Custom printed tshirts are seen literally everywhere, they are in almost every closet worldwide.
This was not always the case.
Just like everything else on Earth, t shirt customization had to start somewhere.
Read on to learn the history of t-shirt printing, where the printing methods originated, and how to find the best place to get your tshirt printing done.
The history of printing methods
Tshirt printing is a relatively new thing when it comes to the world wide popularity of it.
But we can trace the roots of custom printing all the way back to the Song Dynasty in China (around 960-1279 AD) with silk screen printing.
It later was improved by Japan.
At this time silk screen printing was done using paper for the stencil, hair for the mesh, and a hard wire brush to push the ink into fabric — tshirts were not truly invented yet.
Fast forward to the 17th century, and we begin to see this artform take off in France with the emergence of actual silk being used for the mesh or screen.
It then spread through Europe in the 17th century — it was not widely accepted though.
In the 19th century it became more widely accepted through Europe with the improvement of stretching the stencil over the mesh and the ease of acquiring the silk for the screen from Asia.
By the 1900s screen printing was introduced in New York with squeegees being used to pull the ink through the mesh.
It wasn’t until later that printing was done on tshirts, by this time printing was done on wallpaper and other fabrics for decoration.
Printing was also done for advertising for campaigns.
The history of custom tshirts
To see the emergence and popularity of custom printed tshirts we need to fast forward to the 1960s.
Screen printing started in the 1960s as a way to make art by pop artists like Andy Warhol, Peter Blake, and Robert Rauschenberg.
Many people attribute the beginning of tshirt printing to Michale Vasilantone in America.
He made, used, and sold a rotatable garment printing machine to print on tshirts and other garments.
This made the custom tshirt craze take off.
At this time custom shirts were mostly used by musicians and advertisers to get their name out in public on the back of their fans.
Nowadays we can get custom printed tshirts that are printed many different ways and with any design you can imagine.
How to find the best custom printed tshirt
When you are looking for somewhere that does tshirt printing, do your research to find the best place.
Ask family, friends, and neighbors where they go for their t shirt customization.
Determine what you want on your shirt and how you want it printed.
Search online for places that do custom shirt printing.
Ask what methods they prefer to use, if they can print your design, and how much it would cost.
Some companies will even let you download your design into the computer for them to print, if this is a route you want to take just ask around.
Look at pictures of their finished custom printed shirts and reviews from other customers to determine their quality.
If you get a great quality custom printed tshirt, you are bound to have a unique shirt that will last you for many years to come.
