DIRECT TO GARMENT |
SCREEN PRINTING |
EMBROIDERY |
DIRECT TO GARMENT, also known as DTG printing; digital apparel printing, and inkjet to garment printing, is a process of printing on textiles and garments using specialized or modified inkjet technology. The two key requirements of a DTG printer are a transport mechanism for the garment and specialty inks (inkjet textile inks) that are applied to the textile directly and are absorbed by the fibers.
Direct to garment (DTG) printing is most commonly implemented on garments that are made of cotton or cotton blends and polyester. However, when done right, the results are absolutely beautiful. The point here is, use the direct to garment print method only if you have a design with very fine details, usually comprising of several colors; and if you just few garments. A primary advantage of DTG printing is the lack of set-up costs and instant turnaround time not associated with traditional garment printing methods such as screen printing. |
SCREEN PRINTING; - \skren' print-ing\
The process used to permanently print a colored image onto a garment. There are several steps involved in custom screen printing. First, your artwork is color separated and each color is printed out in black on film or vellum. A screen is then burned or exposed with an ultra violet light using a professional exposure unit. There is a screen for every color and every image that we are screen-printing on each t-shirt. Once the image appears on the screen, it is then washed out with water and left to dry. After drying, the screen is then taped and loaded onto the screen printing press. Once each color is set-up and registered (or lined up to each other), your custom screen printed tee shirt is ready to run. After running your order on the press, the screen printed apparel will run down a long drying conveyor belt to ensure that the ink is cured (will not wash off) to the garment. The imprint is literally baked onto the apparel. After inspection for the perfect screen printed garment, your order is ready to be packaged and shipped to your door! |
EMBROIDERY; - \em-broi'-de-re\ The act of sewing an image onto a fabric with needles and thread.
Before embroidery can take place, there are a few steps that must be completed. First, your logo has to be created in some sort of art format. Once the custom logo is designed, the clean image is set to be digitized. Digitizing really means re-drawing your logo in stitches. This can sometimes be a difficult and time consuming task. The more detail there is in your logo, the tougher it may be to create in a stitches format. Once it is digitized, the thread colors can be selected. After color selection is made, your garment is ready to be loaded onto the embroidery machine. The graphic is then stitched to your chosen apparel. Finally, all extra thread is trimmed away for perfection. Your custom embroidered apparel is then inspected and ready. |
Questions About T-shirts
Screen set ups are $25.00 each, which include film positive. Screen setups are one time charges per design. If you were to reorder shirts with the same design in the future without changes to the artwork, then there would be NO screen setup charges.
|
Yes you can mix or match sizes and quantities of shirts. They do NOT have to be in even dozens either. If you need 7 small, 9 medium 14 large and 45 XL, that is no problem. You can also mix colors of shirts in the same T-shirt color categories that we offer, if the ink colors you choose will work with different colored shirts.
It is not possible to mix white shirts and dark shirts within in an order without occurring ink color change charges (if it's possible to do in the first place). We charge $10.00 per ink color to change the color of ink in the middle of a shirt job (if it can be done).
|
Accepted file formats1. The original artwork, image or photograph, mail this to our address
2. Digital vector artwork saved from CorelDraw, Adobe Illustrator, all versions. Please Convert all text to paths/outlines to eliminate the need for the fonts to be present when we open your file. Paths also make logos more stable and less likely for spacing to change between letters or words. PLEASE INCLUDE ALL FONTS AND IMAGES IF YOU USE THEM. DO NOT EMBED IMPORTED IMAGES. LINK ALL IMPORTED IMAGES TO THE FILE. 3. Digital artwork saved as a TIFF, PSD, or JPEG file from Adobe Photoshop or any similar pixel based graphics program. These images MUST be created at 300 DPI resolution at the final size you want your image to print. This is for printing cards, stickers, posters, and other stationary, (i.e. if you're printing 4" x 6" postcards, the artwork should be created at that size at 300 DPI aka 900 x 1800 pixels). If you save a file as a JPEG, DO NOT compress it below a 9/high quality. The more you compress a JPEG the worse it will look when printed. Avoid JPEG's if you can. DO NOT TAKE ARTWORK FROM THE WEB. It is usually saved at 72 DPI, which will print HORRIBLY (and may also be illegal if the image does not belong to you)! Do not re-size/blow up an image from 72 DPI to 300 DPI as it will still print badly (a low resolution pixel image will look even more pixelated when blown up). If you are sending Black & White art with gradients, make sure to change it to Grayscale Mode before saving. If the artwork is solid Black & White change it to Bitmap mode. Doing these things will reduce your file size enabling you to email the file to us easily. 4. We can accept digital artwork via CD and Flash-drives. Let us know that you are sending artwork to us so we will know to expect it. |