Which Print Method Best For This Style of Design?

Depending on quantity, amount of money you want to invest, quality required, etc. it could be screen printed, cad cut vinyl, plastisol transfer or dtg....At the end of the day, your idea of "best" will depends on more parameters than you have made known in your question....

PS....If you post an image versus the link more folks will take the time to help you...

ideally for that style of design, i would do a 2 color screen print. 1 underbase and a top white, the underbase would be chocked. this allows for a bright white print with minimal dot gain.
you could use 1 screen and print flash print the white, but this is not ideal in my opinion as this guarantees you will get dot gain.

Thank you Royster, I've added an image instead of a link.

What constitutes as 'best' for me, and I think for my customers is quality and longevity. I don't want it to fade after a few washes, I don't want the small icons on the design to peel or crack at all. Is that doable?

I have spoken to two printers in my area, one recommended an ink screen print, the other a vinyl print. I know very little about both

If you want quality and longevity, screen printing is the way to go......But if you can not afford buy a good quantity to start, your shirts may cost you more than you want them to....A bunch of screen printed shirts is a far bigger investment than transfers for example.....

jburleigh1 said:

What constitutes as 'best' for me, and I think for my customers is quality and longevity. I don't want it to fade after a few washes, I don't want the small icons on the design to peel or crack at all. Is that doable?

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I also recommend screen printing. if you're design is just 1 colour as depicted, it should be max 2 screens. any quantity over two dozen should make this cost effective.

red514 said:

I also recommend screen printing. if you're design is just 1 colour as depicted, it should be max 2 screens. any quantity over two dozen should make this cost effective.

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Please tell me what you think a "cost effective" price is per piece.....

royster13 said:

Please tell me what you think a "cost effective" price is per piece.....

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the reason i stated in the example that i believe it would be cost effective to do a 2 color print on at least 2 dozen shirts is due to the initial costs being amortized over the run of 2 dozen shirts.
On average, the initial cost is ~30$/screen, so 60$ total on that design. that would be 2.50 per unit, plus the actual print charge of ~1$, gives us a total of ~3.50$/unit. I would not consider that to be cheap, but i believe it's cost effective for the quality.

So you have 6.00 to 7.00 per shirt all in......Certainly not "cost effective for my 12.50 retail line.....I wholesale this line for 5.00 to 7.75 each.....

royster13 said:

So you have 6.00 to 7.00 per shirt all in......Certainly not "cost effective for my 12.50 retail line.....I wholesale this line for 5.00 to 7.75 each.....

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that makes sense, you would need to produce higher quantity to lower your initial costs in my scenario. in your scenario of wholesaling at 5-7.75$, what is your imprint cost (is it screen printing?)?

the imprint cost (including screens and setup) i estimated at ~3.50$/unit on a run of two dozen units. the garment was not included as the OP had not decided on what garment they would use.

From my experience, a DTG white print would be ~4$
I do not know what the cost to do it with vinyl would be, i'm guessing ~3-4$?

My comments were mostly to illustrate unless you know what the OP has in mind, it is really hard to give an answer....

As far as my costs, I use transfers (some ganged up 3 designs or more) which allows me to manage my inventory and adjust to colours and/or sizes required....My costs all in based on 150 per design are under C$2.50 each based on current costs......But I also buy sale and/or distress merchandise as often as I can find it.....As such, I have a good inventory of tees I bought for 11% of wholesale (less than 30 cents each)....