# Problem with white ink on red shirts need help



## Jaded Designs (Dec 6, 2008)

Hi

I've purchased a couple of shirts from an online t-shirt company. The shirts are red Gildan 100% cotton shirts. The design that I put on them was basically a white circle with a black border and some black text on top of the white. It's pretty basic. Anyway, they arrived yesterday and the white was kind of pinkish and did not fully cover the shirt fabric. I could see the red shirt under the white. I hope that you understand what I mean. 

So, I called and the man said " it's normal for DTG of white to mix with the shirt color on a dark fabric like red". Is this accurate? Is there some form of printing that will prevent this? Does anyone know of a reasonable place online where I can get shirts printed, one at a time, for a reason price? 

I really expected a better quality and feel very disappointed about this white issue. 

Your help would be greatly appreciated. I need to know if this is normal and what my options are. I've done a lot of searching but come up with no great solutions.


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## TUANISAPPAREL (Oct 14, 2012)

Lots of times manufacturers will take colors that don't sell and dye them different colors and I was told (not sure its true) it makes it difficult to get water based inks to show.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using T-Shirt Forums


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## teeonlinemall (Feb 28, 2013)

It happened to me when I print on CVC fabric. 100%cotton should be no problem. Either % of white underbase not high enough. Or they can try on the fly setting or print white layer 2 parts.


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## 23spiderman (Jun 26, 2008)

Red is probably one of the trickiest colors to print on. When we screen print, we usually will print-flash-print to get a bright white. With DTG, it comes down to pretreat and how much white ink they put down. We get nice whites with our NeoFlex on red shirts with DuPont inks. If you posted a picture, it would be easier to say if it was the pretreat or not.

If your design is really simple, you may be able to use heat press vinyl, which would keep the image white.


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

If it's only two color you don't need to use DTG. Screen printing would be better. The ink is thicker. 

Problem is you only want one or two t-shirts.


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## Jaded Designs (Dec 6, 2008)

The DTG was all that I could afford online because I only wanted one or two shirts. I looked all over before finding a company to print, but they use DTG. Here is an image since it was asked for. I made notations on the image. It's really even more noticeable in person. 

I'm just wondering if they made an error with the amount of white used or what the issue might be because you see the other red/white letter shirt that they did for me came out beautifully. I did ask them about this, but really did not get much help. 

I never realized that this could happen with a red shirt. Are there other colors that might be a problem too?


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

I think it comes down to 2 issues that might be playing a part here. Either the pretreat was not done heavy enough (although you also don't want too much or you will see the outline of it as well) the pretreat really needs to be perfect for red shirts. If its not a pretreat issue then it could be the white layer was not printed heavy enough.

Also it could be they may have enough pretreat but may have rushed, and not gotten te pretreat completely urged. Each of these things could cause the dye from the red shirt and the white ink to bleed together 

Hope this helps.

Also I agree with the suggestion of using vinyl, since its only 2 colors and very simple design wise, vinyl would work amazing and you would have absolutely no risk of the color bleeding. Also just like with dtg, vinyl can be done in small runs as well as customized


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Oops dumb sp check lol, pretreat cured not urged


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## Jaded Designs (Dec 6, 2008)

But with the vinyl, that would be a transfer right? Those don't hold up well to wear and washing from what I have seen. That's why I went with the DTG for my purchases. Am I mistaken about that? Also, I don't know where to find someone to make the shirts with vinyl transfers online. I looked all around for ideas and with only needing 1 or 2 shirts it seemed that DTG was the answer as the transfers don't last well to wash and wear. I do not have a heat press so I needed someone to print these online for me and with all the negative that I heard about transfers, I went with DTG.

As far as these shirts go, I am really, really unhappy with the black/white design on these red shirts. It seems that something went wrong as you can see in the other red shirt that they did for me, the white looks great. 

Are there other colors that might be an issue too or just red?


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## BlueForME (Mar 4, 2011)

Heat press vinyl would be the perfect media for these. It will hold up very well, it is not like a heat press transfer. I use heat press vinyl all the time on tee shirts and it works great and lasts as long as the tee shirt does.

Blue


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## Jaded Designs (Dec 6, 2008)

But I do not have a heat press and would need someone to print these for me if I used vinyl.


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## BlueForME (Mar 4, 2011)

Maybe find someone local who has a vinyl cutter and heat press to do these for you, can't be anymore than what you paid for the bad ones you bought. Lots of small businesses do these.

Blue


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## 23spiderman (Jun 26, 2008)

other than the crown, this would be a very simple job with vinyl. and the 2nd image would cost more for the 2 color, but would be easy as well. 

the left side of the image either didn't get enough pretreat, or they didn't smooth the fibers down effectively. the piece that didn't "print" was a string that was on the shirt when printed. the pinkish nature is normal with red shirts. i'm doing a large run on red right now, and my solid white areas are definitely white, but there are areas of less white where you can kind of see the shirt coming through. pretreat red is very tricky, like Bobbie Lee said. i have some that are just fine, and others that i can kind of see my pretreat on the shirt. there are a lot of variables with DTG and one of them is the actual shirt being used. other than the "rough" area on the left side, your print doesn't look like a reject. but i say that carefully because the picture may make it look better than it really does.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

We also have a referrals section here on the forum, where you can put up a post asking if anyone here is interested in doing these shirts for you in vinyl. I agree, vinyl is not like a transfer and it lasts a very long time . If you would like to post a request in the referrals section, here is a link to that section http://www.t-shirtforums.com/referrals-recommendations/ , make sure when you post that you specify what exactly you want and what city and state you are located, as you might find someone local  

Hope this helps as there are many people here on the forums that do vinyl


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## dazzabling (Sep 21, 2011)

TUANISAPPAREL said:


> Lots of times manufacturers will take colors that don't sell and dye them different colors and I was told (not sure its true) it makes it difficult to get water based inks to show.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using T-Shirt Forums


That's a new one,because white ink that doesn't sell and is about to expire turns a chunky substance.

Also, I see poor pretreat and starvation. There shouldn't be any pinkish areas, that is unexpectable.
Proper pretreat, heat press curement and possibly two layers of white would help with this design.

I agree with the others regarding vinyl, many of us have the vinyl and a heat press. Just like the DTG, 
we can order the shirts and apply the vinyl for you.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Lets see if the op posts a request for service in the referrals and then talk about offering services over in tha section once it is posted so to follow forum guidelines


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## Jaded Designs (Dec 6, 2008)

Thank you all. I'm posting in the referral forum now.


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