The Pros and Cons of T-Shirt Printing There are primarily three different types of t-shirt printing available today. Each has it's own benefits and equally it's own restrictions.
Screen printing
First, screen printing. It is by far the oldest and still most widely used method of the three. From the simpler hand printed method to large fully automated presses, the principle remains essentially the same. It is a simple process. However, it is time consuming to set up and clean the screens. Most companies charge the client a set up fee to make the screens. However, it is a one time only fee and the screens are usually stored in case the customer ever wishes to reprint the design.
Screen printing offers a very clean solid color print. Great for many logos and text. Perfect for mass production and keeping the printing price low. Excellent durability for washing and re washing many times before fading.However, it is not really suitable for photographic reproduction unless you are willing to have a lower grade of photo image. (Lots of visible halftone dots). Also, significantly, each color has to be printed separately. Screen-printing can also be a messy business to enter into.
Digital t shirt printing
The second method of t-shirt printing is Digital printing. Although a fairly nascent technology, digital printing machines are an interesting addition to the t-shirt printing industry. It offers a service that screen-printing cannot, namely Print on demand technology. The shirt is stretched over a frame and housed below a set of ink jet heads. The garment is then printed in much the same way as an ink jet printer prints on paper.
These machines typically range from between $15,000 - $20,000 and so is an attractive purchase for many who wish to get into the custom t shirt business at an entry level. It is also favored by some of the larger custom t shirt manufacturers like CafĂŠ Press.
With digital printing, you can print single designs economically. Unlike screen printing there is very little set up. It is excellent for reproducing photographic prints, multi colored designs and logos. Clean work environment.
Unfortunately, expensive per shirt cost and slow printing means that the t shirt is usually higher in price to purchase. The wash cycles of a digital print t-shirt are vastly inferior to screen-printing many begin to fade after just a couple of washes. The technology is still young and so the machines themselves have inherent user problems, including the print heads constantly getting clogged up with fabric particles and ink sediment. Although printing on dark t shirts is possible, many users report problems with the white ink that is needed to base coat the design first.
Heat transfer printing
The third method is heat transfer printing. It is as its name suggests. An image is printed upon a transfer paper, which is in turn placed under a heat press and bonded via the heating onto the t shirt garment. This is an inexpensive method and is often favored by the home user. A variation of this is the iron on variety of paper that can be purchased at many office supply stores.
It is only realistic for individual and low expectation usage. If you want to get into the t shirts printing business, it is an attractive alternative to the other mentioned techniques. It is marginally less expensive to acquire the equipment. However, a decent heat press usually runs to a little less than $1000. It has to reach higher temperatures than the method recommended by the iron on packages available. The printer (typically an Epson brand) may run $2-$3,000)
With heat transfer printing: Photographic and complex multi color images are attainable. Clean work environment.
Cons of heat transfer printing: Each image needs to be cut around the contour to eliminate the paper you don't want to print onto the image. This can be time consuming and so makes larger runs unpractical.
If you are considering entering the t shirt manufacturing business than any method is workable, depending on your own personal needs, facilities and budget. From a consumer stance, screen-printed t-shirt printing is the best for quality and wash ability.
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