July 2008

Extra

All-Over Print Shirts

T-shirts have become something of a fashion staple at retail over the last few years. One of the most popular is the all-over print shirt or fashion shirt. What makes the shirt style so in demand is the innovative way it's decorated with designs, patterns and colors that go outside the lines of traditional imprinted T-shirts.

Whereas most T-shirts are printed on the front of the shirt, on the left-chest pocket or on the back, the embellishment on all-over print shirts spills right to the edges of the garment and often down the hem and arms. The look is stunning and completely different than anything else.

While most decorators and suppliers are still struggling to catch up, the style is available in the promotional industry from select suppliers, including In Your Face Apparel (asi/62494). The shirts are made by printing directly on the garment with water-based ink, in a process called "watermation." The supplier has been making the shirt for a few years in smaller quantities but predict this year will be tipping point when more distributors take notice and begin pitching the style.

Such results do come at a price that's more than what many decorators and distributors and their clients are used to paying. The technique costs around $10 a shirt. That may seem be a great deal more than a typical screen-printed shirt but when compared to the $49-to-$125 price range of most retail fashion shirts of the same style, it's an absolute steal.

"When we first introduced this large-format, all-over print shirt, we would quote $10, and the decorator or distributor would say that their customer would never pay that," says Doug Stayman, president of In Your Face Apparel. "This year, for the first time, our clients are getting requests for all-over prints shirts from their customers. What has happened is that the end-user now understands that it's not the same product as a basic screen-printed shirt, so the $10 cost compares to a $40 retail shirt. The result is that we're selling more and more of these types of products.”