Separations for process color is an expensive process if it is done right. The 30 cent guy didn't give you a price for the screens, did he? $600 might be a little high but process color is expensive at best unless you are doing very large quantities. God Bless.
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You must not be familiar with the latest in DTG if you are worried about color fastness. "Color will be dull by silk screen printing" What do you think a heat transfer is made out of? (Edit: I suppose you could be talking about inkjet transfer paper)
The OP asked for the most cost effective way. The answer to this question really depends on the artwork, number of colors, gradients etc. The higher the number of colors, the higher the cost for both transfers and screen printing. Advantage - DTG. Although I have seen some good gradients with screenprinting, it's still using dots for halftones. Airbrushed art like the attached sample would be perfectly suited for DTG, as it will provide the smoothest gradients and accuracy..
Attachments
Dye sublimation is another way to go when you need full colour reproduction. The colours and image durability are great; the design is dyed into the fabric, so you can't feel it.
If the design of the shirt doesn't require cut-and-sew and could be printed on a ready made t-shirt, you can get away with low minimums. This way you can get some samples printed, start promoting them and get re-prints done when the orders come in.
The draw back, however, with dye-sublimation printing you'll have to use polyester/performance fabrics because sublimation doesn't work on cotton.
I have done a few dye-sublimated t-shirts using air-brushed images.
The trickiest one was to make a shirt that matches a speed boat. The client have sent me about 15 high res photos of his boat and wanted elements of the design pulled together into a collage for a shirt. Not sure how many hours my friend graphics designer had to spend on doctoring the images in Photo Shop, but I think the result was quite good
If the design of the shirt doesn't require cut-and-sew and could be printed on a ready made t-shirt, you can get away with low minimums. This way you can get some samples printed, start promoting them and get re-prints done when the orders come in.
The draw back, however, with dye-sublimation printing you'll have to use polyester/performance fabrics because sublimation doesn't work on cotton.
I have done a few dye-sublimated t-shirts using air-brushed images.
The trickiest one was to make a shirt that matches a speed boat. The client have sent me about 15 high res photos of his boat and wanted elements of the design pulled together into a collage for a shirt. Not sure how many hours my friend graphics designer had to spend on doctoring the images in Photo Shop, but I think the result was quite good
Attachments
Are you referring to heat transfers? This just reminds me of some transjet paper I was supposed to test more than a full month back. It claims to be the only paper that will work with dye subs on cotton.Dye sublimation is another way to go when you need full colour reproduction. The colours and image durability are great; the design is dyed into the fabric, so you can't feel it.
If the design of the shirt doesn't require cut-and-sew and could be printed on a ready made t-shirt, you can get away with low minimums. This way you can get some samples printed, start promoting them and get re-prints done when the orders come in.
The draw back, however, with dye-sublimation printing you'll have to use polyester/performance fabrics because sublimation doesn't work on cotton.
I have done a few dye-sublimated t-shirts using air-brushed images.
The trickiest one was to make a shirt that matches a speed boat. The client have sent me about 15 high res photos of his boat and wanted elements of the design pulled together into a collage for a shirt. Not sure how many hours my friend graphics designer had to spend on doctoring the images in Photo Shop, but I think the result was quite good
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