Experienced painters, artists and designers know that the border around an image can often define, enhance and even make or break a presentation. Part of the reasoning behind this is how the edge of the graphic image ends and where in the image it starts and stops. In garment decoration there is a similar appeal to where the design starts and stops on the shirt. Since the popularity of larger prints has exploded in the retail and custom markets it is a common trend to have the print go right up to or even fall off of the edges of the shirt. Creating designs for this effect isn’t that difficult as long as both the design and the printing production are taken into consideration prior to trying to “make it work” on press. 

 

The issues that come up with oversize prints are similar in scope to prints that go off of the edge of garments because the equipment and methods tend to be similar as well. Part of the challenge to this style of printing is a required change in mentality—that is, away from the typical, heavy, athletic prints on the front-center of the shirt. 

 

In alternative location printing (imprinting near or off of the border of the garment is commonly referred to as “alternative location” printing), it is common to have a much lighter, more delicate approach to the process or the image may get heavily smudged. Equal consideration must be paid to the design process, and it is common for the design to be purposefully broken up, weathered or faded out near the edges to aid in the avoidance of distortion from ink building up along the edge of the garment. A review of both design and printing production can show how they work together to create consistent results for this specialty printing.

 

Design decorum

The first design consideration in the alterative-location printing process actually has little to do with design. Collecting and understanding the designated garment’s style and sizes that are collected during the sales process is critical as these will ultimately affect the design. Allowances must be made for how much the size and shape of the garment will vary from piece to piece.

 

Figure 1: One important element for successful alternative-location design is to accommodate for how much the size and shape of the garment will vary in an order. In some cases, an additional image size must be created. (All graphics courtesy the author)

Take an order for a women’s garment in sizes small to extra-large for example. The small and medium prints won’t be effected, but the extra-large print would need a different image size to yield the same effect (see figure 1). The difficult part of this process is that each design—depending on how it is developed and where the important design elements are placed—will have different variables that may or may not affect the final printed piece. 

 

It takes some experience to predict when there will be trouble. In some cases, an extra amount of design pattern can be added to the image to compensate for the size and style variance. In other cases the shirt may be restricted to certain sizes or the design would need to be scaled up to compensate. Since this is a costly issue, it is best to catch it as early in the alterative-location printing process as possible to avoid losing an order. 

 

A good design practice for developing or editing prints that fall off of the shirt is to create seamless tiles in Photoshop or your vector program of choice. Creating a tile can extend the design out a distance away from the edges to compensate for some garment-size variance. Even the best laid design and printing plans can run foul if the shirts are an inch or two out of spec. Prepare with a little extra image to solve several problems at once.

 

Figure 2: The design element pictured here was used to create a tile pattern for this shirt. A pattern can be made inside a square in CorelDraw, then PowerClipped into the square to create a tile. This tile can then be duplicated for a seamless pattern.

There are many ways to create a seamless tile depending on your software and design preference. One of the simpler ways is to use CorelDRAW to create a square image of a texture that will be made into a tile. A pattern can be made inside of the square and then PowerClipped into the square. This pattern tile can then be duplicated to create a seamless pattern (see figure 2).

 

The second important consideration is the location of any logos, typography and legible elements that are required to stay visible on the shirt. Obviously, it is best if a logo doesn’t get cut in half (unless it is intentional), so there needs to be a safe distance location established from a study of the final garment style and sizes. When the proper locations can be determined on the design files, the art can proceed to the separations and printing stages. 

 

One solution to variance in shirt styles and sizes is to create the background completely separate, then overprint the logo or critical type as a second print. The second print location can be adjusted to vary with each shirt style and size to ensure necessary information isn’t lost in the printing process (see figure 3).

 

The final design can be very dramatic if the print is executed properly, but certain production concerns have to be addressed to avoid common issues that can crop up during the print run.

 

Figure 3: To manage different shirt styles and sizes, logos can be printed over a background as a second print. The second print location can be adjusted to fit on various sizes.

Printing practicum

A popular instructor in special effect and alternative method printing, Greg Gaardbo of Shockwaves (shockwavesapparel.com) has some suggestions for printing off of the edge on garments. “You will need a bigger platen and a larger print area, depending on the design. You don’t want to be limited by your equipment if you can avoid it,” he says. “Printing off of the edge of a garment isn’t really different than printing in the middle—just make sure the ink isn’t too sticky or heavy and that your production is properly prepared for the print.”

 

The other challenge is aligning the print properly on the platen. There are several ways to align the shirt on the platen: use platen tape and draw a line for the critical edges using a marker; locate a printing start point with an adjustable laser pointer (many presses have these attachments or they can be added separately); or use a platen specifically created to load the shirts in the right place. 

 

All the extra work in this style of printing can pay off for the prepared printer as these types of prints can collect considerable higher profits if they are done well. The biggest factor is not to make promises that every print will be exactly the same on every shirt. The spec on garments as well as the variables in the process will cause the print to look slightly different from shirt to shirt. Most clients won’t consider this a problem and it can even be a selling point if it is presented as an artistic value to each shirt. 

 

It is typically a lot easier for the design to be created in house rather than supplied by the customer. Because clients don’t often have an idea of the limitations of the over-the-edge printing process, they don’t know how to design for it properly. If artwork is supplied, it is best to immediately go back to the client and attempt to educate them, working out some art changes up front rather than to trying to execute a print that is sure to be a nightmare. 

 

Off-the-edge prints are becoming more and more popular with an increasing demand in many different markets. Printers that can achieve this style of printing can demand higher prices and will be able to push ahead of their competition by having captured the attention of the customers.

 

Read the Warnings

 

The following styles of graphics are very difficult to create for an off-edge print. Most garments that are printed with these styles of graphics are printed pre-construction in large fabric swatches; the garments are then created from pieces of the print. Although this is a costly process with higher minimums (and commonly done out of the USA) it is a good way to ensure a detailed print will have the consistent quality for a more conventional print. Here are some red flags for artwork submitted by clients that are not great over-the-edge prints done in house:

 

• Art that is very clean with sharp edges and heavy coverage

• Designs that have geometric shapes that are supposed to line up with the edges

• Designs that have a lot of half-toned dots in even tones

• Images with small elements that need a lot of clarity (i.e. small type)

• Very bright designs with multiple colors and gradient blends

• Graphics with large areas of heavy coverage

• Photorealistic images with a lot of detail

 

Clean It Up

Here are some ways of avoiding a mess in printing off of the edge on shirts:

 

• Tape off extra areas on the screen that won’t be needed

• Use extra tack on the shirts to make sure they won’t peel up

• Use paper or peel away platen tape to capture excess ink

• Wipe screens every couple of shirts if necessary

• Gauge the shirts and print from the largest size down to the smallest

• Flash after the print to avoid the wet ink getting onto the shirts from take off

• Adjust the ink viscosity to avoid it sticking to the shirt and building up

• Use a higher mesh count than typical to put down less ink volume

• Use a sharp squeegee to keep from mashing the ink over bumps

• Have extra garments available in the same color to practice on first