What are the Printing Techniques Used on the Products?
Well, here’s where, when we researched, we thought would be impossible to explain and that maybe, just maybe the quality would not be up to scratch, but gratefully the printing techniques used by Spreadshirt are simple and called plot printing which is basically taking a thin layer of polyurethane color material and then precisely cutting it out with a vector driven cutting machine called ‘The Plotter’. Then the t-shirt is spread over the press where it gets hot (up to 170 degrees) the foils and fabric are then melted together for 20 seconds and wolla, done. Well, that does sound way too simple and of course it is, you can go read here how it is done and see that actually a lot of work and care goes into the printing of t-shirts.
Why Did We Choose Plot Printing?
A few reasons and for good reasons too
- Plot prints tend to last a lot longer than silkscreens which is great news for all
- They are available in many many colours and in a variety of specialty surfaces
- Plotting is much faster than printing
- They do not fade when you wash your shirt
- They are comfortable and soft, as kittens.
And that brings us to the two types of Plot Printing..Flex and Flock
What the flex is Flex?
Basically the design is cut from a coloured foil and pressed onto the shirt at 350 degrees (check out the fun video below) it comes in tons of colours, has a smooth finish and apparently, tests have shown longevity that the print barely moves after a 100 washes, pretty cool and
What the flock is Flock?
Flock is similar and pressed the same way except the print has a velvety, raised fuzzy surface with a plush feel. Again, through tests flock stands the test of time and lasts through many washes which is great news for customers.
In the t-shirts we purchased to test what Spreadshirt was all about we were very pleased with the quality of the printing as well as the actual garment itself in which we chose the men’s standard weight shirt (the cheapest) and the quality was excellent. And in the reviews we trawled through we were also pleased with the customers reactions to what they had bought and this made us happy knowing our designs were going to be printed perfectly and on quality garments and products.