T-shirts are clothing items whose main feature is that they are short-sleeved, with different designs or with a certain idea of printing. It is usually made of cotton, which attracts the user in a great way, because it is a light, fresh and very comfortable garment to wear; it receives different names in other countries such as flannel, t-shirt, jacket, polo or t-shirt.
Before talking about the design of the T-shirts through the different types of prints, we must bear in mind that, although previously this garment was considered a unique model of cotton, round neck, short sleeves, without buttons and even for exclusive use inside, it is now considered a sports, casual and outer garment.
The T-shirt has been catalogued as a basic garment, but the truth is that now there are designs with all kinds of characteristics, like variations on the collar, on the sleeves, inclusion of buttons for a greater opening, different materials, colors, textures and an idea of innovative printing in accordance to the trends of the moment.
Creating a print T-shirt requires several steps in which you must take into account, the type of fabric, the segment (sport or casual) for which you are designing, and a creative print idea.
According to these characteristics, the main objective is to determine the number of units per size (if it is volume or a few pieces for greater exclusivity), to highlight the garment with the type of custom print to be chosen, including subsequent finishing processes.
Steps for designing a print T-shirt
- After having clear several design aspects, the first thing is to choose the type of fabric to be used.
- According to the design, the milling or patterning is made.
- Each piece of the shirt is cut.
- According to the selected stamping idea and the material, it should be considered whether to take only the piece where the customized stamping type will be done, or the finished garment.
When you are clear about the steps to follow along with the idea of printing and the way in which you are going to personalize the garment, you should take into account the following factors.
- Number of colours, resolution and quality.
- The piece or garment and the idea of stamping.
- Characteristics of the garment: polyester cotton, white, black and color.
- Quantity to be stamped.
- Time of delivery: Depending on the time available and the idea of printing that is projected, experts in the field may advise to discard some techniques and choose others.
According to the combination of these factors plus the design requirements, the idea of printing is continued and the best technique is chosen to suit the garment material.
In our stamping plant C.I GLOBO S.A.S. we work with advanced technology, avoiding highly toxic products compatible with the environment and producing pieces of great duration and quality, adapted to the customer’s design proposal.
Among the most commonly used procedures in the different types of custom stamping are
- Direct printing: If it is a photograph or a multicolour print
Direct printing on T-shirts is one of the most advanced techniques in textile personalization; it is very similar to screen printing, but does not require screens or photolithography.
This is a printer that, instead of printing on paper, prints on 100% cotton fabric in high definition and with highly durable inks. This type of customised printing is designed for a maximum of 1 to 100 garments.
- Single color vinyl: When the printing idea has letters, numbers, names, logos, etc.
This technique consists of the thermal transfer of vinyl (dye with plastic appearance) manufactured especially for textiles.
- Hot print or vinyl transfer: Ideal for small shields or logos.
This process is of high resistance and photographic quality, having as particularity the application of any idea of printing on different fabrics such as cotton, lycra and polyester.
- Silk-screen printing: When you are going to print many t-shirts (more than 100) and the printing idea contains 1 to 8 colors.
This technique is one of the most suitable for obtaining good results in terms of large production, as this makes it more affordable for better budget management.
- Sublimation: Ideal for printing white 100% polyester T-shirts.
With this method you can apply the idea of printing on a special paper called transfer to a piece or polyester garment by applying heat at about 190 º.