| There are a lot of different uses for T-shirt printing. | | | | garment printing. With this method, your artwork or |
| A business can use custom promotional T-shirts to | | | | photo can be printed directly onto a garment using |
| get their logos and slogans in front of a lot of people. | | | | an inkjet printer, very much like printing a photo from |
| Sports teams can use them so that every team | | | | your computer. |
| member has a matching shirt. Individuals can get | | | | Each of these printing methods has their pros and |
| custom shirts made to express their own sense of | | | | cons. Silkscreening is an inexpensive way to print a |
| style and to have a unique garment that nobody else | | | | large number of garments but is not really suitable |
| has. There are a lot of people interested in custom | | | | for printing photo quality images and because each |
| garments for different reasons and there are a | | | | color is applied separately, the more colors you wish |
| number of methods for T-shirt printing. This article is | | | | to use the longer it will take and the more expensive |
| going to briefly discuss a few of the most common | | | | it will be. Dye sublimation can produce photo quality |
| methods. | | | | images but this method does not work well with |
| One method for making custom garments that has | | | | natural fibers like cotton, synthetic fibers like nylon or |
| been around for ages is screenprinting or | | | | polyester would need to be used. Direct to garment |
| silkscreening. With this method a blank T-shirt is | | | | printing is a good option for small runs, |
| stretched across a rigid frame and a stencil of the | | | | personalization, and reproducing images with multiple |
| desired design is positioned where you want the | | | | colors or even photo quality images and can be used |
| design to be. The screen goes on top of this and the | | | | on natural fibers but if you are getting into the |
| ink is applied to the desired area with a squeegee. If | | | | business of T-shirt printing the equipment for this |
| a design has multiple colors the process would be | | | | method can be pretty expensive. |
| repeated for each color to be applied. | | | | Each method has its pros and cons and a consumer |
| Another common method for T-shirt printing is | | | | will have to find a company that can produce the |
| known as dye sublimation. With this method, the | | | | image they want at an affordable cost per item |
| desired image is printed from a computer printer onto | | | | regardless of which method is used. For someone |
| a special paper. The paper is positioned onto the | | | | getting into T-shirt printing as a business you may |
| garment and when heat and pressure are applied the | | | | want to consider offering all of these options but if |
| ink evaporates from the paper and is transferred to | | | | that is not in your budget in the beginning, you will |
| the garment. With this method you can actually | | | | have to figure out who your target market is and |
| transfer photos onto a piece of clothing. Another | | | | which method will work best for that particular |
| method that has become popular recently is direct to | | | | market. |