T-Shirt talk

suburban — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:25:38 +0000

Hello! Marisa here, long time without an update, but the shop has been churning out lots of work these past months. I just uploaded 24 new images on Mac’s facebook album that are just a taste of what he’s been doing!

So, let’s talk t-shirts, shall we? Thought I would share some of my latest favorite tees to wear and print on. I love trying new styles from our suppliers.

I buy these District Threads v-neck tees for myself. It’s the DT242V juniors tri-blend. I wear them in every color. They are great with cute skirts, cargo pants and jeans! Lovely softness, and a great length.

For men, nothing beats the unisex tees by Canvas. This is the 3001HC vintage heather tee. We just printed the heather green for a client, and every time I pulled one off of the dryer, I marvelled at the amazing softness of this tee.

Move over, American Apparel. These two shirts are available at our local suppliers.

Is now the time to order?

suburban — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 06:11:58 +0000

Let’s face it. Nothing has gotten any cheaper in the last few years. T-shirts are no exception. I get emails almost quarterly from my vendors about price increases. In the summer of 2008, much of the cost increase was due to high fuel costs, not necessarily that the garments themselves costing more. Now it’s not so simple, yes fuel costs are going up again, as well as worldwide labor and also the decreasing value of the dollar. But one of the, if not the biggest factor in the increase is the price of raw cotton itself. Flooding, hurricanes and other disasters have strained the worldwide cotton marked over the past two years. India and China are becoming bigger and bigger consumers domestically where before much was exported. Some countries are putting a hold on cotton exports for fear that they will not be able to keep up with demand in their own county. Many of the larger American textile manufacturers are considering bring some if not all of their production back stateside after nearly two decades of offshore production.

What does this mean to you? We’ll let’s just say that the batch of shirts you bought last year cost you say, $8 each. Now those shirts are probably closer to $9, if not higher. In a few months, they could very well be $10 each. I’m not making any more profit on these orders, printed shirt costs are quoted and sold based on the price that I paid for the blank at that time. If you’re only ordering a dozen or two, this might not matter, but for people ordering a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand tees, a few cents per shirt more can mean hundreds or thousands of dollars that could have been saved had they been purchased before a price increase.

While there’s not much we can do as just one small business to get shirts much cheaper, there are a few things we can do to help keep your costs down if you’re willing to help us a little. (This does not mean you have to come by to reclaim screens, I promise! ) What you can do is plan ahead. Anticipate your orders in advance. I price my orders to be turned around anywhere from 5-14 days. If you know you have a need for shirts next month, you have the quantities, artwork and money, give us call. If we know we have a good amount of time to complete an order, you bet you can expect to save some money.

Other things to avoid:

On press color changes:
These run $10 per change now and can be avoided with a little forethought. I don’t mind printing different colored shirts as long as the ink color stays the same. If you want same colored shirts with the same art but in different in colors, it will cost you!

Artwork:
Many people think they can save money by doing their own art. There are t-shirt websites that allow you to design your own shirt online and place your order. Personally, there is nothing worse than having to re-create artwork with outdated clipart and awkward text effects that someone has created and 99% of the time just is bad design overall. I include one free hour of design time for average t-shirt designs and in that time, we can come up with a custom, one-of a kind design that looks good and is easier for me to prepare for printing.

Multiple locations:
There are times when a shirt really does need a front chest, name drop, full back and both sleeves, but for every added location there are screen setups, possible ink changes, art time, multiple trips down the dryer etc. and that all ads up. Before you cover the shirt in prints, consider if it’s really necessary. There is beauty in a simple one or two color front print that is easy to print, less handling, less money and does not make you look like a walking pop-up message!

There are many other ways to save money on your next screen printing order. Give Suburban Screenprinting a call at 682-551.3359 or email us at info@suburbanscreen.com, we’d love to help!

Customized Lined Hoodie/Plaid Pants

suburban — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:54:59 +0000

This video showcases the pants and custom lined hoodies available to us through Boxercraft. Great for school kids or sports team spirit wear.

Foil and Discharge Women’s Tee

suburban — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:38:33 +0000

These shipped out this afternoon! I love these t-shirt blanks that one of our retail contract customer uses. Cute scoopneck and long length! She sells maternity apparel online, and gave us a sketch to work from for this cheeky Buddha design. We thought it would look great in foil. Mac first did a discharge print of the background, printed the buddha in gold ink w/ foil adhesive, and then he pressed the foil in the heat press.

To purchase shirts, visit Babies N Bellies

Grungy Suburban Screen T-Shirt

suburban — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:20:41 +0000

A popular look for guy shirts is grungy dye w/ distressed foil. Mac made this shirt for himself using water based ink as a dye. It came out a purplish-gray, Then after he foiled it in silver, he crinkled up a red foil and pressed it again.

Taking applique over the top

suburban — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 17:25:40 +0000

We embroidered several coats for JD’s Trucking. The mens’ coats were done in silver twill applique, but Mac had a stroke of inspiration while we were at Hobby Lobby browsing for Christmas gifts. He picked up some silver lamè fabric and thought it would make a really blingy background for the diamondplate motif on this women’s fleece jacket. Turned out amazing!

Lots of wintertime embroidery

suburban — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:04:10 +0000

These went on the back of heavy jackets.

We embroidered polos and hoodies for Flint Academy in Arlington.

Embroidered shirts for Christmas Lights Up.

Our machine was tapping away busily in December. We have had a prosperous season this year in our business, and it is all thanks to you wonderful friends and customers! I think we saw more fleece coming through these doors than we have ever encountered.

Mac took some interesting photos of some screens up close.

We were sweating it when our t-shirt dryer malfunctioned, putting us about a week and a half behind, but I’m happy to say that things are running smoothly once again! Big, heartfelt thanks for our fellow screenprinter friend Richard, who came to our rescue in order to get jobs out on schedule!

Some postcards we did for Christmas Lights Up:

I love the tag that says "We laugh at knotted cords!"

‘Tis also the time for family birthdays, half down, two more to go next week!

Geneva turned 5!

Jonas turned 3!

Looking forward to another fabulous year with you all! Happy New Year!

Fall news and latest work

suburban — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 19:58:50 +0000

These shirts were vinyl lettering, cut with a plotter, and heat applied. The process makes it easier to customize with names, as we did for these homecoming students.

More football shirts going out…

And with football comes cheerleaders!

These shirts turned out really well for this youth group. Mac came up with an out of the box concept for their group instead of using the regular text logo. He then used different levels of discharge to keep a soft hand.

We also attend the Fort Worth ISS show, where we see the latest in screenprinting, embroidery, and heat-applied technology and techniques. This shirt was displayed at the show, and pretty impressive…

Seems to me like sequins are taking the place of rhinestones with the latest, cutting edge designs.

It’s great to see that sports teams and student groups are still going strong right now – they are accounting for almost all of our business lately! We love this time of year, with all of the activity going on. Our oldest son, Westen has started table tennis lessons through 4H, and since he is homeschooled, he’s able to put in about 6 hours of practice a week!

We also attended the Texas State Fair, and were able to scope out what kinds of t-shirts people are wearing this fall. Everyone is loving long shirts with leggings and flat-heeled boots. Speaking of sequins, I saw someone wearing this cute Victoria’s Secret hoodie there -

combining two popular materials. foil and sequins.

Anyway, gotta wrap this up! Have a great fall!

It’s Football Season!

suburban — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 02:05:03 +0000

We’ve been busy lately helping a few youth football teams with new uniforms, pants, socks & helmet decals. We also printed up spiritwear t-shirts with the team logo on front with “Mom”. Dad”, etc. etc and the child’s number on back to show their support.

We carry the full line of athletic apparel from Teamwork Athletic, which has uniforms for a large variety of sports. We offer 30% off MSRP on any non-decorated item (pants, socks, etc.). Turnaround on most items is pretty quick, usually about 10 days. We can decorate using screen printing, heat applied vinyl, and tackle twill.

Check these uniforms out, using Teamwork’s “Twister” Jersey combined with an embroidered team name, and “Sim-Stitch” Twill numbers.

Advertising costs too high?

suburban — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:07:49 +0000

I’m about as tired of this economy as anyone right now, but when I discover something that has a great value, I’ll jump on it. I’ve heard from a few of our customers that there is just not money in the budget for marketing their small businesses. I understand completely where they are coming from, as I have to watch my spending as well.

Attractive shirts make a great impression.

Obviously we’re biased, but I think t-shirts are a great marketing tool. They are cheap, functional, and can be as stylish as what you’d buy at a retail store. The beauty is that everyone can wear them – you, your employees, your neighbor, doctor, or mom’s vet… While you might not land a huge landscaping job off of the back of your shirt, you will be seen by others, who will ask you about your business. If you’re friendly and professional, you’ll leave a positive impression and that warm contact will likely remember you next time they need your service. Embroidered polos are another nice touch. While not as inexpensive as a t-shirt, polos can be given as gifts to established customers and prospective ones. I guarantee that a nice shirt with good embroidery won’t be used to sleep in or wash the car with!

For bigger budgets, another idea is a vinyl vehicle wrap. I know the initial price tag can be shocking, but when you consider that a phone book ad costs $1200 a year, small print ads $900 a year and up, the $2000 for a wrap (that you can park in a busy parking lot like a big, colorful billboard) starts sounding like a good value. Wrapped vehicles are easily recognizable and very memorable!

Chic Boutique's van is a traffic-stopper!