Making custom t-shirts?

[kami]

I want to make some gag shirts for a couple friends, but how expensive is this? I just want to make a couple shirts really. What kind of business do I look for? what do i look up in the yellowpages? Someone told me silk screening...is that what i look for?
And can I just give them something like a photoshop file and they print it on the shirts?

anyone who knows anything about this, i'd appreciate some info here.
thanks

 

[Ladi]

The cheapest and easiest route would be buying tshirt iron-on transfer paper (from compusa/staples/craft stores) that you can run through your printer then iron onto plain tshirts from just about anywhere. You could try going to a local place that does embroidery/silk screening/etc. -- most volunteer/school-types of organizations know of a few if you can't find them in your yellow pages, but unless you're doing a fairly good-sized run, the cost generally isn't worth it. Whether or not a shop will just accept a .psd is debateable -- you need to ask them if they accept electronic files (and what formats) or if they prefer camera ready art.

~Ladi

 

[kami]

Thanks but I was worried about the quality of those iron-on transfers...and really how long will they actually stay on the shirt? a few washes?

 

[Ladi]

Granted, this is a self-promo site, but most people have pretty good opinions of the newer iron-on transfer papers: Hanes site. You could always get some samples and try them out...

~Ladi

 

[kami]

thanks, maybe i'll check some stores for that brand...all i really have is Staples and Future Shop. wonder if they carry this...it sounds pretty good.

 

[kami]

bump^
can't seem to find this Hanes stuff locally...anone have experience w/ any other brands? thanks

 

[kami]

^someone must've tried this junk before

 

[slipperyslope]

The HP iron-ons work fine if you are doing it on white t-shirts.

Jim

 

[kami]

thanks, is it possible to do with black shirts? assuming the background of your text is black...then could you cut around the remaining white of the iron on?

 

[dieselstation]

check out threadless.com

they can take your design and print it up for you.. and even help you sell it on their website. it's a bunch of designers pitching in together so it's not a big corporate thing.

 

[yobarman]

ack...i took a graphic design course this year and learned a lot about printing on shirts. Iron-on Printing is weak weak weak! The best way to do it is go to a print shop and see if they Screen Print. I'm not really sure how much it will cost but if you have the photoshop file ready it shouldn't take that long and it will probably lower the price. There's a new process out there called sublimation...but I'm not sure how it works on shirts. Anyway, look up in the yellow pages for "printing" or "screen printing" or something along those lines.