# Which method would you use for printing this?



## PolePoleClothing (Nov 27, 2011)

Hi there;

Our very first t-shirt collection will consist of four shirts with motives simular to this, printed in a large size (minimum A3) across the front:










So, I though I had this all figured out, and was going to get it done using transfer (I'd accepted the "stiffness" and possible discomfort). Then I discovered DTG. But then I read that this would produce a more faded result, and that screen printing is the way to go. This messed with my understanding of things, as I though screen-printing was only for designs with a few colors.

The way I understand it now; they're all possible options.

What method would you choose? What are the pros/cons?
And secondly (altough less important); which company would you recommend? Someone who can deliver the shirts them self (and maybe do custom labeling) would be preferred (yes, I've gone through the Preferred Vendors list, but if anyone had a personal experience with printing tees like this that they would like to share, that would be much appreciated).


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## sben763 (May 17, 2009)

What type of shirts? 100% polyester and you could use sublimation No fade.


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## Printmark (Sep 25, 2011)

Anders,

A3 (approx 12 x 16.5 inches) size is pretty big for an image with that much ink coverage. 

You need to state what color of garment your looking to have this printed on. If it is a white shirt, I would most definately go with Direct To Garment.
It can be done with 4-color process Screen Printing, but sometimes flesh tones can be hard to get right with Screen Printing. However a good printer can pull it off.

Printmark


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## PolePoleClothing (Nov 27, 2011)

Thanks for quick and helpful answers, please forgive my n00bness:

These will be white tees, perhaps one model in grey, and _maybe_, just_ maybe_ one in a light color like a baby-blue or pink (if doable).

Btw; I understand that DTG-printers are limited in width (A3 size most of them, right?), but do you guys think it would be hard to find a company that can make "longer" prints? More than 16,5", I mean.


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## PolePoleClothing (Nov 27, 2011)

Oh, and I completely forgot an important factor:

We will be producing anywhere from 10 to 50 of each design (starting small, probably end up around 25).


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## Printmark (Sep 25, 2011)

I only have experiance with the Brother DTG printer and the printable size is 14 x 16, which is close the the imprint size your wanting. So I can only assume that most DTG printers would have a similar print area. I'm sure someone here can let me know if this is incorrect.

For the quantities your requesting, DTG is going to be your best option. The inks are pretty vibrant, and even though they do tend to fade slightly after the first wash, I have never had a complaint about this in the 5 years we have been printing DTG. I still have some of the very first shirts we printed and they have been washed Tons of times and they are still acceptable in appearace.

The white shirts are going to give you the best looking print. The colored shirts you mentioned should print fine as well, but the color of the shirt will affect the tonal colors of the print, so they will look a little different than the white garments. I always tell customers to imagine if they put a colored piece of paper in there desktop inkjet printer and printed out the image, the results are the same with DTG. The exception to this is the DTG printers that can print white ink, however I am still a bit skeptical of this process for various reasons.

Cost wise, I would expect you could get them done for between $7 and $10 per shirt including a mid-grade 100% cotton tee. And I would advise you to go with the 100% tee as these inks work best on a natural fiber shirt.

I'm not all that familar with the sublimation option mentioned by sben763, but it might be worth looking into as well. I have seen sublimation, it looks good, but from what I understand about it, it does better on polyester garments.

Printmark


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## PolePoleClothing (Nov 27, 2011)

Thank you "Printmark", who ever you are, very helpfull!

One question: exactly why do you distrust DTG using white ink?


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## BroJames (Jul 8, 2008)

DTG white ink is expensive and increase your maintenance cost several folds. 

I think it would be difficult finding a good screenprinting price for 25 shirts average. DTG and paper transfers seems like your viable option. On white shirts I tend to prefer paper transfers.


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## PolePoleClothing (Nov 27, 2011)

Isn't the only advantage with using a transfer for such a print, that the colors will be better/more vibrant? And then on the downside, they'll be pretty stiff and kinda uncomfortable.


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## BroJames (Jul 8, 2008)

Dark transfers yes but not if you use jpss for lights or white shirts. Colors are more vibrant on dark transfers.


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## PolePoleClothing (Nov 27, 2011)

BroJames said:


> Dark transfers yes but not if you use jpss for lights or white shirts. Colors are more vibrant on dark transfers.



I'm afraid this went a bit over my head...


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