The Fray t-shirts currently

Here are some examples of current t-shirt designs for

The Fray

 

I think that it would be good to create a design for The Fray as I feel that there aren't many eye catching or inspirational designs for them displayed on t-shirts. I like the first one that I have shown so may use this for inspiration. 

Beatles t-shirts currently

Here are some examples of 

The Beatles t-shirts 

that are currently out there on the market

By collecting current examples it will help me to generate ideas when designing my own designs and take inspiration from them.

T-Shirt Printing Techniques

Screen Printing 

This is the most common method that T-Shirt printers use found on the high street. This is because the production cost for high volumes of screen printed T-shirts is very low. 

Designs are printed on to the t-shirt with plasticol inks and sealed by a process called heat tunnel curing. Each colour needs to be printed on to the t-shirt individually meaning it can cost around £25 to set up each screen.
Consequently set up costs are high and full colour printing is nearly impossible. Therefore a large number of t-shirts is the best option for using the screen printing method. 

Transfer Printing 

The cheap, high quality and professionally produced transfers are generally printed on a laser printer and applied to a t-shirt using a high quality heat press. The quality produced would not normally be up to the standards expected by retail customers who are used to the finish and feel of screen printing but is commonly used for Hen Nights, Stag Do's and promotional events etc.

Vinyl Transfers 

Vinyl transfers produce possibly the most durable custom t-shirts of all the 4 main printing procecesses. Vinyl transfers are often used for the production of custom work wear. A digitally controlled cutter is used to cut a design from a vinyl sheet and the vinyl is then removed from its backing sheet and applied to the garment using a heat press. 

Vinyl is produced in a wide range of colours and is is great for simple solid colour designs. Placement is done by hand so is not really well suited to fiddly designs with multiple colours etc. 

Direct to Garment (DTG)

Direct to garment printing is the most recent printing method. T-shirts are loaded on to a plate in a similar manner to screen printing. Textile inks are printed on to the t-shirt using an inkject printer. 

When printing onto white t-shirts this method is consistent, fairly rapid and inexpensive as the designs have no physical set up costs like screen printing does. However dark t-shirts cause more problems as they need a white underbase for the design to be printed on to. This can result in the t-shirt not washing as well because the design can become rigid and ruined. 

Most iconic T-shirts

Here are a selection of the 

'Most Iconic T-shirts of All Time' 

that I found on the internet.

I love New York T-shirt 

Known to be the most Iconic T-shirt with a design created by Milton Glaser who originally sketched it on to a napkin and is now seen on many T-shirts and many other products. 

Rolling Stones T-shirt 

The famous "Lick" design for one of the best Rolling Stones albums Sticky Fingers became one of Rock 'n' roll's most recognizable symbols. 

Superman T-shirt 

Batman T-shirt 

Both Batman and Superman are iconic marvel superheros so their logos are seen often on T-shirts due to their popularity. 

Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt 

With having over 100 cafe's over the world, these shirts have been very collectible over the years

Vote for Pedro T-shirt 

After the movie Napoleon Dynamite in 2004, this shirt has since gained hugely popular. 

Even thought the design isn't particularly eye catching, the movie created quite an imprint during Napoleon's famous dance scene.   

Pink Floyd T-shirt

Iconic design for one of rocks most emblematic albums and seen often on T-shirts as Pink Floyd inspires generations of listeners. 

Run DMC T-shirt 

DMC are considered to be one of the most influential rap groups in history and they were the first rap group nominated for a Grammy.

Tuxedo T-Shirt 

Popular for the 'perfect' mix of high and low, a good shirt for any occasion. 

Che Guevara T-shirt

Che Guevara was an iconic Marxism figure

The image still remains relatively unchanged, though the drawing has seen many iterations. 

Tie dye T-shirt

Originally aimed at the free spirited youth which caught on, most often seen in summer launches.

Ghostbusters T-shirt

After 2 movies, animated TV series and video games, Ghostbusters still remains popular to this day. 

Hypercolor T-shirt 

Designed in the 80's and sold over $50 million of shirts in a 4 month period 

Jack Daniels T-Shirt 

Historic Tennessee Whiskey that't not only very popular to drink, it's a popular T-shirt design too.

Bob Marley T-Shirt 

National Musical and fashion icon, selling 25 million copies world wide.