T-Shirt printer recommendations, please

Depends...

It depends on what you're looking for...

Silkscreening will always be the cheapest option, usually ranging between $5 and $8 per shirt, depending on the number of colors being printed, type of shirt, and number of sides being printed.

Direct-to-Garment (aka DTG or Digital) will be more expensive, but unlike silkscreen, there is no heavy "patch" feel. It is essentially an over-sized inkjet printer that pulls the shirt into the bay and prints directly on the shirt with a water-soluble dye that dyes the cotton fibers directly. It will not crack or peel like a silkscreened shirt will over time.

Pricing for both of these options will be affected by quantity of shirts as well - most silkscreen printers will have a minimum order requirement, whereas DTG can do one-offs.

I used to work for a t-shirt printing company named Big Frog (http://www.bigfrog.com). They have stores located across the country, so you may want to see if there is one located near you, otherwise they can, and will, fulfill your order and ship it to you. You will want to ask them if they have the printer with the white ink, as that is needed to print on darker colored shirts (i.e. navy blue, brown, black, etc.) as the white ink will be layed down first and the color printed on top of it. The white acts as a "foundation" for the color so it doesn't get absorbed into the cotton and not show up.

Hopefully this has been helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Custom Ink

Take a look at Custom Ink (http://www.customink.com/)
Our church just ordered about 35 Shirts with 2 color front printing (1 area) on a really nice 50/50 blend T and they came to about $9/ea. the more you order the cheaper they get.

We have ordered from other places in the past but this is the best experience we have had yet. The service was fantastic and we received them 1 week after ordering with the free shipping.

(and No, i don't work for them)

I'll second custom ink. Went with them for relay for life last year. They were wonderful to work with, both online and over the phone.

I always go local. Look in your town and see what you can get. I recently got about 2 dozen shirts done, a mix of performance Ts and regular cotton, and the price was 20% less than any of the online places, and way easier to work with. Just my 2¢.

You can check out a company called Big Frog. I used to work for them and the pricing is pretty decent, plus there's one (at least) in most states.

Check out local printers before you go the online route. I work for a place that does screenprinting, and I can't tell you how many times people have brought in designs they did on the Custom Ink website, then found out the charge would be more than they wanted to pay or it would take too long. Custom Ink farms out their printing. The printer has to make a profit, and so does Custom Ink. If there's a problem, a local company will usually bend over backward to keep you happy and deliver on time.

Custom Ink

Take a look at Custom Ink (http://www.customink.com/)
Our church just ordered about 35 Shirts with 2 color front printing (1 area) on a really nice 50/50 blend T and they came to about $9/ea. the more you order the cheaper they get.

We have ordered from other places in the past but this is the best experience we have had yet. The service was fantastic and we received them 1 week after ordering with the free shipping.

(and No, i don't work for them)

Click to expand...

ys tnk

I have a few Direct-to-Garment T-shirts. It's what Redbubble uses for my designs. I don't believe there's a great deal of difference in durability, although I've not owned them long enough to be 100% certain. It's a relatively new process, whereas I still have Screenprinted designs I created from the 1990's.

The Direct-to-Garment process does have a couple of advantages. The obvious being small print runs are economical. Also you can produce full CMYK color, so your color palette (number of colors in a single design) is far not limited.

Personally, I prefer Screenprinting. But then it's a technology I've used for almost 2 decades, so it's probably a preference based solely on familiarity.

I also suggest going local. I get great prices and outstanding quality on my "customized" pop culture T-shirts from my printer.

There is an online website to order your company t shirt named 'Raftshirt'.I hear that they have good service for make some shirts for your company.You can check the website.They are good if you want to do online design. I just recommend you.

I just used customink myself for 10 shirts. I very surprised with the quality as they came out great.

Edit: ha, this thread is old.