How To Print T-Shirts?
Printing your T Shirts can be a fun and creative way to express yourself, promote your brand or business, or even make some extra income. If you’re new to T Shirt printing, the process can seem overwhelming.
There are many different printing methods, types of ink, and equipment to choose from. It can be hard to know where to start.
In this blog post, we’ll guide you through the basics of how to print T Shirts, from choosing the printing method to selecting the best materials and equipment. So you can get started confidently and create high-quality custom T Shirts that look and feel great.
Know in detail about the T Shirt printing methods available with Qikink and possible special print types to create awesome stuff for your customers.
This is our specialty, among others. We manufacture our entire line of fabrics to be best suited for direct-to-garment printing. We are equipped with a large number of its best-in-industry DTG printers. You can print your own t-shirt designs, and custom photo t-shirt designs on any apparel and sell them.
You can print any design file with a minimum of 300 DPI resolution. It helps print designs on garments without any minimum order quantity and with no compromise in quality. Also, you can print any design on the front chest, left pocket, right pocket, left sleeve, right sleeve, and back side positions.
The products under DTG printing are T Shirts in Men’s, Women’s, and Kids in various styles such as half sleeves, full sleeves, raglan Tees, V Neck, etc. Accessories like tote bags, canvas shoes, etc. can be printed on cotton fabrics using this technology.
As designers, you do not need to worry about the number of color limitations and gradients. You can design and sell your merchandise. Qikink will print and deliver to your customers.
How To Print T Shirts Using DTF
DTF (Direct-to-Film) printing is a newer digital printing technology that has gained popularity in the t-shirt printing industry. It is a variation of direct-to-garment (DTG) printing, which uses an inkjet printer to print designs directly onto t-shirts.
DTF printing uses a similar process, but instead of printing directly onto the t-shirt, the design is printed onto a special film using a specialized inkjet printer. The film is then placed on top of the t-shirt, and a heat press transfers the design onto the fabric.
One of the advantages of DTF printing is that it can be used to print designs on a wide range of fabrics, including polyester and other synthetic materials, which are typically not compatible with traditional DTG printing. DTF printing also allows for high-quality, full-color designs with vibrant colors and fine details.
To get started with DTF printing, you’ll need a specialized DTF printer and software, a heat press and the special DTF film. The DTF film comes in rolls, and you can print multiple designs on a single roll, which can be more cost-effective than DTG printing for smaller orders.
Like any printing technology, DTF printing has its limitations. For example, it may not be suitable for very large designs or designs that require a lot of color coverage, as the film may not be wide enough to accommodate these designs. Additionally, the quality of the print may depend on the quality of the film and the ink used.
This is the traditional T Shirt printing method used to print in bulk requirements. For printing in the bulk of 20+ pcs, we suggest you print with a screen printing option, as it is the most reliable and cost-effective solution.
The number of colors in the design will be counted and separated to make individual screens. Dyes of respective colors are applied to the fabric via individual screens. This is a time-consuming and manual process when compared to DTG.
At the same time, we can print a variety of specialties like high density, non-PVC, flock, glitter, glow-in-dark, discharge, etc. using screen printing.
Screen printing is an art that requires manual expertise and passion to excel at it. We can create excellent prints using screen printing using appropriate techniques with a fraction of the cost spent on DTG provided a good quantity of T Shirts.
Any startup brand using drop shipping needn’t explore screen printing initially. Screen printing will be an excellent addition to best-selling designs for scaling from 20 pcs per day to 100 pcs per day.
Thereby, you can earn more profits from the same designs and sales without the risk of dead stock.
Dye Sublimation or DIY t-shirt printing
Dye Sublimation or DIY t-shirt printing is decades old now with solid machines and systems in place for decorating various products from apparel to accessories.
The method works on white surfaces with pigment inks. The surface should be sublimation coated or polyester fabrics. The method is widely used to print athletic apparel with a wide spectrum of colors in the design.
We can dye sublimate the entire fabric to cut and stitch as well. Also, printing coffee mugs, mobile phone cases, glasses, ceramic plates, wooden items, etc. is done using the sublimation method on coated surfaces.
This method is cost-effective for marathon T Shirts and other cheap promotional T Shirts.
This can be used to make awesome custom merchandise like cushion covers, all-over T Shirt printing, beach towels, printed leggings, etc. We can print any design files like JPEG, PNG, etc. for dye sublimation, which has relatively good DPI.
Any print that needs to be printed for an A4 size may require a minimum of 300 DPI. The design is transferred as a mirror image to a transfer paper using a Dye Sublimation printer.
It is then printed onto any sublimation-coated surface or polyester fabric using a heat press or vacuum.
Die Cut Vinyl
The die-cut vinyl method is popular for printing names and numbers in athletic apparel. It works by cutting the shape of the design from a vinyl sheet and sticking the sheet on the fabric.
Vinyl prints give you an advantage while printing single-color designs in one-offs. If you need the same output on all kinds of fabric types, then there is no option than die-cut vinyl.
Die-cut vinyl can be used to print glow-in-dark prints on T Shirts, and reflective – glittering foil prints. This can be used to print a small logo in the neck or hem position where we cannot effectively do DTG or screen printing.
White color printing is impossible with dye sublimation on sports team T Shirts. So, die-cut vinyl is mostly used for the name, number, and logo printing on sports team t-shirts as it is one-off printing and won’t be suitable for screen printing either.
Qikink does die-cut vinyl for glow-in-dark T Shirt printing, reflective printing, silver foil printing, and gold foil printing. This can be used to print brand logos, pocket prints, chest prints a variety of print-on-demand T-Shirts.
Heat Transfer
Heat Transfer is a printing method in which a transfer sticker is prepared by melting a layer of dyes onto a transfer paper in the shape of a desired design and colors.
Then, the transfer paper is heat-pressed onto the fabric to get the design transferred onto the fabric or garment. This method is popularly used to print the neck label with the brand name.
Also, any small brand logo can be printed onto the garment on demand by making the stickers in bulk in advance. Making a large print using heat transfer is not economically better with better DTG, screen, and vinyl printing options.
Many transfer printers are available for complex designs to prepare transfer stickers using traditional screen printing and digital printing methodologies. It can be transferred to the garment with unlimited color options.
Qikink uses a heat transfer method to print on demand inside neck labels and outside brand labels.
Embroidery
Embroidery is classy. It is evergreen, with many printing methods being introduced, and embroidery holds onto its place for ages.
Embroidered logo is best suited for Polo T Shirts, caps, and Apron.
Embroidery on demand is possible by digitising the designs upfront. The digitized designs are used to embroider against the order and dispatch.
Conclusion
The above given are various printing methods available for T-Shirt printing with Qikink.
Design and sell various niche products using the above techniques, like glow-in-dark T-Shirts, Printed T-Shirts, and much more.
Let me know in the comments if you try anything or expect new printing techniques.
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With over 10+ years of experience in the industry, Our founder has dedicated his career to helping brands achieve exponential growth through innovative print-on-demand solutions.
