This is How We Do It

There are many ways to add graphics and text to clothing, such as vinyl, direct-to-vinyl printing, silkscreening, embroidery, direct-to-film printing, and sublimation. Each of these require unique equipment and give a different look and feel to designs. We wanted to remain as independent as possible, avoiding drop-shipping and print-on-demand marketplaces, which limits us to smaller equipment for the time being.

For our current set up, we’ve opted to use vinyl single-colour texts and images. We create these in-house, using our vinyl cutting machine, hand-weeding, and either ironing or heat-pressing.

For multi-colour texts and images, we found the quality of direct-to-film (dtf) printing to be superior to direct-to-vinyl, but we do not have the space yet for a dtf printer. Instead, we make orders of what’s called gang-sheets to reputable print shops with the necessary equipment. Whenever possible, we will try to order multiple images at once as this both saves on costs for us, our clients, and the environment. We then trim them and apply them with an iron or heat press.

Adding custom single-colour text to complement our dtf images is done using vinyl, although we make sure the two materials do not overlap, as layering reduces the flexibility of the shirt. For custom orders, we can access thousands of licensed images through Creative Fabrica or we create them from scratch using hand-sketches and a variety of editing software programs. We are also experimenting with A.I. options, while striving to ensure no artists have their intellectual property rights impinged upon – it’s getting wild out there right now!