How to Screen Print A T-Shirt

To understand the time and care that is taken into each silk screen printed job, we thought it would be helpful to show you what happens each time we have a job to print.
The first step is you sending us your artwork when you place your order through our PrintMojo system.

Once we have the artwork, it gets sent to our art department for processing.
They take a look at your printing instructions and come up with a composite proof for you so you can see what your design will look like on the t-shirts (or hats, sweatshirts, baby doll tees or other garments).
Our proofs will show you the ink colors to be used on your order, the print size dimensions for your artwork, and it will confirm the specific print locations you have instructed us to print.

At this time, you can instruct the art department to make any changes you see fit. If you'd like different ink colors used in your design, just let us know. If you'd like it to be printed smaller, just let us know.
We don't print your job until you are thrilled with your proof and you have specifically approved it for printing. We'll work with you until you are 100% satisfied with your design!
After the art has been approved, we need to output the film that we use to make the screens.

Turning out the lights:

All of the art is then pre-registered and checked for detail and quality:

Once the art is completely approved in-house we send the job to our screen dept.

The first step in the screen department is to coat the screens with a photosensitive emulsion

Next, the screen dries, and it is placed on the vacuum light table and exposed with a 3000 watt metal halide light.

      

The Final Touches:

After being exposed the screens are then washed out with a pressure washer at around 1300 psi.
Once the image is washed out, it is double checked with the films for accuracy.




The Actual Printing Process:

Each color in the design needs a screen and each screen must be blocked, taped, setup, and squeegeed.

Just imagine if we had to do this each time a t-shirt was ordered. You can see why screen printing was designed to print quality garments in bulk quantities.

For smaller runs, we may use one of our manual presses. For larger runs with more colors, we use our 8 head automatic press.

By "flashing" or drying the ink between each color layer, we are able to give you bright, professional quality printing, with years of wear and tear :-)

Blocking	Tape
Setup	Print

There you have it. Most ALL other companies charge for this process.

Top T-Shirt Shops in California

California is known for a lot of things. They have Hollywood. They have excessive heat. They have Disneyland and its magically delicious churros. They have irritating commercials that star a governor that once played the role of “Muscleman” in a movie called “The San Pedro Beach Bums.” Californians also wear t-shirts all the time, and all the cool people flock to these t-shirt hot spots with tee designs that are too cool for school.

D-Structure (San Francisco)























D-Structure is a combination shirt store/art gallery located in the Lower Haight neighborhood. With
designs ranging from an undead Donald Duck to a psychedelic pink tree, D-Structure tries to create an art community with both their designs and products, often hosting events for men and women in their mid-twenties/early thirties who want to socialize with like-minded new age art lovers and/or flirt with girls who dig t-shirts.


Armory Hip Hop Shop (San Diego)


Although they still don’t seem to sell any chain mail or Viking helmets, the Armory Hip Hop Shop in San Diego is one of the only SD stores with unique hip hop inspired clothing for the urban gangsta inside you. Their t-shirts have the standard graffiti style that is popular in the industry, but they also have an artistic flavor that makes their designs more unique than any random urban clothing store you find in some mall.


Johnny Cupcakes (Los Angeles)

 


There are two things in life that are truly important. Obviously the first is t-shirts. All empirical studies suggest that the meaning of life is the creation and/or purchase of amazing shirt designs. Ask any religion and they’ll tell you the same thing. But a close second, of course, is cupcakes and all their overpriced goodness. So any place that manages to sell both cupcakes and awesome t-shirts has to be one of the best spots for t-shirts in the state, quite possibly the world. That is why if you’re in Los Angeles, you should stop by Johnny Cupcakes – a 24 hour cupcake/shirt store with colorful pop culture designs including, but not limited to, a cupcake skull and crossbones. The perfect shirt to be buried in? Quite possibly yes.

MICHAEL JACKSON T-SHIRTS

Back in June, when the King of Pop died, created cool Michael Jackson tees. But now, after 2 months since his death, many more t-shirt brands have created Michael Jackson t-shirts . 

 

    

Walkin on the Moon

The Iller

Long Live the King

Long Live the King

Michael Jackson ’09

Who’s Bad?

 

 

   

Must now these things before start a T-Shirts Business

If you have a idea to start a t shirts business, you should know about these things.

 

1. Research.

Make sure you’re knowledgeable about the clothing industry before you dive in. Get an understanding of how the business works. Read about how other brands became successful, and model a similar strategy.

2. Planning.

Before you get started, have a clear idea of what you plan on doing. Try to decide things like what kind of t-shirts you plan on selling, who your target market is, whether your t-shirts will be available online only or if you’ll eventually be aiming to sell in stores. Plan a marketing strategy that involves both free and paid advertising methods of getting your brand in front of your target market. Compose a practical business plan to use as a guideline for operating. For starters, identify your brand’s values, mission, objectives, strategies, goals, and long term vision.

3. Know about your competition and learn about it.

You should always know what other clothing labels you’ll be competing with. If you’re starting a label based on humorous t-shirts you should watch what all the other funny t-shirt labels are doing. Keep track of things like their design variety, pricing, and promotion, because it may spur some new ideas for your own business strategy. This can be done easily nowadays by reading the blogs of competitor brands and signing up to their newsletters to keep tabs on what they’re up to. This knowledge can help you keep up.

4. Create products people would actually interesting to buy.

It seems this step should be obvious, but you’d be surprised at some of the t-shirts you can find these days. Test the quality of your t-shirts by getting honest opinions from others, preferably people who are within your target audience.

5. Know the finances.

Once you know what you plan on doing, get an idea of how much everything is gonna cost you. When you start producing and selling t-shirts, keep track of all of your expenses. Get screen printing quotes from several  printers and compare prices to get the best deal, without sacrificing quality. Add in the cost for labeling, hang tagging, bagging, or whatever other finishing options you might use. Don’t forget the shipping envelopes, boxes, and product storage. Don’t be fooled by the hundreds of new t-shirt start-ups you see these days; starting a t-shirt business isn’t cheap. A lot of this should also help you decide how much you should charge for your clothing.

6. Promotion strategy.

Figure out a way to spread the word in a manner that those who discover your brand go on to spread the word to others. For starters, your strategy can include PPC ads, press releases to blogs, and social networking. You can even give away t-shirts with your logo for free. Using guerrilla tactics and promotional items like this can have a tremendous impact on your business growth. However, don’t be a Cheapo. Sooner or later you’ll realize that you’re gonna have to spend money to market your t-shirt business, so you should be willing to pay for things like online ads, event sponsorships, and other paid marketing methods. Understandably not everyone is rollin’ in the dough, so find smart ways to balance paid promotion with free promotion to create an excellent strategy.

7. Find some partners.

You might start out on your own but you should find partners to help maximize your brand’s potential and help you reach your goals more efficiently. Aim to have partners within your company while also collaborating with other businesses that may be of some help to you.

8. Make your goals.

How many t-shirts do you plan on selling this year? How about this month or this week? Alot of people new to the business have no idea, or just don’t care. Then there’s the group of people who are too scared to set a  goal out of fear that they won’t reach it. A successful business sets goals of success, in order to have a solid idea of what it’s working towards. Set a goal and believe in your ability to reach it. As the law of attraction goes: if you know you’re gonna reach it, you’re gonna reach it. If you decide from this day forward that you will sell 10 t-shirts every week, and strongly believe in your business, you’ll do everything you can to figure out a way to get those tees moving. If you don’t set a goal, well of course, you’ll be stuck with a box of t-shirts you were too scared to sell.

9. Consider how you compare to the competition and emphasize your competitive edge.

That’s a good way to get you nowhere. Try to figure out ways of improving your designs, your strategy or your work habits. When you’re just getting started you’re still learning so keep at it. Winners never quit and quitters never win. Read informative, motivational books, to keep your spirits up. Frequently visit other brand’s websites and blogs, and see how much fun they’re having, to remind yourself of where you wanna be in a few years and how bad you really want it. Reanalyze your business plan, promotional efforts, and branding strategy. Consider how you compare to the competition and emphasize your competitive edge. 

10. Have fun.

Halloween T-Shirts Designs

Found some T-Shirts designs for Halloween Day...:D

How To Promote Your T-Shirts Designs

Selling T-Shirts is not so easy.Before you are going to sell your t shirts, you have to promote your brand and t shirts in some ways.This post about how to promote your t shirts brand offline.

1. Business Cards

 

This is the most important thing to have when running a t shirt design business. As a clothing line owner you need to network like crazy and the one thing people always ask for is a business card. If you are caught without one there i a good chance you will not be taking seriously and you could miss out on a big opportunity. You might even find every day people asking you where they can get your tees and handing them a business card with your website url is a great way to ensure nabbing a new customer.

So the first thing any t shirt business owner should get is some Spiffy New Business Cards with your logo, website url and contact details on each card.

2. Flyers

Flyers are a great way to promote sales to your customers via standard mail and also at events. Their are plenty of holidays during the year shoppers associate with sales and these are all Great Times for Flyer Printing and mailing to past and potential new customers promoting sales, contests and more. Start building up your mailing lists today and keep a stack of flyers handy at any t shirt events you attend.

3. Stickers

People enjoy supporting brands they love and stickers are a great way to create a guerrilla marketing team out of your loyal customers. You can throw a few free stickers in with each order, give them away at events, or stick them around town yourself! When you Order Your Sticker Printing, make sure your logo and website url are on the stickers so people know where to go when they run across your brands stickers.

4. Hang Tags

Hang tags are a kick butt way of reinforcing your brand name on your actual products. Many clothing line owners create Custom Clothing Hang Tags with their logo on them and attach them to each t shirt. This is a cheap way to help people remember your brand name and it is also a good spot to place pricing tags without damaging your t shirts. You can order several hundred hag tags for cheap and there are a bunch of easy ways  to attach them to your tees quickly.

5. Vinyl Banners

Going to concerts, trade shows and other events is an important thing for any t shirt business owner to do. Many brands spend a lot of time traveling and attending events to promote their t shirts to a specific target audience. If you can find the right audience for your tees at events you can sell tons of tee designs in just one day. Usually you pay for a spot to set up a booth and then its up to you to draw people in.

I have seen t-shirt business owners create very impressive setups to promote and display their tees. Putting up a Big Vinyl Banner is a very good way to draw people in and the banner is something you can keep using over at any events you go to.

6. Letterhead

A good letterhead design can be used for a lot of things such as standard letters, contracts, estimates, invoices and so on. Its a simple way to make your business appear more professional and keep your branding consistent across all your business and marketing collateral. A Good Letterhead Printing design should not be too overpowering, but should include your logo design, design elements that work with your branding and important contact information such as your website url, email and phone number.

7. Greeting Cards

The perfect holiday promotional tool, greeting cards can work wonders for bringing in extra sales during the holidays. Greeting Card Printing is also a really nice way to just say thank you to your customers. You don’t always have to pitch a sale or offer with a greeting card. A simple seasons greetings form your clothing line with your logo and website url is enough to get people back to your website when they are trying to think of ideas for gifts.

8. Catalogs

Catalogs are perfect for trade shows and handing out to retail stores interested in selling your tees. It allows people to quickly see all the designs you have in stock and can help them order products offline. If you have a ton of products you can even invest in Catalog Printing and allow people to order a printed catalogs online. You should also carry a small stack of catalogs to events in case any potential retailers like your line and want to take back some samples and a catalog of your products for review.

9. Roll Labels

If you can’t afford expensive custom packaging for your tee designs, but you still want to make an impact you can use Custom Roll Labels. The roll labels can be printed at various custom sizes and placed on standard envelopes and boxes to give them a sweet custom look that is consistent with your branding. Roll labels can make all the difference when it comes to packaging design. They are super easy to have made and only take seconds to place on your product packaging.

10. Sales Sheet

There comes a time for many t shirt business owners when expansion is needed. There is nothing cooler than seeing your t shirt designs in clothing stores and making great money at the same time. In order to get your t shirt designs into stores, you usually need to pitch your line to a retail business that sells tees. Having a Professional Looking Sales Sheet is a super simple way to let a retailers know everything about your clothing line and individual designs such as what your tees look like, how they are printed and who your target audience is.