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Reading time: 7 min
At Distrolution Merch, we offer many products in terms of textile merchandising. But you're probably wondering: "How do I choose between short or long sleeve t-shirts, zipped or non-zipped sweatshirts, with or without a hood, baseball t-shirts or tote bags?". It's a real puzzle!
To help you, we've written this blog article especially for you, so you can find your way around and make the most suitable choice. To start, we'll explain the screen printing process so you can show off and shine at fancy dinners because you know how your awesome merch is made, and it will also help you understand how to guide your choices. Then we'll give you lots of tips on choosing which products to take and guide you on choosing your design(s).
The technique of textile screen printing
Screen printing on textiles is an old technique derived from stencilling, used to print a pattern on a flat surface.
Preparation
We print the design of your choice on a transparent film in opaque black. This film is called the film positive.
We completely coat a synthetic mesh screen with a photosensitive product. On a glass table, we place the film positive and the screen above it to hide the shape of the desired design. Under the table is a UV light source. These rays will harden the emulsion and thus block the pores of the screen that are not protected by the film positive.
Then, with a jet of water, we remove the emulsion where it hasn't been hardened to free the pores of the screen to let the ink pass through. There you go, the stencil is ready! You should know that you need a different screen and film positive for each colour, as the colours are applied layer by layer. This is why the cost of your t-shirt will be higher or lower depending on the number of colours in your design.
Printing
Once it's dry, we position the screen on a carousel with extreme precision. This is what we call registration. Indeed, each layer of ink must be perfectly superimposed. We then slip the textile onto a pallet making sure there are no wrinkles. We can start printing. We deposit ink on the screen fabric which we scrape, pressing well to let it penetrate the open pores of the stencil. And we repeat the operation for each colour. You should know that on a dark coloured t-shirt, we also apply a preliminary layer of white ink called "underbase". This ensures that the colours chosen in your design are respected.
Once all the colours are printed on the t-shirt, all that's left is to dry it to properly fix the ink to the fabric.
How to choose my products and in what sizes?
You must have seen it on our website, we offer a wide range of textile merch and since we're cool, we're going to guide you in choosing the solution that will be most suitable for you.
What to choose between unisex t-shirts, hooded sweatshirts and beanies? The answer is up to you... Yes! You'll guide your choice based on your band's musical universe and what your fans wear! For example: the snapback cap, the hooded sweatshirt and tank tops are must-haves for any self-respecting core fan. Obviously, the unisex T-shirt remains the must-have regardless of your band, but you have the choice between a straight cut which is more suitable for a metal audience or a fitted cut which is more suitable for a more pop or electro audience.
Caps and beanies are a good compromise for varied and not too expensive merch. You'll definitely find the model that best suits your band's style: snapback, mesh cap, baseball or even beanie, it's up to you to choose. It's cool and during a summer fest, your fans will always be happy to wear your cap to protect themselves from the sun and support their favourite band. Same for the tote bag, it's cool and inexpensive. You can take it everywhere and you can even store the vinyl records you just bought at the merch stand in it.
Don't forget that there are women who love your music and will certainly want to wear a t-shirt featuring your band. It would be a shame to frustrate your fangirls who come to your stand and see your fantastic pieces, but can't find anything that suits them.
The little extra at Distrolution Merch: we offer you a Tour pack which includes t-shirts, zip-up hooded jackets, square or round stickers, and badges in the quantity of your choice! This allows you to pay less than ordering them separately, so think about it!
As for sizes, we offer from S to XXL. "Why?" you might be wondering; remember our little lesson on screen printing? Well, the screen with which we make the stencil is a specific size and it's the same whether it's for an XS t-shirt or an XXXL t-shirt, so if we make a medium-sized design, there's a good chance that on XS the design will be far too big and for XXL far too small. And since we want you to have merch that rocks, we can't accept you having large t-shirts with a tiny logo in the middle.
Our pro tip: opt for a design width between 26 and 30 cm wide, it will work on all models.
Of course, we can give you a custom quote if you want different sized designs for textiles ranging from XS to 4XL.
The design: the biggest problem with merch.
Now let's talk about design, and here we need to make something clear! Please, whatever your design idea, whether it's an unreadable logo or a finely detailed illustration, a huge drawing or whatever, ask for help from a graphic designer who knows about screen printing, not your cousin who installed Photoshop on their computer three days ago. There are important parameters to consider, such as colour separation, halftoning of gradients, or even the placement of the design on the textile. In any case, know that we check the design you send us, and that's included in the price! If you have a really cool design but no one can help you adapt it properly for screen printing, know that we offer this additional service on estimate.
It's important to work on the visual design of your t-shirt to make it attractive and ensure that your audience can identify with it. A plain white design on a black t-shirt will surely appeal to any self-respecting black metal enthusiast, while a neon green logo on a brown t-shirt will certainly delight gore grind fans. Moreover, you might use it for different garments, so it would be a shame to ruin your entire merch collection with a hastily made design.
Your t-shirt also represents your band, so it needs to be recognisable and create a sense of community among your fans, through the graphic style, your band's name and typography, a mascot... Be creative: the white logo on a black t-shirt isn't inevitable. ;)
You've probably had it happen to you too, when someone comes up to you because they also like the band on your t-shirt. The famous "Hey, cool t-shirt!", it's always nice!
Better too much than not enough.
As with all our items, the more you buy, the lower the unit cost, so don't hesitate to stock up to avoid selling out and to make more profit! In any case, at Distrolution Merch, you can make series starting from 25 units if you have a limited budget. If you want to create exclusivity by selling a small quantity, or if you don't think you'll sell much, it's possible.
Our pro tip: when mixing sizes, prioritise M and L, these are the ones that sell the most.
The quantity of t-shirts you're going to order will depend on the budget you want/can put into your merch, the number of designs and the type of clothes you plan to offer. You can choose to make one design that you'll adapt to several models, for example t-shirts and tank tops, or create several models with different designs. There's no right or wrong strategy. But keep in mind that the more models you offer, the more likely you are to satisfy everyone's tastes.
Ready? Go!
Now that we've given you plenty of advice on how to choose your textile merch, all you have to do is place your order. Don't hesitate to ask us questions if you have any doubts. We'll answer you as soon as possible.
And don't forget: choose your merch well, having varied choices if possible, ask a qualified professional to create your design(s) that will make your fans want to jump on them, and you're all set!
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