PPB October 2015

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Dye Migration
Colored shirts can be decorated by
screen printing and direct-to-garment
printing because they allow for white
inks to be printed. However, decorating
a colored garment has its own issues and
requirements, too. One problem to
consider with colored polyester or
cotton/poly-blend shirts is dye migration.
This is when the dyes of the polyester
fibers transfer through and tint the ink
above. It’s particularly common with red
garments, as the red dye in the garment
can be so strong that it will turn white
areas in a garment pink. Consider this
when working with your client to create
artwork, and keep white areas in the
design small.
Another consideration when printing
on colored shirts is that they also require
an underbase, a layer of white ink print-
ed first so the remaining colors printed
on top will be true to the actual image. If
an under base is not printed, the color of
the shirt will interfere with the image and
it will not reproduce properly. Always
keep this in mind when screen printing
on a colored shirt, as the white will count
as an additional color even if your art-
work does not have white showing in the
image area.
Other Pre-Treaments
When doing direct-to-garment print-
ing on a colored shirt that requires a
base white, a pre-treatment is also
required before printing. For this, a spe-
cial liquid solution is applied to the gar-
ment and then heat pressed to dry. It
allows the white base to adhere and the
colors to lie on top. Colored shirts deco-
rated on a DTG printer will cost slightly
more, not just because of the shirt color
but because of the added process.
With the many different garment dec-
orating processes available today, it can
become quite confusing for a distributor.
However, with some general information
on what each process requires, you’ll
know what questions to ask of either your
printer or supplier to get your order set
up properly and efficiently, to save time
and money, and get the best-looking
promotional garment in the end.
Dane Clement is president of Great
Dane Graphics, a GroupeSTAHL company
that offers royalty-free stock artwork
specifically designed to be used with all
types of apparel decorating. Clement,
who has 30-plus years of experience in
computer graphics and color separa-
tions, is a regular speaker and judge at
industry trade shows. He authored
T-Shirt Artwork Simplified, a training
book for both Adobe and Corel users.
For more information, email Dane at
or visit
.
66 • PPB • OCTOBER 2015 GROW
THE ABCs OF GARMENT DECORATING