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Introducing ESPDIGITAL

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ESP DIGITAL is our new digital print platform that makes it easy to create quality printed shirts online, with no setup, no fuss and delivered to your door! We have developed our ESP Digital Platform to eliminate the need for the quoting and print specs process that is essential for our bulk screen printing, but time-consuming and inconvenient if you only want one shirt.

ESP DIGITAL is perfect for 1 off and small orders.

  • Convenient Online ordering

  • Get creative with our online design tool

  • No Minimums

  • No Set-Up costs

  • Fast Turnaround 2-4 days

  • Choose Direct to Garment prints or Printed Transfers

  • Choose a wide variety of Garments from AS Colour and more.

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The Top 6 T-Shirt Printing Methods

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1) Screen Printing

Best for: Achieving a high-quality print at a low cost per shirt. (Print runs of 12 or more shirts)

Traditional screen printing often results in a much better print than direct to garment (DTG) printing. Softer and less of a "thick ink" feel.

Tips:

  • Ask for a “soft hand” print. This can be achieved with water-based ink or plastisol ink.

  • Ask to do a “press check” as your shirts are being printed. This will allow you and your screen printer to make last-minute adjustments with ink colours and printing quality.

  • Printing on premium 100% cotton ringspun cotton shirts will result in better prints (softer, better resolution, better colours) than a cheaper “carded cotton” shirt. For premium t-shirts, have a look at most AS Colour, Anvil or the Gildan Hammer Style

  • If your print requires an underbase, ask for a discharge underbase. This will bleach out the dye of the shirt fabric, so bright colours can be printed onto dark fabric. Resulting in a much softer print, compared to a thick white plastisol underbase.

2) Direct to Garment (DTG) Printing

Best for: Small print runs and Printing on Demand.

Direct to Garment Printing (Inkjet printing onto shirts) is not known for the best quality prints. It’s also not the most cost-effective kind of printing for large print runs.

But it is excellent if you need shirts printed in small quantities. This method is a favourite for drop shippers and business startups.

Another advantage with DTG printing is you don’t need to have colour separations made for your graphic. A transparent PNG image of your graphic is all your DTG print vendor will need.

Tips:

  • Send your design to ESPDTG to order as little as one shirt. This costs from around $35 per shirt.

  • Printing with no underbase on light fabric will often result in a print that looks and feels better than printing on a dark shirt.

3) Supacolour Digital/Screen Print Transfers

Best for: Ability to achieve high-quality prints with unlimited colours.

This method allows us to print unlimited colours and gradients and Supafine detail. Excellent stretch & rebound; no cracking or fading, even after 50+ washes. Can be used on almost any fabric and garment.

You can print a minimum of 20 transfers. Then we heat press the graphics to shirts as orders arrive.

4) Plastisol Heat Transfers

Best for: The ability to apply the graphic to your shirts as the orders come in. Low cost.

This method involves screen print your graphic onto sheets of transfer paper. The advantage is you can heat press the graphic in-house as orders arrive. No more committing your shirt inventory to specific graphics.

5) Vinyl Cut Heat Transfers

Best for: Small print runs.

Vinyl cutting is best for simple designs.

The biggest downside to vinyl cutting is the labour-intensive “weeding.” This is removing the excess vinyl after cutting. The more complex your design, the more you will have to manually peel away the unwanted areas of vinyl.

6) Printed Vinyl Cut Heat Transfers

Best for: Small print runs.

Similar to Vinyl cut transfers but using our high-end solvent printer to print your graphic before cutting

The biggest downside to printed vinyl transfers is the need for a border around any fine detail and cutting is the labour-intensive “weeding.” This is removing the excess vinyl after cutting. The more complex your design, the more you will have to manually peel away the unwanted areas of vinyl.

 

Based on Original Article from raydombroski.com

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Graphic Design by Excellent Screen Printers

Did you know that we cannot only print your tees, but also design them also? Our Art Department can design your next shirt graphic and because we are printers also, we can tailor the design to meet your order requirements and optimise for the print method for your job. Contact our Art Department today! art@esponline.co.nz

 

Design Examples from our Design Team

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Why 3D Ideas Don't work on 2D Garments

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Why 3D Ideas Don't work on 2D Garments

So you have an awesome idea to have your print wrapping around a shirt, over a seam or shoulder like our mock up? This is so unique and amazing you wonder why no one else has done it before?

We often get these requests and 99% of the time they are from large agency designers without an apparel design back ground. Looks great on a Photoshop mock up like our example above, but screen Printing is a 2D process and unfortunately we can’t print around a 3D object and printing over seams is just horrible.

If you want the look of a wrap around side print the best way to achieve this is print the front and back separately. To do this we need the print to be no closer than 15mm-20mm to the side seam. This avoids ugly ink build up close to the seam

Before spending time on your amazing new t-shirt project we suggest checking out our online print guide to know what is possible and work within these boundaries. We love working on out of the box designs, but it’s always best to talk to us first.

if you really need the seamless wrap around shirt, there are only a couple ways to achieve these designs and unfortunately none are workable on stock cotton blank garments.

Off shore production where the panels are printed before the garment is assembled. This generally requires a large orders, developing your own garment fit and long lead times. This is why you see these styles of prints on mass market garments only and never on stock tees like Anvil, AS Colour, Gildan etc.

Printing over seams is time consuming and always resulting in a sub par print . Because the shirt has creases, double layer seams etc, the print can come out with crease lines, missing in areas or ink where ink builds up in thick ugly layers around the seams. It looks horrible.

 

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Why 72dpi sucks and what exactly are pixel & vector files?

If 72dpi was a person it would be a jerk!

Most pixel based images from the web are usually 72 dpi and are near impossible to use for screen printing, unless you dont mind that lo-fi un-readable look.  300 dpi is the minimum resolution to recreate an image on a shirt, but we just love it when we receive the artwork in a Vector format.

But what are “Pixel” & “Vector” formats exactly?

Pixel or Raster images are made of pixels. A pixel is a single point or the smallest single component in a display device. Let's think of them as little tiny squares of colour that make up a photo or web image. Vector images are mathematical calculations from one point to another that form geometrical shapes.

Pixel or Raster images are made of pixels. A pixel is a single point or the smallest single component in a display device. Let's think of them as little tiny squares of colour that make up a photo or web image. Vector images are mathematical calculations from one point to another that form geometrical shapes.

When it comes to Pixels, 300dpi is champion.

When a pixel or raster image is scaled up, it loses quality. A raster image can be enlarged by either adding more pixels (which Photoshop randomly - but smartly - adds) or enlarging the size of the pixel. Either way you are spreading the original data over a larger area and will lose clarity. 

72dpi is perfect for websites, but when it comes to any kind of print, for the best result your image needed to be created at 300dpi and 100% the final print size. A vector program will use a mathematical formula to build an image that can be scaled to any size without losing quality and why we love it! A good rule if thumb when deciding if Pixels or Vector is best; Pixels for Photos - Vector for Logos and Graphics.

72dpi is perfect for websites, but when it comes to any kind of print, for the best result your image needed to be created at 300dpi and 100% the final print size. A vector program will use a mathematical formula to build an image that can be scaled to any size without losing quality and why we love it! A good rule if thumb when deciding if Pixels or Vector is best; Pixels for Photos - Vector for Logos and Graphics.

We understand that a lot of people aren’t graphic designers, but usually have someone create their art or logo for them.  Well whoever does your logo, be sure to send them to our ART GUIDELINES page. You will be glad you did! and so will we!

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So Many Questions, where do I start??

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So Many Questions, where do I start??

We now offer more print techniques than ever and with so many options it’s hard to know where to start. We have put together some helpful answers to commonly asked questions.

How many do I need to order?

This is our most common question, especially when you are new to the printing process. We can print from as little as a single shirt, but not all print methods are suitable for all order sizes.

Let’s start with our core service, SCREEN PRINTING. This process requires film, screens and time to set up each print on the carousel. Essentially there is an order quantity threshold over which these setup costs become economical. After thousands of print jobs, we have created a basic rule of thumb to help calculate the minimum amount of shirts to order. Multiply each colour in your design by 12 and this is our suggested minimum order.

  • 1 Colour Print (1 x 12pcs) = Minimum Total Order 12pcs

  • 2 Colour Print (2 x 12pcs) = Minimum Total Order 24pcs

  • 3 Colour Print (3 x 12pcs) = Minimum Total Order 36pcs

  • 4 Colour Print (4 x 12pcs) = Minimum Total Order 48pcs

  • 5 Colour Print (5 x 12pcs) = Minimum Total Order 60pcs

  • 6 Colour Print (6 x 12pcs) = Minimum Total Order 72pcs

For small orders we have our DIGITAL PRINT DEPARTMENT. All our digital print processes are ideally suited for orders under 12pcs. The first and most important question to ask if you are contemplating have your shirts digital printed, are these going to be used for Retail, Business or Trade Uniforms? If you a Restaurant, Builder, Plumber, Retail Store then you need a screen print. No other process will be suitable for heavy duty use. Also remember 99.999% of shirts sold in fashion stores are screen printed, so if you plan to re-sell your shirts in a retail store the end customer expect the feel and durability of a screen print.

However if you need a one off custom shirt or needs only a handful of shirts for a promotion or event, then our digital process is just for you. We offer 3 different digital print processes (vinyl transfers, printed transfers and direct to garment prints). Our transfers all use high quality European made vinyls for soft feel and durability. Our Direct to Garment printer is essentially a specialised inkjet printer that prints directly onto the shirt using water-based inks and pre-treatment for dark shirts. There are minimal to no set up costs involved, making one off tees economical. The major consideration with any direct to garment print is the durability. DTG prints will fade and care must be taken with looking after your shirt, no hot washing or tumble drying.

How do I order or organise a quote?

The most important thing to know is that each job is unique and we will require specific information to allow us to accurately generate your quote. Because of this, please do not be offended when we are unable to give a quote over the phone or supply a standard price-list. For orders over 12pcs, they best way to organise a quote is to fill in our QUOTE form. For our small digital orders under 12pcs we have set up a website to streamline the ordering process. By eliminating the usual time and costs to manually process small orders our digital website makes ordering and printing small orders, quick, easy and cost effective. www.espdtg.co.nz.

We do realise that some jobs wether great or small offer unique challenges, so if you have any questions please reach out to our sales team and we are happy to offer help or advice before starting your next print project.

For additional information about our print sizes, print placement positions and artwork requirements please check out our GUIDES.

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DTG v Screen Printing

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DTG v Screen Printing

After 25 years in the screen printing business, you see many fads come and go, but you also get to see the techniques and skillsets that stand the test of time.

Two of our most popular printing methodologies are classic screen printing, and DTG (direct to garment) printing. The pair are probably also the easiest to juxtapose: whilst we started out in a Takapuna garage screen printing before dial-up internet was mainstream, DTG has only come about - and ever-more affordable - with technology’s development.

The major distinction between the two is that screen printing is a manual process, whilst DTG employs the use of a monolithic and state-of-the-art printer. Both require careful monitoring by somebody who knows what they’re doing, but screen printing is substantially more hands-on, requiring physical labour and time-honoured materials (namely, screens and squeegees) to produce a finished product.

Screen printing offers a precise finished product, often with decades’ worth of longevity due to the robust physical application of each colour layer. DTG, on the other hand, offers a unique level of graphical reproduction - even photographs, composed of dozens of colours will be produced in crisp detail. As it’s not as deep nor thick a finish and printed with water-based inks, DTG may not last as long as screen printed garments, nor be as vibrant or bright (particularly on darker surfaces), but the print clarity may be just the ticket if you’re looking for detail above all else.

We offer a range of local and international t-shirt lines in wholesale pricing to give you the most cost effective and efficient turn-around. We recommend AS Colour's high quality garments as a print surface when choosing DTG, as they'll offer an unparalleled, vibrant print result. 

Drop by the studio (762 Dominion Road) or drop us a line (09 620-0040) to chat about what artistic approach will be best to bring your dream to life.

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Growing the team

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Growing the team

Over the summer months, we're looking for a fresh face to join the crew. We're after a flexible self-starter to help primarily with preparing film for screen printers, communicating with clients, and creative problem solving for whatever exciting new projects come up.

 

If this is you, or someone you know, check out more info here.

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