PROMOTIONAL T SHIRT PRINTING

Even though clothing prices are rising, more and more buyers are realizing that a 'walking billboard' can give far more long term exposure, pound for pound, than any other type of advertising available.

New printing methods also mean that printing T Shirts in much smaller quantities - dependent on design and T Shirt colour is also far more feasible.

Promotional T Shirt Printing Using Traditional Screen Printing

Screen printing is the traditional method of printing promotional t shirts and, dependent on your design, is probably the most cost effective on quantities of over 100 tees.

In short the t shirt is printed by squeezing ink through a mesh screen onto the tee. The screen has the design etched into it so that the ink can only escape through the shape of the design. A different screen is required for each colour in the design and part of the costing for printing promotional t-shirts in this way is a screen charge. In our case this is set at 15 or less dependent on quantity.

There may also be an artwork charge for separating colours - again dependent on the design and the artwork you send us.

Larger quantities are printed on automatic machines, one is shown here, but smaller quantities are still printed by hand. This means that the actual printing cost is based on quantity ordered and the number of colours printed onto the tee.

If your print is onto a black or dark tee then you should expect to be charged for an extra screen and print in order to put an initial layer of white underneath the lighter parts of your design so that they show more brightly on the t shirt.

Promotional T Shirt Printing using Transfers.

If your design is complex and has multiple colours or graduated colours it could become too expensive to screen print, especially if the quantity you want is relatively small.

Modern t shirt transfers are now digitally printed which means that the colours and detail of the design can be faithfully reproduced. An adhesive is screen printed to the back of the image and the transfer is then heat pressed onto the garment.

A lot of pre printed t shirts on sale in the high street are printed this way.

One advantage of using transfers is that they can be printed and then applied in batches on a 'call off' basis, eliminating most of the guesswork on sizes and quantities. We normally suggest a minimum order quantity of 100 plus transfers in order to be cost effective.

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