Posted on by grantedpeace

Three Ways to Make Really Great Promotional T-Shirts

Screen printed t-shirts are a great promotional item to
give away. Of course, if you were to just quickly make them with little thought
in regards to design, then chances are nobody will wear them unless they’re
doing yard work or going to bed. You want people to wear your shirts, enjoy
them, and help spread the word about your business. The best way to ensure that
people will actually wear the screen printed t-shirts that you spent good money
on is to create the kind of t-shirts that people will want to wear.
Here are a few neat design ideas to help you make cool
shirts that go above and beyond typical promotional swag.
1. Glow-in-the-Dark Ink.
If you plan on making black screen printed t-shirts,
consider adding some glow-in-the-dark ink to your design. You can use
glow-in-the-dark ink to enhance a cool graphic, or even as a stand alone,
special effect. The key is to incorporate it in a way that’s organic to the
design. You don’t want to randomly use it to print your business’s name. If you
have stars, ghosts, or something similar in your design, then you should
definitely consider using it to make your screen printed t-shirts‘ design
really pop.
2. Logo Placement.
Most companies put their logo front and center on their
promotional t-shirts, but consider getting creative with your logo placement.
If it’s not where people expect to see a logo, then they’re going to take a
second look, ensuring that they’re exposed to your brand. A more edgy place to
put the logo would be on the side of your screen printed t-shirts, closer to
the ribs. Many musical artists used this graphic design some years ago with
great effect. Another great alternative logo placement is to put a smaller
company logo on the breast of the shirt, and a larger one on the back.
Firefighters commonly use this graphic design on their screen printed t-shirts.
3. Surprises.
A cool new design that’s been cropping up in a few places
is to print a question on the front of the shirt, and a face on the inside of
the shirt’s stomach area, which can then be turned up to look like the wearer
has a mask on. Say for example you owned an insurance company. If you had a
mascot, you can print its face on the inside and put a question like “Who
can save me a ton of money on my insurance?” on the front.
Cheap custom shirts and custom sweatshirts can help
spread the word about your company by turning loyal fans of your brand into
walking advertisements. It’s easy to start your promotional campaign–just
contact a shirt printing company, collaborate together, and you’ll quickly have
some awesome customized shirts to give away to your favorite customers.

Using these three ideas can help ensure that people won’t
just wear your screen printed t-shirts to bed–that they’ll wear them out in
public and generate a buzz about your company. If you have any questions about
creating the coolest screen printed t-shirts, feel free to contact TheShirtPrinter.com.
Posted on by grantedpeace

Three Things to Keep in Mind When Design a T-Shirt

So you’ve decided that you want to make some screenprinted t-shirts; you’ve found a good shirt printing company who can help you
out; and now you’ve got to design them. Your creative juices just aren’t
flowing the way they should and your mind is amuck with needless questions.
What color shirts should you get? What color ink will go well with the color
you choose?
As free as you are to make your custom shirt designs, the
sheer volume of options you have available actually winds up freezing you. With
any and every direction available to you, you just can’t decide which way to
go. Here’s some helpful advice on custom shirt designs to help free you from
your mental blockage so that you can get those shirts made more quickly.
The Artwork.
This is usually pretty easy for business owners looking
to make a work shirt for their employees since they can just use the company
logo, but if you’re making custom team shirts for your recreation league, it
can be a bit more difficult. Thankfully, a lot of companies actually have stock
art that they can use for your custom shirt designs. Choose a piece that looks
nice and fits with the team’s name.
The key here isn’t what you choose–but size and
placement. This applies for those work shirts, too. You don’t want any custom
shirt designs that are huge, which will look too flashy. Instead, it’s best to
either have custom shirt designs with a medium sized graphic on the center of
the chest, or a small one on the front breast with a larger one on back.
The Name.
Whether it’s the company name, the team name, or the
event’s name, you’ve got to have it at least somewhere on the shirt. If you’re
not going to have any artwork in your custom shirt designs (which is a
possibility worth considering) it’s best to put the name front and center. If
you do, put the name either on top or on the bottom of the artwork.
The most important thing to keep in mind with this part
of your custom shirt designs is the font and its size. You don’t want it
dominating, but you do want it big enough so that it can be read from a
distance. Others will also base their impressions on your font. If you have a
wacky, goofy, san-serif font, then they’ll think your shirts are less formal.
If it’s something more formal, then they’ll get a totally different impression
of your custom shirt designs.
The Color Scheme.
The best piece of advice I can offer here is to keep it
simple. This will make your choices a lot easier, and actually bring the total
cost down. When printers need to use more than one ink on your custom shirt
designs, the price goes way up and so does the time it takes to make them.
Instead, pick a nice color for the shirt that you like, and a complimentary
colored ink. If you’re making custom work shirts, keep your employees in mind,
as white will get dirty quickly and become too stained while black may overheat
your employees.

Hopefully now you’ve got the wheels turning out some good
ideas for custom shirt designs. Remember–keep it simple–and you’ll do fine.
If you have any questions about custom shirt designs, feel free to contact TheShirtPrinter.com.
Posted on by grantedpeace

The Ancient History of Screen Printing

In an era when ordering custom made t shirtsonline is as easy as pushing a few buttons, many of us are completely oblivious
to the work that’s going on behind the scenes as our custom t shirts are
printed. Certainly, there are dozens of methods used for shirt printing, but
there is one method in particular that has survived across centuries as a
favorite. Custom screen printing is considered by many to be the best option
for custom printed tank tops, t shirts, hoodies, jerseys, and more, and it’s
been around far longer than you might think.
China’s Song Dynasty saw the very beginnings
of serigraphy, better known as screen printing, circa 960-1279. The methods of
Chinese screen printers were adopted and adjusted by Japanese practitioners
until the introduction of the art form to Europe in the 1700s. Even then, it
took another 200 years for new developments to occur.
In 1907, Englishman Samuel Simon patented the
technique for use on custom wallpaper for the very wealthy, and in only a few
more years, screen printing techniques underwent further adjustments. Printers
experimenting with photo-reactive chemicals decided to utilize the well-known
actinic light-activated hardening traits of potassium, sodium or ammonium
bichromate chemicals with glues and gelatin compounds, revolutionizing screen
printing. Three printers by the names of Roy Beck, Charles Peter and Edward
Owens studied and experimented with chromic acid salt-sensitized emulsions for
photo-reactive stencils, changing the commercial screen printing industry
forever with the introduction of photo-imaged stencils, though acceptance of
this method would take many more years.
The next several decades were marked by fierce
competition between screen printers as they worked hard to protect “trade
secrets,” but the 1960s brought new fame and interest to screen printing
that permanently loosened the lid on the previously elusive process. Andy
Warhol’s very famous screen printed depiction of Marilyn Monroe opened the
public eye to serigraphy, and major developments in the process soon followed.
Michael Vasilantone developed and patented a
rotary multicolor garment screen printing machine in 1960 to print logos and
team information on bowling garments, but quickly embraced the new fad of
printing on t-shirts. The Vasilantone patent was soon licensed by multiple
manufacturers, propelling screen printing to its current status as the
preferred method for custom apparel printing. In fact, screen printing on
garments currently accounts for more than half of the screen printing activity
in the United States.
Ordering custom made t shirts online might
seem like a simple activity now, but the advent of such high quality printing
was a long time coming. Each time a person orders custom made t shirts online,
echos of serigraphers in ancient China, 18th century England, and 20th century
America are part of the process which took so many centuries to perfect.
History has been laying the foundation for ages, and there’s a lot more history
in that custom t shirt than you thought!
Posted on by grantedpeace

The Case for Ordering Your Custom T Shirts from a Professional

Custom T shirts are great investments for business owners looking to increase their visibility in their communities. It’s a common misconception of many small business owners that it’s more cost effective, and therefore wiser, to take on custom T shirt design and custom T shirt printing as a DIY project. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Custom made T shirts are far more likely to turn out well when they’re designed and printed by professionals. Why? Let us count the reasons.

1. Materials are expensive. If you’re planning to create a custom T shirt by screen printing, the best method for long-lasting, quality shirts, your list of materials will be long. First-time screen printers would need to print your image on a transparency and pick up a specific type of mesh screen, emulsion or specialized glue, a scoop coater, a specialized light source or light box, a special type of squeegee, plenty of ink, and the shirts themselves.

 2. Great design is harder than you think. Before you can physically create a custom T shirt, you’ll need to develop a design. Designing for screen printing isn’t just about finding a great picture. You’ll want to limit the number of colors involved, avoid small details, and make sure you know how to separate the layers of your design. For a first-timer, it can be very overwhelming.

 3. Screen printing takes knowledge and skill. It’s a fairly involved process, and it takes a lot of practice to get good at it. Outsourcing to a practiced professional means that you won’t have to spend time and money on failed practice-shirts.

 4. The time investment won’t be worth it. If you’re hoping to get any kind of return on investment from your shirts, you’ll need to create a lot of them. As a DIY screen-printer, you’ll only be able to make one shirt at a time, which can certainly be a time investment. By outsourcing to a company that focuses solely on screen printing, you’ll be able to get more custom shirts faster.

If you’re hoping to create a custom T shirt, and especially if you’re hoping to create a large batch of custom T shirts, you can save yourself time and money by relying an experienced professional. Custom T shirts are a great way to advertise, but they’ll only be worth the cost if you know when to ask for help.