If you’ve been printing long enough, you’ve fought a bad blank. The lint specks that show up under a light-ink print. The blocker that fights your detail. The fuzzy surface that drinks ink and still won’t give you a crisp edge. You write it off as the cost of doing business. It isn’t. It’s the cost of doing business on the wrong shirt.

What’s actually happening on the press? And why does SoftShirts fabric behave differently?

Lint is the enemy of a clean print.

Loose fiber, lint, on the surface of a tee is what puts those little flecks and pinholes in your print, especially on darks and fine detail. Most blanks carry more surface lint than you’d think. Starting with long staple cotton, ring spun combed yarn, knitting tighter and adding our bio-wash finish smooths the surface before the shirt ever hits your platen, so there’s less fiber sitting up top to interfere with the ink. Cleaner surface, cleaner first hit, fewer flashes to chase a smooth surface.

No blocker means your ink does what you tell it.

A lot of premium-feeling blanks, especially garment-dyed ones, more often than not need a blocker to stop migration. The trade-off is a surface that resists your ink and a hand that ends up heavier than you wanted.  The dyeing process we use doesn’t require a blocker. That means fewer screens, less ink and discharge prints land soft and bright. Water-base or plastisol, whichever inks you choose, be assured they print the way they’re supposed to, and you’re not fighting the shirt to get a result.

Discharge printable, the way cotton should be.

Because we’re 100% natural BCI combed ring-spun cotton with no poly hiding in the blend, discharge works the way the textbook says it should. You pull the color out, you lay your ink in, and you get that soft, no-hand finish customers love. No surprises, no workarounds.

"I chose SoftShirts as my go to for branded apparel for several reasons. Unlike pigment-dyed shirts, you can spray out ink spots without ruining the garment. We can also use discharge inks for lifestyle brands and easily rebrand the garment with their tear-away tags. If I don't have the time to rebrand, they can do it for me before they ship the blanks. Lastly, these garments have high-quality construction, hold their shape and customers love them." 

- Mike Hoey, That T-Shirt Dude

What that adds up to.

Less ink per shirt. Fewer screens and reclaims. Less press time fighting coverage. A print that survives the wash because it’s bonded to a surface built to take it. The premium blank costs a little more on the front end and saves you on every single pull.

That’s Fabric doing the work. It’s one of our 3F’s, Fit, Fabric, Feel, and it’s the one screen printers feel first.

Want to put it to the test?

The best proof is on press, not in a paragraph. New accounts get two free samples, shipped free, so you can run your toughest job on our fabric before you commit. See how the surface holds your detail, then decide.

Already an account? A few of our best printing tees are on sale right now, the Style 200 Classic and Style 202 Youth Classic in summer colors, and the Style 300 Ultrafine 4.6oz. Grab a couple and put them through it!

Wash it and let us know what you think.