Just about every screen printing company starts off doing t-shirts, and only t-shirts. They’re the most straight-forward thing to print. But almost every different thing you want to print on requires a different printing supply, or piece of equipment, or technique.

We’ll get into the endless complications of each silkscreen process in another post. For now, let’s look at hats!

Screen printing is done by lowering a screen down onto a substrate, and squeegeeing ink through the openings in the screen onto the fabric. You can picture how this might look for printing on flat fabric like on a t-shirt. But what about something that’s more of an odd shape, like a hat? How can you print on such an irregular surface and expect each color printed to line up with the last?

For this, you need a press accessory to turn a “weird” surface into a flat, printable one. Long story short, we picked up one of these, and now we’re also hat printers!

Whenever we humans create/manufacture something, the sound-minded of us wish to do so with as few environmental/health impacts as possible.

At Rocket Science sometimes the use of synthetic materials is unavoidable. However, whenever possible, we prefer to print on-and encourage the use of-100% cotton t shirts,  sweat shirts, and other garments.

We’re also pleased to know that the inks we use for printing (although we can’t exactly call them organic) are Phthalate-free.

You can find a full description of what a Phthalate is on Wikipedia, but the short version is that they are plasticizers; IE substances added to plastics to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability, and longevity. Part of what makes Phthalates bad is that they can easily leach and evaporate from plastics into food or the atmosphere, causing a variety of ailments with excessive long term exposure.

Even with the new, improved inks on the market, we strive to send as little of these materials down the drain as possible. We re-claim as much unused ink as possible at the end of each print run, and when we clean up, we use soybean-based cleaners.

At Rocket Science, we strive to do no harm, and we’re always open to questions and suggestions regarding the environment impact of the work we do.

Ask almost any business owner, and they’ll agree that in terms of ensuring the longevity of their organization, there’s literally nothing more important than promoting the products and services they provide, as well as the business name, logo, and brand that represent them. Here’s why we think you should order some custom printed shirts.

Printed Clothing is Inexpensive Advertizing

Billboards, TV ads, radio spots… These are all effective methods of getting your name out there. But they’re all very expensive, especially when purchased on a continual basis.

T-shirts on the other hand, can be had for as low as $5 or $6!

Your Money Continues to Work for You

Consider that most advertising dollars spent are on time-limited runs.

When you hand out shirts to employees, customers, or just the general public, you never know how many times that garment will be worn over time, or where, or by who!

They’re a Win-Win Promotional Item

Not only will people appreciate you and your organization for giving them something free, they’ll also be hitting the streets, flashing your name and message around at no further cost to  you!

Even if a person just wears your brand around the yard, you’re still getting to more eyeballs than you would have otherwise, and are staying in people’s consciousness!

The Messaging is Flexible

Given the low cost and fully, quickly customizable nature of shirt printing, your limitations are very minimal.

Already ordered shirts for your crew, but now wish you had something for an upcoming event? Just place another order! Most projects are not draining monetarily, or in terms of time; and most small design/messaging changes are a snap!

It’s Fun to Have Your Own Shirts

Let’s be honest. Think about cracking open a box of your very own custom designed t-shirts with your brand and messaging on them.  That’s fun! It’s exciting to put something on that shows off what you have to offer the world!

Ah, inaugural posts. Always so sparse; always so brief. But every journey begins with but a single step, and every informational resource begins with a single contribution.

Thanks for checking out the Rocket Science Blog. Just to introduce ourselves, we’re a small screen printing and graphic design house located in Winnipeg, MB !

Want more info on us? Check out http://rocketsciencedesigns.com, or just get in touch!