What's the best method to print text on a t-shirt? Should I have a local screenprinter do it or would I be able to purchase my own equipment and supplies to do it?
If so, what supplies would I need? What are the different methods for putting text on a shirt? I want something that's good quality, looks good and will last when washed.
Is my best bet to go with a professional printer or to print my own?
Re: What's the best method to print text on a shirt?
Knowing how many your going to do will determine what you should do. Also number of colors? Is it a picture?
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Re: What's the best method to print text on a shirt?
This is one of the subjects that I am also interested in since most of my ideas are verbal – words, words, words…
Being a total newbie trying to utilize the knowledge that I have acquired on these boards over the past few days is my assumption that the vinyl process is pretty much straightforward correct? Load the file containing your image into the vinyl cutter, cut the image in reverse on the vinyl film of your choice, remove whatever is not intended to be on the t-shirt from the film, then apply the image to the tee using heat press? Is this right?
But what is the best way to create this file? Will the format of it depend ultimately on the brand of vinyl cutter being used? Do they accept a wide range of formats, or some type of conversion might be needed?
What software, sufficient, necessary and not very difficult to learn to use, can you recommend for creating text images? One of my problems might be that I am still running a Windows 98 machine. Free is good for now but doesn’t have to be if it suits the purpose much better. With future upgrade to some upscale software (if necessary, when I acquire a newer machine) in mind, what program or programs should I start with so that my learning efforts are not completely wasted? Also, I need to be able to import foreign fonts that I could work with. Well, while we are on the subject, is there a nice place that I could obtain these foreign and/or some fancy fonts from that you know of?
Thanks for your help, guys, these boards are great!
A good place to find free fonts is Dafont.com. The fonts are divided into categories which makes it easier to find what you are looking for. I have a LOT of fonts since I found this site.
Re: What's the best method to print text on a shirt?
I found a font on Dafont that I am using for my logo. I checked with the owner to make sure I was allowed to use it for my purpose. He said it was fine as long as I wasn't reselling the font as a font.
Re: What's the best method to print text on a shirt?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jasonda
What kind of budget do you have?
If you're starting small you might want to just have a screenprinter do your first batch of shirts. You can always buy your own equipment later.
Vinyl is also a good option for text tees.
Thanks for the good advice! I am planning on starting out with 100-120 shirts. I think it might be easier to just go with a printer for now. It will save me lots of time that I can spend on building the website and getting the word out there. Then when things take off I can start doing my own printing
Re: What's the best method to print text on a shirt?
Quote:
Originally Posted by NOKTURNAL
I found a font on Dafont that I am using for my logo. I checked with the owner to make sure I was allowed to use it for my purpose. He said it was fine as long as I wasn't reselling the font as a font.
Great! Do you think this is the general rule, or an individual case?
Re: What's the best method to print text on a shirt?
Quote:
Originally Posted by andromat
I don’t assume “Free for personal use” includes utilizing the font on t-shirts offered for sale, does it?
Free for personal use means just that.
Every font comes with a license. Read the license to see what you can do with it. In my experience, most free fonts can not be used for commercial use (used in a t-shirt design, used on a commercial website, etc) unless you pay an additional fee or ask the creator of the font for permission.
As for graphics software, you might check out GIMP and Inkscape - they are both free.
This is a discussion about What's the best method to print text on a shirt? that was posted in the General T-Shirt Selling Discussion section of the forums.
What's the best method to print text on a shirt? 
