[se900se]

I would like to print few hundreds shirts, but I am pretty new to this business so I have a questions, that you hopefully will help me to find the answer.

I'd like to print colour images on the shirts, but I'm looking for a good quality type of printing, specifically I want the ink to go into the fabrics so the picture(colours) won't fade after few washings and not to break while stretching. One of the reasons is that I want t-shirts to be the high quality the other reason is that the skin do not breathe under the picture that is 'sticked' above the shirts fabric.

I read about the Dye-Sublimation, but it works only for polyester — is there any other types of this kind of printing for cotton or the polyester is the only way?

Thank You
Boris

 

[Hegemone]

Process or simulated process for screen printing. Waterbased inks would be super soft images. Just a thought.

 

[atomicpress]

You could look into DTG printing.

 

[Flagrant-T]

IMO, although DTG and sublimation could make an excellent print, if the quantity is in the hundreds, screen printing is going to be your most economical bet.

Like @Hegemone said, waterbased inks will give a very soft, breathable print. Regular plastisols have come a long way and still have a lot of advantages. With the right reducers and soft hand additives, a lot of my customers have a hard time telling the diff between this type of printing and waterbased.

Best bet is to find some quality printers look at your artwork and give you some recommendations.

Good luck!
Nick

 

[bishopdante]

Screen print really is the preferred norm for T shirts. 95% of the commercial shirts you've encountered will be done that way. Anything beyond 50 items, screen printing is the most economical.

The process works best laying down solid patches of colour, and using inks to mix up the desired colours.

Gradations are created using halftones, or patterns to create shading. Photographic or "full colour" material isn't ideally suited to screen printing onto fabric, although it can be achieved. The more inks you use, the more possible colours you get.