Your guide to custom T-shirt printing, embroidery & design

MIke Smith • February 22, 2025

Your guide to custom T-shirt printing, embroidery & design

Whether you’re creating team uniforms, promotional giveaways or event wear, printing custom T-shirts is a great way to get your branding or message out there. But there are many of factors to consider when designing your T-shirt, from the material and logo placement to choosing the right decoration technique like printing or embroidery. To help you out, we’ve compiled this handy T-shirt printing guide with everything you need to know.

Decoration techniques and how they work

At GMB CUSTOM APPAREL we’ve got 4 decoration techniques for T-shirt customization.

Single-color print (screen printing)
• How it works: Ink is pushed through a woven screen onto the fabric.
• The result: A crisp, durable design with a smooth, slightly raised feel.
• Suitable for: Simple, 1-color designs.
• Can I order just 1? No, a minimum order quantity applies as there’s a small cost associated with setting up the screen. However, it’s great value for money if you’re ordering in bulk.

Full-color print (direct-to-garment printing)
• How it works: Pigments are sprayed directly onto the fabric and absorb into the fibers.
• The result: Since the pigments absorb into the shirt, the end result is very soft to the touch.
• Suitable for: Almost any design – and it’s particularly great for photo printing.
• Can I order just 1? Yes. There’s no minimum quantity, orders start at just 1

Full-color transfer (heat transfer)
• How it works: Your design is printed onto special paper, then transferred onto the fabric using heat and pressure.
• The result: A decal-like, photo-realistic print with limitless color possibilities, including gradients.
• Suitable for: Small designs and fine details. We don’t recommend it for large solid images because of the decal-like feel.
• Can I order just 1? Yes. There’s no minimum quantity, orders start at just 1 unit.


Embroidery
• How it works: Durable and vibrant, with a textured and slightly raised finish.
• The result: A decal-like, photo-realistic print with limitless color possibilities, including gradients.
• Suitable for: Designs with no more than 12 solid colors – avoid photos, gradients and fine details.
• Can I order just 1? Yes, orders start at just 1 unit. And while embroidery is a high-quality alternative to T-shirt printing, its durability makes it cost-effective.

Custom T-shirt printing vs embroidery
Think about why you’re creating custom T-shirts. Are they going to be used as branded giveaways, employee uniforms or one-off event wear? This can help you decide which decoration option is right for your needs.
Choose printing for…
• Promotional giveaways you plan to buy in bulk
• Uniforms or event wear
Choose embroidery for…
• Premium gifts, like a T-shirt with a team logo or monogrammed initials

What are the best materials for T-shirts?
While our tees come in a variety of materials, cotton and polyester are among the most popular.
Cotton
• 100% cotton feels super soft and comfortable to wear.
• Combed cotton is extra soft and comfy – we use it for our soft-touch tees.
• Cotton is one of the best materials for embroidery. It’s also great for printing.
Polyester
• Polyester is breathable and moisture-wicking, so it’s great for activewear.
• Polyester/cotton blend is very light, easy to care for and has a little bit of stretch.
• Great for printing.


GMB CUSTOM APPAREL- TIP
To keep your design looking bold, it’s best to machine wash cold with the garment turned inside out. Use non-chlorine bleach and don’t tumble dry. Don’t iron the decoration area.


How to design your own T-shirt
To wrap up our T-shirt printing guide, here are some tips about how to add a design to your T-shirt.

So you’ve found your favorite T-shirt and selected your quantity – now you need to customize it.
It’s very easy to upload a file from your computer. We accept most common file types, including .jpg, .png, .ppt, .pdf and .ai.

For best results, make sure your design file uses a transparent background. This helps avoid any unwanted white background on your printed design.

Then, use our intuitive design studio to tweak the logo placement on the T-shirt or add custom touches like text and graphics. And when you’re done, you can preview it and even share it with a friend before you buy.

T-shirt logo size and placement
The logo size depends on your chosen shirt’s decoration area, which you can see in our design studio. Some of our T-shirts offer left chest logo placement, while others have full front or back printing. You can find information about the exact printing area on each T-shirt’s product page.

We recommend printing a large logo onto T-shirts that you’ll use for giveaways or merch. For employee uniforms, a small logo printed on the chest gives T-shirts a subtle, premium look. Keep in mind that we don’t recommend full-color transfer (heat transfer) for large, solid images because the final result will feel like a decal, but it’s ideal for small designs and fine details.

Help is here if you need it
If you need any help with tweaking your design – or you’d like an expert to help you elevate it – you can reach out to our design team by phone, email or live chat. And if you need to create a logo or T-shirt design from scratch, we’ve got you covered

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CUSTOM MERCH FOR FUNDRASING EVENT

By MIKE SMITH • April 3, 2023
Is your organization looking for a fresh way to raise funds? Look no further! GMB Custom Apparel Webstore has got you covered! 😃 Fundraising is a vital part of any organization's success, whether it's a school, non-profit, or community group. However, raising funds can sometimes be a challenge. That's where GMB Custom Apparel Webstore comes in! We offer an innovative and effective solution to help organizations reach their goals. In this blog post, we'll discuss how partnering with GMB Custom Apparel can boost your fundraising efforts, and we'll introduce our special 25% rebate offer. So, let's get started! Why Choose GMB Custom Apparel Webstore for Your Fundraising Needs Customization: GMB Custom Apparel provides a wide range of high-quality, customizable products, including T-shirts, hoodies, hats, and more. This allows your organization to create unique, branded merchandise that reflects your mission and values, making it more appealing to supporters. Online Convenience: With our user-friendly webstore platform, supporters can easily browse and purchase your custom merchandise from the comfort of their own homes. This convenience encourages more people to participate in your fundraising efforts and increases the likelihood of reaching your financial goals. Hassle-Free Management: We handle everything from order processing and fulfillment to shipping, so your organization can focus on what matters most: your mission. This frees up valuable time and resources, allowing you to concentrate on other essential aspects of your organization. 25% Rebate: As part of our commitment to helping organizations succeed, we offer a generous 25% rebate on all sales made through our webstore platform. This means that not only will you raise funds through the sale of custom merchandise, but you'll also receive an additional 25% back to support your organization's goals. How GMB Custom Apparel Webstore Can Help Your Organization By partnering with GMB Custom Apparel for your fundraising needs, you can take advantage of our expertise and resources to create a successful campaign. Here are some ways we can help you reach your goals: Design Assistance: Our team of skilled designers can help you create eye-catching designs that will appeal to your supporters, ensuring that your custom merchandise stands out from the competition. Marketing Support: We can provide guidance on promoting your webstore and fundraising campaign through various channels, including social media, email marketing, and local events, helping you reach a wider audience and generate more sales. Dedicated Support: Our customer service team is available to answer any questions you may have, and we're always ready to offer assistance throughout the entire process, from setting up your webstore to managing orders and beyond. Take the Next Step: Contact GMB Custom Apparel Today! Ready to kickstart your organization's fundraising efforts? Give GMB Custom Apparel a call to learn more about our webstore platform and how we can help you achieve your goals. Remember, we offer a 25% rebate on all sales, making our service even more attractive for organizations looking to raise funds. Don't wait - Contact us today at 252-417-1719 and start making a difference for your organization!
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WHAT IS SCREEN PRINTING AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

November 20, 2022
WHAT IS SCREEN PRINTING AND HOW DOES IT WORK? Screen printing is a printing method where ink is pushed through a woven screen (also called mesh stencil) onto fabric. The ink doesn’t soak into the fabric, but lays on top of the product. With screen printing, a special screen has to be made for each element of your design. Once that’s done, the colors and elements of the design are applied layer by layer onto the garment. The more layers your design has, the longer it’ll take to print it and the thicker the design will feel on the product. Screen-Printing-Set-Up The long setup time is why screen printing is primarily used to print items in bulk. It’s not cost-effective to print only a t-shirt or two if it’s taken hours to create the stencils for your design. WHAT TYPE OF DESIGNS WORK BEST WITH SCREEN PRINTING? Screen printing works best for solid graphics without small details. This basic typography, geometric designs, symbols, and shapes. That’s because making stencils for intricate designs is time-consuming and it’s difficult to get the details right during the printing process. Since each color is applied separately, screen printing is also mostly used for designs with few colors. Print providers often limit how many colors you can have in your design, and usually no more than 9 are allowed. WHAT IS DIRECT-TO-GARMENT PRINTING AND HOW DOES IT WORK? Direct-to-garment, or DTG, is a printing method that sprays the ink onto the garment. The ink then soaks into the fibers of the garment. It’s like printing on paper, but on clothing. DTG-Printing WHAT TYPE OF DESIGNS WORK BEST WITH DTG? DTG printers offer a lot of color options which means you can print detailed designs and photorealistic images with almost no color limitations. This is important for those businesses that want to try out various colors and designs. The thing to avoid with DTG is transparencies. Elements that are less than 100% opaque don’t translate well in DTG printing—printers will attempt to make up the missing color by spreading the ink, causing the fabric to have a lot of gaps. That’s why it’s best to use solid colors or fake semi-transparency by halftoning. Other than that, you can work with detailed designs and color patterns as much as you wish. For best results, we suggest creating graphics in the sRGB color profile—it matches DTG printer color possibilities the best. WHAT’S BETTER: DTG OR SCREEN PRINTING? DTG and screen printing yield fine quality prints, but they differ in method and cost. DTG uses a printer to spray the ink into a garment, while screen printing layers the ink on top of the fabric
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