Types of printing on T-shirts

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

All people love to dress stylishly. But summer is coming, it's time to take off your jackets and sweaters and put on something light. And that's where t-shirts come in. Yes, they can be boring and monochromatic, but there is another type - t-shirts with stylish and beautiful, witty and funny, bewitching and mind-blowing prints. These prints can be made using different technologies, which we will cover in this article. Be sure to remember that absolutely every method described below has a certain number of advantages and disadvantages. Let's get started!

Typically, fabrics are printed in the two most popular ways, which have earned recognition from both those who wear such products and those who decorate them. This is silk screen printing and thermal transfer printing.

Silk screen printing is a method that has been known to mankind for a very long time. Different types of printing in the printing industry require complex and expensive equipment, but notsilkscreen. At the same time, the level of print quality is very high. To complete the drawing, it is enough to have a special paint and screen mesh. Silk-screen printing has been practiced since ancient China. Modern scientists have slightly adjusted the process of obtaining the finished product, increasing its quality, clarity and durability, but the basic principle has remained the same. So it's not hard to get around 20,000 T-shirts per shift.

But, as noted above, each method has its drawbacks and pitfalls. Silk-screen printing cannot do without human intervention, so it is impossible to fully automate such production, which significantly moves it away from how other types of printing are done.

If you want to know what types of printing on T-shirts are, then do not forget about thermal transfer printing. The “foundation” of this method is the same as that of silk-screen printing, but the main difference is that the print is drawn not on fabric, but on specially prepared thermal paper. There are various types of printing, all places are subject to this method, even the most inaccessible ones. The pattern previously applied to thermal paper is placed together with the fabric under a heat press, which, when heated, transfers the image to textiles, and not only - the picture can be transferred to mugs and much more. The drawing is prepared in any photo editor, then cut out on a plotter connected to a computer - this is how we get the transfer.

Thermal transfer printing is loved because:

• separate pattern from fabricimpossible;
• he doesn't fade in the sun;
• Machine washable at 80 degrees. Not only 1-2 T-shirts are printed, but also thousands of print runs;
• three minutes - exactly how long you have to wait in order to receive the final product;
• thermal paper can be printed on both laser and inkjet printers.

The above two methods are used most often, but new types of printing continue to compete with them: embossing, digital printing, offset and others. It is still better to use silkscreen and thermal transfer printing, since the first is suitable for large orders, and the second for small ones. You can choose the types of printing based on your desires and preferences. The main thing is high quality.