The popularity of t-shirt as a casual wear is enormous. They are generally buttonless, collarless, and pocketless, with a round neck and short sleeves. They are worn by pulling over the head. There are various ways to print a t-shirt. Previously, silk screening was used to print them. But t-shirts have come a long way from simple silk screening. There are two other major methods to print them. They are - direct-to-garment printing and thermal transfer. All these processes have different effects and can generate either vibrant or dull colors.

The intricacy of a design also decides which method is to be used. One method can produce eight-color designs while another can print over five hundred on the t-shirts. So you need to have thorough know-how of the methods to decide which method to use for t-shirt printing.

In screen printing, a mesh made of polymer, a rubber made squeegee and a t-shirt printing machine is used. The mesh was originally made of silk. But due to expensiveness of silk the modern manufacturers use fine screens from polymer. These screens are as durable as the silk-made ones.

In this procedure, the client first specifies certain things to the company that provide t-shirt printing services. They include the number of colors to use, the final effect the design should have, the type of color and fabric, the number of shirts to print etc. The provider then arranges the ink, the rotary printing machine, the screen printing meshes, and the soft copy of the design that is to be edited with imaging software and printed from the computer to the acetate.

The design is printed in its negative image to create the stenciled image on the mesh. When the mesh is ready with the stenciled image, the t-shirt printing process begins. The t-shirts are put on the stand in printing machine. Enough care is taken to assure that the back of the shirts are save from any leakage. The mesh the colors are screwed tightly to prevent smudging

The colors are applied on the screen depending on which areas of the t-shirts they are needed. The depth and consistency of the color is determined by the angle of the squeegee and the pressure applied. The shirts are then exposed to intense heat to embed the ink into the fabric. For water based inks a special heater is used.

In direct-to-garment printing uses a modified inkjet printer is used. The printers directly print the design on the shirts. Here you neither need a stenciled image or a squeegee to apply the ink. The fabric ink is the same one as used in silk printing. This being less hectic process compared to screen printing, it increases the turnaround time.

The thermal transfer method also uses the inkjet printer to print the textile ink. However it prints on a special paper. This paper when put under heat and pressure transfers the ink to the shirts.

There are may other processes of t-shirt printing like flex and flock printing. But these three methods are most widely used to print t-shirts and they are cost-effective too.