# How to make vintage tees?



## sovereign

I'm actually supposed to be studying for finals right now. But I've just had an idea to start an internet business to sell vintage tees. I know that it's hard, but I've realized that I have many designs that are unique, funny, and original and I have both the technological and business know-how to compete in this arena. I'm willing to spend upwards of $10,000 to start this business and I'm going to be doing most of the work at home with hired work.

So the next bottle neck is that I want to know the specifics of creating vintage tees.

I have a couple of questions that I thought you guys might help me answer:

1. How expensive is it to get screen prints done at another site?

2. What is the best way to create vintage tees by myself. Screen printing or heat press? I am looking for quality over cost concerns.

3. If I were to start by myself how hard is it to create custom Tees from scratch using your advised method in question 2.

Thanks for the help everyone.


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## Solmu

sovereign said:


> 1. How expensive is it to get screen prints done at another site?


Obviously cost is relative, but personally I'd describe it as inexpensive. Generally speaking vintage style shirts are printed on more expensive blanks (a company like Alternative Apparel rather than a company like Gildan for example), but that's going to be a fixed cost whether you do it yourself or outsource it. Vintage designs are also often one or two colours (rather than four+), and if that ends up being the case that will keep your costs down.

If you have in the area of $10,000 to invest I don't think cost should be a problem. The margins in t-shirt selling are reasonable. The biggest problem is that people try and do everything on the cheap because they have no startup capital.



sovereign said:


> 2. What is the best way to create vintage tees by myself. Screen printing or heat press? I am looking for quality over cost concerns.


Screen printing does have a learning curve, but assuming you're printing in quantity then it has the advantage of being both higher quality and cheaper (in the long run). It has a higher barrier of entry, which is why it isn't as popular for very small businesses, but it is ultimately better.



sovereign said:


> 3. If I were to start by myself how hard is it to create custom Tees from scratch using your advised method in question 2.


That would depend. If you're doing one colour designs, screenprinting is easy. If you have to register multi-colour images that will take some learning. There's no question that heat press is _easier_, but screenprinting isn't inordinately difficult.


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## mikel

very useful advice Solmu. will keep this in mind once i do screen printing myself.


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## instrumental

here is the answer you might be looking for 

to make a shirt vintage and to be able to do it at home.

first get your shirt printed on 100% cotton

then you could either put it in a 50/50 solution of half water/half salt and let the shirt soak in it for three days

or

you can take your shirt and put it in a bucket of apple vinegar, let it soak for 8-9 hours then wash it in a washer with salt in place of the detergent(do this at your local laundry spot on the dl, excessive salt can damage a washing machine.

what these two methods do is loosen up the cottom fibers so they become real soft like an old t-shirt

after you do this, wash the shirts regularly in a washing machine without detergent and then dry them then take light sanpaper over the graphic to scuff it up. 

this method is really for doing a small amount of shirts....if you want to do quantities..ask your printer to use shatterink from rutland, this ink cracks when it is being cured on the conveyor dryer, it makes shirts look really old, besides that there are lots of ways to make the graphic on shirts look old. the trick is the shirt itself, there is also enzyme washes you can employ but you would need a place that is not living space to do such things, if you want more info on that let me know


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## instrumental

i also advise looking around for deadstock tees such as screen stars from the 80's


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## Byeline666

> ...ask your printer to use shatterink from rutland, this ink cracks when it is being cured on the conveyor dryer, it makes shirts look really old...


that shatter ink from rutland is a base ink... does that mean you add it to your plasticol ink to get the color... im assuming its like a gel substance to be mixed in with the ink.


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## Quattroporte

One thing I've noticed about vintage style shirts is that they're almost always slim fit ringers. I don't knwo if that helps at all, but nobody's mentioned it yet. ^_^


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## Alecks

Hey everybody, newb here. I'm in the process of creating "vintage" style t-shirts. I'm using 50/50 cotton/polyester Jerzees and I was wondering if anyone can elaborate on how to make them SUPER SOFT, like a 15 year old shirt type soft. I'm currently trying an apple vinegar soak and salt wash. Any other ideas?

Alex


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## chowzer2

at the ISS show today one guy mentioned something called like "discharge" and it looked very vintage like. i dont really get exactly how it works but im sure someone else does on here if you ask around


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## Byeline666

Alecks said:


> Hey everybody, newb here. I'm in the process of creating "vintage" style t-shirts. I'm using 50/50 cotton/polyester Jerzees and I was wondering if anyone can elaborate on how to make them SUPER SOFT, like a 15 year old shirt type soft. I'm currently trying an apple vinegar soak and salt wash. Any other ideas?
> 
> Alex



read instrumentals post above. he gave a couple good ways to pull it off.


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## Rodney

> I'm using 50/50 cotton/polyester Jerzees and I was wondering if anyone can elaborate on how to make them SUPER SOFT, like a 15 year old shirt type soft. I'm currently trying an apple vinegar soak and salt wash.


You might want to buy a shirt that is already "vintage soft", like an article1 t-shirt or an alternativeapparel t-shirt. 

Some things that can make the shirt softer is if you send it to a dye house that can do garment washes. Enzyme washing is one technique that can make the shirt softer I think. I don't know if it's something you can do in your home.


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## love from lola

Insturmental!
I would really love some more information on enzyme washes if you dont mind?


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## instrumental

i will write up a big post about it sometime over the weekend, im a bit slammed at work at the moment and i designed a bunch of shirts that are getting printed for a big burlesque show here in brooklyn


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## love from lola

Really Looking forward to this!
thanks again!
will stay posted!


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## RisingBlue7

Lola,

Yvette Mandell is popular for her enzyme washed tees, hoodies and tanks. Her tank tops retail for $90.00 at high end dept. stores and boutiques. She uses foil as well. 

yvettemandell.com






love from lola said:


> Really Looking forward to this!
> thanks again!
> will stay posted!


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## RisingBlue7

Steve,

Thanks for the info! I use Continental's vintage tees and look forward to your post about enzyme washes. I think I'm going to try to do what Steve suggested with regard to the vintage wash, just to educate myself a bit more. How about the tea stained and stone wash treatments? They sure do add more value to the garment. I have a few novelty washed garments and always receive compliments about them. I'd like to look into novelty dye and wash for my hoodies for my Fall 07 line. Kings of Glory has an array of hoodies like this. My screenprinter referred me to a well known dyehouse who does this. It looks very expensive to implement. I wonder if it is...hmmmm?


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## Headhoncho

That's amazing, where did you pick up a trick like that?

-jm


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## love from lola

Hey Insturmental... would still love love love to see your post on enzyme washes!

L


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## instrumental

hey, sorry i havent put up the post i promised, give me about a week, i am doing some wast tests at work this week using a potassium spray and hopefully an enzyme wash, plus some homemade tricks i have come upon, luckily i have a biologist friend who can point me in the right directions regarding chemicals, etc.

will definetly will post something soon!


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## Byeline666

instrumental said:


> hey, sorry i havent put up the post i promised, give me about a week, i am doing some wast tests at work this week using a potassium spray and hopefully an enzyme wash, plus some homemade tricks i have come upon, luckily i have a biologist friend who can point me in the right directions regarding chemicals, etc.
> 
> will definetly will post something soon!


 

did this post ever happen? jw...


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## instrumental

hey! our cellulse just came in today! cellulase is the basic ingredient for doing an enzyme wash, i am scheduled to go to my friends lab this saturday to start the tests, luckily he has all the tools(like a lab would) to use so we can do proper tests...also he knows how to read the formulas and papers we have on the subject, as soon as i have some results i will post them


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## oddhuman

Use a vintage heatpress  










I'm sorry but I could not contain myself. I'll shutup now


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## Solmu

oddhuman said:


> Use a vintage heatpress


Pffft  You call _that_ a vintage heat press...


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## oddhuman

Solmu said:


> Pffft  You call _that_ a vintage heat press...


HA! thats awesome. How old is that thing? Sorry no more thread jacking.


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## Solmu

oddhuman said:


> HA! thats awesome. How old is that thing?


I'm not sure, but I suspect it's from the 70s. I can't find out much about the company.


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## Maui69

hey guys about the vintage tees.. what happened to the forum??
well im trying to create a vintage like tee and im still lost.. though i came across this site about enzyme washing i still dont know how to apply it at home.. can someone help please! 

Method and enzyme mixture for improved depilling of cotton goods - US Patent 5866407

theres the link btw


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## DrBallard

Hi, what would you guys think of a DTG printer if his startup capital was a bit higher?


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## authenticboricua

Still nothing on the enzyme wash. What about achieving alternative apparels acid wash or their burnout tee. I really love their burnout tee. Any thoughts on this?


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## amitushd

Hi
I would like to know something about this Enzyme washing


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## Relik Apparel

Maui69 said:


> hey guys about the vintage tees.. what happened to the forum??
> well im trying to create a vintage like tee and im still lost.. though i came across this site about enzyme washing i still dont know how to apply it at home.. can someone help please!
> 
> Method and enzyme mixture for improved depilling of cotton goods - US Patent 5866407
> 
> theres the link btw


Enzyme wash is usually a treatment to make the garment softer not necessarily to get the vintage look but rather more of the feel. You must also be very careful with enzymes as sometimes depending on which you use the plastisol may not adhere properly.

We tried to make our own vintage tees using a mixture of water and discharge ink. It is a very manual process, even for the big companies that is why "acid" wash tees and such are always more expensive. Once the "texture" treatment is done than you must wash and dry the garment. Overall very costly due to it being so manual.

Long story short, we had to go overseas and have a factory with experience make the garments for us.


.


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## htorez

I'm new, can some one teach me!


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## brushyourideas

we also advise looking for old stock of t-shirt such as screen stars from the 90s.


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## htorez

nice job! just cheers!


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