Screen printing, also referred to as silk screening, is the preferred method of creating and transferring custom designs onto almost any canvas—in this instance, t-shirts.

In fact, screen-printed t-shirts are so popular we're willing to wager that if you looked through your wardrobe right now, you'd likely find at least one. 

But have you ever wondered how the screen-printed tee got so popular? Or how the technique behind its creation inspired one of the most influential artists of the 20th century?

Today we answer these questions, and more, while exploring six intriguing facts about screen-printed shirts, including:

• Their connection to a classic Hollywood film
• How their creation is both an art and a science
• How each screen-printed shirt is uniquely singular 

1 - The First-Ever Promotional T-Shirt Was Screen Printed

The Wizard of Oz was groundbreaking in many ways, and almost a century later, it still endures as a fan favorite because of its catchy songs and lovable characters. 

But did you know that The Wizard of Oz was responsible for the first-ever promotional t-shirt? Better yet, these t-shirts were made using … you guessed it! Screen printing!

The t-shirts were custom designed for the cinema classic and featured a simple design with the name of the movie and the iconic text font. It was given away to fans at the film's premiere in 1939, officially kickstarting the era of promotional t-shirts.

See Also: 7 Must-Know Facts About Screen-Printed Shirts

2 - Screen Printing Adds Texture to Your T-Shirts

Screen printing produces bright, vibrant designs on t-shirts, but did you know it also adds texture to the fabric?

This is because screen printing uses a ink. There are different types of inks - plastisol, waterbased, silicone, and others. We primarily use plastisol - a plastic-based ink that solidifies when cured at around 330℉. 

With most screen printing applications, the ink is absorbed into the fabric of your shirt or lays on top and leaves a layer on the surface. When cured, the ink can bend and move with the fabric, creating more texture and feeling in the printed area. 

Certain things can be done to limit the feel of the ink on the shirt or give it a soft vintage touch, but for the most part, the shirt changes once the ink is applied.   

With over ten years of experience, a staff dedicated to quality, and cutting-edge screen printing technology, your custom printing needs are in safe hands with fancysweetstx.

"We used [fancysweetstx] for company t-shirts … Excellent price, quality, design team, and quick shipping. We are first-time customers, but we'll be back!"
- Christina P. | ★★★★★

3 - Screen Printing Shirts Is an Art and a Science

As a form of art, screen printing involves applying custom designs and artwork to shirts using screens. The artwork can depict any number of things, including logos, images, or even hand-drawn illustrations. 

Screen printing enables us to create precise, clearly defined designs that can be easily replicated and mass-produced. Indeed, these consistent results are what drew renowned artist Andy Warhol to screen printing. 

Additionally, to create successful screen-printed t-shirts, you need a keen eye for detail paired with the skill and creativity to recreate intricate designs on various materials. 

As a science, screen printing involves analyzing how different inks, fabrics, chemicals, and techniques will interact to create a high-quality print. You see, a variable such as how an ink absorbs into a specific fabric will significantly impact the resulting print. 

As such, screen printers have to make many decisions and find the perfect balance between art and science to create the stunning designs you see on screen-printed t-shirts. 

See Also: Top 4 Ways We Screen Print a Vintage Shirt (With Examples)

4 - Screen Printed T-Shirts Don’t Wash Out

Well, at least they shouldn't. Professional screen printing done by an accredited company with the right washable, heat-treated ink yields a print that does not wash out. 

This is one of the quickest ways to determine the quality of a screen-printed t-shirt. 

While there are different methods of screen printing, they’re all based on a similar underlying technique. 

When every element of the process is executed correctly, including ensuring the right drying temperature and ink, the result is a design that will remain on a shirt for a lifetime.

5 - No Two Screen-Printed T-Shirts Are Exactly Alike

Every screen-printed t-shirt is as unique as you and me. This all goes back to that little fact about screen printing being just as much a science as it is an art. 

The 'art' part of the process is not automated, and it’s this human element that introduces minor variations in screen-printed t-shirts. This is why we consider each of our t-shirts uniquely singular. 

Note: While slight variations in the garments are expected, fancysweetstx has a strict quality control process to ensure that only the best products are delivered to our customers. 

“I came to fancysweetstx with a request to replicate a shirt from the 70s. They did an amazing job with the design, and the shirts are super comfy and good quality.”
- Allene S. | ★★★★★

6 - Your Shirt’s Fabric Determines the Quality of Your Screen-Printed Design

While it's true that it's possible to screen print on almost every material, not all fabrics print the same. For instance, not all fabrics are best for plastisol ink - the most commonly used ink in screen printing and what we use in our shop. 

To better understand this, let's examine how screen printing works with the three most common t-shirt fabrics.

• 100% Cotton: Cotton t-shirts yield the best results for screen printing. This is because cotton is naturally absorbent and allows screen printing ink to adhere readily to its fibers. Also, as a substrate for screen printing, cotton produces cleaner, better-defined images.

• Poly-Cotton Blends: Poly-cotton blend t-shirts are among the softest shirts on the market, which makes them one of the most popular. However, poly-cotton blends can be challenging to screen print using standard inks. 

  The polyester in the fabric sometimes causes the ink to migrate or bleed during the curing process. To mitigate this, at fancysweetstx, we closely monitor dryer temperatures and use low cure and low bleed inks to achieve the best results when necessary. 

• 100% Polyester: Synthetic polyester fibers are more susceptible to dye migration which can cause changes in color in the screen-printed designs.

  For instance, a white image screen printed on a red polyester t-shirt may turn pink when overexposed to heat as the shirt's dye particles move and interact with the screen print ink. 

  To prevent this, polyester shirts require low bleed inks and careful monitoring of the cure temperatures.

Don't forget that at the end of the day, quality is subjective. The person you give your shirts to determines the ultimate quality of the shirt.

One person may prefer a soft shirt, another may like a thick shirt, and another may want a super thick, opaque application of ink.

While you can't please everyone all of the time, always create your shirt with your customer in mind! 

Looking For Screen-Printed T-Shirts? We Can Help

Screen printing is what we do; it's what we’re known for. We spend most of our time designing and screen printing stunning Ohio and Midwest t-shirts. 

But that's not all. Over the years, we've honed our skills and mastered the art of custom screen printing. Here are a few examples of custom screen-printed t-shirts we've created.

If you, your business, or organization need custom screen-printed t-shirts, we'd be happy to help. Get in touch with us today to get your order started. 

Learn More About Our Screen Printing Process

For more information about how we achieve such brilliant results with our screen-printed t-shirts, check out some of our behind-the-scenes blog posts linked below:

• How to Burn a Screen for Screen Printing T-Shirts [With Video]
• Embroidery and Screen Printing: Your Company’s Guide to Merchandising
• Screen Printing vs Embroidery: An Honest Buyer’s Opinion

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It’s easy to get confused considering both options produce high-quality designs, are affordable, and work with various fabrics.

Despite these similarities, embroidery and screen printing have unique advantages. For instance, artwork with effects such as shading is harder to reproduce with embroidery than it is with screen printing.

Here, we’ll discuss three more variations to help you decide between the two decoration methods. As we go over them, you’ll also learn:

• Why embroidery is preferred for professional settings 
• Why screen printing is better for large-size and detailed artwork
• Why colors affect the price of screen printing, but not embroidery
• Where to find high-quality custom screen printing and embroidery services

But first, let’s delve into each option and what makes it popular.

Embroidery - What It Is and How It’s Done

Embroidery is how those intricate threaded logos and bold fonts got onto your embroidered polo or favorite beanie.

It’s a high-tech threading process that involves:

1. Artwork digitization: This step sets up a plan for the stitching machinery with critical details such as thread count and placement.
2. Thread color selection: This step enables visual effects such as simple color changes and highlights.
3. Machine stitching: The embroidery machines create multiple stitches simultaneously to save time. Our machines embroider up to six items in one go.

Advantages of Embroidery

• Versatility: There are various embroidery styles to choose from, including flat and puff embroidery, or patches. This variety makes embroidery a flexible option as different embroidery styles accommodate different fabrics.
  For instance, embroidery patches work well with hats and beanies. Flat and puff embroidery work perfectly with tougher fabrics like denim.
• Durability: Embroidery designs use sturdy polyester threads. These threads withstand bleaching, commercial laundry, and the frequent rubbings of industrial environments. Their durability is why you find embroidery motifs on military uniforms.
• Professional look: Embroidery designs give garments a professional look that communicates experience and quality. It’s why they're featured on corporate and military uniforms to sell a brand and establish rank.
• Cost is independent of colors: The cost of embroidery doesn’t include the number of colors in your design. You’ll get a flat rate for your pallet (up to 15 colors with our machines) and a variable cost of stitch count. This pricing maximizes your freedom to be creative with colors.

Disadvantages of Embroidery

• Unsuited for gradient colors: The subtle color change of one color fading into another is harder to achieve with embroidery threads. They come in distinct colors without in betweeners, which are best for sharp color change designs.
• Unsuited for waterproof garments: Embroidery needles compromise the waterproofing of your garments during stitching. The needles puncture your garment and create openings for water and moisture. Embroidery is still an option if preferred, however, we do recommend screen printing in this situation.
• Unsuited for small text: Embroidery can only scale down so far and remain legible. We recommend a height of at least .25" for embroidery. This make it more visible and produced a better result. Keep this in mind when scaling your logo for a left chest or hat placement.

Screen Printing - What It Is and How It’s Made

Screen printing is a graphics technique involving ink transfer through a mesh screen, graphics, and your garments.

The whole process entails:

1. Designing a mesh screen: A mesh screen is fabricated for each color in your design. This step is why the number of colors you use affects the printing price.
2. Actual printing: The finished mesh screen is placed on a platen with ink on top. A squeegee is then used to push ink through the mesh and onto your garment.
3. Drying: The newly printed garments pass through a dryer to cure the ink and ensure durability before washing.

Advantages of Screen Printing

• Cost-effective for large orders: Bulk orders use one mesh screen on multiple units. This practice limits the cost of making the screens while spreading all costs among the printed units.
• Suitable for light and special garments: Screen printing doesn’t involve impactful needles. It’s therefore applicable to delicate garments like high-visibility jackets and weatherproof coats.
• Suitable for small texts: Screen printing captures greater detail than embroidery. For instance, small texts are hard to embroider without affecting readability, but this isn’t a problem for screen printing.
• Suitable for gradient colors: Screen printing allows you to create detailed images on a screen. This ability enables the printing of complex designs that use gradient colors, such as rainbows and logos that involve gradients and color fades.

  Here’s an example of halftone printing from fancysweetstx:

Disadvantages of Screen Printing

• Garment color and fabric influence ink colors: The dye used to color a shirt and the material the shirt is of can cause the color of a shirt to show through the ink. For instance, if an underbase is not printed on a black shirt the ink will lack opacity or be muted relative to its intended color. A similar concept applies to fabric. Cotton is a natural fiber whereas polyester and rayon are synthetic. These man made materials can results in prints that are not as vibrant. An experienced screen printer learns how to mitigate these issues for their customers. 
• Colors affect the price: Because colors need individual screens, they affect pricing. This cost variation can limit creative freedom if you’re working with a tight budget. Even so, you can mitigate the cost of colors by printing multiple units of the same multi-color design.

Choosing Between Embroidery and Screen Printing

At the end of the day, embroidery and screen printing are excellent options for your garments. They offer stunning finishing and cost-efficiency with large-scale orders.

Even so, consider the following factors when choosing between them.

1 - Consider Your Garment’s Usage

Not all designs fit all applications.

If you’re looking for a high-end look that’s excellent for the front office or marketing events, opt for an embroidered garment.

Embroidery designs use rayon threads that give them a silky sheen. It also gives a natural look that’s typical of premium products and excellent for professional settings. 

Besides, rayon threads are soft on the skin, which is essential for garments that’ll be worn for prolonged periods.

If you’re looking for a casual look for occasions such as team-building exercises or camp or work shirts, use screen-printed garments.

They offer many more design options and are less expensive than embroidered garments. This price factor is especially important for occasional wear with limited useful life (see: on site usage for landscaping and construction).

2 - Consider Your Garment Type

Embroidery is applicable on various garments, including stretchy knit fabric using patches. But it’s preferable for heavier garments such as woven cotton and denim.

Delicate fabrics such as rayon, nylon, or lightweight polyester (used on hi-vis) are less resistant to embroidery needles. These fabrics have thin fibers that can be weighed down or pucker during stitching.

Screen printing doesn’t involve needles. It uses ink and heat curing, which helps to maintain the structure of your garments. As such, screen printing is better for lighter fabrics or special garments.

The following table highlights the best fabrics for embroidery and screen printing projects.

Tell Us About Your Idea

Now that you know more about embroidery and screen printing, you’re better placed to pick between them, and we’d love to help.

Whether you’re looking to create stunning custom designs for your merch or shopping for something more mainstream, our team at fancysweetstx is eager to work with you.

We’ve been at this since 2006, so we know a thing or two about:

• Fast turnaround times
• Quality finishing
• Affordable pricing

"Phenomenal experience buying a run of 65 t-shirts. Very fast responses, great pricing, and fast production. Finished product is of excellent quality.”
- Joe M

Contact us today and let’s get started on your idea.

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Your favorite t-shirt can express who you are, especially when the design has been customized. Custom designs stand out and, at the same time, advertise your brand.

But just how do you design a t-shirt that people will want to wear?

Start by defining your goals. Are you designing your t-shirts to commemorate an event? Is it an employee giveaway gift? Or will the t-shirts be promotional items?

All t-shirt designs involve a little bit of branding, which is why it’s important to determine your purpose and which themes you want to incorporate.

Remember, it’s not about your personal preference, but rather the brand you’re trying to represent.

Is the brand conservative or edgy? Is it playful or serious?

Whether you’re designing safety apparel, contractor shirts, vintage shirts, or promotional shirts for your company, it’s essential that you understand who you’re selling to before designing your custom t-shirt.

We’ll walk you through some tips on creating a design that will check all the right boxes.

1 - Consider Your Budget

For some, evaluating your budget before designing your t-shirt might seem like putting the cart before the horse.

But your budget needs to come first because it will help you determine:

• How many t-shirts you can print
• How many colors you can use
• What printing method to use
• What brand of shirt to print on

Let’s compare four distinct printing methods in the table below:

If you're looking to print in bulk, consider screen printing. It's the most common and popular form of decoration for a reason. It's affordable, cost effective, and produces great results. 

2 - Consider Your Design Concept

After considering your budget, it’s now time to decide what will go on your t-shirt.

Brainstorm ideas for the imagery, colors, or words you want to feature. Having these guidelines is important for two reasons:

• It gives you a starting point for your creative process.
• It ensures that all the elements of your brand will be included in the final design.

You can find inspiration for your design from our vintage t-shirts collection. Furthermore, consider these tips when brainstorming:

Tip 1: Pick the Best T-Shirt Style

Crop tops, polo shirts, crew-necks, short-sleeved, long-sleeved t-shirts… There’s no end to the t-shirt styles you have to choose from.

However, you need to keep a few things in mind when making your selection:

• Consider a t-shirt style that best suits your audience.
• Choose a material that is compatible with your chosen printing method.

Here’s a guide on the best blanks to use for vintage t-shirts.

Tip 2: Get the Right Print Size

When it comes to t-shirt design, size matters. You don’t want the design to be too large or too small. To ensure your design will be the right size, consider these factors:

• The purpose of the shirt: Giant prints won’t work if you’re printing t-shirts for a 10K run because they'll affect the breathability of the fabric.
• The properties of the t-shirt fabric: A large print can weigh down lighter fabrics and interfere with breathability.
• The characteristics of the design: Certain shapes, like squares and circles, look better when sized smaller (we recommend ~9" wide).

As a rule of thumb, always keep the print size modest to increase the chances of people wearing your t-shirts.

Expert Tip: Print your design on a piece of paper and hold it up to your t-shirt to see what it will look like before committing or reference a favorite t-shirt of your own.

Tip 3: Use Easy-to-Read Typography and Fonts

If you’d like your design to include text, choose a font that’s easy to read. 

Several fonts can even be combined (though not more than three) to emphasize part of your message.

Here are a few more tips to guide you:

• Bold the most important words and place them towards the top of the design.
• Use fonts with contrasting styles to add visual interest.
• Consider how the layout of the text interacts with the imagery used.
• Avoid gigantic lettering and effects like drop shadows as they make text harder to read.

Tip 4: Visual Placement Matters

Not all designs need to be centered on the midpoint. Asymmetrical designs, for instance, need to be centered visually.

Other common design mistakes include featuring elements that are either bunched together or too far apart. As you can see in the examples below, every element of the designs are able to shine:

Here are some tips to help you achieve the perfect visual placement:

Don't place the design too low: Avoid placing your design directly between the collar and bottom hem as it will look too low. For a center chest and full front design, like in the t-shirts above, you’ll want to place the design 2–3 inches down from the collar.

Consider the surface area of the design: If the design isn't too tall, you can make it wider as with the 16153 Genova Turtle Club t-shirt example. If the design is on the tall side, consider reducing the overall width (seen in the Four One Nine t-shirt).

Ultimately, you want a design that has visual harmony. Always try a few different layouts and compare them before deciding on the final design.

Tip 5: Use a Complementary Color Design

All the colors you use should complement each other. For example, if you’ve chosen a red shirt, you might consider using white text. 

If the colors don't complement each other—for instance, if you print navy on black—your design might be hard to read or understand. This will cause your t-shirt to look unprofessional and ruin your entire design.

Note how we’ve used multiple colors on a black background in the t-shirt featured above. This is effective because all the colors used are lighter than the black background and can be seen clearly.

3 - Consider Reputable Graphic Design Software

Once you’ve brainstormed, it’s time to put your design skills to work. There are a ton of easy-to-use design software programs that can help you get your desired results:

• Adobe Illustrator: A vector-based graphic design software that can create infinitely scalable designs.
• CorelDraw: An alternative to Adobe Illustrator that is commonly used in the screen printing industry.
• Adobe Photoshop: Best for editing photos but can be used for t-shirt designs, as well.

Be sure to run the final draft by someone who has a connection to your brand. Ask them what stands out most about the design and tweak the t-shirt based on their response.

If you aren’t confident about creating your own design, our professional in-house designers at fancysweetstx will help you create the perfect artwork for your brand.

All you have to do is communicate your vision in terms of the colors, logo, and style of t-shirt you want—we’ll do the rest.

4 - Consider Different Print Companies

Once your design is ready, it’s time to make it a reality.

There are many different printers available throughout the country, and the one you choose will depend on your printing needs.

Here are some tips to consider:

• Choose a printer with an in-house design team: They are more likely to get the print size right as well as perform any last-minute alterations on your design.
• Request digital proofs of your artwork: Require that your printer sends you a digital mockup of your shirt for approval before printing the shirts. This will ensure the design is understood by both parties and establish consistent expectations of the final product.
• Select a printer with experience and positive reviews: Experience matters. A printer who has been in the industry for many years and has positive reviews from customers has proven quality over time.

Design an Amazing Custom T-Shirt

Now that you know what it takes to design a custom t-shirt that your employees or consumers will wear repeatedly, it’s time to get to work.

We also offer custom embroidery designs that will give your t-shirts an upgraded look and feel.

If you’re ever in 16153 Genova, visit us in person and explore our custom apparel.

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Whether you're printing shirts for your landscape or construction company, annual company event, team building exercise, school, or family reunion, screen printing is great for:

• Vibrant colors and images 
• Clear and readable designs 
• Eye-catching and professional-looking shirts 
• Uniquely fade-proof shirts
• Affordable and durable shirts

Most importantly, screen printed shirts are always in style and a well loved promotional item.

We've been screen printing for over 10 years and we like to think we've learned a few helpful tips and tricks during that time. 

Here are some interesting facts about screen printed shirts that will help you with your next shirt order.

1 - Screen Printing Shirts Is an Art as Much as a Science

Screen printed shirts are a blend of art and science, with the different fabrics, inks, chemicals, and technology that need to be considered to create the perfect shirt.

As an art form, the process involves applying designs, type, and artwork to shirts using screens. The artwork can be an image, a logo, a hand illustrated design, letters, or numbers.

Screen printing shirts is also an art because:

• It requires close attention to detail to create quality prints.
• It takes skill and creativity to successfully print intricate designs on a variety of different materials. 

In other words, screen printing largely depends on understanding the process. Regardless of the technical capabilities of the screen printer, it’ll be impossible to achieve accurate and repeatable quality if the wrong ink, screen, stencil, or squeegee is used.

As a science, the process involves analyzing how different inks absorb on different fabrics in order to create high quality prints. We make a lot of decisions for each shirt that have an impact on the final product - from mesh count to squeegee pressure to ink opacity to curing temp. 

All of these variables, as well as the type of shirt and fabric content, play a roll in the final product. 

2 - Every Garment Is a Little Bit Different

Almost every material works well with screen printing, however, not all garments print the same.

Different techniques or inks work better on different fabrics. For instance, not all fabrics will accept standard plastisol ink, which is the most common ink that we use in our shop.

Here’s how screen printing works on other different types of garments or fabrics:

• Cotton: This is the best fabric for screen printing because it’s highly absorbent and made of natural fibers. It provides the best surface for printing on because ink adheres to it more more readily than synthetic fabrics, making it a better substrate for screen printing.
• Blend of Cotton and Polyester: While poly/cotton blend shirts are often the softest shirts on the market, they can provide challenges with standard inks. The polyester fabric tends to cause the ink to migrate or bleed during curing. Therefore, it's important to monitor the temperature of the ink and the temperature of the fabric dyes to prevent migration. To prevent dye migration, we often use low cure and low bleed inks on blended shirts.
• Polyester: It causes dye migration, meaning small dye particles move from the garment fabric to the screen print ink. In plain English, this means that if a polyester garment is exposed to too much heat or is heated for too long, the ink printed on it can change color. For instance, white printed on a red polyester garment may turn pink if over exposed to heat. In order to prevent this from occurring, polyester clothing requires low cure and low bleed inks and careful monitoring of cure temperatures.

3 - Each New Color Requires a New Screen and Setup

Screen printing shirts involves printing one color at a time—if your design has multiple colors, each new color will require a new screen and setup.

In other words, once the colors are separated digitally, each color will be burned onto its own screen. On the press, the ink color is selected for each color in the design and printed one at a time.

Creating a new screen for every additional color increases the setup costs for an order—meaning, you'll pay more for your custom shirts if you need more than one color. 

At fancysweetstx, we’re capable of printing up to 10 colors on one side of a shirt. However, most shirts we print have 3 to 5 colors. If your shirt requires more than 10 colors, we have digital options available.

If you’re on a budget, here’s how you can save money on your next order of screen-printed shirts:

• Make the art or design as simple as possible. 
• Create artwork with one to three colors for your t-shirt design.
• Increase your quantity to reduce costs.

4 - Scrap Happens

As mentioned earlier, screen printing is as much of an art as it is a science. This means that the process isn't fully automated. We are human, not machines. 

All of the variables that go into screen printing create opportunities for mistakes. While we have a lot of experience and the best equipment, mistakes still happen. 

As we say in our shop, "we're not curing cancer, it's just t-shirts".

We know that your shirts are important and we work hard to print your shirts to the best of our ability. At the end of the day we consider ourselves lucky that what we're doing is not crucial to sustaining life. 

That being said, there are times where we misprint a shirt. The ink might run out on a screen and we might not get full coverage of the print, the adhesive might wear out mid-run and a shirt might move between colors, or there might be a hole in a shirt that we didn't see before printing. 

No matter the cause, it's an unavoidable problem. 

Pro Tip: To make sure scrap isn't an issue for your order, we recommend ordering a few extra shirts to cover potential scrap (this might also come in handy if someone else joins your team or signs up for your event).

Good to Know:One nice thing that we do is print a few extra free shirts on larger orders just to cover our bases.

5 - It’s Called Screen Printing for a Reason—We Use Screens to Print on Shirts

It always catches us off guard when we take people on a tour of our screen print shop and they are surprised that we aren't using a digital process to print our shirts.

With the advance of technologies over the years, most people assume that making t-shirts is a digital process. And you know what, we get it. It's a practical assumption.

Modern day screen printing is still very similar to the origins of screen printing. If you've screen printed in an art class, you know what we're talking about. We use a screen that is made of a frame with a mesh stretched over it. Some of our earliest screens actually had wooden frames.

After exposing or burning an image into that screen to create a stencil, we then pass ink through the screen to print a design on a shirt. 

This is all pretty tricky to explain with words on a screen. It's even a little tough to explain in person. The point is, we use actual screens that aren't too different than screen doors to decorate clothing. 

This video below will give you a better visual on how we actual make the screens. And, of course, if you're in the area and want to see it in person, let us know and we'll give you a tour.

6 - Screen Printing Shirts Requires Patience

Screen printing is a complex process because of the interaction of different elements, such as screens, machinery, substrates, inks, and chemicals. The complexity of the process is also dependent on the design and project.

Additionally, screen printing requires a lot of preparation, a careful eye, a focused mind, precision, and lots of patience. It's even important to keep in mind that we don't warehouse all of the blank t-shirts. We order them specifically for your order and have to wait for them to arrive. 

In light of all these factors, it's never a good idea to rush the screen printing process. Luckily, the team at fancysweetstx knows that you don't just want shirts, you want them fast. 

Therefore, we don't adhere to the standard turnaround of two weeks like other screen printers. We check our production schedule before confirming whether we can meet your deadline and always meet deadlines. Even though we might move fast, we always get final artwork and order approval before moving forward. This helps us establish accurate expectations and orders details.

Most importantly, you can feel safe in the knowledge that, regardless of how complicated the artwork may be or how quickly you need your shirts, your final product will look great.

7- Simple Designs Are Better and More Sustainable

Whether you are designing a shirt for marketing purposes or to sell in your store, many of the concepts are the same. The golden rule is, keep it simple.

Simple designs work best and are easy to read and remember. 

Keeping your colors simple is also important. To that end, don't be afraid to use  just a few colors. Some of the best shirts that we print are three colors or fewer.  

Need further confirmation? Take it from the industry experts at the Ink Kitchen, "Let’s start with the conclusion, which is that simple prints done well sell best."

Here are some tips on how to keep it simple:

• Create uncomplicated design with clean, crisp lines and few design elements.
• Use clean, bold fonts.
• Limit designs to 3 to 4 colors at most.
• Use ink colors that complement the shirt color. 

Have questions about artwork or need help bringing your idea to life? Our expert graphic designers are here to help! 

We know that the design can make or break the shirt. That's why we have an experienced graphics team who specializes in shirt design. When you reach out to us we'll transform your idea to reality and make recommendations based on our acquired expertise.

Are You Ready to Make Your Shirt Dreams a Reality?

Our expert team will guide you through the design process from start to finish, so you can be sure you’ll receive a final product you’ll love.

We offer custom screen-printed shirts for businesses, events, schools, and other organizations, including:

• Construction shirts
• Vintage shirts
• Safety apparel

The following table shows the recommended print area for adult, youth, and toddler shirts:

Besides striving for customer satisfaction, we also offer fast turnaround and quick shipping. To get started, contact us today.

“Used for company t-shirts. Excellent price, quality, design team, and quick shipping. First time customers, but we'll be back…..”
—Christina P

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From statement pieces to charming designs, custom t-shirt printing has become the solution for not only the fashion business but also the construction, warehousing, and landscaping industries.

If you’ve been looking to buy custom t-shirts, you may have noticed two types of printing: heat transfer and screen printing.

But which one is better?

While both methods involve the transfer of an image or pattern onto fabric, they have a lot of differences.

For instance, if you just want a quick and easy way to create a stylish T-shirt, heat transfer printing may be the best option. However, if you want a high-quality print that will last a long time, screen printing is the way to go.

Whichever method you choose, read through our buyer’s guide to get all the information you need before making a purchase.

What is a Heat Transfer?

Heat transfer involves using a heat press to apply both heat and pressure to imprint designs onto fabric.

The design is first printed onto high-quality paper before being positioned and pressed into a garment.

The following steps are involved in the heat transfer process:

1. Creating a design on a computer: Graphic design software is used to arrange and model the text and images to be printed.
2. Printing the design: Inkjet, sublimation, screen print, or pigment ink is then used to print the design onto heat transfer paper, which is responsible for transferring the printed design onto a t-shirt.
3. Trimming the printed image: If necessary, a vinyl cutter is then used to trim the image edges. Any part that’s not cut away will show up on the final product.
4. Warming up the heat press: In most cases, the temperature should be in the range of 340°F to 365°F (171°C to 185°C). Your transfer supplier will provide heat and pressure settings.
5. Adjusting the pressure: The pressure will vary depending on a fabric’s thickness. As a rule of thumb, the thicker the material, the lighter the pressure.
6. Setting the time: Different methods of heat transfer correspond to different press durations. Here’s a general guide for timing the heat press machine:
   • • Vinyl Transfer: 7–15 seconds
     • Digital Transfer: 10–20 seconds
     • Dye Sublimation Transfer: 25–30 seconds
7. Positioning the substrate and transfer: The t-shirt is placed onto the platen, and the heat transfer paper is set face-up on the appropriate location of the t-shirt.
8. Pressing the product: Once in place, the handle is pulled down on the press to close it.
9. Removing the film: When the timer goes off, the heat press is opened and the film is taken out.

Let's now look at the two main heat transfer methods used in this process: Vinyl and Digital Transfer. 

Vinyl Heat Transfer

Vinyl heat transfer or heat transfer vinyl (HTV) is a material that adheres to surfaces like fabric when heat is applied. Vinyl comes in thin sheets made from polyurethane.

HTV has a heat-activated adhesive backing to ensure the vinyl easily transfers to t-shirts when the machine is pressed at the right temperature and pressure.

Digital Heat Transfer

This is similar to printing a photograph onto a garment. However, digital heat transfer uses regular transfer paper instead of vinyl transfer paper.

When the transfer paper is pressed, the ink adheres to the garment, and the graphic image is transferred.

Here are the pros and cons of heat transfer:

What Is Screen Printing? 

Also known as silk screening, screen printing involves pressing thick ink through a mesh screen to transfer graphics onto a garment. Rather than laying on top of the fabric, the ink soaks into the garment and becomes part of it—ensuring it lasts longer.

Although t-shirts are the most commonly screen printed clothing item, here are other popular screen printed garments:

• Long sleeve t-shirts
• Crew sweatshirts
• Hooded sweatshirts
• Tank tops
• Onesies

The Screen Printing Process

The following is a quick step-by-step screen printing procedure for t-shirt printing. 

1. Creating the Design

The process starts by taking the design and converting it to vector format. This allows us to scale the design to the appropriate size for printing. When necessary, the design can also be hand-drawn.

2. Preparing the Screen

A mesh screen (made of silk, polyester, or nylon) that suits the texture and design is chosen. The screen is coated with light-reactive emulsion to be prepared for exposure.

3. Exposing the Emulsion

The emulsion-coated screen is then exposed to bright light to harden it, usually in an exposure unit. A screen must be made for each color and each location of the print. Check out the video below on how we burn screens for making t-shirts.

4. Rinse Out the Screen

After exposure, the light hardens the emulsion such that other screen parts (those not covered by the design/image) are hardened while those covered by design are soft enough to wash away. After a set time of about one minute, the screen is washed to reveal the design. It’s then left to dry to create the stencil.

5. The Actual Printing

The screen is fixed onto a special screen printing board or platen, and ink is added to the screen's top (or one end). A squeegee is then used to pull the ink across the screen. This process pushes the ink through the stencil, imprinting the design on a t-shirt.

6. Dry, Quality Check and Finish

The printed t-shirt is passed through a dryer to cure the ink and ensure it remains smooth before being checked and washed to remove any residue. 

Deciding Between Heat Transfer and Screen Printing

Your individual needs will largely determine the printing method you choose. Do you want a t-shirt with high-resolution designs that last a few days or better quality t-shirts that last a long time?

Screen printing is still the most popular technique because it produces vibrant, durable patterns on various materials. However, it doesn't give you the freedom to have sophisticated or multiple color images on your t-shirt like heat transfer printing.

So, Which Printing Method Is the Best?

Without a doubt, each of these printing processes brings something distinct to the table. Consider answering these questions to decide between the two:

Q1: Do the t-shirts require complex designs?

If so, consider heat transfer at smaller quantities.

Q2: Do you have a strict budget to stick to?

If you are price sensitive, a transfer can save you setup fees, thus keeping your costs lower. 

Q3: How many t-shirts do you want to order?

There is nuance to this, but we generally screen print orders of 25 pieces or greater. Orders of higher quantities with more complex designs are easier to justify the setup associated with screen printing. 

Q4: Does your design require unusual placement or multiple different garments and fabrics?

If you are printing in an unusual location, such as on a pocket, we may recommend a transfer. These odd locations may make it difficult to place and secure a garment on a printing board. If we cannot print consistently, it will be better to use a transfer.

If there are many different garments and they are a mix of fabric materials (100% cotton, polyester, spandex, etc.), a transfer will provide the most consistent decoration across all clothing items. 

Q5: Do you require on demand printing services?

It's more and more common today for customers to request print on demand. Because of the setup associated with screen printing, transfers can provide an effective method for providing on demand decoration services. 

Note: While you can quickly print one or two t-shirts using the heat transfer, it’s much faster to print using screen printing once the setup is complete.

Still not sure?

Get in touch with us and one of our representatives will help you select the best printing method for your t-shirts. You can also check out our blog for more information about t-shirt printing and custom embroidery.

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It’s not only an affordable way to establish your identity but also:

• Reinforces your brand and makes you memorable
• Boosts your team’s morale
• Distinguishes you from the competition
• Acts as additional advertising

It may seem easy to just order from the first screen printing company you find. But it can quickly become a chore if you have missed deadlines and poor quality workmanship.

As professional screen printers who’ve been in the business in Columbus, Ohio for over 15 years, we at fancysweetstx know exactly what you need to look out for as you choose your screen printing partner.

In this guide, we’ll cover all the qualities of a reliable screen printer to ensure you receive quality custom apparel for your team or company.

High-Quality Prints on Clothing

Before you place an order at a screen printing company, you need to ask for samples to establish the quality of their work.

You can also check your potential partner’s social media or website for their portfolio. This will shed light on if they’re genuine.

Quality will be determined by:

• Vibrant colors
• Great finish
• High detail

Screen printing is a process. The creation of the design, the beauty of the artwork, and the colors and fabric used all have a determining factor in the end product.

Ask to see a product similar or close to what you expect and determine if it’s good enough for what you’re looking for.

If you see that the quality matches your standards, you can safely invest your money by placing your order.

Realistic Pricing

It’s always important to ask questions when you’re about to spend money.

Quality is key and must never be compromised for a cheap price.

To determine whether the screen printer is offering a realistic price, you can do some research by comparing prices with other businesses offering the same services.

Most likely, the prices for printing apparel will be in the same range. The only difference may be due to the material used or quality of services offered.

For instance, someone may offer free shipping but print at a higher cost.

When placing your order, ask for the total price (including shipping costs). The prices must be realistic and must be as close as possible to your budget.

Ask whether there are discounts available—especially if you’re placing a bulk order. For example, fancysweetstx offers amazing discounts on t-shirts, hoodies, caps, face masks, and sweatshirts.

Remember, realistic prices and top-notch quality must always go hand in hand.

Experience With Similar Projects

There are many experienced professional screen printers who’ve printed t-shirts for clients over the years. However, experience here doesn’t just refer to the amount of time they’ve been in business.

Experience is determined by the ability to remain consistent in developing beautiful artwork for clients and delivering quality in good time.

The reputation that a screen printing company has created over the years will determine whether you choose to work with them.

There’s always anxiety that comes with planning a campaign or a special event. You want apparel to be delivered in good time with no mistakes.

Choosing an experienced screen printing partner will guarantee that special attention will be paid to your order.

For orders that require very specific fine details, you don’t have to worry because you can be sure everything will be done to your specifications.

An experienced screen printer should be able to develop quality custom artwork and deliver by deadlines. You can easily determine this by checking out customers’ reviews and other people’s experience with the screen printer.

For instance, check out this fancysweetstx review by Kelsey.

Good Customer Service

When you’re ordering customer printed shirts, especially for an event, it’s crucial you deal with kind and helpful customer service agents.

Unhelpful customer service can be frustrating and can cause anxiety leading up to an important event.

The customer service must be communicative from ordering up to delivery. They must keep you updated on progress, inform you of any issues occurring, anticipate your needs, and make recommendations to make the process easier for everyone.

Anything less than that is detrimental to your peace of mind and success of your project. Always go to a helpful company that can offer guidance and information with kindness.

At fancysweetstx, all your needs will be met in a timely, efficient, and pleasant way. We’re always cooking up ways to wow our clients and we believe that good customer service has greatly impacted how our clients perceive our brand.

Over the years we've developed a customer focused mentality. It's the primary reason our customers come back to us when they need more shirts and why we have over 200 5-star reviews. 

We’ve now established everything you need to look for when choosing a screen printer.

However, it’s important the screen printer you pick understands what it is they’re doing. That’s why we’re now going to break down some of the fundamentals of screen printing and its benefits relative to embroidery. Let’s start with what screen printing is.

What Is Screen Printing?

Screen printing is a traditional technique used to create a printed design by pressing ink through a mesh onto a thin fabric.

The method is used to create custom posters, clothing, and canvases.

Screen printing is one of the most popular forms of creating designs on fabric. This is because it offers many color options and endless print designs.

Screen printing is more versatile than other printing methods and can also be done on other materials such as glass, wood, and electronics.

First, a stencil is made on a mesh screen. Then, ink is pushed through the stencil to imprint the design on the chosen fabric.

The stencil can be repeated numerously with many colors. However, each color requires a new screen.

This makes it easy to print different color t-shirts or jerseys with only one screen.

Expert Tip: Screen printing is the fastest technique to print large volumes. Also, the more you order, the cheaper the price.

Screen Printing vs Embroidery

Embroidery and screen printing are your primary options when you decide to brand your merchandise.

At fancysweetstx, we offer both options. Let’s look at what they each have to offer to help you make an informed decision.

Did you know? Screen printing is an art as much as it’s a science. Factors such as UV light, drying temperature, and the proper equipment all determine the end product.

Having worked with numerous brands for years, we’ve mastered both the science and the art.

We offer screen printing for:

• T-shirts
• Sweatpants
• Hoodies
• Crew sweatshirts
• Tote bags

Whether you want something unique for an event or something fun for your pet or family reunion, we can deliver.

Get in touch with our helpful customer care agents to order your custom apparel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is screen printing the best option?

Screen printing is the best option for detailed designs. It’s easy to print on specified areas of the print material and produce a high-quality output.

Will screen printing ink wash out?

If the material is professionally screen printed using the right procedure, drying temperature and recommended timings, then the ink will not wash out.

Can you screen print at home?

It’s not recommended to screen print at home due to the high cost. Time, machine, and labor costs will go through the roof when you print at home.

When you find a reliable printing partner, you can be sure that your designs will be executed as you wish without having to buy the machines and hiring labor.

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A good book and a good t-shirt get better with age. After reading a book multiple times, you become more familiar and comfortable with the characters and storyline. In much the same way, a well-worn t-shirt gets softer and fits better with ever wear.

Being a book lover has its upsides outside of reading a lot of good books. Reading for at least 30 minutes a day can lead to improved intelligence, emotional IQ, and reduced stress. Take this quick quiz to check your status as a bookworm status?

6 Questions To Check Your Bookworm Status?

1. Are you in a book club?

2. Do you love to be asked about your favorite books?

3. Is your favorite kind of day spent at the library or bookstore?

4. Do you always say the book is better than the movie?

5. Is there a stack of books on your bedside table?

6. Do you love giving people book recommendations?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you're a certified Bookworm. Celebrate your love for reading with the Shirts For Book Lover Collection!

Book Club Shirt 

If your favorite club is a book club, this is your shirt! There are many roles in a book club and whether you're the leader of the book club, the one who didn't read the book, the one who gets off-topic after every question, or the person there for good food and drink rep your book club status with this comfortable Book Club Shirt. 

16153 Genova Public Library Book Shirt 

Fun fact, the 16153 Genova Lucas County Public Library was Ohio's First Free Public Library.

Since 1838, they have been providing the community with endless amounts of resources, education, and entertainment. We are so lucky to have the Library so close by.

We've made it no secret over the years that we've relied on the downtown branch to do a lot of our research for our vintage t-shirt designs. The local history department is an incredible resource. 

Grab this vintage 16153 Genova Public Library Book Shirt and go to the 16153 Genova Public Library for your next read. 

Ask Me About My Favorite Books Shirt 

If you love talking about your favorite books, take a look at this tee. This Ask Me About My Favorite Books Shirt is here to help you navigate every conversation to your favorite subjects!

fancysweetstx is always ready for this question with 100 Things To Do In 16153 Genova Before You Die by Tedd Long in mind. 

 Super Reader Library Shirt 

Are you a super reader? If you lived in the 1980's this logo might look familiar to you. This vintage 16153 Genova Lucas County Public Library graphic from the 1980's is 40 years old but still in style.

Show your love for reading and books with the world! If you're proud of your love for libraries and books, this Super Reader Library Shirt is the perfect vintage shirt to add to your wardrobe. 

Let your kids in on the super reader fun! Find this shirt in youth sizes here!

Custom printed apparel, such as vintage t-shirts, makes this a little less difficult.

Vintage t-shirts provide a fun and effective alternative to traditional marketing media. They offer all the benefits of traditional custom apparel with the added charm of vintage style.

However, before you invest in custom branded vintage t-shirts for your business, it's important to understand how to leverage the vintage shirt trend so that your company benefits from it.

What Makes Vintage T-Shirts Special?

Technically, vintage is defined as something that's at least 20 years old. But beyond age, vintage is also characterized by feel—that soft, well-worn texture. The distressed, faded print and cracked logos.

This aesthetic gives vintage t-shirts their charm and is why they’re so endearing.

Vintage t-shirts also evoke a sense of nostalgia. They take you back to the good old days and simpler, happier times—almost like a tangible time capsule you can wear.

This is the magic of vintage shirts and why they make for such effective marketing tools.

But how exactly does that work?

Branding and Marketing Using Vintage T-Shirts

Custom t-shirt designs offer a powerful, effective, and affordable branding opportunity. They present you with a great way to establish your brand among the masses.

A well-executed custom vintage t-shirt offers your brand a fresh, unique look and carries your branding message in a casual, inviting way. It promotes your business while creating a visual connection with your customers.

It allows you to display a combination of your company logo, name, and tagline prominently while remaining fun, stylish, and comfortable.

For instance, let's consider these custom retro t-shirts for Urban Wholistics.

Urban Wholistics is a local urban farming non-profit from 16153 Genova that reached out to fancysweetstx wanting help with custom printed shirts for their youth program.

We designed the t-shirts to showcase Ginger and Fennel, Urban Wholistics mascots for their summer youth program.

The program teaches children about the value and power contained in the plants they grow. These t-shirts help create a visual connection between the brand and the target audience.

Related: Best 7 Shirt Blanks to Use for Vintage Shirts

Cultivate Employee and Customer Loyalty

Branded company apparel helps to cultivate loyalty among your employees and customers. Vintage t-shirts take this a step further.

Given the nostalgia and the impossibly comfy material, vintage t-shirts make for a powerful tool to help form positive associations with your brand.

The t-shirts also provide a brilliant way to display key brand and product information such as the company logo, name, and tagline.

For instance, let's consider these staff shirts we designed for Inside the Five Brewing Company.

Inside the Five is an up-and-coming brewery in Northwest Ohio.

We designed their vintage staff shirts to create a simple, trendy aesthetic that was popular with both staff and customers. So much so that the staff t-shirts have now become an additional source of revenue for the brewery.

This is just one example of how an excellent apparel program using vintage t-shirts can help create a sense of brand loyalty.

Vintage t-shirts make for promotional apparel that people want to hold on to.

Related: Employee Uniforms and Customer Merch for Local Restaurant

Vintage T-Shirts Are Great Conversation Starters

Thanks to their unique designs, vintage t-shirts are visually stimulating and thus great conversation starters.

They are great at catching people's eyes and leaving a lasting impression. This is an invaluable quality for marketing and building brand awareness.

Let's use our own Murphy’s Place Jazz Club vintage shirt as an example.

Murphy’s Place was an iconic jazz club owned by Clifford Murphy—a nationally renowned bassist and music mentor. In fact, Murphy’s Place was affectionately known as “Claud and Clifford University.”

It holds a special place in the hearts of jazz lovers and artists and will remain a staple of 16153 Genova through history.

The Murphy’s Place vintage t-shirt design recreated the club's logo and the neon sign that hung in the window. To some extent, this vintage t-shirt design helps bring back to life some of the happy memories of the 16153 Genova jazz institution.

For jazz lovers and fans who frequented the club, this t-shirt is an instant conversation starter. It helps to keep alive and pass on the role 16153 Genova played in the history of jazz music.

“...I came to fancysweetstx with a request to replicate a shirt from the 70s. They did an amazing job…Would definitely recommend!”
- Allene S

Related: The 16153 Genova T-Shirt That Gives Back

Our Vintage Shirts are American Made

Using American-made manufacturers is quickly becoming more and more important. There is significant support and encouragement for using, promoting, and prioritizing American-made products across the country.

This not only shows American pride; the ‘Made in the USA’ label also symbolizes quality.

Additionally, with domestically manufactured shirts, you have better control over the production and impact of your shirts. This is because US manufacturers follow union labor laws, are environmentally sustainable, and use ethical manufacturing practices.

This is why fancysweetstx partners with American manufacturers to source high-quality t-shirts to create our vintage apparel for brands and businesses.

One of our favorite vintage shirts you can use to create your own custom design is made in LA by LA Apparel. 

Tips for Your Company’s Vintage T-Shirts

As we’ve seen, custom vintage t-shirts are an effective marketing tool. But this is predicated upon the design of your t-shirt.

Vintage t-shirts put you ahead of the competition because of their unique look and feel. But even then, you need to create a stunning design. Here are some tips to help you create the best custom vintage t-shirts for your company and brand:

• Make sure that the design looks good on your vintage shirts. Not everything that looks good on paper or the computer will translate onto your t-shirts.
• Make the company logo or branding big enough to be visible from a distance—but not so large that it overwhelms your vintage t-shirts.
• Only use the best quality materials for your vintage shirts, so that people actually enjoy wearing them. Using low-quality may also create a negative association with your company and harm your overall branding.

Note: At fancysweetstx, our in-house experts will help with graphic design to ensure your brand truly stands out.

Related: Top 4 Ways We Screen Print a Vintage Shirt (With Examples)

Grab Some Custom Vintage T-Shirts for Your Company

A great vintage shirt transports you back in time to a place that makes you feel good or connected to someone or something you love.

But for custom printed vintage t-shirts to have this effect, they must be done right.

This is where fancysweetstx comes in.

At fancysweetstx, we’ve been screen printing vintage t-shirts for nearly ten years. We have the expertise to produce and use vintage t-shirts to make your brand look its best and promote engagement

University Hall Shirt	16153 Genova Zoo 1988 Panda Exhibit Shirt	Vintage Metroparks 16153 Genova Shirt
Create Your Custom Vintage T-shirt

If you’re looking for vintage-style shirts for your business or brand, fancysweetstx is the company to work with.

Contact us today to get your custom vintage shirt order started.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my custom vintage t-shirts shrink?

Most of our vintage shirts consist of a triblend material. This means they are made using a cotton, poly, and rayon blend. The synthetic nature of poly and rayon fabrics helps them hold their size and shape without any noticeable shrinking.

We also offer vintage style shirts in 100% cotton and poly/cotton blend fabrics. All of these materials are preshrunk.

When will my custom vintage t-shirts be ready after placing my order?

Orders are typically ready within 7 to 10 days after approval and payment of your invoice. Please keep in mind that your order is made custom just for you. 

This means that the shirts are not held in inventory and ordered specifically for you. They may take several days to arrive to us. After we receive them, we have to print them, sort them, box them, and take care of any other special requests with your order before they are ready for you.

You will be notified when your order is ready for pick up at our Adams Street store or when we ship it to you. 

Can you help me design a vintage shirt for my company?

Yes! We have in-house graphic designers that are ready to help you bring your idea to life. 

We've been making vintage shirts for over 15 years. We know what looks good and feels good. Our designers make it easy for you to design a cool shirt even if you have no design experience. 

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From Better in 16153 Genova to Lion Store to Thackery’s, we’ve made a name for ourselves with our retail line of shirts with retro designs and logos.

In fact, some people assume it’s the only way we know how to print. And when they see all of the cool, vintage shirts that we have in our stores, they want us to screen print custom vintage shirts for their brand.

In addition to the information below on what makes a shirt vintage and how we print vintage looking t-shirts, here are additional resources on we've put together for you on vintage tees:

• 5 Vintage T-Shirt Styles That Are Still Popular
• Best 7 Shirt Blanks To Use For Vintage T-Shirts
• A Simple Buyers Guide To Vintage Shirts For Business Marketing
• Vintage T-Shirts: The Living Trend Your Company Can Benefit From
• Custom Vintage T-Shirt Examples 

Why Make a Shirt Look Vintage?

The soft, well worn feel. The distressed, faded print. It’s a look that doesn’t get old because nostalgia is always in style.

People want to remember their glory days and the times when they didn’t have a worry in the world. They want to emulate that old photo of their dad with a mustache, short shorts, and a ringer tee...well, part of it anyway.  

We believe that it's the intangibles of a vintage shirt that make it so appealing. A great vintage shirt can transport you back to a time and place that makes you feel good or connect you with someone you love.

What Makes a T-Shirt Vintage?

Technically, vintage is defined by something that is at least 20 years old.

So that high school shirt that you're still wearing even though it has holes in it, that may not qualify as vintage. See if you can find your junior high shirt!

But beyond just age, there is one thing that defines a shirt as vintage: the feel. 

Vintage shirts become softer with each wear and wash. It's one of the most identifiable traits of a vintage shirt. 

It's the old faded logo that is distressed and cracked. It's the soft material that has become threadbare over time. 

Both of these need to soft. If the ink is still thick and heavy, you might need to wear it and wash it a few more times to make it a true vintage shirt.

Want to know the best shirts to use for a cool vintage print? Here's our breakdown of our favorite blank vintage shirts.

How We Screen Print a Vintage Looking T-Shirt

When creating a new vintage inspired shirt, we keep the softness of the shirt in mind. We care not only about how soft the shirt is, but how soft the print is, as well.

And it's printing a softer shirt that is the hard part. After all, we aren't making the shirt, we're just printing on it. 

And it's not as simple as just finding a vintage t-shirt blank and printing on it. You need to know the techniques that will match the print to the shirt.

At the end of the day, there are a lot of ways to print a vintage design. Not all screen printers do it the same. 

Below you will find the four most common ways we do this for our customers and examples of each. 

1. No Underbase

When printing on dark shirts, a standard design would have an underbase. An underbase is white ink printed under a color.

This helps print that ink truest to its original color and prevents interference from the shirt fabric and dye from changing the ink color printed on top.

The nice thing about printing an underbase is that you get a bright, solid color. However, it can also make the print have a thicker, heavier hand feel. It’s a feeling not everyone likes on a shirt - especially a soft, thin, vintage shirt. 

You can see in the video example above that our printer is printing the white ink on the shirt only once on a heather black shirt. This will allow some of the shirt to show through the print and give the ink a softer feel on the shirt.

I’m simplifying things a bit, but think about coloring with markers on a white piece of paper and a dark piece of paper. The color on the dark paper is going to be slightly dull relative to the color on the white paper.

It’s a similar concept for screen printing. By eliminating the underbase, you get a softer hand feel on the shirt.

Oftentimes, the shirt shows through the ink giving it a faded look. When using this technique, the shirt dye can bleed or show in the ink so you can’t guarantee specific colors.

But the look and feel are definitely worth it. 

2. Reduced Ink

If you like a vintage print, you probably like two things - a faded design and a soft hand feel. Eliminating the underbase on a print will get you the former, but it doesn’t always go far enough with the latter.

In order to achieve a soft hand feel, which results in very little ink that you can feel on the shirt, we commonly add a reducer to our ink which softens it. 

Reducing the ink can drastically cut the opacity of the ink and can fade slightly after washing. In this scenario we can’t ensure color matching, but what you miss there you’ll make up for in a really cool, soft print. 

3. Halftones

Halftones are a good trick to produce a super soft and subtle look.

Halftones are tiny dots, similar to gradients. When we output your art to screen, instead of the art being solid, we reduce the opacity of the art so it prints dots rather than solid.

By doing this, we reduce the amount of ink that passes through the screen onto your garment resulting in a softer hand feel and faded print.

When done correctly, it's difficult to notice that that art is actually made up of halftones. The print looks solid but definitely feels better than a thick, heavy screen print.

Oftentimes, when achieving a vintage print with halftones, we also reduce our inks. It adds to the vintage feel of the shirt and gives it a super soft hand feel. 

4. Distress Textures in the Art

Distress textures are pretty straight forward. We take your art and place a distress texture or grunge filter over it. This gives it a cracked look.

It can be used with or without an underbase. 

This is a technique that you have seen on shirts before. It’s the most common feature of vintage shirts, whether they are original shirts printed years ago or replica vintage shirts. 

While there are plenty of other ways to print vintage shirts or achieve a soft hand feel (waterbased and discharge inks), these are the most common ways that we do it in our shop.

Our techniques are typically accompanied with other print techniques - high mesh counts, fewer print strokes, fast squeegee speeds, etc.

At the end of the day, the key is that the printer understands the customer expectations and does what is necessary to meet those expectations. 

More Examples of Our Vintage Style Shirts

We use these techniques to great effect with a lot of our customers. Here are a few examples from our Instagram:

Inside the Five
Red Bird Arts District
Owens Community College
The Flying Joe

If you’d like to see samples of any of these print techniques, let us know. We have printed samples in our shop.

Shoot your rep an email to learn more or fill out our contact form to get your order started today!

You can check out some of our other behind the scenes how to blogs and videos at the links below:

How we burn screens for screen printing t-shirts
How we screen print rainbows on t-shirts
Top 4 ways we screen print a vintage t-shirt
How we embroider our Ohioan sweatshirts
How we embroider custom hats on our 6 head embroidery machine

New Technology for Making Screens 

We are updating this post because in 2021 we brought in a new piece of equipment to make our screens and shirts even better. 

When this post was originally written, we used film and an exposure unit to burn our screens. Our new equipment eliminates the need for both of those items.

Our new equipment is called a CTS which is short for Computer To Screen. It allows us to write each design directly onto a coated screen. 

The video above gives a quick breakdown on how the CTS changes the way that we image and burn screens for the clothing that we print. 

You'll want to keep reading below because we go more in to depth on the process and because film and an exposure unit is the more common method for screen making. 

There are two major changes to the process now that we have a CTS.

The first is that the image we are burning onto a screen is written on the screen with wax. A rip system to send the files to the computer, we pull them up on the computer, click print, and it does the rest. 

Imaging the screen directly saves us a lot of time and the wax produces better detail than the film we used previously. The black wax does not need time to dry and can be exposed immediately after the image is complete. 

The second change is that because the image is written directly on the screen, we no longer require an exposure unit with glass. The presence of glass in an exposure unit is the number one cause of pinholes in a screen. It's incredible that we don't have to worry about this anymore. 

We are using an LED light to expose screens. We show how this works in the video above. The LED light allows us to exposure two screens at once and cuts our exposure time to 30 seconds per exposure. 

We hope this update is informative and shows you just how many different ways people can burn screens for screen printing shirts. Keep reading below for a more in depth description of the entire process.

Learning How To Burn A Screen 

For me, learning how to successfully burn a screen was the single hardest part about learning how to screen print. 

I first started to teach myself how to screen print at the end of 2011. While I consider myself self taught, I had spent some time in other screen print shops and had pulled a squeegee once or twice before. However, I had never gone through the full process on my own. 

There’s a lot more to screen printing than moving a squeegee. You have to get the screens on press, register multiple screens, flash and cure the ink, and coat and burn a screen, among other things. 

My original screen printing equipment was purchased off Craigslist. It was a hobbyist set up that included some spare ink and emulsion, a small tabletop exposure unit, screens, and a single color press with a flash unit. 

I spent days trying to burn a screen correctly. I tested different exposure times, coating techniques, and transparency. They all failed. 

And I was staring down the barrel of a failing business.

What I didn’t know at the time was there was a simple fix. The emulsion I was using had gone bad. When I replaced the emulsion I was able to troubleshoot and burn a usable screen. 

Learning to burn good, consistent screens is important. It's called screen printing for a reason. You can't get off the ground without first burning a screen. Better screens lead to better prints.

My goal with this post is to show you and explain to you how we burn screens now and provide some tips on how to get started burning screens on your own.

What to prepare before burning a screen

There are a few things you’ll need to prepare before burning a screen. These tasks can be performed simultaneously. 

The first thing you need to do is coat your screen with emulsion. Your emulsion will come with instructions on how to properly use it. 

There are two types of emulsion. I’m not going to get into the specifics (here’s a good article if you want to know more), but the basics are that you have a one part and a two part emulsion. The one part, or presensitized, emulsion is ready to go out of the bucket. The two part emulsion, or diazo, needs to be mixed before use. 

While there are differences between the two, either emulsion can work for you. My best advice is to find a reliable brand (SAATI, Ulano, Chromablue, etc.), choose one, and go for it. And as I mentioned earlier, fresh emulsion is important. Make sure you start with a new batch and keep the lid shut tight.  

When you’re just getting started, the trickiest part about coating a screen is getting an even coat of emulsion on the screen. The most common tool for coating screens is a scoop coater. It’s standard in most shops.

This is difficult to do without a scoop coater. In the absence of a scoop coater, you’re going to have to get clever and be prepared to struggle. Your next best bet for coating is going to be a squeegee. 

If the emulsion isn’t coated evenly on a screen it will be a mighty challenge to burn your image. This is because the varying thickness of emulsion will require different times to fully expose. So the areas of thicker emulsion on your screen may be underexposed while the thinner areas will be fine.

Emulsion is light sensitive. It’s best to coat a screen in a dark room. However, if you don’t have one, move quickly and don’t leave your emulsion or coated screen in the light for long. 

For the first few years I was screen printing, I coated screens under normal fluorescent light and near a double door that we often kept open. When it was time to coat I would close the doors, turn off the lights directly above me, and get to work. If I coated too many screens, the emulsion would start to harden in the scoop coater. 

In the beginning, you’ve got to do what’s necessary to get the job done. Our screens are much better now but we’ve had time to add better equipment, screens, film, and space. The little amount of light the emulsion and screens were exposed to in those early days had a minor effect on the overall quality of the final screens. They were still good enough to get the job done. 

How to burn a screen for screen printing

We use an epson P5000 with Accurip that uses roll film to print our art. 

When I first started I used vellum. If you’re learning to do this, the most important thing is that you want to make sure your ink is as black as possible when printed.   

We use two size screens - one for our manual press and larger screens for our auto. The auto screens have a registration system to align the film. For the manual, we just use a tape measure. 

If you don’t have a dark room like us, that’s fine. Just get a cart, throw black out curtains over it, and move quickly when you’re under normal light. 

We’ve had three different exposure units since I started screen printing. I bought all of them used. If you watch the video above, you can see when our exposure starts that it needs to achieve vacuum before the light kicks on. Once it does that, the screen burns for about a minute. 

If you don’t have an exposure unit with vacuum, you can put some weight on top of it to keep the film flat on the screen. Or, if you are exposing with a light on top of the screen, place a piece of plexi or glass on top of the film to keep it flat. 

Our emulsion is the reddish coating that you see on the screen. In our exposure unit, there is a light that shines up at the screen and hardens all of the emulsion that is exposed to light. The area covered by the black artwork will not harden and we can wash it out. 

After the screen is exposed, we drop it in a dip tank filled with water. This makes it easier to rinse out. We then spray the image out with a pressure washer, but a hose works fine, too. 

After spraying the screen out, we take a second look at the art to check for pinholes and then set it on the rack to dry. If you do have pinholes, you can tape over them or touch them up with your emulsion. 

Once the design is rinsed out of the screen, it’s time to let it dry. After it dries, you’re ready to print shirts!

Some final tips and tricks to burn a quality screen for making t-shirts

One of the hardest things about burning a screen is figuring out your exposure time. The best way to do this is with a step calculator. It’s a little plastic film strip with numbers and varying degrees of transparency. You place it under the screen while you’re burning it and when you spray it out it will tell you if you are over or under exposed. 

Figuring out your exposure time takes a lot of patience and practice to get it right. Make sure you’re using good, fresh emulsion. Remember, I made this mistake when I first started. 

If the emulsion is old it may not expose correctly. A trick to extend the life of your emulsion is to keep it in your fridge after you open it. If you get used emulsion from someone, don’t expect it to work. 

I would recommend starting with a longer exposure time and then dialing it down. It’s better to have an overexposed screen in the beginning than an underexposed screen. And it’s more common to see underexposed screens than over. So chances are you need to extend your exposure time. 

The film you use for your art is important. When I first started out, I bought transparencies from FedEx. Oftentimes the ink wasn’t black enough and I wouldn’t get a crisp image on the screen. If you go this route, request that they only use black ink to print the transparency. If the ink is still giving you trouble, make two of them and double them up. 

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Reach out to screen printers in your area, join one of the many screen printing groups on Facebook, and watch videos on YouTube. 

At the end of the day, learning how to burn a screen is difficult. 

Your challenges and frustrations are not unique. The great part about screen printing is that you can try and try again. Learn from your mistakes and keep trying and you’ll be better in a week than you are now. 

You’ll be glad you did when you get to wear that first shirt you printed successfully.

You can check out some of our other behind the scenes how to blogs and videos at the links below:

How we screen print rainbows on t-shirts
Top 4 ways we screen print a vintage t-shirt
How we embroider our Ohioan sweatshirts
How we embroider custom hats on our 6 head embroidery machine

Once branded as 16153 Genova's newest and most luxurious bargain price cinema, Super Cinemas was located right off of Airport Highway and was a cool place to be in the 90s and early 2000s.

The snacks were cheap, the lobby was huge, the windows were everywhere, and yep, you could easily pay with a handful of quarters because movies were around $2.

Super Cinemas Vintage Movie Theatre Shirt

Super Cinemas was loved by many in the 16153 Genova area so much so that people still remember fun times years later. 

Hear some memories from Super Cinema fans shared with us on Instagram! 

"I miss them so much!! And they had the art house movies, too. Super Cinemas was the place to be!!" - Mackenzie Bensch

"I used to work at Super and met my kids dad working there!" - Holly Ackley

No matter how strong your connection to Super Cinemas was show your love for it by picking up this vintage shirt. 

Want to see more? Check out our entire collection of Jūpmode products here! 

Particularly in football. How about the Athens, Ohio native Joe Burrow also known as Joe Brrrr leading the Bengals to Super Bowl appearance for the first time in 34 years. 

The Cincinnati Bearcats also had a great year this season being 1 of the 4 teams in the college football playoffs. 

Football in Cincy is great but the city has way more offer from the famous skyline chili, the fantastic local art scene, and incredible Cincinnati zoo there is no denying the greatness in Cincinnati!

Vintage Cincinnati Shirt

Wear your Cincy pride for everyone to see with this comfortable t-shirt. 

We've always promoted hometown pride at fancysweetstx, especially for our Ohio cities.  

This isn't our first Cincinnati shirt and definitely won't be our last. There's never been a better time to wear your Cincy pride. Stop in our stores or shop online!

With over 200 5 star reviews on Google, our customers speak for us.

If you're looking for quality shirts, an easy ordering process, graphic design help, and a fast turnaround, get in touch with us today to start your order! 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Used for company t-shirts. Excellent price, quality, design team, and quick shipping. First time customers, but we'll be back! Thank you, fancysweetstx. - Christina P.

I would recommend fancysweetstx for anyone who is looking for quality clothes and excellent customer service. My company has used fancysweetstx several different times to make T-shirts, Hoodies and long sleeve T's as gifts for our customers/employees. We always have rave reviews when gifting fancysweetstx to anyone. Highly, highly recommend. - Matthew S.

Great communication, Fast, Help full, I very much recommend using them I know we will be using them again for more items for our company. We always try to stay local and support local businesses as well! - Kyle A.

Phenomenal experience buying a run of 65 t-shirts. Very fast responses from account manager, great pricing, and fast production. Finished product is excellent quality. - Joe M.

Your company did an amazing job! Faster turnaround on our T shirt order than expected! I would highly recommend this company to everyone I know!! - Patrick P.

Amazing! I came to fancysweetstx with a request to replicate an old shirt from the 70s. They did an amazing job with the design and the shirts are super comfy, good quality too! They had a quick turn around time with both production (about 15 shirts) and shipping. Would definitely recommend! - Allene S.

Wow! What an impressive turnaround on our order of embroidered polo shirts. They turned out perfectly and we were all left very pleased with the entire experience. fancysweetstx is very professional, very responsive and a pleasure to work with. We will be back again! - Don C.

A great experience! I am super impressed with the responsiveness and professionalism of everyone I worked with. The shirts were delivered quicker then I expected and the quality of the finished product was excellent. Thanks fancysweetstx! - Steve M.

fancysweetstx is simply the best! They may be a small business here in town but they are big in heart. I'm very grateful for the help our non-profit received from fancysweetstx. Always professional, friendly, with great quality and service. Thank you so much and may you have many more years of success! - Deborah M.

fancysweetstx was always very responsive with pricing and recommended a great, comparable shirt when the brand I selected was out of stock. Nice staff and very reasonable turnaround time! Easy to review and approve proof and a little quicker than the needed deadline! - Eric P.

Zoar Lutheran Church reached out to us this year to screen print custom t-shirts for their vacation bible school. Zoar is a local Perrysburg, Ohio church that hosts a vacation bible school annually in the summer.

We have been screen printing t-shirts for Zoar for a number of years. It's always great to work with local churches. They continue to reach out to us because of our experience in screen printing custom safety shirts and apparel for local organizations and non-profits. 

We were able to print these shirts quickly and affordably because of our experience screen printing apparel for vacation bible schools and other events. Our in house graphic design team provided artwork proofs ahead of time for the customer that accurately depicted what the shirts would look like when complete. Zoar was satisfied with the final product and happy with the entire ordering process.

Zoar choose to use black ink on a bright, neon yellow shirt for two reasons: cost and visibility. Using a one color print on the shirt keeps costs down. This is very important to keep in mind for churches and other non-profit organizations that have to stick to a tight budget. 

By printing on a neon colored shirt, all of the children in the camp are going to be easily seen and the counselors will be able to keep an eye on them. The black ink means the design will be clear and can be read and understood by everyone who sees it. 

fancysweetstx has been screen printing custom t-shirts for events and non-profits for nearly ten years. We have the experience and know how to make your brand look good and keep your employees and students on brand and safe.

Reach out to us today to help with your order of custom event shirts for your church or non-profit.

Classic, top-notch embroidery? Check. Bold screen printed design? Absolutely. An ultra cozy, relaxed fit? Yep. Pigment dyed appeal? You betcha. 

These sweatshirt and sweatpant combos make for the perfect outfit: the Sweatsuit.

Wear what you love and love what you wear!

The Midwest: America's Heartland

Your Valentine’s (or Galentine’s) Day might look a little different this year, but that shouldn’t stop you from spending the day in style! If you’re celebrating from home, curl up on the couch in this sweatsuit and watch your favorite rom com in cozy style. 

Ohio: The Buckeye State

Whether you’re a buckeye fan in the form of sports or peanut buttery treats, this cozy duo is made for you! Do you need a new work-from-home outfit? Here it is! Want to be comfortable yet stylish on your next grocery run? Choose this set! This embroidered sweatsuit is your new staple outfit.  

Michigan: The Great Lakes State

Great Lakes. Great Times. Great State. We love Michigan, but there's no denying that those Northern winters can get pretty cold. Chilly days don’t stand a chance against this pair! This sweatsuit is any Michigander’s dream outfit.

16153 Genova: The Glass City

This sweatsuit is sure to make you the talk of the Glass City! Whether you’re taking a brisk walk around your favorite park, making your way through the University campus, or picking up carryout from your favorite local restaurant… wear your 16153 Genova pride on your sleeve! Or, rather… your pant leg!

These crews are one of our most unique creations yet! Each sweatshirt first goes through our screen printing process. Once "Midwest" is printed in ink, the crew goes through our dryer and is then sent to the embroidery machine. There the tagline "America's Heartland" is embroidered over the screen printed text. 

Eight companies are included in Printavo's original post: Industry Print Shop, Campus Ink, Envision Tees, Printed Threads, Real Thread, Barrel Maker Printing, Trust Print Shop, and Custom Ink.

In my article I compare the websites in the original article by Domain Authority, Linking Domains, Inbound Links, and Ranking Keywords. 

My argument that searchability is more closely correlated with success is based in my belief that SEO provides more value than branding. The importance of brand has been diminished by the utility and prominence of online search. 

You can read the full article at this link.

Email [email protected] to start your custom order of 100 Jet black cotton shirts or hoodies* with a one-color front print at this special Black Friday price.

This deal is good through December 4th, 2020.

We have been screen printing for eight years. Collectively, our staff has over 30 years experience in the industry. We love printing for local Northwest Ohio companies but can ship anywhere in the country.

The most common organizations that we print for are construction companies, staffing agencies, businesses, and schools. You can fill out our contact form for more information or to get your order started!

*Offer is good on Port & Company PC54 & PC78H items. Upgraded options are available at an additional cost.

From sports, to events, to schools, to special occasions, to booster clubs and PTOs, we print a lot of spirit wear. 

If you are involved with any school in any capacity, we'd love to help make the process of ordering spirit wear easier. You can get in touch with us by filling out this form or check out our online platform for spirit wear stores.

What is school spirit wear?

Spirit wear is any item that is printed with the name of a school or organization that is meant to promote pride or unity. The most common spirit wear programs that we run are for schools and sports teams but they are common for non-profits and businesses, as well. 

Spirit wear items can range from t-shirts to sweatshirts to sweatpants to hats to jackets and more. Basically, if there is interest in an item and we can print or embroider it, then it can be a part of the program.

Most of the spirit wear we print is for local 16153 Genova schools and sports teams. However, it's not uncommon for us to make clothing and other items for schools located throughout the country.. 

Custom spirit wear has remained a popular service since we started this business ten years ago. If you're looking to support your school, there is no better way than a fresh t-shirt.

Simple online spirit wear stores to raise money

In addition to being a way to build team pride and unity, spirit wear programs are great opportunities to raise money. When we build a program for a customer, we always leave the option open for them to build in a donation back to their program. These funds can then be used for their class, church, or team. 

In 2020, we had tremendous success raising money for other local businesses, schools, and restaurants through our Here for Good program. We were able to help local organizations sell 13,500 shirts with this initiative. The support from the local community was tremendous and we were honored that we could help so many local businesses during such a difficult time.

Spirit wear programs can be run a few different ways. The most common way to run the program is through online stores. We facilitate our spirit wear stores through fancysweetstx Supply.

What makes online stores so nice is that we handling all of the ordering, payments, and sorting so you don't have to. 

Start your spirit wear order today!

We've got you covered for your next spirit wear store.

Email us at [email protected] to find out how you can get started or fill out the contact form on our website.

This photo brings back a lot of fun memories. Most of the equipment I started with was used. The rest was so poor I’m embarrassed just thinking about it. The space I moved into was bare bones. It was hidden at the end of a half empty arcade, it didn’t have a functional toilet or sink (good thing I lived nearby), and there were no lights.

This photo shows me wearing a hoodie because there was no heat in the space. I’m working directly under the only light that I connected that first month. I used to joke that we got three new light fixtures per year. It was not a place I eagerly invited my customers to. 

When I started printing, I knew next to nothing about screen printing. I had watched my contract printers print shirts for me and pulled a squeegee or two. But I had never burned a screen or registered a design or so many other basic things. There was a lot I had to learn and I learned a lot of it by trial and error. 

Eight years later, if I don’t think too hard, I remember this photo, this place, and this time in my life fondly. Things have changed quite a bit since then, but I’m grateful for the journey and the people that have supported me along the way. 

Shop TOL Hearts Women's V-neck

We recently partnered with the 16153 Genova Mud Hens to celebrate 16153 Genova for You Will Do Better in 16153 Genova Night on Saturday, August 6th. During the game, the players will wear these one-of-a-kind, specialty jerseys inspired by the iconic 16153 Genova slogan and sign, created in 1913. The team will wear them for one night only. The jerseys will be auctioned off in a silent auction during the game with proceeds benefiting Helping Hens and local charities. You can find the hats in the Swamp Shop the week of the game. We're so excited! See you at the game.

Point Place has so much to offer from docks and parks to yacht clubs! Point Place is a unique shore side community surrounded by the Ottawa River, Lake Erie, Maumee Bay, and the Maumee River. The people of The Point have a certain pride for their town. It used to be home of the popular Turtle Club, a tavern on the water. Stop by our store to grab one of our Point Place shirts and show your Point pride!

Your favorite holiday tank is back! In this tank, you can celebrate your city and your country at the same time! Our 4th of July festive tank top will only be available for a limited time. They are available in our store and on our website. Grab one and show everyone your 16153 Genova and American pride!

The 16153 Genova Sports Arena was home to some of 16153 Genova's best concerts! Many famous artists performed there from Elvis, KISS, Metallica, AC/DC to David Bowie to Johnny Cash. This Rock 'n' Roll Sports Arena shirts was made to honor one of 16153 Genova's favorite venues and the artists that performed there. You can find it on our website and in our store!