Cut and sew – The secret of the best T-shirt brands

“The public is more familiar with bad design than good design. It is, in effect, conditioned to prefer bad design, because that is what it lives with. The new becomes threatening, the old reassuring.”
— Paul Rand

Over the years, we’ve worked with many designers from all walks of life. Some of them are getting started with their careers while others are veterans T-shirt manufacturers but they all have a thing in common and that is that they want to create the best T-shirts possible.

As a printing company, we offer different services to customise garments from the cutting-edge DTG (direct to garment printing) to the traditional and trust-worthy embroidery. But all of these production methods involved ordering garments from wholesale brands to then personalise them with our designs.

The canvas — the T-shirt — was always given to us, already made. What if we wanted to change the very foundation of it? What if we wanted to customise even further? With cut and sew, it is now possible.

 

 

What is Cut and Sew?

This is a new term given to a very old practice. ‘Cut and sew’ is the way current designers are referring to the design process where the fabric is printed before the garment is manufactured and not the other way around. Usually, brands and designers will order T-shirts from a wholesale brand and print their designs on it but that always presented some limitations.

Usually, ‘cut and sew’ is preferred by those who want more creative control over their final products. This kind of production opens up a world of possibilities that traditional production processes simply can’t offer.

No Print Limitation
Like we already mentioned, cut and sew allows for more creative control. Traditionally, when printing garments, you’re limited to a very specific size which is usually around an ‘A4.’ This may vary, some may go a bit bigger or shorter but, in the end, there will always be a limit.

Much like all over printing, ‘cut and sew’ allows you to print an entire garment from top to bottom.

More Control Over the Final Quality
When working with the garments of a wholesale brand, there will always be elements that we cannot control. These might seem like small details to some but they can make or break a product. We’re talking about the quality of stitching, hems, collars and even the label.

Wholesale brands offer garments with tearaway labels but with cut and sew you can choose where the label will be. This opens up a whole new would of possibilities.

 

 

Cut and Sew VS Sublimation

At a first glance, the printing benefits of cut and sew sound a lot like sublimation. After all, they both allow you to print the garment completely but there are several differences. First of all, sublimation cannot cover the entire garment. There will always be small areas — especially under the armpits and around the collar — where the ink doesn’t reach, leaving small white areas.

Second, sublimation only works with 100% polyester garments while with cut and sew, you can virtually work with any fabric as long as it is compatible with the printing technique. The pricing is also different. Sublimation is generally cheaper but it also depends on the quantities and if you order in bulk or print on demand.

Note: You may also be interested in reading ‘How to choose fabrics for a good printing experience.’

Printsome’s Cut and Sew Services

Printsome is proud to add ‘Cut and Sew’ to its list of T-shirt printing services. For years we’ve been invested in the best and latest T-shirt printing trends but we’re finally going to dive into the manufacturing business.

Fast Service
It doesn’t matter how complex a design may be, we guarantee to send you a sample garment within a week. Productions of entire orders take four weeks from start to finish. These do not include shipping.

Customer Service
We’ve built our business around the needs of our customers. This means we try to give the best customer service possible. Often times, when working with overseas printing companies, there can be a language barrier. At Printsome, we promise you a printing expert who’s going to be working in your same time zone and that will speak your same language.

Fairly Priced
Our cut and sew facilities are in Portugal. This means the final product won’t be as expensive as if it was made in the UK but it’s close enough to have constant communication and for shipments to arrive in a timely manner.

Printsome Quality
All of the materials used in our ‘Cut and Sew’ orders have been sourced and are handled by professionals manufacturers based in Portugal, with many years of experience manufacturing garments for recognized brands.

[content_band bg_color=”#E8F6D2″ border=”all”] [container]The low prices of overseas manufacturing with the convenience of in-house customer service. ? This and more with Printsome’s brand new ‘Cut and Sew‘ services. Learn more![/container] [/content_band]

Find out more

Want to learn more about our cut and sew services? Then get in touch. One of our printing experts will be more than happy to answer all of your questions. If you get in touch via email, we will reply within the hour and if you ask for a price, we will give you a full detailed quote in 36 hours.