CafePress Quality
Submitted by VlogMap on Fri, 2005-09-09 18:01.
My brand new, custom VlogMap t-shirt arrived a few days ago and I promised a few fellow vloggers that I would comment and take pictures of the cafepress quality. After removing the shirt from the shipping plastic, my first impression was that the design was bonded to the shirt much better than expected. The only drawbacks were that the shirt felt stiff and the printed area felt thicker than the rest of the material. However, before I would make any final conclusions, the shirt had to be washed regular-side-out in hot water and then blasted in the dryer with high heat. Of course this is no way to treat your clothing, but I figured it would be the best durability test. Needless to say, it is recommended that you wash all clothing inside-out to ensure maximum quality and use over time.
Good news, the shirt softened up in the wash and the thickness feel of the print was reduced. You can still feel where the print is, but it still looks to be bonded to the shirts fibers. It doesn't look like the letters will ever peal away (like the cheap mall shirts), but most printing will probably start to get minor cracks over time.
Overall, the cafepress quality seems to be good. Most importantly, it is hard to beat their on-demand, no-inventory and no-investment business model. Traditional screen printing would require hundreds of dollars in investment to print only one design, on one color, in multiple sizes.
Well pictures do speak a thousand words:
Note: this specific design is simple vector art and not a photographic image, which I imagine is hard to print on fabric. The specific cafepress product I bought was the VlogMap Ash Grey T-Shirt in a medium size. After tax and expediting the shipping, the total cost was $20.99, but it would be under $20 if standard ground shipping is used.
Good news, the shirt softened up in the wash and the thickness feel of the print was reduced. You can still feel where the print is, but it still looks to be bonded to the shirts fibers. It doesn't look like the letters will ever peal away (like the cheap mall shirts), but most printing will probably start to get minor cracks over time.
Overall, the cafepress quality seems to be good. Most importantly, it is hard to beat their on-demand, no-inventory and no-investment business model. Traditional screen printing would require hundreds of dollars in investment to print only one design, on one color, in multiple sizes.
Well pictures do speak a thousand words:
Note: this specific design is simple vector art and not a photographic image, which I imagine is hard to print on fabric. The specific cafepress product I bought was the VlogMap Ash Grey T-Shirt in a medium size. After tax and expediting the shipping, the total cost was $20.99, but it would be under $20 if standard ground shipping is used.
