The Surface You Print On Makes A Difference. Part 1 Cotton.

Welcome To Cora’s Corner, where every month I am going to help you with your artwork issues. This month’s discussion is; garment surfaces.

Not all surfaces are created equal. Labels on the garments might say the same thing like a 100% cotton. However, each of those garments can be vastly different. What are those differences you ask? Here’s a small sample of things that can affect the surface of that 100% cotton garment.

OPEN COTTON: The most common inexpensive T-Shirts or basic Polo Shirts are made from OPEN COTTON with ounce weights of 5.5 up to 6.1 ounces. Open cotton shirts are basic fabrics (basically one step above raw cotton), lightweight and smooth on the outside, but not on the inside. You can hold up one of these basic shirts to the light and see through it, especially on 5.5 ounce weight fabrics. When the product description says’ “100% Cotton” and nothing else, it’s almost always Open Cotton. Most T-Shirts from Gildan, Hanes, Jerzees, Anvil and Fruit of the Loom are made using OPEN COTTON. The surface of the garment are usually rough. Therefore the print usually has some distortion especially if detailed or using light coverage of ink.

RING-SPUN COTTON: If you want shirts which are STRONGER & SOFTER, then select shirts made from RING-SPUN COTTON. Ring-spun cotton is softer and smoother both inside and out. Since the cotton is spun it makes the fibers denser, softer, straighter, stronger and more durable. Hanes, Gildan, Alternative, NEXT Level, Bella for Ladies, UltraClub are just  a few who offer this kind of cotton garment. Printing on these garments give a much better print than open cotton garments.

COMBED RING-SPUN COTTON: Very High Quality shirts are made from COMBED RING-SPUN COTTON. Combed Ring-Spun shirts are usually referred to as Fashion Shirts, since you would not mind wearing these out to dinner. When cotton is spun and then combed, fine brushes are used to pull out any impurities, along with short fibers leaving behind only long fibers which are straight, even and aligned. The texture of combed cotton is very soft and very smooth since it lacks short threads, all dirt and impurities have been removed. In addition, combed cotton is stronger since the straightened fibers lie together more tightly, making the thread less likely to fray and unravel.

EGYPTIAN COMBED and INTERLOCK RING-SPUN COTTON: Higher quality yet are garments using Egyptian Cotton. Egyptian Cotton is considered the one of the finest and highest quality cotton in the world. Egyptian Combed Ring-Spun Cotton offers one of the best surfaces to print on. Here I should note that how the garment is knitted makes as much difference at what material is used. The interlocks are technically two layers of fabric knitted together whereas a jersey knit is a single layer. The face of the material may look the same but the interlocks generally have a softer hand, better drape and a better printing surface.

SUPIMA (PIMA) COTTON: The name “Pima” was applied to ELS cotton (previously called American-Egyptian) being developed in the U.S. desert southwest in the early 1900’s. Supima cotton is garments certified to contain only 100% Pima cotton. Pima is an ELS cotton with superior fiber properties, luster and silkiness. This cotton has the best printing surface. It is highly resistant to pilling, absorbs color best and provides one of the silkiest surfaces to print on.

Personally Supima Cotton shirts are my favorite to wear.

Weight and drape of the garment will affect printing some but on a much smaller scale than what the material is and how it is knitted.

Next month I will cover the various polyester blends.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

I would also like to hear from you about your most pressing issues about artwork. Your question may be used in a future issue of this newsletter. If you have questions, please email me at cora@qdigitizing.com. And please reference this newsletter.

Looking forward to sharing an exciting journey of discovery into the world of Art.

Cora Kromer
Qdigitizing
cora@qdigitizing.com