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Hillhouse · April 15th, 2008

Hey everyone, alright kind of a story, but there is a question in this too...
I just started working for a contract screen printer which I am very excited about, learning a lot about the business. Given the fact that 2 months ago I was printing out of my house. On top of all this I have started my own clothing line and now with the shop I am working at I can do a lot more a lot faster. I have moved from 4 color manual press to a 8 color automatic.... which is good news for me....
But anyway, I am currently working on a new line which is dealing with over-sized printing and specialty inks...
But I have a few designs that I would like to turn into all-over prints. And yes I understand the idea of printing before the shirt/hoodies/whatever is assembled. My questions are these...

I have the idea of sending fabric to a belt printer, getting the design printed on the fabric and then sending that to a company the constructs the shirts.... Does that sound like to much work and cost to make a shirt???

OR are companies that print, cut and sew....?? I am sure there is but i can't find anything online about it and I have been told the out sourcing to China or another country is cheaper....
Does anyone have some info they can send me, websites, ideas, whatnot....

I also realize that the quantity needs to be pretty decent which I am prepared for, right now I have one shirt design that I want to been done all-over, so I was thinking of doing that to see how the process goes....

And finally if I have a shirt style (the cut and shape) that I like, and then another shirt material I like... is it possible that I can have them base the constructed shirts I want off that???
I hope that makes sense...

Please anything will help... Like I said I just recently started my line, but the artwork I have needs to be on the scale of production.... I am just trying to figure if I can up my game to this type of apparel...

Hope someone has some answers.... Thanks

spreadingink · April 15th, 2008

There are some prints that are done before the garment is put together and some are just printed all over on finished goods - it really depends on the artwork and what garment you want.

We won't print all over prints on fleece, or long sleeved finished goods. Some artwork that actually wraps from front to back also must be done before the garment is sewn.

Hope this helps some,

Dave

deuce · April 15th, 2008

I just got asked this same question from a designer that I work with... He mentioned that he's seeing a trend in a lot of clothing lines today out of the UK that are doing this and charging a decent amount for their prints (as it does take some time to develop this..

Maybe research some T-shirt templates on line.. link up with a costume designer at a local theater and see if maybe you can come up with an agreement on the clothing line... Order a huge screened frame, figure out your print head, and print a giant sheet and have it sewn together and see what you can come up with.. its going to be expensive no mater what steps you can figure out on how to skip, but thats why people will have to understand it costs more for them to purchase..

lemme know if this helps or If I'm being over- optimistic

lol.

-Deuce
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