We've all seen them. Shirts with huge, thick screenprints, weighing down a shirt that looks like it's cut to fit a refrigerator box. Tees with gaudy, neon designs that would have been embarrassing in 1983. Decorations so poor that not only is the logo unintelligible, to look at it is to stare at the very heart of Comic-Sans, white-text-on-yellow-background madness.
No one likes staring at madness, comic-sans inspired or otherwise. So whether you're intimately involved in the design process or just interested in lending a learned eye on your clients' artwork choices, brushing up on your knowledge of printing and decoration techniques once in a while is a good idea. Below a few design experts share some insights on decoration trends and methods so you remain a lean, mean, imprinting machine.
Color Discharge
A chemical process where the original dye of a shirt is sucked out and replaced with a new color, color discharge sees a lot of use in fashion-forward pieces or designs with fine line work.
WHERE IT SHINES: Decorating light-weight apparel. Steve Kanney, general manager for Target Graphics, Naperville, Ill., explained that because it adds no weight to a tee since it's just swapping dyes, it's a great way to decorate lighter weight tees without compromising their feel and texture.
A HANDY TIP: "You've got to start with a good garment," said Kanney. "If you don't want it to be a car washrag, you've got to spend an extra dollar on the shirt, make it a more fashion-forward garment to start with," he said. "If it's not a good garment, you could give them out, but they're going to be out in the back yard mowing the lawn in it."
Tie-Dye
The famous dye process that helped define the look of a generation, tie-dye is still stylish today and seen many places in the promotional industry.
- Companies:
- Dyenomite
- Target Graphics






