Screen printing comes in many forms and is applied onto various types of materials within the promotional merchandise industry. When it comes to textile printing it’s difficult to choose a garment that works well with the process. T-shirts are the number one choose when you are supplying promotional clothing for events, so selecting the manufacture can become difficult. There are many manufacturers around the world supplying cotton t-shirts to screen printers in the U.K. Gildan, Steadman, Starworld are the major contenders but Fruit of The Loom is the number one choose globally.
Fruit of the Loom have been manufacturing garments since 1851 and has been mainstream since 1985 turning over $2.5 Billion. They specialise in manufacturing consumer products ranging from children’s to senior citizens and supply not only to screen printers but also major players within supermarkets and department stores and with their logo being so familiar this has become a widely recognized trademark.
T-shirts has become their key product and with a vast range to choose from you are spoilt for choose. Their garments come in different cotton weights starting from 160gms up to 280gms and this is what really determines the quality and the costings. The Fruit of The Loom Valueweight is the flagship product selling thousands of items per day. Being within the screen printing industry I have found this to be the most cost effective and technically easiest garment to print. Due to the cotton being the lightest gms available this allows for a very flat service to screen print onto meaning you get less pile and can achieve a crisper print. When you start choosing the higher gms products the pile can become too heavy and more pressure needs applying for coverage meaning you don’t achieve as crisper finish. Over the years I have found that as little pressure applied to screens produces the best print, the ink becomes part of the garment and not a step of ink applied onto the t-shirt.
The Cost of cotton has been up and down over the years but with some searching on the web I have found you can get a white fruit of the loom t-shirt printed 1 colour as little as £1.05, and with the current crisis around the globe I think this is acceptable.
I can say that the other types of t-shirts within the range can also offer advantages as these have higher gms but this just means that more pressure is needed, but printing coloured garments with a base overcomes this problem and you can achieve some high quality, full colour simulated prints. The higher the gms also means more durability when wearing and washing the products, plus sometimes the quality feels better as it’s heavier.
I would always recommend fruit of the loom to anyone who’s thinking of starting a screen printing company, there’s many other suppliers to approach but fruit over great customer service when supplying garments and are always willing to help with issues you may have with their products.
If you would like learn more about screen printing or are looking for a T Shirt Printing company visit Screenworks Ltd.