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T-shirt printing: 3 things to consider. These three inexpensive tips are easy to follow, simple to use, and will give you a lot of satisfaction when you wear your custom t-shirts soon.
Let’s start with the end in mind. Instead of rushing out and ordering shirts online for printing, I suggest starting with the end in mind.
Why do you want to print a t-shirt? Is it for work or is it for a birthday party? Maybe it’s for a fun run soon or just as a gift for someone? Will it be like a souvenir from a recent trip?
Each of these above events may result in a different garment being chosen for the wearer to consider. Perhaps the weather around you can dictate what you wear. This is important to keep in mind when deciding to print designs on t-shirts. A hoodie as a summer gift may not be as acceptable as a crew neck t-shirt. Let’s start!
Tip 1: Why do you want to print your own t-shirt?
This is an important question because it will lead us to the purpose of the t-shirt, the fabric it is made from and whether it is a winter t-shirt or hoodie or a tank top or crew neck t-shirt for an event. hot summer
Let me give you three examples here to help you understand how this planning stage is very important before you rush out and buy random t-shirts online.
Example One! Let’s say you’re planning a fun night out next Saturday with the kids. It is about the groom as his big day with the boys. The group of friends decides that the topic will revolve around the boyfriend’s soccer team.
The decision is for everyone to wear a personalized shirt with the characters of the soccer idols with a different touch. Each soccer player will be dressed as a cartoon character instead of using the images of the players. This could be a great party with even better t-shirts. Ask a graphic designer to do some character sketches for the whole party.
Example two! You have an outdoor event related to fitness. Your gym needs t-shirts with logos printed on the front and back, as well as on the sleeves. The club wants a polyester jersey and needs the jerseys to be profitable. Now, because the t-shirts are not cotton, I suggest thinking about screen printing the logos and designs onto the t-shirts instead of printing the images digitally. To get the best prices, most printers suggest printing a minimum of 20 shirts at a time. So once you’ve got your shirts sorted, all you need to do is go to tip #1. #2 for printing quality shirts.
Example three! Imagine that you are planning a birthday party for a 6-year-old girl. There are 30 children coming and you want shirts to match the theme of the party. You can opt for a t-shirt or sweatshirt tailored for children. Bulk orders will be profitable for you as most printing companies offer discounts for large bulk orders. Once you know what the purpose of your moment is, move on to tip #. #2 below.
Once the type of shirt is known, now it’s time to decide what you like to print on the tip. We have the option of images, designs or TEXT. Here we will focus on the image or photo that we will print on the garment. This brings us to Tip #2.
Tip 2: What image sizes are best for printing?
I find that most people who come to me about printing their t-shirts don’t have the right photo size to begin with. What most people do is get free images from Google or Facebook. Although these graphics may look good on a small screen, they are rarely the right size to print on a much larger surface, such as a t-shirt or jersey.
Internet images are small in size and have a resolution of about 96 dpi or about 5 cm by 5 cm in dimensions. These images will not be large enough to look good on the chest pocket of your business polo shirts.
If you were to try to stretch the image on the back or front of the t-shirt, you would get a pixelated image printed due to the poor quality of the image you used.
The solution goes for large file size images. The recommended resolution for good images is a minimum of 300 dpi or about 30 cm by 30 cm in dimensions. Three times as mentioned above. These are large files and if stretched will easily produce great quality printed t-shirts when you print the graphics onto garments.
There are many sites that offer great images for a small fee. Here are 3 paid sites I recommend:
- SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
- GETTYIMAGES.com.au
- DEPOSITPHOTOS.COM
Some free sites to get your designs are:
- SHOPIFY BLAST
- DISPLACE
- PEXELS
Useful points to keep in mind when choosing an image.
Always make sure you don’t use images without the permission of the person who created them. Google these terms below to make sure you pick the right images without getting into trouble.
What is Creative Commons? Creative Commons is a nonprofit business group that helps the distribution and use of creativity and knowledge through free and legal tools. Now, use under the Creative Commons license ranges from full use of the images you want to use without attribution to allowing only certain uses and making no changes to the images used. Make sure you understand licenses before using images if you’re looking for free graphics online.
What is a public domain? Public domain works are those whose copyrights have expired, been lost, or are unenforceable. Finding something on the Internet does not mean that it is in the public domain. Again, it is your responsibility to ensure that you choose images that are not copyrighted.
What are royalty free images? Most royalty free images are not necessarily free. In many cases, all you have to do is purchase the images for a small one-time cost so that you then have the rights to use the image for your own purposes. You are allowed to use the images as often as you like. The “free” in “royalty-free” just means that you don’t have to pay royalties to the owner of the image every time you use it. For a full read on royalty-free images, check out this guide by Amos Struck.
Tip 3: How do I choose the right shirt color to choose from?
We have gone through deciding the occasion for which the shirt will be worn. This could be the dollar party we talked about earlier or it could be a team event for a local gym or even a birthday party for a 5 year old.
Then we went out and got some great images from the internet using the free or paid sites I mentioned above. So the last step is to choose the type of t-shirt and the brand that we want for our event soon.
If it’s a night out in cooler weather, we should consider wearing a full-sleeved t-shirt or even a hoodie or sweater to print your photos. For warmer tropical climates, wear a sleeveless shirt if it’s a beach party or a half-sleeved shirt with a crew cut for comfort. Good brands are AS COLOR or GILDAN to name a few.
Make sure the t-shirts are 100% cotton, as these make better printed t-shirts. They are much more comfortable to wear.
Choose the colors of the shirt!
Now we move on to choosing the colors of the clothes you plan to print on. Always use contrasting colors as a guide.
What I mean by this? If you have pictures with brighter or darker colors, choose a lighter colored shirt. Avoid wearing a dark image on a black or navy shirt. Choose a white shirt or a lighter shade of blue to print the images. Your prints will stand out on the t-shirts and you will be very happy with the final result.
Conclusion! In short, we’ve gone through the t-shirt printing process to identify why or where you’ll be wearing the garment. Below we find suitable images for the occasion. Finally, we look for a t-shirt that is the right color to get the best results with printed t-shirts once the t-shirts are printed. I hope these tips help you create great custom printed t-shirts.