Which Method of Printing is Right for Your Custom Sorority or Fraternity Shirts?

Have you ever wondered what the differences are between Something Greek's different methods of printing? Well there are three, and if you have a custom design idea, you'll definitely want to understand what they are and how they work so that you get exactly what you want! 

The method of printing you are probably most familiar with is screen printing. Without boring you with the details, screen printing is done on a machine with multiple arms. Each of these arms holds a screen which deposits one color onto the garment. When placing a screen printing order, you will notice that the price increases for each additional color. This is because a screen has to be set up for each paint color to be used on the garment. Because of all the the set up work involved with a screen printing job, we require a 24 piece minimum. Screen printing can be done on any garment, in any color, with any color print.

The next method of printing is called cad-cut. In order to create a cad cut design, an artist creates the design in a computer program and it is laser cut onto a sheet of vinyl. The artist then weeds out the unwanted vinyl, leaving us with the desired design. Because of this weeding process, cad-cut is not a good option for very detailed designs. For the most part, cad-cut designs can only be one color (one exception is our Sorority I Love Printed V-Neck), but cad-cut print can be put on any garment. There are NO MINIMUMS for cad-cut designs.

Our final and newest method of printing is sublimation which has been made famous by our White Collection and Fraternity Collection. Any idea why we call it the White Collection? Well, sublimation only shows up on white colored garments (we can usually also use an ash gray). Similar to cad-cut, the artist creates the design on a computer program then prints it onto special paper that is then heat pressed into the garment. Nope, not a typo (I graduated with a degree in English after all); I said "into" the garment. As a direct contrast to both screen printing and cad-cut, sublimation print goes into the garment instead of sitting on top of it. Like cad-cut, sublimated garments have NO MINIMUMS, but like screen printing, the print can be several colors.

If you have any questions about these methods of printing, you can leave a comment on any of our social media platforms, or give us a call at 1-800-247-3352. As an alternative, you can email a picture to shop@somethinggreek.com of a design, and we'll tell you which method of printing is best for your custom printed shirts!

- Michelle Giuseffi