printing t-shirts

[ChaseNYC]

I have no experience whatsoever with printing on T-shirts but I'm curious whats the best way to get a design on a t-shirt for someone who has, at least to my knowledge, none of the required equipment? I know there are iron-on things you can buy but I'm guessing those don't last too long?

[Genesis F5]

It depends on what type of detail you're looking for. The iron-on sheets are great if you looking looking for detailed to photo-realistic images. If you're looking for simple shapes at one or two colors, silk screening is very easy. There are a ton of tutorials for it on the web.

If you wanted to go super DIY, you could modify an inkjet printer to print onto a t-shirt, or attach a piece of fabric to some thin cardboard and feed it through, then sew the patch on.

As far as how long it will last, silk screening will last longer since the color is soaking into the fabric whereas the iron-on sheets are just on the surface. With proper care, they should both last for a fairly long time.

[Loyal Rogue]

The best method depends on how many Tshirts we're talking about, and what their function is.

Cheap promotion shirts? Heat transfers.

Long term 1-2 color shirts in mass quantities? Silk screening.

Multi-color or photorealistic artwork? Direct to fabric printing.

The best all around solution I've found is using an online service like zazzle or cafepress.
No minimum, direct to fabric printing of any design or photo, and decent quality selection of products.