Selecting custom uniforms for your employees is a great way to promote your business. However, you may not be sure about what choices to make when you're ordering custom uniforms. Here are a few tips when you're deciding how you want your company represented through the uniforms your employees will wear.

1. What Type of Fabric Will You Need to Use?

Depending on how much physical activity your employees will be doing, consider whether you want to go with cotton custom uniforms, polyester or nylon. Also think about what the temperature is like for your employees. Are they outside? If they are and the weather gets warm, cotton may be a more suitable fabric. Polyester or nylon may look dressier, but it can be heavier and may be better for indoor, air-conditioned environments. Also, consider your employees and their busy schedules; make sure the custom uniforms are easy to wash.

Custom apparel is an ideal way to promote a business or nonprofit organization, particularly if the apparel is distributed a number of different ways. This can include providing employees with apparel, such as custom t-shirts, to wear during work hours or at promotional events, or giving customized apparel away to potential clients among other possibilities. Do the necessary research before choosing custom apparel for a business to gain as many benefits as possible. 

What is screen printing? Screen printing is the method for transferring an image onto fabric using a mesh fabric stencil stretched over a frame. It's a great way to create uniforms, logo shirts and just about any kind of promotional shirt you need. There are a few things you need to know about custom screen printing before you dive in.

What's better than screen printed posters and beer? Screen printed posters and beer for a good reason.

Screens 'N' Suds began in 2009 as a collaboration between Brian Gearing, Sam Verrill and Ric Hersh. The yearly beer and screen print poster event started out in Richmond, Va and is making it's debut in Chicago with the help of Andrew Lautner and Matt Herakovich. All proceeds from Screens 'N' Suds table along with door donations go to The National MS Society.

The timing couldn't be more perfect. Chicago's beer inspired art show and tasting will be on the eve of the infamous Dark Lord Day. Expect to see prints from the likes of Pollock Prints, Screwball Press, and more of your favorite Chi-town poster artists. Sharprint will be printing up some t-shirts designed especially for the event. Breweries representing will be Goose Island, Metropolitan, and Breckenridge for starters.

There's more folks...check this out:
For the week leading up to the event, stop in Nightwood Restaurant for special plates that will also benefit MS Society. If you haven't been there - now is the perfect opportunity. Soooo delicious.

Here's the skinny on the art show & tasting:
Friday, April 27 from 6-11
@ Pilsen Social Club
1804 South Racine - 4th Floor
$5 suggested donation
DJ Pikel Per

Come on out. Drink some beer. Get some art. 

T-shirt printing has been around for some time now. Over the past few decades, the printing of t-shirts has show us many different types of trends and styles. In one of our previous article's “The History of T-Shirt Printing” we talked about how technological innovations have brought the t-shirt to where it is today. In this article, we talk about where the t-shirt trend is now, and how it relates to the process of printing.

With multiple colors & designs when using screen-printing and embroidery techniques, custom t-shirt printing can offer a variety of options. Fashion & clothing trends are changing all the time, sometimes as quickly as overnight. For example, “Casual Friday” was a popular trend within organizations that began 10 to 15 years ago. Now the casual movement has grown to include the entire work-week. The easy to wear apparel formerly reserved for weekends is now allowed every day in companies of all sizes nationwide. 

If you aren’t familiar with the work of Julie Pinzur or Mokuyobi Threads, it’s likely you will be in the near future. We scored an interview with Julie, founder of Mokuyobi Threads, to gain some insight into how she thinks and works. Her creations are clever and bright, refreshing and completely original. Go figure - so is she. 

The printed t-shirt is so much a part of modern life that most people don’t stop to consider its history. Printed t-shirts, however, did not just fall out of the sky; they came into existence through impressive technological innovations. The garment itself was originally intended to be a man’s undergarment, to be worn under his military uniform or suit. Soldiers and sailors serving during WWII would frequently wear nothing but a shirt and their uniform trousers when off-duty or during especially hot or dirty work days. The t-shirt as a stand-alone garment gained popularity among civilians in the years following the war. 

Textile printing has a much longer history than the t-shirt. The oldest and most time-consuming method of textile printing is woodblock printing. This dates to 3rd century China and relies on a relief design carved into a block of wood, which is then dipped into ink and pressed onto the fabric. Other less labor-intensive techniques were developed during the Renaissance and through the Industrial Revolution.  

***We're proud to announce the winner of our FREE printed t-shirt raffle! Drum roll...... Laura Joy of Filament Theatre! Congrats Laura - we look forward to printing up some shirts for you!

More and more consumers are opting for products that are less harmful to, even beneficial for our natural world than ever before. In many cases, this choice comes at a higher ticket price. It is no surprise that more and more businesses are evaluating their processes and products to meet this demand.

The most obvious place to start for an apparel decorator is with the clothing itself. We've developed a quick reference guide for distinguishing the difference between sustainable, organic and recycled fabrics along with the leading eco-friendly substrates and their advantages.