150 screen printed vendor T-shirts for Stamford Bridge, in two days

The brief

The client, responsible for the workwear of all the food vendors around the stadium, needed 150 black T-shirts carrying six different designs. The print had to be durable, this was workwear that would be washed constantly, and the garment had to be good quality. There was no room for error on a two-day express order.

There was one more condition: she wanted to see a sample of every design before committing. With screen printing that is normally impossible; screen set-up is the expensive part, and a sample in vinyl or transfer would not have shown what the finished screen print would look like.

What we did

We chose screen printing for its print quality and wash durability, and the Gildan GD01 T-shirt for its colour range and quality at the price.

For the samples we agreed something riskier: as each of the six designs went to press, production photographed the first print off the line, paused, and emailed it to the client. Once a print run has started it is difficult and costly to stop, so the window for a reply was about five minutes. The client stayed on call, approved each photo as it came through, and the run continued without a hitch.

The result

The 150 T-shirts were delivered on time and, in the client’s words, were perfect.

How we sample a screen print

We recommend a printed sample on any job where the client has not seen the design on fabric before. Where the time allows, that means a physical sample in the post. Where it does not, a high-quality photograph of the first print off the line does the same job in minutes rather than days, and that is the option this order used, six times over.

Either way the point is the same: nobody should find out what a screen print looks like on their garment after 150 of them have been made.

“Thanks so much, they are perfect, really good quality, I really appreciate all your help and patience. Thanks again.”

— Claire, PA to the General Manager and Deputy General Manager