# Guildan washout problems



## sodrisc (Apr 6, 2006)

I have been running tests on different ink on a batch of guildan tshirts, i have tried longer pressing times, less pressure, more pressure, more ink, less ink, but the washout is very severe i would say over 30 - 40% its been driving me insane, so suspecting the shirts i printed up a few continental bamboo shirts and lo and behold almost zero washout problems using the manufacturers press/pressure times, anyone else have problems with these shirts? its the ultra ones, do i just have a bad batch? is there a certain country of manufacture to beware of on these shirts? im glad i found the issue but i dont know how to get around it. Would the distributor of the shirts take them back for a problem like this? i have a whole carton of each size..............


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## Unik Ink (Nov 21, 2006)

Try higher temp.


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## zhenjie (Aug 27, 2006)

I've tested many different brands of white t-****s. Gildan had the 2nd highest amoutn of fibrellation out of 10 white t-shirts. I would never use Gildan for DTG printing.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Another thing that might help with this if they are light colored shirts is Harry at equipment zone sells the fast color pretreatment that helps alot with washability of light color shirts.


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## tpope (Oct 3, 2007)

Pretreatment on white Guildans helps... some... not much. You can see the fibers that fuff up and make your prints look like dull stuff after one careful wash. Take a look through a 10x loupe.

We just washed some tagless Champion shirts that I printed the same way that I had been printing our Guildans. WOW! It looked like the shirt just came off the printer. I used a Dupont inkset.

This could be due to longer cotton fibers used in the shirt knitting or a machine that is gentler on the fibers. I don't know... 

The quality of the t shirt has a direct effect on the print quality of a shirt. Look at the fibers under a 10x magnification. If they are sticking out like bad hair, your print quality will make you pull your hair out.

I feel that the brand of shirt that we had success with is NOT the only good shirt. I would love to hear from others...


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## sodrisc (Apr 6, 2006)

so its not just me, thank god! continental and american apparel seem to print/wash great but obviously they are pricey, looks like i need to find an alternative budget white shirt, im in the UK so if anyone has any recommendations they would be very welcome


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## zhenjie (Aug 27, 2006)

The 1301 AAA by Alstyle was top 3 in my washout testing. However, their 1701 (which I tink is ringspun) was terrible, almost as bad as Gildan. Not sure what availaiblity is like in the UK though.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

I have to say the best 2 shirts I have printed on are american apparel and bamboo from spunbamboo.com although both of these are higher end tees. I also printed some bamboo from fairlinesportswear.com although I havent done wash tests on these yet  they are in canada.


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## Arithian (Dec 27, 2007)

hhhhmmm I think I may be having similar problems with the Hanes Tagless then. I noticed some washout but not sure if this was normal or not. Anyone know how Hanes Tagless ranked? What about Hanes Beefy T?


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## tpope (Oct 3, 2007)

I have bought Hanes Beefy shirts that someone else printed with my images. I was not impressed. I am not sure what printer or inkset was used. The image quality was lacking before the first wash. Lots of detail loss.
The fibers began to show themselves after the first wash. The image has continued to dull and loose quality with each washing.
The Gildans that we printed were much better than the Hanes we bought already printed. We will try the Anvils next order.


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## acca (Jun 25, 2006)

tpope said:


> Pretreatment on white Guildans helps... some... not much. You can see the fibers that fuff up and make your prints look like dull stuff after one careful wash. Take a look through a 10x loupe.
> 
> We just washed some tagless Champion shirts that I printed the same way that I had been printing our Guildans. WOW! It looked like the shirt just came off the printer. I used a Dupont inkset.
> 
> ...


How many washes have you done with the champion tee and are they still holding up? We are currently using 1301 alstyle with fastcolor pretreatment. I do notice a big difference with and without treatment, but I really would like to stop pretreating shirts because of the additional time it adds.


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## schenk (Jul 16, 2007)

perhaps use the new gildan 6400 style? its has a nice cut (little like the CC n11 or the bamboo)


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