Long live screen printing!

     We want to tell you a little bit about our t-shirts and the satisfaction we get from making them the best way we know how. So we've prepared this long, informative and entertaining text from start to finish, so you have precise information about what we do, what we don't do, and how we do it.
     We want to be very clear because we like buying T-shirts, and we regret that most sites don't display even the slightest information about the product: neither what type of T -shirt it is (the characteristics and quality of the garment itself), nor how it's printed (the technique used).
     They may not even know it, since many of the people who sell T-shirts don't print them themselves. We want you to know what you're buying, and if you get a surprise, it's a good one, and you feel like you've made the best investment in T-shirts.
     But before I continue, I'm going to finish off these ignominious people. Their secrecy is exaggerated. For them, the buyer shouldn't be important, not even basic information. What does it matter? As long as the image is somehow on the shirt, they've already fulfilled their part of the deal.
     Sometimes a discreet " screen printing " to let you know it's been done using silkscreen printing... and all that encompasses! It can be a disastrous plastisol transfer (screen printed on paper and then heat transferred).
     It's called buying blind. And it's a pleasure to throw money away.
     Then the t-shirt arrives... and the image is a piece of plastic glued on... or the size of the image in relation to the t-shirt is not that of the photo, which was a fake... or the definition of the drawing is pitiful... or, after a while, the ink disappears after the third wash, or it cracks and starts to peel... or, simply, the t-shirt itself is of poor quality,  It shrinks after the first wash, scratches and itches.
Many of the images that advertise them are montages of the drawing on an image of someone wearing a T-shirt. They're called mock-ups, and they're pretty impressive, showing the wrinkles in the fabric and the image adapting to the volume. But you can imagine how unreliable this is.

     We print all our T-shirts using the fantastic screen printing technique. Directly onto the shirt, and in the most traditional way: manually. Not as artisanal as 3,000 years ago in ancient China, but still printing one by one, with those tiny hands.
     Due to its effectiveness in creating identical copies, this technique has yet to be surpassed and can be printed on a wide variety of materials: paper, plastics, wood... each requiring a different type of ink.
     And you can achieve the most incredible detail. The finer the mesh the ink passes through, the more defined the image.
     You can use different inks to print on textiles. Our T-shirts have been printed with the most harmless: lacquer , essential when the ink needs to be highly opaque (light colors on dark garments) or acramine (for light-colored garments). Both are water-soluble. The color of the acramine adds to the color of the T-shirt. Rather than painting it, it dyes it. A light blue acramine on a yellow T-shirt will result in a green color. They are usually used on white T-shirts to avoid surprises, but we like to experiment and use it whenever we have the opportunity. No layer of ink is noticeable (as with lacquer), and the image is fully integrated with the fabric, which retains its softness, flexibility, and so on. It's the ink. more harmless for printing on textiles and is only suitable for cotton.

     We don't use plastisol inks . The solvents that continually evaporate from these inks are carcinogenic and harmful to the environment. Their use is prohibited in many countries, as a baby could put them in their mouth and suck up the phthalates.
     Plastisol can be used to print directly onto the textile but also on special paper to achieve a plastisol transfer .
     These shops, where the chosen image can be placed on a wide variety of colors and types of T-shirts, use this technique. No need to waste any money (this is its great advantage); a certain number of copies are printed (mirrored) on the paper (screen printing, with one or more inks) and then dried with heat. However, it doesn't dry completely; it remains latent. When the time comes, the paper is placed on the fabric (the printed side against the T-shirt), ironed with considerable heat and pressure, and the ink is transferred to the fabric.
     You'll easily recognize plastisol because it creates a plastic-like film on fabric. It's highly opaque on dark fabrics, flexible, and stretchable… but because it's so plastic, after being subjected to high temperatures during washing and light, it often begins to crack after a short time. And then, little by little, bits of the ink will begin to peel off. That shimmering image will fade as we are overcome by a sensation similar to those catastrophes where cracks open in the streets and magma can be seen within.
     There are other methods for printing a T-shirt besides screen printing. There are also websites that sell T-shirts "printed" with textile vinyl . More plastic. Made with PVC (polyurethanes and polychlorides), they come in rolls to be cut with a cutting plotter. The colors available are quite limited. Once the blade has made the cut, the excess (the scrap) must be removed and, by ironing it for a few seconds, with pressure, it adheres to the T-shirt. Although these materials are increasingly thinner, it's still a plastic film that won't allow your skin to breathe in that area. And it tends to create an exaggerated contrast with cotton, which is more flexible. With washing, it's easy for cotton to shrink slightly (or give in), creating wrinkles and horrible tension around the vinyl, which will develop differently, most likely by shrinking. However, it creates a pronounced effect of tense calm and generates, in the user, a constant display of sterile stretches and contortions.
     They're not very detailed drawings... simple things because, as we said, they're cut by a machine that requires the image to be a vector path, not too complex so that the discarding work isn't daunting. It also doesn't allow for very fine lines.
     There are those who make their t-shirts like this, and pretend to sell it as the best option against the "scam" of screen printing, where the ink washes off... What a way to turn things around!
     Another method is printed textile vinyl . It's a similar white material that you can print on and then cut into the shape you want (outline). The inks hold up well to washing, but it's the same thing: a sheet of plastic glued to your T-shirt.
     You've probably owned a T-shirt with a movie poster... or an album cover. You excitedly put it on for the first time and instantly experienced the sensation of wearing the vinyl record itself, complete with cover and sleeve, stuck to your shirt, hanging from your chest. The shirt will be abandoned in a corner of the closet as a perfect example of a blind buy. You'd have to be pretty desperate to pull it out from under the pile of T-shirts... It wouldn't even work with a sweater on top. So much surface area, with such rigidity (as opposed to the lightness of cotton), produces irritating friction, a refined torture, in areas where we only want kisses.
     Traditional transfer . The image is printed with a laser printer, mirror-image, on special paper. It's then ironed onto the T-shirt at high temperatures, transferring the toner along with a protective varnish. They don't usually hold up well to washing. You'd better pray to divine providence that this fate never befalls you.
     A recent technique is sublimation , another way to heat transfer ink that you've previously printed with a special printer. But it only works on polyester garments (the heat required would destroy the cotton). Therefore, 100% polyester, cotton-feel T-shirts are manufactured to be printed using this technique.
     It's very affordable and a great invention, of course, for customizing technical clothing (sportswear, polyester). All-over printed T-shirts are made this way: the sublimation is applied onto plain, unsewn fabric, and then the garment is cut and sewn.
     More modern is what's known as digital screen printing , which has nothing to do with screen printing. Also known as direct printing , it uses a plotter that prints directly onto the T-shirt in four-color process (CMYK inks), first applying a white base when it needs to opaque a dark garment. To prevent the ink tubes from becoming clogged, they use plastisol-like inks, which tend to be quite plasticky. The quality of the result can vary greatly depending on the machine and its operating condition, the inks used, the fabric to which it's applied, etc.
     As we say, with traditional screen printing, good ink , and a good drying time, you'll have a permanent and indelible image on your T-shirt, which your children's children, their children's children's children, and even the closest neighbor or relative with similar tastes can inherit. It will survive cosmic cataclysms and endure in interdimensional time when we're all partying at the speed of light.