One of the most significant changes to the custom t-shirt printing industry is in the latitude of what can be printed. There are no longer any limits as far as the level of detail that we can print on a t-shirt.

The premier printing methods in screen printing are 4 color process and simulated process printing. These methods are constrained by a line screen variable of 55 lines per inch (lpi). While good execution of these processes is impressive - we do them - it is also limiting in terms of the finest detail that can actually be printed. This is especially true on black custom t-shirts.

Digital printing on t-shirts is not constrained by line screens. We rely on complex software too interpolate continuous tone without interruption. This creates the exacting images, with nearly no loss of detail that our customers are willing to pay for. We are able to reproduce detail that would not be able to be burned into a screen much less even seen on the exposure film.

While we are touting digital printing on custom t-shirts, we must warn you that all digital t-shirt printing gear is not capable of delivering these results. The less sophisticated brands of equipment such as AnaJet, Sawgrass and even Brother are only capable of printing through a windows based driver system. That is bad. Why? You are left at the mercy of hoping that the translation is effective. There is little room for machine level editing.  We specialize in printing on black t-shirts and require the ability to integrate Photoshop with the software that drives our Kornit machinery.

End Part One

Blue Heron is the nation’s leading digital t-shirt printer. We print exclusively with Kornit Digital Equipment. We also screen print and do embroidery in-house.

07/22/2010
Little Falls, New Jersey 07424