recommendation wanted for where to get printing or embroidering done on a (tee) shirt(s)
3I have a few t-shirts designs I would like to have printed, and I also want to have some nicer shirts embroidered. I would appreciate suggestions about where to have this done, and also any suggestions of what to look for in such a place.
I appreciate good quality t-shirts, in both the shirt itself and the printing. Back in the day, shirt.woot seemed to do a very good print job on very good blanks, and that is a large part of what made me a customer.
So I am of course looking for excellent blanks. But I also want the correct colors, vibrant or dim as appropriate, with good placement, and square to the shirt.
The quality of the print is important, but I don’t know the terms to use to ask for what I want. In my view the best shirts have printing that seems to be part of fabric almost. Almost as nice are shirts like the digitally printed ones from woot that have a thin layer of ink. (Although I think the woot digitally printed shirts, at least in the first couple years, tended to have faded inaccurate colors.) And the least good shirts are traditional screen printed shirts - with a thick layer of ink on top of the fabric.
So what are the different techniques of printing available, and which should I ask for?
If it matters, I have some designs where I want one or two copies printed. But there is also at least two designs where I would like to get a half dozen to a dozen printed.
Lastly, and this is almost a separate question, but it seems like someone with the expertise to answer about t-shirt printing might also know about embroidery.
I am looking to get some embroidery done. A small logo and several lines of text in a font I have chosen. I want these on nicer shirts, say a polo or a nice henley.
As I said at the start, any and all help would be appreciated. From questions to ask, to pitfalls to avoid, so specific recommendations of good companies to inquire with.
Thank you all.
tagging @narfcake, because he knows everything about t-shirts.
- 6 comments, 9 replies
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I’ve had Queensboro do my embroidery work. I’ve had them do both my personal logo for my art, and the logo for my pet therapy visits. I’ve had the embroidery done on polos, long-sleeved dotton shirts, windbreakers, and those silky kind of sports shirts. I’ve been pleased with all of them, after many washings none of them have come unraveled. The colors of the shirts have remained bright. Their prices are very reasonable, and the setup on embroidery for logos that are not super complicated are free or modestly-priced. Google for coupons, they usually have some kind of coupon running. The purple shirt has been washed many times, and you can see that there is no degradation of the logo.
@moondrake Thank you, I’ll look at them. If I go with them, do you have a referral code I should use to make you rich?
@bdb I don’t know, I’ll have a look and see if there’s some kind of referral code that I could maybe get a coupon or free shirt or something. I recommended them I just because think their prices are good and I’ve been happy with their work.
@moondrake
That shirt looks blue to me… Am I colorblind? But I own purple shirts and I can differentiate them from my blue shirts…
@12liny it is a bluish purple, although more purple in real life than in the photo. The shirt is also a much brighter neon electric green than the photo. My tablet doesn’t take the best photos on Earth.
For low quantity t-shirts I believe your only real option is DTG (like Woot print to order). This is an inkjet printer that prints the design directly on the t-shirt. Screen printing requires too much setup to do for just a few shirts, and I believe sublimation requires polyester shirts. I don’t have a vendor to refer you to as I’ve only dealt with our own printers at a few places.
@djslack Thank you. Some polyester shirts can be quite nice - the wicking sort of things.
The school I work at changed mascots a few years ago, so the ten years worth of “some such bird” logo shirts that I had needed to be replaced with “some such mammal.” I am also picky about my embroidery and screen prints, so I went to a local small business, took samples of what I wanted along with the logos, and was able to get the things I wanted printed before the school year started! Not sure of you have a few places in your town or not, but it’s worth a shot? For me, the first one I went to wasn’t able to do what I wanted, and referred me to their competition, which was super helpful! Good luck!
All great points so far. My response will be a long one, @bdb, so when I get to an actual keyboard …
@narfcake Anytime this weekend will be “soon enough” for any decision I wish to make.
I always try to support local printers. I know an excellent guy in the DFW area if by chance this is where you live. haha
@phatmass Near Boston, sorry.
But going local would certainly be appealing. I just need to know what to ask, and what to look for.
If I were in the position to need something printed, I’d look for a local printer too. This way you can see their print quality up close, can advise you of your artwork requirements, and should there be an issue, someone to deal with.
For lighter weight, I’ve been a huge fan of American Apparel, but since being bought out, I can not and would not suggest them anymore; there’s no reason to pay a premium for their name on a tag that’s not made in the USA. Los Angeles Apparel 20001 is a good USA-made replacement, as they were formed out of the old AA. Dov is still a perv and I still dislike him for being so, but I cannot fault him for other positive social responsibilities. Bella/Canvas has an imported 3001 and domestic 3001u; it’s what shirt.woot uses for the premium products now. Slightly thinner, but they’ve been decent. Meh currently uses Next Level Apparel 3600, which might have had influence from TeeTurtle. These manage to be even softer than the old AA and have held up quite well too.
A step down would be Tultex 0202 and Alstyle 5301. Neither are as soft as the above three and personal experience is that they shrink more too.
I absolutely dislike the offerings from Anvil and Gildan (980 and 64000, respectively). Not as soft, shorter cut, even shorter sleeves, and a lot of shrinkage. They’re good for margins, but IMHO, they’re awful at being a shirt someone would love to wear. From my limited experience on their cut, construction, seams, and origin, the District Threads DT5000 is from them also.
That said, when it comes to embroidery, a heavier weight fabric should be the only real option; otherwise the yarns would overwhelm a lighter fabric. Alas, I have very little experience with embroidery and a print shop may actually contract this work to someone else that specializes in doing these instead of doing it in-house.
Ask to see samples. Up close and in areas of solid color, DTG will probably have a bit of dithering, but it should still be even and unnoticeable when view at more than a few inches. Do inquire if they’ll replace the product if there are print or durability issues. Whether in-house or contracted out, a good shop should be confident that it’ll hold up at least as well as a regular screen printed job.
Skip out on any place that suggests to use a heat transfer. That’s a fancier term for “print it out on transfer paper and iron it on a shirt”. The end product is a rectangular piece of decal stuck to your shirt – and it’ll look and wear as poorly as that sounds.
Wow @narfcake, thank you so much. I think there is a bug with the forum software. I keep clicking on the star, but it won’t let me give you the three or four stars you deserve!
@bdb Heh! No worries – I’m just happy to share some knowledge that’s otherwise not very useful for any other reason.
An additional note: I did leave out one big name for a reason – Hanes. They print their brand and care tag on the shirt, making them non-removable for those wanting to relabel the shirt with their own name. Those working in the imprint industry hate that, so they tend not to be popular choice.