Case studies › FESPA
Staff T-shirts for FESPA’s exhibitions: DTG in 2014, vinyl and transfer in Cologne 2015
FESPA is the global federation of screen, digital and textile printers, present in 37 countries and running the industry’s leading exhibitions since 1962. Printing the staff T-shirts for a federation of printers is not a job you take lightly.
2014: three events, one requirement
FESPA staff have to be easy to spot in a busy hall, and the shirt has to say what each person does. For FESPA Digital 2014, FESPA Fabric 2014 and Sign Expo 2014 the federation wanted branded T-shirts printed front and back, each carrying that event’s sponsors.
The shirts were mainly white and every event needed a different design, so direct-to-garment printing suited the job: the artwork goes into the machine and each variant prints without new screens. Days after the first order, FESPA came back with five winning designs from a T-shirt competition FESPA Fabric had run, and we printed those too.
2015: Cologne, and a silver that DTG could not print
For FESPA 2015 in Cologne we printed around 100 T-shirts for the exhibition staff, ten different designs, front and back. Our first thought was DTG again, and we nearly went that way. But the brief called for a consistent finish and vibrant colour so staff stood out in the halls, and one element was a silver effect that CMYK and DTG cannot reproduce.
So the run went to a combination of CAD-cut vinyl for the silver and colour cut-out transfer for the coloured logos. More labour in preparing the transfers, but a perfect, consistent result, and the client was happy with the choice.
Why transfer rather than DTG
Direct-to-garment printing is very good for complicated full-colour designs with small details that would be difficult to cut and weed. It has two weaknesses that mattered here: it can be inconsistent when the same design is printed repeatedly, and it is not at its best on flat colours and lettering, where the colour can vary on dark garments.
The garment type and the material also affect DTG print quality, which is much less of a concern with transfer. FESPA is a federation of print professionals; the one audience that will look closely at how the shirt was made.
“We were very happy with the order.”
— Balwinder Tank, FESPA
At a glance
- Product
Staff T-shirts, c. 100 shirts in 10 designs for FESPA 2015 - Technique
DTG (2014); CAD-cut vinyl and colour cut-out transfer (2015) - Print positions
Front and back - Sector
Trade exhibitions - Where
FESPA 2015, Cologne - About the client
A global federation of print professionals with associations in 37 countries, running exhibitions and conferences since 1962
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