If you are an aspiring fashion designer, you should be confident and willing to embark on business ideas related to fashion and clothing. Fortunately for you, shirt designing and printing are becoming commonplace because of the aesthetic values attached to designed shirts. It can be a fun business if you get things done the right way. Otherwise, several hurdles could get you stuck.
You’ll want to ensure that your very startup is well-financed, you have quality materials, and that you have marketed your venture. This is just in case you want to monetize your passion. But as for those who are looking to design their shirts at home, then you have no reasons to worry about the logistics involved when it comes to a business set up. Below are things you need to know about designing and printing your t-shirts.
Understanding Shirt Printing Methods
After you have designed your shirt, the next step is to print it. The printing method to be used for your shirts will depend on the time you have and the technology you’ll utilize to not only make your shirts aesthetic but marketable. Custom tees have over the past few years gained a lot of popularity and most especially among the youths.
You could, with the best printing company, achieve this and more for as long as you have the designs and a clear picture of what you’d wish the prints to look like. In line with the pro shirt printers at MeowPrint.sg, enlisting a shirt printing company will expose you to designs that you’d not in your wildest dreams thought about. Among the most commonly used shirt printing methods include screen printing. Screen printing is a popular method that provides consistency in printing and creates durable imprints. It’s the most ideal method for bulk shirt production printing. Other shirt printing methods include:
Heat press printing
This is a method that involves transferring designs from your readily generated prints from a piece of paper to your shirt.
Laser printing
This can be described as a better printing option because it provides you with water-resistant prints. Additionally, laser printers are fast and efficient in printing t-shirts.
Embroidery printing
This is an unconventional printing method that involves a sewing machine. Already printed or sewn designs will be attached to the t-shirts with a sewing machine. It’s among the methods used when creating corporate shirts. Furthermore, an embroidered shirt design appears original, elegant, and professional. It is, however, time-consuming and needs a lot of skillfulness. It produces long-lasting printouts that do not come off quickly when a shirt is washed. This printing method, however, makes it challenging to use intricate designs.
Dye-sublimation printing method
This is a great printing method when applied to man-made fabrics. It’s a durable printing method that works similar to tie and die. However, with technology, prints in this method last longer and do not fade.
Stencil printing method
Now, this is not a method that will work well when mass producing printed shirts. But if you are looking to design and print your shirts at home, then you might consider stencil printing. The caveat with this method is that it’s labor-intensive, but at the end of the day, you’ll have created unique t-shirt designs.
Identify the Right Shirt Suppliers
Upon deciding to design and print your shirts, you will need to invest in plain shirts from the right supplier. It would be of great help if you’d conducted some basic research to identify different manufacturers and choose one that can supply you with good quality plain shirts for printing. Various garment distributors can allow you to view and analyze shirts to find the right ones within your budget.
It would also be best if you settled for a pattern that does not fade or crack. Plain shirts should have neither rips nor shrinks. You should have in mind the design file and printing technique to use when buying a blanket shirt. Also, consider the physical characteristics of your printing material, like size and image locations.
Shirt designing and printing require that you have a printing infrastructure that’s equipped with the desired printers. The printers should be efficient for printing various designs on different types of quality fabrics.
It would help if you also had a coating and finishing unit. The color schemes are critical considerations for your designer-shirts as they influence the type of printing method you use. While you may choose a printing method of your interest, washability, the aesthetic value of the design and the material’s quality shall determine your shirt design and print.
