What's the cheapest way to get a good quality custom print tshirt

February 15, 2010 1:19 PM

I have a logo type design that's a solid black that I want to print onto a single tshirt. I believe screen printing brings out the best results so im wondering what the cheapest way to do this is? either spending a small amount and DIY ing it at home (kit reconebdations needed) -OR- use an online service and upload my artwork  (if such a site in the UK exists?)  
posted by toocan to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (5 answers total)

I've had success with the speedball photoemulsion kits. At 45 bucks + garment, you may be able to find a cheaper shop (even outside the UK), but you'd have it available for future projects as well.
posted by CharlesV42 at 1:31 PM on February 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

screenprinting is good, and, if done well, can last a good deal. However, if your design is not particularly complex and in a vector format, an even better solution is thermal vinyl which is slightly less costly -especially considering you only need one tshirt- as you don't need screens, etc; just feed the .eps (.ai, what have you) file to a cutting plotter and apply the result to a tshirt with a hot press. Of course this is usually done in shops.
As for online services, I will never recommend spreadshirt.co.uk enough.
posted by _dario at 1:40 PM on February 15, 2010

Response by poster: Yeah it's pretty a logo and font so maybee vinyl would work although i'm not sure it would look the same? A screen print has a dull matt finish but wouldn't vinyl be shiny somewhat?
posted by toocan at 1:59 PM on February 15, 2010

In Pittsburgh we have a screen printing studio that anyone can use. Perhaps there is one around you?
posted by tss at 2:20 PM on February 15, 2010

There's several different finishes available. Anyway we're talking about a layer of about 1/10th of a mm, so it's not so much 'applied' as rather molten into the fabric, it's not very glossy.
posted by _dario at 12:12 AM on February 16, 2010