Custom Shirt Tags: Creating Your Own Neck Label

You have a brand. You need custom shirt tags. When it comes to creating your own clothing line, finding the right type of tag can be a long process. Adding a personalized printed label on the inside neck of your tees is the hottest trend in retail, and luckily it’s a cheap alternative to sewn-in tags, woven labels, and hang tags! There are many reasons why creating your own custom printed tagless label can be the perfect option for your apparel brand. Removing the original manufacturer tags and replacing them with your own one-color print design is an awesome way to really show up the competition and make your t-shirts look as professional as possible.

custom neck label shirt tags

 

Why should I print my t shirt label instead of using sewn in woven tags?

Branding your garments will show customers that your line is the real deal, while also providing a more comfortable wear. We’ve all been there—when you’re wearing a new t-shirt for the first time, and next thing you know that itchy, scratchy tag is totally throwing off your whole day! That’s Branded custom neck labelnever the impression you want to make. With a printed label, your customers won’t ever have to fuss and fight. And with a bigger surface area than standard woven tags, you’ll have more freedom to really use the label as branding opportunity. Screen-printed custom shirt tags offer more room for artistic design that will have a presence on the garment—catching the eye of shoppers and leaving an impression about the identity of your brand. Custom garment labels also help to keep your t shirt line cohesive across different items, styles and colors. There’s no better way to legitimize your line and keep up with big brand names than to order your own custom screen printed labels!

What do I need to include on my custom neck label?

Okay, so where do you start? The first thing you’ll want to include in your custom shirt tags is the legally-mandated information regarding country of origin, fabric content, care instructions and size of the blank shirts you’re using. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that this information be included on all clothing before it is sold. Because of this, the shirts that you choose will already have a tag which will need to be removed. Visit the FTC website if you’d like to learn more about these labeling requirements! When choosing your t-shirts, you’ll need to make sure that the shirts have either sewn-in tags or a tear-away tag—not a printed or heat-sealed label. In order to print your label, we’ll need a clean surface!

Example of sewn-in tag residue when adding custom neck labelHow do you remove the existing garment tags?

Removing the manufacturer tags is no problem for us—we offer this service at no additional cost! Tees that feature tear-away or “paper” tags are the best option for achieving the cleanest finish, since these were created especially for this purpose. Brands like Next Level, Delta Apparel, Anvil and Tultex offer various tees with this kind of label—making removal quick and clean.

Sewn-in tags are also easy to remove—we simply snip off the tag as close to the seam as possible. Depending on the type of shirt, some tags are a little more difficult to remove entirely. Small amounts of leftover material, referred to as “residue,” should be expected when looking closely, but generally shouldn’t be visible when the collar is lying flat.

How do I start designing my custom shirt tags?

Once we’ve got the tags removed we’re all set to print your inside neck labels! When designing, there are a few things to consider. In order to create the most lightweight print with a barely-there feel, you’ll want to incorporate a lot of negative space into your design—meaning that you don’t want too many large, filled-in spaces. Think outlines and light fonts. Remember: the Inside Neck Label Custom Shirt Tagmore ink there is in your print, the more you will feel it!  Besides, you don’t want your label to distract from the rest of your shirt!

When it comes to printing dark colors onto light colored tees, it’s possible that your print may show through the back of the shirt a little bit, depending on the weight and fabric content. This is another one of those anomalies that is unfortunately unavoidable with screen printing. Generally speaking, using heavier weight tees and lighter colored ink will help to avoid this. Also, be advised that you’ll be able to feel the print a little more on darker-colored shirts than you will on lighter-colored shirts. This is because 2 layers of ink will be needed when printing onto dark fabric. If you have any concerns, speak with one of our representatives prior to ordering and we can go over t-shirt options!

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What is Screen Printing? What You Need to Know in 2022

What is screen printing? As you might guess, given the obvious hint built into the name, screen printing is a printmaking technique where stencils are laid over a screen. That screen is usually made of cotton, nylon, or metal. The printing ink is then pushed through the screen using a rubber squeegee. That’s the simplified version, but every little step can involve lots of decisions from what ink to use to the best squeegee.

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Image above: a screen printing class at the Alexandria Museum of Art

Just a little history
The basic process is thought to have been invented in China and then refined in Japan (makers of good things like karaoke, the novel, and instant ramen). After 1915, when it became possible to photo-screen print (introducing photo stencils), the technique took off in the commercial sector in the United States. Grocery stores and other shops needed quickly produced locally made signs to advertise sales, and screen printers were able to underbid sign painters and win jobs. For years, those screen printing techniques were closely guarded trade secrets. Then in the 1960s, the technique took off in the art world amongst pop artists like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Richard Hamilton. From there, screen printing entered the mainstream. These days, screen printing has been enthusiastically adopted by the DIY community.  And now that the information for how to set up a screen printing studio is so readily available online – anyone, with an idea,  can screen print.

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Image above: DIY Print Shop

Screen printing Setups
One of the reasons that screen printing is so popular is that it is infinitely scalable. You can create a setup for under $40 or spend $40,000. Every setup might be a little different, but the basic elements are a screen, emulsion, artwork, a squeegee, ink, a light source, and a water source. If you’re eager to get your hands dirty, this is a great screen printing guide from one of our favorite reads, LifeHacker. (But if you’d rather us do the dirty work, we’re happy to mess around with the ink for you.)

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Image above: jacquard screen printing inks
Decision, Decisions, Decisions aka Screen Printing Ink

Underbase
The first consideration in design is often the underbase. One of the most important choices in determining how your design turns out, regardless of the ink type is whether or not an underbase is used. Think of an underbase like a primer coat. if you wanted to paint a red wall blue you would first prime the wall with a neutral color like gray or white, You would then paint blue over the primer. If you were to paint blue over the red wall without priming you would end up with a purple not a blue.Underbase

Underbasing in t-shirt printing, much like priming in painting is a great way to ensure your design ends up being the color you intended it to be. An underbase is essentially the entirety of your design printed in neutral ink. In this way regardless of the garment color or makeup the colors in your finished design should remain consistent. This is especially true when printing bright colors over darker colors. This is also true when your intention is to have a consistent-looking design printed on different material makeups and colors. There are a few negatives to consider when choosing to underbase. Because there is an additional underlay or undercoat of ink, the design will feel thicker to the touch. In addition, underbasing requires additional screens adding cost. Printers typically charge around $30 to $40 dollars per screen.

In a nutshell, if you are printing on lighter uniformly colored garments and the most important component of your finished design is its soft feel where color consistency takes a back seat, you should not be underbasing however if you are printing on dark or various colored garments and need a consistent design color where soft feel is the less important of the two, you should be underbasing. Often times printers will help you make this decision based on the garments you’ve chosen and the colors in your design.

Ink types
Once you’ve decided on your shirt (and that’s a whole other conversation), the most important consideration is going to be your ink.

The traditional ink is plastisol ink. This creates a thick print that rests on top of the shirt. Plastisol inks can provide a higher contrast than water-based ink, and if you’d like your fwd_traditional_printingprinted design to appear bright and color accurate, then a plastisol ink can give you that effect. Plastisol ink is a good choice if you’re printing sporting goods, nylon, or dark-colored clothing. Plastisol ink is also the most consistTower-Tee1ent choice when printing the same design on different garment styles and or colors.

If you’re looking to make a super soft shirt then water-based ink is where it’s at. Whereas the plastisol ink rests on top of the shirt, water-based ink is actually directly dying, or in the case of discharge, bleaching the fabric’s fibers, which means that the printed portion of the shirt will remain softer than plastisol the print further softens to almost a no feel with one washing.  An added plus is that water-based ink is eco-friendly. Water-based inks don’t have that same high contrast that plastisol inks have so the effect often feels vintage. Waterbase ink typically work out best when the design has a limited color spectrum as water base inks are not vibrant like plastisol inks. Creative designers typically use the garment color to bring out accents in the design.

But there is a middle ground between plastisol and water-based – soft plastisol or soft-hand plastisol gives you the contrast of a plastisol ink but is much softer than the straight-up plastisol ink. Soft hand plastisol is accomplished by using thinning agents and high mesh count screens minimizing and thinning the amount of ink allowed to pass through the screen to the garment.

But what if you want a more custom look? There are an infinite number of special effects inks. Here are a few of our favorites and the ones that we print with here at Blankstyle.com.

Puff ink is the screen printer’s version of that ‘80s craft favorite – puff paint. Puff ink is created by mixing an additive with the plastisol inks so that your ink will puff up after it dries giving your design a textured effect. (We like to use it to give your designs a faux stitching effect.)

So that’s the quick run-down on what screen printing is and how it’s done. Of course, the more you dig around, the more questions you might have. We’re here to help with any of those.

And if you prefer to get your information the old-fashioned way, here are some great resources:
Print Liberation: The Screen Printing Primer
Simple Screenprinting: Basic Techniques & Creative Projects
ulled: A Catalog of Screen Printing (great for inspiration)

 

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What is DTG Printing: When, Why, and How in 2022

What is DTG Printing? Short for Direct-to-Garment, DTG printing is a method of printing designs directly onto t-shirts and textiles using a modified ink printer.

Custom DTG Printing

Brother DTG Printer

Direct to Garment printing is a direct descendant of inkjet printing. That means no screens, no mess, no thick plastisol ink–yet great detail and stunning color possibilities. How it works is a t-shirt is loaded onto the machine, and your design is printed directly onto the shirt using specially formulated water-based inks. The design is then heat set using either a heat press or a tunnel dryer. In the same way that your inkjet printer can print extremely detailed images, a DTG printer is able to produce photo-quality images on shirts that still have a soft feel.

Custom DTG Printing

No color limitations with DTG Printing means you can print what you want without the price going up. Photo courtesy of Behind the Blank

Sounds great, right? Well, Direct to Garment printing does have its limitations. Specialized ink means it’ll end up costing a little more. It’s also a lot slower than screen printing (think of standing in front of an inkjet printer and waiting for a piece of paper to come out), so labor costs are higher as well. And the printable area is a little smaller, too.

So with so many factors to consider, the real question is when to use Direct to Garment and when to screen print. The basic formula is if you’re printing a multi-colored and detailed design with less than 50 shirts, Direct to Garment is the more efficient and cost-effective choice. Once you start hitting quantities over 50, then screen printing becomes the faster and cheaper option. DTG is also the go-to option if you’re looking to print a photo-realistic image.

Custom DTG Printing

Print your illustrations right onto a shirt with DTG Printing

When printing DTG, the fabric content of the garment is by far going to be the main factor to consider when choosing which shirts to use. Lots of printers insist on going with only 100% cotton (like the Cotton Heritage MC1040 and the gildan 5000 ). We recommend going a step further and choosing ringspun cotton (like the Next Level 3600 or Tultex 290), which is much softer and smoother–and thus prints better. You could also choose an organic cotton shirt, which is great for marketing.

In general, screen printing is going to be a better choice for blended t-shirts if you’re looking for vibrant colors. This is because DTG Inks are best absorbed by 100% cotton, and the color won’t take as well to man-made fibers. However, if you’re looking for more of a subdued print with vintage-style faded colors, DTG could be the perfect choice for your design. White blended shirts print very well, but if you’re using anything other than that we suggest consulting with one of our print reps to be sure there won’t be any issues.

Next step–generating your custom DTG print quoteblankstyle.com is your one-stop shop for all of your blank and printed apparel needs!

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