Craftsman Logos

T-shirt printing is becoming increasingly popular, and many individuals and printers in London are printing their own T-shirt designs either as a hobby or for profit.  Apart from the obvious reasons for printing T-shirts such as for fun, there are many situations for which personalised printed T-shirts can be perfect.  Many shops offer printing services, both online and on the high street, and individuals who enjoy arts and crafts can print their own T-shirts at home quite easily.

A printed T-shirt can be a fantastic gift.  The T-shirt can include the person’s name, age, birthday, or a memorable photograph.  T-shirts can be printed to commemorate any memorable date; for example, the date that a class of students left school, or the date of a charity event.

Printed T-shirts can also be useful for sports teams and can incorporate logos, names and numbers.  Many T-shirt printers offer a range of different styles and colours, so that they will be suitable for every sport.  Professionally printed sports kits will give a sports team a more professional, cohesive look.

Printed T-shirts can also be ideal for groups of people who are taking part in an event.  For example, a group going on a stag or hen weekend may wish to have printed T-shirts, and people taking part in a family event such as a reunion may wish to wear matching printed T-shirts. You can normally get discounts for bulk orders from printers in Nottingham.

T-shirts printed with a company’s name and logo can give the business a professional edge, and can make employees more easily identifiable to clients.

This season is no time to be a shrinking violet all the catwalk shows for spring/summer 2012 were full of bold and bright neon colours. There were plenty of loud colours such as hot pink, lime green, bright orange and acid yellows which will add an injection into your wardrobe after the darkness of winter.

The neon trend was big on the catwalks and that has filtered down onto the highstreet with clothing from Vila showcasing a great selection of neon colours for their t-shirts, dresses and shorts. Designers such as Christopher Kane offered an acid rainbow of colour with his prints, and Michael Kors reworked ladylike glamour with a neon touch.

You don’t have to go for full on neon if you’re not sure keep an eye out for neon trims, accessories and shoes to at a touch. However if you want to fully embrace neon then why not try your hand at colour blocking? Clashing colours really make a statement mix and match neon trousers with a crisp white shirt then a boxy jacket in a different colour, then add miss matched shoes and bag. Acrylic accessories work really well, by adding an extra punch so keep an eye out for these.

Neon Fashion from Republic

Cheap Monday, H&M , Monki

Leading fashion retailer H&M will be debuting on London’s Carnaby Street its first standalone stores in the UK for their Cheap Monday and Monki brands next year.

The brands Cheap Monday, a jeans retailer, and Monki, a quirky brand for young women were bought by H&M in 2008. They currently have their own concession stalls in London’s Selfridges department which they have occupied since September however H&M are keen are to push them further with the new shops opening in February.

Also this year entered into a partnership with footballer David Beckham which will see his range of underwear being sold exclusively in its 1,800 shops worldwide. The company is also ready to hit store with their new fashion collaboration which will see a collection designed by Donatella Versace:

“The collection for H&M is the essence of Versace,” Donatella Versace stated. “For the collaboration we’ve brought back from the archives, as well as from more recent collections, some of the icons of Versace, such as the bright prints, the Greek key, and daring cuts. I can’t wait to see how H&M’s wide audience will make these pieces their own.”

Versace for H&M

Donatella is following a number of other designers who have had successful collaborations with H&M including Stella McCartney, Madonna and Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld.

Denim brand Levis look to give themselves a boost by engaging music fans and fashion fan by hosting a series of live music events at its UK flagship store on London’s Regent Street. Their campaign “The Craft of Music” kicked off on Tuesday and is in partnership with Spotify and Clash Music. Fans are invited to vote for their favourite artists to support Primal Scream at The Electric in Brixton on 10 November with the chance for them to also win tickets to see Primal Screen.

There will be three in store gigs happening in October on 25, 26 and 27 and you can vote for your favourite act online via the Levi’s Music website, or at the store gigs, with votes including an entry into the competition.

The campaign is being promoted across Spotify and Clash Music channels and all videos and interviews from the events available for users on their music platforms. The events are part of Levi’s’ “Go Forth” global ad campaign which the company hopes will target the youth market.

Craft of Music

Highstreet retailer New Look have seen orders from their mobile site increase by 60% in three months, which is a good sign for the fashion retailer which paired with Mobile Interactive Group to launch their first m-commerce site back in April this year. Popular online retailer ASOS are also looking at their action as well launching their first transactional smartphone app to run with its m-commerce site which saw revenues increased by 800%.

Many customers appreciate the opportunity to look at retailers on other devices making it more convenient, not all sales for retailers come directly from m-commerce sites but a lot of interest can be generated from them. Plus with the wider availability of free Wi-Fi consumers are able to spend more time looking at these sites.

As with ASOS improving mobile sites is key which is why they have brought out their new app, James Hart, ASOS’ ecommerce director, said, “Following year-on-year growth of over 800% in mobile revenue… We decided to… release these first apps, so that their foundations were rock-solid, thereby allowing us to develop and improve the experiences at pace.”

New Look /Asos

The art of decorating textiles is an ancient one, dating back as far as 3000 B.C.  Woodblock and stencil prints appeared centuries ago, and screen-printing has been with us since China’s Shang Dynasty (960-1279 AD). 

The T-shirt, however, only came to prominence in the 20th century and owes its current iconic status mainly to its versatility as both medium and message.  It did not achieve its global all occasion popularity until partnered with the printing industry.

Early printed T-shirts targeted the children’s market: the only demographic to take them from underwear to outerwear in the 1940s.  Davy Crockett, Roy Rogers and Joe DiMaggio were popular images but even political shirts for Dewey, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson were child-sized.

Advances in materials, equipment and inks in the late 50s and early 60s fuelled the market for printed T-shirts as they became increasingly acceptable for men, women and children.  Souvenir shirts led to team branding and product promotion.  Many early offerings are valuable collectibles today. 
 
T shirt printing is now a stand-alone industry, adapting new materials and printing processes along the way to improve the end product.  Processes vary from screen-printing to airbrushing, heat press, inkjet and laser transfer to dye sublimation.  Depending on the process, designers then choose compatible colours, textures and finishes from an ever expanding palette.

Current technology makes single, unique T-shirts a viable option, and simplifies batch orders at accessible prices from supplies like Adlogo.  Based on available evidence, it appears that the T-shirts we love and now cannot live without are better than ever, and will be with us for a long time to come!

Marks and Spencer’s sub brand Limited Collection is targeting fashion bloggers to drive up interest in the brand by using a Facebook campaign that will focus on “trend-led, street influenced credentials” that Limited Collection aims at. A number of influential bloggers will be challenged to make their own Limited Collection, so M&S can make their sub brand more distinctive.

The new campaign is the brain child of Marc Bolland, Marks & Spencer chief executive, who is looking to create more distinct identities for the company’s Limited Collection, Per Una and Autograph clothing who stated he wanted to make this possible last November.

For the campaign fashion bloggers will wear items from the Limited Collection for a week and create a new look every day, showcased on Facebook. Those taking part include; Kate Williams and Cait Harrington, they will be posting pictures of themselves in their outfit choices and will discuss what they like about the range.  M&S Facebook fans and the fashion bloggers’ readers will then be able to vote on their favourite outfits and the blogger with the most votes will win a trip to Paris.

For many they are a bit behind with the times, most highstreet retailers, have online website to purchase their clothing from, so it’s no surprise that Primark are joining the rest of their competition and launching a transactional website. Primark have continued to focus on increasing their highstreet sales recently rather than looking to sell online, however the company looks like it is ready to make an online move to move forward.

Richard Perks, director of retail research at Mintel, said: “Primark was late to move into online retail because it wasn’t obvious that the sums would add up. Primark would risk losing market share if it wasn’t online, so to a certain extent, it’s a defensive move and not about growing revenue. Primark is about disposable fashion and I don’t feel as though it’s about long-term, considered purchases.”

Primark which is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods has put out a tender for a digital agency to build its first ecommerce site. It’s thought that the site could go live in 2012. Primark is also looking at increasing its expansion they have 36,000 employees and operates 220 stores in Europe, boasting that they are the second-biggest clothes retailer, in terms of volume sales, in the UK.

In the past few years many retailers have joined the online market, one of the most recent is H&M and according to the trade body for online retail, the Interactive Media Retail Group in 2010 online retail in the UK was worth £58.8 billion. Although at the moment the rate of growth is in decline, with year on year sales only increasing by 11.5% the lowest since January 2010.

Sarah Peters, lead analyst at Verdict Research, said: “Primark is still growing rapidly through its stores, so it has not been necessary to focus on digital. Now is about the right time. It’s more difficult for value retailers because they have a very low selling price and will have to sell high volumes. It’s a growth sector – there are people that can’t get to Primark stores and some may be put off because the stores get so busy at the weekend. It can also open doors internationally, if you look at what retailers such as ASOS and Next have done.”

Discharge, or extract, printing is one of those processes that is rediscovered every few years.  It is a useful supplement to traditional silk-screen methods used for T shirt printing, because it solves the perennial problem of achieving good colours over dark backgrounds.  Ongoing improvements in the ink used and increased co-operation from T-shirt manufacturers in terms of process compatibility have brought the technique into prominence once again and made it a more accessible option.

Discharge printing outlines the chosen design by applying a bleaching (discharge) ink to darker fabrics.  By removing colour from the fabric, the image is defined in light or white areas against the dark background.  Specially formulated dyes may be combined with the discharge ink to colour tint the lighter areas.  The ink is activated by the addition of a catalyst and then has approximately a six to eight hour ‘pot life’.  Once printed, the discharge process is heat enabled, and designs do not become fully visible until the heat curing takes place.

Discharge printing creates a soft, smooth ‘hand’ or feel to the finished garment, since the ink is absorbed into the weave rather than sitting on top as some others do.  This makes it an ideal choice for all-over prints. 

Discharge printing works best on natural fibres; blends such as polycotton will discharge but not to the same extent as 100% cotton, as the ink will not be absorbed into the synthetic component of the fabric.  T-shirt suppliers like Adlogo need to be advised if dischargeable garments are required, as their dyes may vary from one lot to the next and results can vary accordingly.

The printing process you have chosen will affect the look and feel of the finished T-shirt.  The palette of colours, textures and finishes to be achieved by using different types of ink is extensive.  The plastisol ink commonly used in screen-printing, for instance, produces a design finish that is slightly rough and rubbery, owing to the type of ink and drying process used.  Varying the type of ink will create different effects when t shirt printing:

-Puff ink expands to give a 3D effect in the drying process and can be used to simulate embroidery.
-Shimmer inks combine the best features of metallic and glitter; an extensive colour range and lots of sparkle.
-Suede inks create an imitation suede finish with a subtle 3D effect. This is also suitable to create simulated embroidery designs.
-Flashback (reflective) ink is ideal for night safety wear where visibility is a concern, such as for cyclists, joggers, police and highway workers.  The ink contains millions of light reflective microspheres that glitter vividly in focused light such as car headlights. 
-Glow in the dark ink and fluorescent neon ink; no explanation required.
-Black light ink only illuminates under that light source and looks white at other times.  It can only be used on dark coloured shirts.
-Discharge ink removes colour from dark background fabric so the design shows lighter against it.  -Coloured dye formulated to combine with the bleaching agent can be added to the ink to tint white areas of the pattern.

These inks allow huge scope for creativity in T-shirt printing; you are limited only by your imagination, so experiment. If some of the seem a bit too much for you though, Adlogo can help you out with your t-shirt printing needs and offer a wide range of printing services.