I'm currently in love with style of clothing where the fabric is just a big photo.
Is there a company that does small custom orders. Obviously there are a ton of plain tshirt screenprinting companies but that is not what i'm asking about. Maybe it's totally impossible and impractical for a small batch- i have no idea, so i'm asking. No crunchy 8.5x11 iron ons.
Edit:
Not those crunchy, cheap iron ons.
Seam to seam photo on the whole shirt/whatever it is.
Washable.
Full color and undistorted (close to it...i mean not some grungy effect alternative process).
I can't print fabric big enough and there are too many complications with that.
I'm looking for a company to print it or whatever they do and with decent fabric for wearing i suppose.
Mike Kelcher
Posts: 11,625
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
It seems to be woven into the fabric. If so, most people won't be able to afford one unless it's part of a very large run. If you want to wear it, that's one thing. If you want to make it appear like you're wearing it in a photo, that's totally different. If that's the case, look into image mapping.
The technology is called DTG - Direct to Garment printing. It is basically ink jet printing on cloth. Cloth drapes naturally and has no vinyl or screen printed feel. The problem is size. Most printers commercially available for small runs are limited to about 12 X 14 inches. Technology is changing quickly. May be larger formats now. Works best printing on white cotton or 50/50 blends.
Oh yea, I totally forgot about that printer on project runway. I suppose some printing service has to own one somewhere so i'll look around with some of the new info learned here to get the right search results. Thanks all.