180 DIRECT TO GARMENT...

I've just stumbled across a company that will print your designs onto a t-shirt. Yeah, I know there are tons of those sites out there, but this one piqued my interest, as someone had linked to them from an Etsy store, meaning the user designs, Etsy provides the platform, and the printing company handles the graphics and shipping. Slick.

So I had a mooch around to see what the process was for getting a design up to them, the method they used to put it on a t-shirt, the colours and sizes of garments they offered and the all-important minimum order requirement - no good finding somewhere that will make the perfect shirt if you have to buy at least 100 of them.

The process is really straightforward: pick a t-shirt type from a good range, pick a colour, pick a size, and then upload your image or add your text. Drag the design around on the front or back of the garment until you are happy, and then press save. The site then displays the price per item before VAT and shipping. I created a test t-shirt, added my address, etc., and it came to just £13... delivered! It sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?

The company uses Direct-to-Garment (DTG) printing, which is basically modified inkjet printing. Instead of printing on paper, they print on garments. DTG machines hold the garment in a fixed position and lay down special water-based ink through a print head. The ink is then cured within the garment fibres through a combination of a fixation agent and a tunnel drier.

I hope the design comes out perfectly, but the realist in me expects a blurry, poorly transferred image. If I end up with something decent, then the world is our lobster, we can create our own, bespoke t-shirts, hoodies, jumpers and even coats. Fancy a cap or a cup? I know a place that can do that too...

I'll post an update once it arrives. Until then, we have had to settle for a blurry, auto-generated image of a lovely lady with our logo plastered across her chest. Oh, hang on, what if that is how it comes out? Sake.