Information About Inkjet Printing Shirts

When you are screen printing with an inkjet printer on clothing, you cannot use just any old shirt. You must use an inkjet printing shirt. It is essential that you know what makes an inkjet printing shirt different from any other kind of shirt, because other kinds of shirts do not work nearly so well with inkjet printers. On the other hand, inkjet printing shirts don't work as well with other methods as with inkjet printers. Most inkjet fabric printers are especially designed to work with a particular kind of fabric.

Although the type of weave or knit can influence the quality of the print, the most important factor is the material of the fabric.

Pure cotton -- 100% -- is the most common kind of shirt fabric used for inkjet screen printing. Cotton absorbs the ink readily, which is what makes it so good for this kind of printing. In fact, most cotton shirts with print on them have been processed by means of inkjet screen printing.

The "50/50" shirt -- that is, a shirt that is half cotton and half some other material, usually polyester -- is the other most common fabric for inkjet printing. You really do not want to use a shirt that contains less cotton than this. Polyester does not have the same absorbency that cotton does, and absorbency is what you want.

Unfortunately, there are no other types of shirt fabrics suitable for inkjet printing. It would be interesting to see what else could be done. Still, despite the limitation in fiber types, many interesting things can be done.

These two types of shirts -- 100% cotton and 50/50 -- come in many different styles: long sleeve, muscle shirts, tank tops, and many more styles. There is no reason why just about any garment that can be worn on the upper body cannot be made in 100% cotton or cotton/polyester.

Inkjet printing shirts, probably because they are made of such inexpensive fabrics, are themselves inexpensive and easy to find. Perhaps it's a good thing that only cotton and 50/50 are suitable for inkjet printing on fabric, since other fabrics are much more expensive anyway. Don't worry about the stringent fabric requirements for inkjet printing on clothing: suitable garments are sold literally everywhere that clothing is sold. Next time you stop into a department store, discount store, swap meet, or thrift store, see how many shirts you can find that are not cotton or 50/50. (Of course, most of the shirts in thrift stores will be colored, or printed. Depending on your project -- that may not be a bad thing. Let your imagination be your guide.)

In conclusion: there are two types of shirt fabric for inkjet printing: 100% cotton and half cotton/half polyester. Fortunately, these are the most popular fabrics for shirts. This makes them easy to find and low in cost. This means that your materials costs for your shirt printing business will be relatively low.