The most common form of commercial t-shirt decoration is screen-printing. In screen-printing I have around 2500 customers that I call two or three times a year. We deside on a product, then design on thier logo , then the design is separated into individual colors. Plastisol or water based inks are applied to the shirt through mesh screens which limits the areas where ink is deposited. In most commercial t-shirt printing, the specific colors in the design are used. To achieve a wider color spectrum with a limited number of colors, process printing (using only cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink) or simulated process (using only white, black, red, green, blue, and gold ink) is effective. Process printing is best suited for light colored shirts. Simulated process is best suited for dark colored shirts.
In the 1980s, thermochromatic dyes were used to produce T-shirts that changed colour when subjected to heat. This brand of T-shirt, Global Hypercolour, was a common sight on the streets of the UK for a few years, but has since mostly disappeared. These were very popular in the United States as well in the late 80's among teens. A downside of color-change garments is that the dyes can easily be damaged, especially by washing in warm water.
T-shirt for promoting all types of business Since the late 1980s and especially the 1990s, T-shirts with prominent brand-name logos have been popular, especially with teenagers and young adults. These garments allowed consumers to flaunt their taste in designer brands in an inexpensive way, in addition to being decorative. Examples: Calvin Klein, FUBU, Ralph Lauren, The Gap.
The early 2000's saw the renewed popularity of T-shirts with slogans and designs, with a strong inclination to the humorous and/or ironic. The trend has only increased later in this decade; embraced by celebrities, such as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, and reflected back on them, too ('Team Aniston').
The story of the message tee embraces the modern phenomenon of personal branding (indicating, in this case, the wearer’s sense of humor), as well as a climate in which statements political or personal are generally preferred to be catchy than true . Notable was the popularity of political slogans and messages on T-shirts coinciding with the presidential election.
The political and social statements that T-shirts often display have become, since the 2000's, one of the reasons that they have so deeply permeated different levels of culture and society. The statements also may be found to be offensive, shocking or pornographic to some. Many different organizations have caught on to the statement-making trend, including chain and independent stores, websites, and schools.
The early 2000s used the internet to continue the modern phenomenon of "personal branding". Companies such as Promohaven Threadless, ArtApart, and CafePress and 1stoptshirt make it easy for people to create their own designs, while creating online communities of fellow T-shirt designers and consumers.
