T-Shirt Printing Kahuna

We are witnessing the renaissance of the cheap printed t-shirt. Spawned perhaps, by the success of the Abercrombies and Aeropostales of the world hawking their high-margin (and often) lowbrow har-hars, micro boutique t-shirt websites are popping up like mad. And why not? It's never been easier to print t-shirts and launch a notso haute line of couture. Yes indeed, you too can go into the t-shirt printing business ...

Many of today's t-shirt graphics often take the retro tack, with a minimum of colors and design work. Intricate screen printed designs with four, five, and six colors of ink are not in favor with the quick and dirty crowd. The fewer the screens, the faster and cheaper the printing ... and the larger the margin. Not a bad approach with fads that go out of fashion as fast as fish go bad. After all, who wants to spend more than they have to on a piece of cloth that's never more than a few steps away from being a car rag?

Times have sure changed since I printed my first t-shirt.

Newcomer Zazzle forgoes the time-honored crafts of color separation and screen printing (serigraphy). And they don't bother with good old ink or crisp vector artwork. Instead, the company "uses an innovative digital technology" (that sounds as if it's an ink jet or dye-sublimated transfer) that accepts either PNG or JPEG files at 150 pixels per inch. If you're looking to make big bucks off selling your wickedly cool designs, Zazzle's probably not the way to go; the company offers a paltry 10% royalty program, with an additional 7% tacked on for products sold through their affiliate program.

Like Zazzle, online t-shirt pioneer CafePress takes the digital, rather than the serigraphic route. But CafePress offers a huge advantage for the t-shirt designing entrepreneur: you set the selling price (and consequently, the margin). If you decide that you want to make ten bucks a piece off your masterpieces, CafePress will gladly oblige.

Both Zazzle and CafePress have black and dark colored shirts available in their beta program. While old hat with traditional ink-based techniques, dark colored t-shirts have historically been a bugaboo for the transfer crowd.

Related: T-Shirt Printing Tips