Wanna make yer own {arcade} shirt?

[Ummon]

I like to put special slogans on shirts. For my training stuff, I actually made my own by hand. Used Word to come up with what I wanted, text-wise, printed it on a manilla folder, cut out the letters with a blade, pinned my stencils (including 'o' and 'a' holes, so that it didn't have that 'stenciled' look) to the shirt on a carboard box top, and then used special fabric paint marker.

Came out great. But it was a lot of work. After the third one, I said that's it.

So, recently, I decided to look up online shirt services. Two I came up with seem to have nice product and features. One has more features and seemingly nicer shirt stock, and is twice the price.

For a trial run, I did some simple text on the cheaper site, called spread shirt. With shipping, it cost about $19 and took about four/five days to get to me. I got it today.

front




back (No, this is no reference to the Queen song. Yes, I have already worn this out.)




I was hoping for an ink, but it's some kind of industrial-grade (I think) decal. I don't know if it breathes. Images, espeically large ones might get hot.


Below is an image of the designer of the other site, called blue cotton. You have a few options for image designs, as well as uploading your own and how that's considered by the designer. I went for full color to get an idea of a higher-end cost. (Of course this is just the front.) Might be kinda hard to see - it says $29.98, including the shirt, and shipping is free. I don't know what kind of material they use.

[protokatie]

Hmm. I would imagine it would be a rubber transfer to the fabric (remember all those rainbow brite and he-man shirts you had in the 80s? (Or the starwars ones in the 70's). They do not breathe and will work off during laundering. This makes sense tho, the reason why they made the rubberised transfers was to allow for an accurate image to appear on the fabric. If they had used ink for your old Transformers T-shirts, it would have looked like crap, would have been hard to print, and would have bled thus giving a poor image quality.

[SavannahLion]

Hmm. I would imagine it would be a rubber transfer to the fabric (remember all those rainbow brite and he-man shirts you had in the 80s? (Or the starwars ones in the 70's). They do not breathe and will work off during laundering.

Yeah, I remember. I think I still have an Adam Ant hanky that's like that. Probably the only pink thing I ever owned as a twelve year old. The shirts with large logos wasn't too bad. Things tended to get "slick" just underneath, not a big deal on cool days.

I think the rub on those is everyone's mommy used to wash them in hot water, virtually guaranteeing their eminent demise. Remember those hypercolor shirts? Same thing, hot wash/dry == death. I remember how pissed off I was when my first hypercolor shirt died.

Turn the shirt inside out, wash 'em in cold water, and hang dry. They should last quite a while. I don't know if they age well though. Rubber tends to break down in unpredictable ways. I'll see if I can find my old clothes box and see how the Adam Ant art held up over 20 years.

[Ginsu Victim]

Remember those hypercolor shirts? Same thing, hot wash/dry == death. I remember how pissed off I was when my first hypercolor shirt died.

I forgot about those. Mine got stuck in a permanent brown mode.

[ChadTower]

...with inconsistent colors that made it look like used toilet paper, I bet.

Those shirts were way out of my price range back then.  $25 for a T shirt in 1990!

[Ginsu Victim]

I got mine at a garage sale. (Mom bought it and brought it home. I don't buy used clothes)

[ChadTower]

Heh, yeah, I remember that now.  Nobody ever wore those shirts more than once or twice.   

[RayB]

The hypercolor technology still has useful applications, just not in clothing.


I made my own "arcade" shirt too a few weeks back. I call it my "auction shirt". I wear it to arcade game auctions. (see below)

I used this site: www.wordans.com
(They are SLOW)

[HaRuMaN]

^^  ROFL

[ChadTower]

Yeah, I've heard so many times "this thing cost $4500 new so I need at least half that".

So did your car before you put 150,000 miles on it.  Let me know when you get half MSRP there too.

[Ummon]

Hmm. I would imagine it would be a rubber transfer to the fabric (remember all those rainbow brite and he-man shirts you had in the 80s? (Or the starwars ones in the 70's). They do not breathe and will work off during laundering. This makes sense tho, the reason why they made the rubberised transfers was to allow for an accurate image to appear on the fabric. If they had used ink for your old Transformers T-shirts, it would have looked like crap, would have been hard to print, and would have bled thus giving a poor image quality.

Actually, it's somewhat detailed here. I think it's a different material than what they used back then. Haven't washed it yet to see it's durability.

Ink works fine. Not that Rit dye stuff, nor whatever you're thinking of, but industrial dyes. Colored shirts are fine as long as you don't bleach them. The fabric paint/ink pen (from Michael's crafts) I used for my training shirts only bled a little into the fabric if I pressed too hard for too long. And I bleach those shirts and the ink has only faded a little. It's good ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.

Then of course there's silk screening.

For what it's worth, Cafe Press will run off one small batch of an infringing design.

Cafe Press was the third one I looked into. Both they and Spreadshirt have a {TINY} limit on images, so I bagged on them in that respect.


$25 for a shirt in '90? That was a lot? Hell, Levi 501s were thirty bucks in the late 80s. And for the girls who shopped at the Gap.....of course, my girlfriend in the mid/late 90s would only shop there for jeans, cos...as she wore them where her actual WAIST WAS....it was the only place she could find jeans that fit her waist, hips, and ass. (Alas, in years since, she's fallen from grace.....)

[Ummon]

Okay, so I've done some more exploration, as well as comparison. Wordans is $31.47, maybe plus shipping. Blue Cotton is cheaper at $29.98 including shipping, and appears to have a better quality of product.

I'm also curious which color of the Blue Cotton images you think looks better with the MAME image shown - purple, or violet?

[SavannahLion]

Purple. The violet looks kind of funky.

[RayB]

Purple. The violet looks kind of funky.

Goes well with giant baggy shorts.

[Ummon]

Purple. The violet looks kind of funky.

Mm. I was kinda mixed, possibly because on my monitor the purple looks so dark. But I am more inclined to purple. Thanks.

Purple. The violet looks kind of funky.

Goes well with giant baggy shorts.

HEHN HEHN HEHN HEHN HEHN HEHN.....which one?

[ChadTower]

I'm surprised the MAME team doesn't have something like a Cafepress page.

[Ummon]

Huhn. Yeah, why not?? Make it, then sit back and make MONAE.  Totally legit.

[Jefferson]

I'm surprised with the artistry on these cabs that all the BYOAC shirts I've seen are like, clip art on bright colors.

If someone made something like the Galage side of the new byoac token, with black on dark like this...



I'd buy the bejeezes out of em

[Ummon]

If someone made something like the Galage side of the new byoac token, with black on dark like this...

I'd buy the bejeezes out of em

Ask for the art, and make you're own, yo.