Offering clients the latest in apparel styles and fabrics is key for a successful textile screen-printing company. Since new garment styles are introduced nearly every week, it’s advantageous to stay abreast of them to offer your clients all available options.
This installment of the Impressions Tech Tips Newsletter will review the American Apparel HJ407 Long-Sleeve Hammer Tee. It is manufactured with 5.8-ounce, 100% ring-spun cotton fabric. This demonstration will involve printing on heather grey long sleeves that have a fabric content of 90% cotton/10% polyester, the latter portion of which is needed to achieve the heathered effect in the gray fabric.
For those who are leery of printing on polyester, this garment’s 10% content does not pose a threat for dye migration or bleeding. Since the fabric also is composed of 5.8-ounce, ring-spun cotton, it has a smooth and tightly knit surface, which is perfect for screen printing. This allows for easy graphic reproduction of high-detail or halftone applications. The fabric’s tight knit also allows the use of higher mesh counts to print thinner ink films, resulting in a softer-hand print and minimal ink consumption.
In Part 1 of this series, step-by-step techniques were listed for everything from press setup to preparing pallets and applying pallet adhesive. In Part 2, we'll start with emulsion practices and sufficient coverage on screens.
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From the moment I enrolled in my high school printing class as a freshman to the time I printed my first shirt, I’ve been hooked on screen printing.
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