Please be environmentally responsible and humane

T-SHIRT MANUFACTURERS CAN HELP FIGHT CHILD SLAVERY IN THE COTTON INDUSTRY BY BOYCOTTING UZBEKI COTTON

“Uzbek children. sometimes as young as seven, are drafted in as cheap or free labour during the cotton harvest” From White Gold - the True Cost of Cotton (A report by the Environmental Justice Foundation)

“Uzbek cotton is a state monopoly, relying on slave labour and the forced labour of hundreds of thousands of children working in appalling conditions for little, or often no pay.” Craig Murray, Former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan.

Spreadshirt Releases DTG on Color

The popular POD t-shirt company Spreadshirt has recently released DTG printing for their products. They will continue to offer plot printing and flex will still be the high quality option it has always been., this in my opinion makes them the most versatile, best printing company out their for running your own shirt shop

The Myth of Digital Printing.

I had a revelation the other day.

After hearing so much about the flexibility of digital printing I tried it out on the printfection.com website.

Being a long time Spreadshirt.com user and fan I had been experiencing a frustration with being unable to use flex and plot printing to deal with fine details.

I must say designing a t-shirt with a fine splatter effect and more than 3 colors was a liberating experience. But the process is not the fairy tale I'd been led to believe.

It works great on white, but printing on color has a tint problem, and using designs on dark and light apparel requires the creation and uploading of two different images.

I personally missed the ability to change the plot color of a design on the fly.

I would say despite it's promises it still falls quite short of plot printing.

Stick with spreadshirt the quality of the product and service is better.

Cheaper screen printing

I recently used this company http://lowertownprinting.com/ and I had great results with them.

Almost $50 cheaper than cusotmink for an order of 12 two color print hanes beefy tees.

When to move out of print fufillment

You can make a decent amount of money working with a print fulfillment partner selling t-shirts.
The commitment is low, as is the overhead, but when is it time to move to screen-printing and run your own e commerce system.

There are some decided disadvantages to working with a print fulfillment partner. Branding Leaks, keeping up with their technology changes, and working within print technology limitations are all things that can be frustrating.

The do-it-yourself approach can be important to controlling the quality at every stage of the process.

If you have a design that is selling 24 copies in a six month period of the same color combination you could probably make more money producing it yourself.

For some the transition is gradual and they will continue to drop ship some products form a fulfillment partner even when running your own cart.

Be sure to think thought to whole process its easier to calculate on paper than to run our of money later.

Great Screen Printer

I've worked with Customink.com quite a few times now and have always bee very satisfied with their service and quality of the product.

Custom T-Shirts at CustomInk.com are also one of the most affordable options out there. I recommend you give them a try.

Ribbed vs. Jersey knit

I'm sure you've seen t-shirt that say something like "men's jersey tee" before. No they aren't t-shirts that are made to be sports jerseys. The type of stitch used to knit the fabric that is used to make a t-shirt makes a big difference in the feel of the shirt. Being aware of what style of shirt is currently in fashion can be the difference between success and failure.

Essential difference: Rib knit is stretchy, jersey knit isn't. Ribbed knit are usually more fitted, and consequently popular for many girls styles. Jersey knit is what you find most mens styles offered in. Your standard traditional men's t-shirt is jersey knit. There has been a move towards ribbed knit in general however across many markets.

Think of ribbed knit like the weave of a cheap Chinese finger trap you win at the arcade. and think of jersey knit like your more traditional grid.

Hope this helps.