# Printing on dark shirts without white ink



## xballicon (Nov 27, 2007)

I'm trying to find a solution to print on dark garments with "no hand" or a "very soft hand" which result in a vintage look and feel. So my question is can you print on dark shirts without using white ink and achieve a "no hand" feel like on light shirts? 

Also, will the ink washout and do you still need to pretreat?

The colors would never be vibrant and pop like with white ink, but I assume it would just be trial and error to get various shades of muted colors that i'm looking to acheive.

Your expert opinions would be greatly appreciated...thanks in advance.


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## printing40years (Dec 27, 2008)

Yes you can by screenprinting on 100% cotton dark shirts. Use Discharge inks that come in all colors, white and even dayGlo. You add a powder activatoer and you must have a long enough heat chamber to allow the ink to discharge all the way, probably 15 to 30 foot long conveyor and heat tunnel at 350 degrees F.

Sericol makes TexCharge TC which is what I use. 1_800-SERICOL


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## xballicon (Nov 27, 2007)

What about acheiving these results on a DTG printer?


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## mrbigjack50 (Jun 9, 2008)

Mimaki does someone is selling a package deal


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## mrbigjack50 (Jun 9, 2008)

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/tf-classifieds/t73850.html#post438897

http://www.mimakiusa.com/Textile.aspx?level=3&pid=4&cid=60

it does a discharge thingy, only machine that does this


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## xballicon (Nov 27, 2007)

Thanks...I was familiar with the Mimaki GP-604D, so I will check out that package for sure.

However, I'm curious about other DTG machines printing on Darks without white ink.

Brother makes the following claims on its website in the FAQ for GT-541:

*Q. What color of garments can it print on?
A.*We can print on white and many light or pastel color shirts, additionally some dark color shirts as well. 

*Q. Can we print on dark color shirts?
A.* It depends on the color of the garment. But it cannot print on black due to the printer not having white ink. 

Should I take this to mean that you can print on any shirt other than black, but you may have to tweak the colors to try and acheive a satisfactory result?


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## Teeser (May 14, 2008)

Here is a link to a thread with photos that someone posted of red and dark grey shirts - http://www.t-shirtforums.com/direct-garment-dtg-inkjet-printing/t56875.html

I'm not sure what type of printer. She sells DTG inks so I would guess a DTG brand printer. Without white ink the results are very muted.


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## mrbigjack50 (Jun 9, 2008)

You can print on light color garment with anything DTG using a CMKY configaration... 
Results are lighter than white....


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