T-shirt Printing, the trend that fueled the customized t-shirt hype was not particularly an easy one to excel at without lots of expensive equipment. However, now with multiple technological advancements on the horizon, the short run custom t-shirt market is fun and profitable. Traditional complex procedure of screen printing for short run custom designs, has taken a back seat as heat press vinyl t-shirt businesses started cashing in on this opportunity.

If given a chance, t-shirt printers would side with vinyl printing over screen printing for low run production and we’ll tell you exactly why. But before we go right down to the differences, here’s an overview of what’s what.

Vinyl Printing - All you do is cut out the designs, letters, logo, etc and layer the designs from colored vinyl and let the heat press work its magic. A simple heat press is enough to transfer the color to the fabric.

Screen Printing - This can be a bit laborious, time-consuming, and expensive for short run work. What you do is create a photo screen for every single color in the design, you then register each color to the design and then print one color after the other, until you finally have your finished design. After which you must clean up the press and screens.

To screen print successfully, you need to have a bulk order of around 48 t-shirts or more to make the detailed process cost-effective, and if you’re talking small-time business or home-printers, vinyl printing would be the most convenient among the two.

When it comes to a softhand, today professional grade HTV feel very soft and are comparable if not better than some of the custom screen printed shirts on the market. A unique advantage vinyl has in the glitter and special effects vinyl, it hard for screen printing to compete. The size of glitter flakes used in vinyl are too large for traditional screen printing. The same can be said for many other specialty 3d effects vinyl, snake skin, etc, that reproducing in screen printing would take a skilled screen printer and extensive time invested in pre-press setup.

T-shirts made with professional grade Heat transfer vinyl, and when washed inside out and in cold or warm water on regular cycle, can retain its original vibrancy for up to 100 wash cycles. Making premium grade vinyl t-shirts as bright and long lasting as many conventional screen printed tshirts.

Personalized t-shirts are a trend that’s been spreading like a wildfire across all walks of life. From your gang gearing up for your bachelorette party to your extended family planning a family get-together, customized t-shirts are a trend that won’t be dying down anytime soon. If we talk about value for money, on short run personalized tees, you know which method to opt for.