Branding Your Clothes - The Basics

As one of the most popular categories used for promotional purposes, apparel provides a wide range of items, looks, and fabrics.
But knowing which printing method to choose can sometimes be a tad confusing. It's important to understand which method best suits not only your needs, but also your budget. 
I am going to attempt to decipher the more common methods for you in this blog post.

Digital Printing


This process is growing in popularity and can be easy on your wallet for smaller size order because it allows you to print a full-colour image with much lower set-up costs than screen printing, which we'll get to in a minute. It also lets you do more custom designs much more easily. Although many processes use digital printing as their base, a common method is when a file is simply digitally printed onto transfer paper, and then heat applied onto the piece of clothing.

Screen Printing


This is one of the oldest methods. It can cost more up front because of all of the prep invloved.  Here an image is produced by separating the design into a series of different colours. The more colours in the design, the more expensive this method gets, as each screen needs to be set up on a press. This method is more cost effective with larger quantities, because once it's all set up, you can print as many shirts, or other clothes, as you need.

Embroidery

In this process, an embroiderer takes the image file and sort of translates it into the proper stitches needed to recreate the design. The machine can then read the file & sews out the image. This process offers a great look, however may not be best for designs that have a high degree of detail.

Dye Sublimation


This is another digital printing method where special sublimation paper is run through a specialized ink-jet printer. The paper is then placed on top of the garment being printed on, and then pressed using heat. The heat from the press coverts the ink into a gas that injects itself into the fibres of the piece of clothing, rather than sit on top of the fabric. This method works well for oversized images, but only works on white or light-coloured polyester fabrics.

Question for all of you...

What is the coolest design you've seen on a shirt that you can remember?