There are endless varieties of textiles suitable for screen printing, but only a few make much sense when it comes to usability and cost. The most popular choice for modern t-shirts is cotton, but your choice doesn’t end with choosing natural cotton plant over synthetic polyester or a polycotton blend for your t-shirt. Combed or semi-combed cotton, ring-spun cotton, and enzyme washed are some of the distinctions that make the difference between a screen-printed t-shirt and your favorite screen-printed t-shirt.
combed cotton
Combed cotton is a great t-shirt option for screen printing. Soft and strong, it has all the makings of a favorite t-shirt!
Combed cotton fibers have been carefully carded and then combed to run in the same direction. The combing process removes dirt, impurities and shorter fibers, resulting in fewer foreign fibers protruding from the yarn. This means that a t-shirt made from combed cotton is softer against the skin and less likely to fray or rip. This is a great shirt to print on because the soft fibers easily accept screen printing ink. However, the additional processing required to spin combed cotton yarn results in a more expensive textile.
As for care, a t-shirt made from this material can be washed and dried normally, but dyed combed cotton can bleed at high temperatures.
Semi-Combed Cotton
T-shirts made from semi-combed cotton have many of the qualities of their superior brother, combed cotton, often at a lower cost. However, it is not as soft or as strong because it goes through shorter combing processes, leaving more short fibers in the yarn for a rougher, less durable feel.
ring spun cotton
These days, most of the combed cotton found in high-quality t-shirts and linen materials is usually made using a ring-spun process. The result is a soft and smooth fabric, very wearable and versatile in comfort and elegance. “Ring-spun” refers to the process by which carded and combed cotton is spun into yarn using electric spinning machines.
The cotton is separated into a set number of “skeins” and then twisted or spun around one another. The number of skeins spun in a yarn is called the “ply”, being two skeins 2-ply, three skeins 4-ply, etc. Some common alternatives to ring-spun cotton include open-end spun fibers, which are often found in terry cloth items such as towels and bathrobes and, less commonly, T-shirts. The texture of the open end spun fiber does not lend itself to screen printing or t-shirt quality. Other varieties include air-jet spun, compact ring-spun, friction-spun, and siro-spun fibers.
For your t-shirt screen printing needs, we recommend using combed ringspun cotton.
enzyme wash
Enzymes have a number of uses when it comes to textiles, including cleaning, finishing and texturing effects. Enzyme washed t-shirts are the ones that look perfectly worn right out of the box. An enzyme wash is used to loosen the dye in the fabric and create a faded look, as well as a softer feel, without compromising strength. The best thing about enzymes is that, since they are produced by living organisms, they are an environmentally friendly and economical alternative to traditional industrial textile treatments.
Enzymes are applied to the garment, usually after a T-shirt is made but before it is screen printed, and effectively break down the dye into smaller molecules that are then washed out. This means that instead of adding another chemical to the material, it removes the dye, resulting in greater smoothness, less of that weird factory smell, and greater binding power of screen printing ink.