduction making it sound like I had accomplished a lot more than I thought I actually had, (as you can probably tell I’m not that comfortable with being talked up!), and as I approached the stage my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest! I got up there looked, around the room and blurted out some Aussie greeting that I don’t remember but was probably something like “Hey, How ya’ doin’?”

Through a shaky voice I started talking…and the rest was a bit of a blur. After the initial minute or so, I really started feeling more comfortable and by the end was really amped. I actually said to my wife later on, “I think I could actually do more of this.”

After the presentation I got the opportunity to sit on a Q&A panel with a couple of other business leaders, which was great too. It was cool to see that what I had spoken about raised the interest of the attendees and generated a bunch of questions, which also gave me the privilege of being able to share everything I had learned over the years.

Making new friends and catching up with old ones…

The other great aspect of attending one of these shows is the friendships you develop with other people doing great things in the industry. We had the privilege of sitting down a couple of times with Mark Gervais who runs the print department in  China’s largest vertically integrated garment manufacturer Shenzou International. Vertically integrated means that they do everything from start to finish, knit the fabric, dye the fabric, cut the fabric…I think you can see where I am going here. They do this for companies like Nike, Adidas, Puma – all the big guys.

The company has 48,000 staff and Mark has 2,000 staff in the print department with 54 automatic printing presses. That sounds like a big job!

Something he said to me was interesting though, He said “Look in reality, you and I, we are doing the same thing. We are taking a design, separating the artwork, shooting some screens and printing some t-shirts. We both face the same problems and issues, ours are just scaled up.”

I guess that was him explaining what he does humbly, but it really made a point with me. At the end of the day we are both performing the same actions for the same end result – Making our customers happy!

We also got to sit down and discuss what they are working on and also how we can implement structured research and development time, into our procedures, to keep in front of the game here in Australia.

Someone who also reinforced this concept with us was Charlie Taublieb. Charlie is the industry’s leading print consultant. We had the privilege of spending an evening with him talking shop and trying to figure out how we can get him out here to work with us.

One thing we learned from him was that we should be working on developing our skills on producing specialty printing and finishes. A lot of printers are scared of them but when you can grasp the basics its not actually that difficult.

So we have implemented weekly R&D time to start testing and measuring everything we are doing and working on. This will continue to put us ahead of the pack, and help us achieve our goal of being the premier t-shirt printer in the country.

What would you like?

With all that said…what specialty finishes are you looking for? Are you trying to achieve a certain result that you haven’t been able to?

Let us know and we’ll do everything we can to make it happen for you.

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!

Band merchandise can be any product you brand with your band’s logo, name or photo – T-shirts, framed and signed band photos, caps, bags, stickers, lighters, posters, you name it.  Fans love to collect souvenirs and wear fashionable T-shirts and useful accessories which express their personal taste in music, and the consequent exposure of your band to other potential fans works in your favour, too!

Obviously you can use band merchandise to publicise your band’s sound, identity, overall image, and even website address, but you can also focus on marketing a particular single or album by incorporating the ‘cover’ design into your website, T-shirts, and other merchandise.

Selling band merchandise, online, through a merchandising partner, or during a gig, can also generate income to help you cover the costs of recording and touring and perhaps even make a profit in its own right.  Indeed, it’s not uncommon for artists, large and small, to make more money through merchandising than they do through album sales and concert tickets!

Appealing and durable band merchandise that resonates with your consumers and is appropriately priced to meet their budgets can go a long way towards building fan loyalty and getting your band’s name “out there” in public.  People really do notice and talk about each other’s clothing and accessories, particularly if they’re attractively designed and of decent quality.  (The flipside is that poor quality merchandise can also impact on your reputation … negatively!)

If you’d rather not do the design work yourself, rather than hiring a designer, you can run a design competition to involve your fans in the creation of your band merchandise.  This approach can save you money, while giving you priceless insight into your fans’ sense of style (and awareness of which merchandise will appeal to them) and engendering a sense of personal involvement and belonging.

We have a lot of experience when it comes to band merch and we are here to share that with you. From using the best blank t-shirts to our designers who have worked with some of the countries biggest bands we’ll make sure your band stands out from the crowd with their merch.

Get in touch today for an obligation free consultation.

Imagine the number of T-shirt designs a screen printer sees in the course of a year – hundreds, if not thousands.  And with all that experience of the t-shirt design industry, just imagine the wealth of knowledge and advice we would be able to offer a new designer!

In ‘Designers’ Guide to the Apparel Printing Industry’, Adam Wagner of GoMediaZine shares some wonderful insights and tips from his interviews with representatives from five major US apparel printers, covering topics such as design trends, file preparation, printing techniques and complex designs.

Multiple links, quotes, and some thoughtful commentary from readers make this already interesting and informative article even more entertaining and useful.  Check it out here – http://www.gomediazine.com/design-articles/interviews/designers-guide-apparel-production/

Let me know your thoughts below.

We have always been able to do bulk t-shirt printing but we have recently been able to invest in some innovative screen printing equipment that has given us the ability to print more of these wholesale jobs, faster

and at lower prices.

This means that if you have a t-shirt printing job of more than 250 pcs (sometimes even less) you can benefit from these reduced prices.

We have been inundated with these bulk runs in the last couple of months and are currently booked right through to early November.

Here is an example of the clients we have been printing for and the quantities they have been doing to take advantage of the wholesale pricing…

Monash University 10,000 Steps Challenge – 2000 t-shirts – 2 colour front + 1 colour back
Cable Chick – 2000 t-shirts – 2 colour front + 1 colour back
Middletons – 900 t-shirts – 1 colour – front, back and lower back
Flint Clothing – 2100 t-shirts – 7 designs
Relient K – 1152 t-shirts – 2 designs
Red Frogs – 2000 t-shirts + 300 hoodies – 2 col front + 1 col back + 1 col sleeve
Aboriginal Health & Medical Research Council Kick the Habit campaign – 500 t-shirts – 3 colour
Dot Dot Dash – COON Cheese – 1000 t-shirts + 10 Aprons – 4 colour front + 3 colour back

Here is a video of the machine working.

By taking advantage of this innovation you can save up to 20% on you printing costs.

So just get in touch with us if you want to know more about how you can save on your t-shirt printing.

We recently did a survey of all of our database who have told us that they are a t-shirt label. Basically we wanted them to let us know what they saw as their biggest hurdles in taking their t-shirt company to the next level.

We are now going to compile some sort of information/training based on the responses we got so that people will be a little better armed to grow their existing business. To do this we will call on a lot of our industry contacts and existing clients who have succeeded with their t-shirt and clothing companies and they will share with you what got them to where they are and how you can do it too.

Here are the results…

Q1 – What Best Describes Your Niche Market?

The most popular niche was “Streetwear” with 32%  of the results. Next was “Boutique” with 19%.

It was interesting to see the varied markets that everyone represented including “Motorsport” and “Music Scene”. It just goes to show the massive potential in the market when you can niche yourself into a certain group of interest.

Q2 – Where Are You At With Your T-shirt Label?

The results to this one were quite surprising. I assumed that more people would be further along in their business but the results show that the majority of people are just starting their journey into getting their t-shirt label going.

“Starting to design – I have ideas but need help to put them together” was the highest response we had with 40% choosing that answer and 31% choosing “Got a bunch of designs but nothing printed”

This is even more surprising when you see the results to the next question.

Q3 – What is your biggest hurdle in moving to the next level with your t-shirt label?

The way this question worked was that you ranked our pre-defined answers with the top ranking being the greatest hurdle and descending to the lowest hurdle. The top result for this ranking question was “Marketing – Not enough people know about my stuff” very closely followed by “Sales – Not enough people are buying my stuff”.

I said above that I thought this result was surprising. Why? Well as you can see in Question 2, 71% of people haven’t even had their t-shirts printed yet. I found it a little strange initially that people that didn’t yet have a product were concerned with the marketing and selling of that product. But as I thought a little more about it, it actually made sense whether intended or not. A good business plan would take these things into consideration before the launch of the product. So the fact that people are considering marketing and sales before they have a bunch of t-shirts printed is really smart!

The rest of the results went in this order…

Suppliers – Can’t find reliable suppliers
Money – No cash to get more stuff printed
Stockists – Can’t get it in enough stores
Design – No creative motivation
Staff – Need someone to help me out

Q4 – What you would like to learn more about to benefit your t-shirt label?

This question, above all, interested us the most. It is the basis for which we will build our information on. It took the same direction as the previous question…which is to be expected. Sales and marketing were two of the most popular topics. These are the results in order of popularity…

Marketing Strategies
Custom Manufacturing (again surprising due to the number of people yet to print a t-shirt)
Sales Strategies
Branding and Customisation
Design Tips and Tutorials
Business Planning
Blank T-shirts
Sourcing Suppliers Offshore
Digital T-shirt Printing
Specialty Printing Methods
Technical Printing Methods
The Screen Printing Process

It was really interesting to see that people really didn’t prioritise knowing about the actual process involved to get their t-shirts printed. Because that’s what we do we assumed everyone would want to know all about it. (That’s why it is good to ask)

In the above 2 questions people also expressed in the “Other” section that they want to know more about selling direct to customers via the internet rather than selling to stores etc.

Q5 – What sort of promotions do you see the most value in for you?

You saw the most value in Free Set-up and Free Shipping. So we will do that for you guys very soon…so keep an eye out for it.

Q6 – What do you want most from your t-shirt printer?

I’ll share a few of the response with you…

“A Quality Product, a smooth print and sweet shirts, stickers etc. As long as its a great product and great service.”

“Complete supply chain partnership. Sharing of ideas to improve designs, ease of printing, quality and competitive pricing. Anything to help the sales for all.”

“A good and communicative service, excellent results, and affordable prices.”

So there you go. We have a whole bunch of data there to show us how to structure our information and training on taking your t-shirts business to the next level. So keep your eyes peeled for that info as it comes through.

Let us know in the comments below if there is anything else you would like to see us cover as we develop the material.

We just did up this short video outlining the differences between vector based artwork and bitmap (pixel) based artwork as it relates to t-shirt printing. In the video we look at the differences between each format and which one works better in which situation. I hope you find it helpful for you when preparing your artwork for screen printing on to t-shirts.

Video Summary

The video discusses two different types of artwork that are used for T-shirt printing—vector and bitmap artwork. The first thing you need to know about these types of art is the software that makes them possible. The standard tool for creating vector artwork is Adobe Illustrator. It may also be used with bitmap images but the editing features are not as good as for vector artwork.

Adobe Photoshop is the tool of choice for bitmap or pixel based images, and most of us know the finished products by their familiar filename extensions (.jpeg and .psd). Photoshop can also be used with vector artwork, although there are again certain limits to the freedom of editing. For maximum effects and freedom of editing, you have to work with each type of image specifically in the correct program.

So which type of artwork is best for your design? The best way to go about this is to check how image quality is affected when it is resized and fine-tuned. For Adobe Illustrator, you can zoom in as near as you want to the image and still see crisp black straight lines that form part of the photo or image you’re working on. This is the type of image you want to work on when you go for T-shirt printing.

With Photoshop, the clarity isn’t as great, because at a certain resolution the image turns into small pixellated boxes that gradually fade into the background color. You don’t get crisp, razor-sharp images with this software, and consequently the design on your T-shirt might not be as clean as you want it to be.

In terms of resizing particular portions of the artwork, vector artwork is the best. Even if you take out a tiny portion of the vector artwork and blow it up to more than the size of the original image, you’ll still get crisp clear lines that show no compromise of quality. When you do the same thing with bitmap images on Photoshop, you’re likely to end up with a slightly blurry image with soft edges and rather poor color. Such an image will not look good on a T-shirt because the program has to ‘guess’ which pixels go where, so the result is a picture whose edges end in gradients.

Finally, we will look at how the different artwork affects colour separations. In Illustrator, you just have to pull out each color in a few clicks and view them on your screen side-by-side for comparison. Contrast this with Photoshop where you have to cut and paste the different-colored parts of the image in a separate document that doesn’t allow easy for comparisons with the original image and the other colored portions. Filling in the separated image with a new color is also clean and quick in Illustrator, whereas in Photoshop you don’t get the same image and color quality as the original when you zoom in.

Vector based artworks are better for any kind of screen printing, but that doesn’t mean that bitmap images and Photoshop are already obsolete. They may have great scalability, no quality loss, easy color changes, but bitmap images are still quite useful. Photo-based artworks and grayscale images still have to be worked with in Photoshop.

If you want to try vector-based images on your next T-shirt project, you may want to use free software to create and edit them because licensed tools like the Adobe Creative Suite are very expensive. Inkscape is a good alternative to Illustrator, while for bitmap images you can try Gimp. These free programs can help you work on your images and enhance them further before printing.

We regularly have people asking us how they get their hand drawn designs into a format that can be used for t-shirt printing. Here is a quick video showing you the basics.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Like they did in the video start with a pencil sketch of what the t-shirt design will look like. Then trace over with a black marker. The key is to use solid black lines so that the scanned the image has a lot of contrast which aids in the vectorising process within Adobe Illustrator. Once vectorised you can add your colour fills.

So get stuck in and get some custom designs done and we’ll get your t-shirts printed for you.