T Shrits...Screen Printing or Transfers?

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sjaguar13

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My band is getting some shirts made, but we don't know if we should go with heat transfers or screen printing. I heard screen printing was better, but then I found a site that did both. They recommend heat transfers because there is no setup cost, it looks just as good as screen printing, and we could use full color. It's the only site I found that talks about both. Should we go with heat transfers?
 
sjaguar13 said:
My band is getting some shirts made, but we don't know if we should go with heat transfers or screen printing. I heard screen printing was better, but then I found a site that did both. They recommend heat transfers because there is no setup cost, it looks just as good as screen printing, and we could use full color. It's the only site I found that talks about both. Should we go with heat transfers?
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Here's one vote for screen printing.

Heat transfers peel when the shirt shrinks.
 
Silkscreen... far better... more professional-looking... more durable...
 
If you are just using one color then check out SpeedBall. (no, not that, its a silk screening kit)

Photo emultion is needed if you want anything other than a solid color so you would have to turn your bathroom into a darkroom, but in the end it will be cheaper than paying someone. But if you plan on doing more than one color, and the colors need to line up, then just pay someone...that shits a pain in the ass.
 
Screen Printing

I would definately go with a screen printed shirt. I had some made for an old band of mine several years ago and after MANY times thru the laundry, they still look great! When I had those made, the minimum order for most places was around 100 shirts or so (may not be so much anymore... haven't really looked...) which can get expensive. I ended up using a place in Maryland (Convieniently only an hour from my house) that did nice work, included one free screen (read: one color) and only had a min order of 12 shirts. I believe they cost me $6 a piece for T's. Slightly more expensive per unit than some of the places that require a larger order (if memory serves, they averaged about $4 a shirt... maybe more, maybe less... been a while) but at the same time, you can get a run of shirts for under $100. Sell em for $10 a pop and you just made $4 profit and paid for your next batch. Check em out and drop em a line. They have done shirts, stickers, and all kinds of other stuff for practically every decent local band in Baltimore. Definately musician friendly!

http://www.shocktreatmentscreenprinting.com

Hope this helps!

-Chris
 
I've done both screen printing and transfers. Definitely do the screen printing. If you're just doing a limited run you could consider doing stencils. Check out stencilrevolution.com You can do some pretty amazing things w/ a stencil.

Personally though, stenciling takes a lot of time. Do the screen printing. Find a local place and go in to see some of the work they've done. My old band band had some made and easily sold all 200 for $15 each including a button and sticker.
 
Well like I mentioned, we sold the t shirts for $10 and made $4 profit per shirt and we also got some long sleeve tee's for (I think... again, it's been a while) for $8 a piece and sold those for $12. Very reasonable prices to sell the shirts for (considering that most national acts want like $20 or more) and you actually make a decent profit. After a few batches, they pretty much have paid for themselves and you just sit back and enjoy the profits! Use em to record a CD or something.

There you have it.

Hope that helps too!

Later,

-Chris
 
Thanks, but this has been posted over a year ago. The shirts have been bought and sold for a while now.
 
Wow. Has it been that long? where does the time go? lol!

Well. Hope it all worked out for ya!

later

-Chris
 
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