Screen printing blanks: how to pick the shirt

Plastisol sits on top of the shirt and water-based ink soaks into it, so the blank's fiber, surface and weight shape how sharp the print looks after a run. Here's what to check before you burn a screen, and which blanks to start with.

The shortlist

Light and heavy tees, a youth size, a tie-dye, a blend and a hoodie.

• Tultex 202 Fine Jersey T-Shirt: 4.5 oz, pre-shrunk 100% ringspun cotton, sizes XS to 5XL. Best for reorders that need to fit like the first run.
• Tultex 235 Youth Fine Jersey T-Shirt: the youth version of the 202, also pre-shrunk, sizes XS to XL. Best for school and youth team orders.
• Gildan 5000 Heavy Cotton T-Shirt: 5.3 oz, 100% U.S. cotton, classic fit, sizes S to 5XL. Best for big team and event runs.
• Next Level 3600 Unisex Cotton Tee: 4.3 oz, 100% combed ringspun cotton, regular fit, side seams, sizes XS to 6XL. Best for soft retail tees with fine detail.
• Comfort Colors 1717 Garment-Dyed Heavyweight T-Shirt: 6.1 oz, 100% ringspun cotton, relaxed fit, garment-dyed. Best for retail merch with a lived-in look.
• Hanes 5180R Beefy-T Retro Street T-Shirt: 7 oz, 100% ringspun cotton jersey, oversized relaxed fit. Best for heavyweight retro tees.
• Lane Seven LS16005 Urban Heavyweight Tee: 7.6 oz, 100% combed ringspun cotton, oversized boxy fit, in solid and pigment-dyed colors. Best for streetwear drops.
• Colortone 1000 Tie-Dyed T-Shirt: 5.3 oz, pre-shrunk 100% cotton, classic fit, multi-color tie-dye. Best for bold one-color art on a patterned shirt.
• Next Level 6210 Unisex CVC Tee: 4.3 oz, 60/40 combed ringspun cotton/polyester, side seams. Best for a soft blend tee printed with low-cure ink.
• Gildan 18500 Heavy Blend Hooded Sweatshirt: 8 oz, 50/50 cotton/polyester, classic fit, sizes XS to 5XL. Best for team and school hoodies.

What fabric takes a screen print best?

Cotton. Plastisol and water-based ink both grab cotton fiber cleanly, and there's no polyester dye under the print to move into the ink when it cures. Eight of the ten styles above are 100% cotton, so standard plastisol at a standard cure is the starting point.

Blends print well too, with one change. Polyester dye can bleed into a light ink under heat, which shows most as a white print on a dark shirt. So on the Next Level 6210 (40% polyester) and the Gildan 18500 (50%, and 60% in its dark heathers), run a low-cure ink, and put a gray blocker base under white on dark colors. The guide to decorating polyester covers the inks and cure temps.

Does the color change the fabric?

Yes. A tee sold as 100% cotton is cotton in most colors, but many heathers and a few solids are blends:

• Gildan 5000: Dark Heather, Graphite Heather, the Heather colors, Blackberry, Lilac, Midnight, Sunset, Tweed, the neons and the safety colors are 50/50. Sport Grey and the Antique colors are 90/10, and Ash is 99/1.
• Tultex 202 and 235: Heather Grey is 90/10, and the other heathers are 50/50.
• Next Level 3600: Heather Grey is 90/10 and Oatmeal is 99/1.
• Gildan 18500: Heather Dark Green, Heather Dark Maroon, Heather Dark Navy, Heather Deep Royal and Heather Scarlet Red are 60/40 polyester/cotton.

Treat those colors like the blends above, with low-cure ink and a test print.

Does the surface matter for fine detail?

Ringspun yarn is twisted tighter, and combing pulls out the short fibers first, so the face is smoother with fewer loose fiber ends. Halftones and small type stay sharp on a smooth face. The singles number on a spec tells you the same thing: a higher number means a finer yarn. The Next Level 3600 is 32 singles and the Tultex 202 is 30 singles. The Gildan 5000 is 20 singles, a thicker yarn.

Hanes builds the 5180R with its Clean Canvas process, which it describes as a print surface for screen and DTG. The Colortone 1000 asks for different art. The tie-dye pattern runs under the whole print, so thick lines and one strong ink color read best. Fine halftones get lost in it.

How heavy should the blank be?

Weight is about the shirt the customer wants. The 4.3 to 4.5 oz Next Level 3600 and Tultex 202 are light, everyday tees. The 7 oz Hanes 5180R and 7.6 oz Lane Seven LS16005 are the heft people mean by a heavyweight tee.

Will it shrink after printing?

Cotton that isn't pre-shrunk can move in the first hot wash. Comfort Colors says its garment dyeing gives minimal shrinkage. On any style, wash and dry one sample and measure it before you lock sizes. For a size run that has to match on every reorder, the Tultex 202, Tultex 235 and Colortone 1000 are pre-shrunk.

What about garment-dyed and pigment-dyed shirts?

The Comfort Colors 1717 is dyed after it's sewn, and the Lane Seven LS16005 comes in pigment-dyed colors. Cure to your ink maker's spec and print one test shirt per color before the run, since garment-dyed and pigment-dyed colors can vary from lot to lot. For a soft-hand print on the solid colors, the discharge printing guide explains which dyes lift. Pigment-dyed colors don't discharge, so use water-based ink on those. The dark garments guide covers underbase on black and navy.

Which blank should I start with?

Start with the Tultex 202. It's 100% ringspun cotton at 30 singles, so plastisol and water-based ink both go down clean on a smooth face. It's pre-shrunk, it runs XS to 5XL, and the youth Tultex 235 matches it for mixed orders. For other jobs:

• Big team or event run: Gildan 5000
• Soft retail tee: Next Level 3600
• Lived-in retail look: Comfort Colors 1717
• Heavyweight or streetwear: Lane Seven LS16005 or Hanes 5180R
• Bold one-color art: Colortone 1000
• Blend tee: Next Level 6210
• Hoodies: Gildan 18500