Trends in fashion have been evolving and renewing without any pause. And, the one styling of the fashion world that no one can ignore is vintage t-shirts. People are bringing back the vintage styles and owning them with ultimate confidence and boldness. However, there are different methods for printing the vintage look on your t-shirts. The following discussion will give you a piece of detailed information about the vintage look and printing methods of it on t-shirts.
What makes a t-shirt look vintage?
Technically, vintage refers to those products that are older than twenty years. The high school t-shirt that you continue to wear with big holes might not suit vintage printing. But you can instead look for the junior tall t-shirt.
But apart from the age of the t-shirt, the feel also makes it vintage. The vintage tees soften with every wash and clean. It is one of the essential traits that helps you to identify a vintage t-shirt.
The logo on the t-shirt must be old, and the threads must come out that will make a t-shirt look vintage. If your t-shirt still has heavy and thick ink, then you must get it washed several times to make it an authentic vintage shirt.
Ways to print a vintage look on the t-shirts
While multiple ways will help you achieve a vintage print on the t-shirts, some of them are cost-effective, while others might cost you more than expected.
- Use a single layer of traditional ink
This method is also known as “punk rock white “, and the stores are suitable with this name only. With traditional IE plastisol ink, you need to put double layers of white ink to make the logo pop up and look bright.
If you put down only one layer of such ink on the t-shirt, the logo will fade, and the t-shirt will appear more vintage. The “punk rock white “method is the most affordable and accessible method to print vintage looks on the t-shirts because they use only one colour of ink and one single layer of ink to print the logo.
A dark shirt with a vintage look can be made with this method and will look appropriately like the vintage t-shirts.
- Using a blend that will not discharge easily
Some stores specialize in discharge printing. It is the process of replacing and removing the colour of the t-shirt to achieve a vibrant and soft colour print. The discharge ink method is only applicable to t-shirts made of natural fibres like cotton or polyester cotton.
With this method, you won’t get a super vibrant colour print on the t-shirts, but you can successfully get a vintage look on the t-shirt, and that’s what you are looking for right now!
The resultant print with the desired logo or picture will offer you a subtle and faded look that will make the t-shirt look vintage. It is one of the easiest ways to get a vintage print on the cheap vintage t shirts.
- Utilize heather garments
Heather garments are hoodies or t-shirts that do not have a solid colour but are of multiple thread colours that are the same. It helps the t-shirts to achieve a nonsolid look on them.
You can use this variety of t-shirts for discharge printing if you choose to perform clear discharge printing on the t-shirts to gain a vintage look. IE colour print will provide a bleaching effect of discharge but not add any color to the ink.
Often it is found that the heather garments are a combination of polyester and cotton. We must keep in mind that cotton discharges colour, but polyester does not. It will allow the t-shirt to gain an imperfect discharge print and give you a vintage appearance on the t-shirt.
- Put a distress pattern on the artwork of your t-shirt.
One must do this method before your shirt reaches anywhere near the press. It is not done itself with screen printing. If you search for texture overlay or distress layer, you will find various patterns that look like cracking or marbles. You can take them to photoshop and print them on the t-shirt you choose. It will make your t-shirt look distressed and will offer a vintage look to the t-shirt.
It is a fantastic method to print the distressed artwork on your t-shirt, and you can achieve what you desire. Once the printing on the t-shirt is complete, you can pre-press it.
- Print Tone-wise on the heather t-shirts
We previously mentioned the heather t-shirts, but if you can print the same colour on the heather shirts, you can achieve a subtle print that will look vintage. Like, if you can blend forest green with heather green, the colour will appear subtle, and the pattern will come up, giving you a vintage effect on the cheap vintage t shirts Dhgate. The difference in colours will make the shirt look solid green with the texture on it.
- Combination of all these effects
If you are looking for an appropriately vintage look on the t-shirts, you can combine these methods to get a pronounced and dramatic result. Distress your artwork and print them with a punk rock white process! Once done, call the entire print on the heather shirts. It is the best vintage look t-shirt that you can achieve with the combination of all these methods.
Final Verdict
The primary way to achieve a vintage look on the t-shirt is to make accurate colour combinations with sound effects. You need to complete a subtle look so that your t-shirt looks faded and with a quality print texture on the center of the t-shirt.
If you are an expert in photoshop, you can also achieve various vintage designs or can get cheap vintage t shirts Dhgate easily. Applying enough ink on the t-shirts won’t be a good solution because it will damage the look. Instead, work skillfully with a slight amount of ink to give it a quality vintage look.
You can also use a combination of all the methods mentioned above and achieve what you are looking for now. It will offer you the best vintage look.