Custom Printing on Safety Vest and Other Hi Vis Reflective Clothing
Custom Printing
You might already be familiar with the term ‘Custom Printing’ and own at least something that is custom printed.
What is ‘Custom Printing’?
‘Custom Printing’ is its simplest form means to get any logo, image, photo or anything else printed on any material such as paper sheets, paper bags, plain fabric or anything made from it, stationery items, stickers, packaging materials, etc.
The most obvious reason for custom printing anything is to add a sense of identity and representation to anything ordinary and make it unique.
For example, custom printing is often used for various marketing purposes. It helps to create brand awareness, achieve brand promotion, establish brand identity and distinguish one brand of a product from that of rival brands and competitors.
If you want to fully understand the benefits, potential and maximum deployment of custom printing, walk inside any branch of a famous fast food restaurant chain and simply observe.
From the shop signboard on the outside, to the staff wearing uniforms, the cutlery and disposable items used to serve, package and eat food, everything has some sort of unique thing or mark to represent the fast food brand.
By making use of the custom printing facility, anything doesn’t remain anything at all. It turns into something unique that can easily and noticeably stand out from the rest.
Custom printed apparel and clothing
The most popular and widely used form of custom printing is to custom print the apparel and other pieces of clothing.
Look into your wardrobe and you will at least find something, probably a t-shirt with a custom printed logo on it.
Custom logo printing is the preferred choice of marketing and distinguishing one company from another in the corporate world.
For example, you might have a uniform to wear to work each day or when visiting any special unit in your factory to serve different purposes.
You may also have a custom designed t-shirt of your favorite sports team. Gym and sports gear also come in custom printed form.
Many of your favorite clothing brands also use custom logo printing on their products to print small sized logos such as on pockets or the chest area, aside from stitching the usual brand name tags.
Examples of custom printed apparel and clothing
As described earlier, custom printing is more prominently used on apparel and other pieces of clothing.
And not only this, it is also something that you might be most familiar with as it is now a normal thing to everyday come across people wearing some kind of custom printed clothing item.
In this section, we discuss some of the different areas where custom printing is significantly used to print apparel and other items of clothing.
Custom event shirts
Whether it is any sports event, a casual get together, charity event, any celebration, award function or a meet-up to discuss future plans and lay down strategies for the next quarter or year, custom event shirts can be worn and made to suit any specific occasion.
Even the event management service personnel such as managers and waiters have custom printed logos on their shirts so that you know who to ask for any kind of help.
Custom event shirts are also a common trend at rallies, protests and election campaigns to raise awareness and show power of strength to the opposition side as well as attract other people to join and support the cause.
They are printed with names, logos, designs, messages and slogans to better portray the needs or purpose of organizing any rally, protest, campaign, etc.
A custom event shirt with names of its wearer on its back can help the organizers or commentators of any sports match call out the names of the players while praising or criticizing their performance.
In addition to all of the above, custom event shirts can also be used as rewards and souvenirs to give to the participants and encourage their kind act of taking out time and coming over to attend the event.
Custom safety vests
Safety vests are pieces of clothing that are usually worn over other normal clothing and fulfill specific purposes.
While safety vests come in various sizes and categories to mark their different use, they all have a common objective.
Since they are worn in zones where the wearer is exposed to multiple risks that can result in minor injuries as well as life threatening conditions, the common objective of wearing safety vests is to protect and minimize any such occurrences of danger or disastrous conditions.
They are both used in the private and public sectors.
Having custom safety vests or custom printed safety vests helps in distinguishing and easy recognition of the person wearing it and the department he belongs to.
Not only does it help the wearers to address and follow the protocols that exist between them in professional carrying out of their duties, they also help other people under normal and accidental circumstances.
For example, within a construction site, different working employees can be provided with different custom printed safety vests to mark their area of operation and nature of work.
Similarly, in case of any accident or disaster, safety vests worn by ambulance workers, firefighters, traffic police officials can easily help ordinary people passing across to be aware of the situation and take any necessary precautionary measures without coming into direct or indirect contact with any kind of risks.
Custom jackets
While jackets are usually worn in cold weather, custom jackets or custom printed jackets can be an excellent thing to wear on camping trips and if you are a biker.
Custom printed jackets add a more decent, authoritative and superior look to your overall dressing.
Depending on your choice, custom jackets can both go well with formal, semi-formal and casual attire.
For instance, you may recall seeing any presidential election candidate during their campaign or your city’s sheriff wearing custom printed jackets showcasing their party and police department respectively.
Custom polo shirts
Out of all the t-shirts types, custom polo shirts are the most decent form of a t-shirt. Many sports players, especially golfers and tennis players usually wear polo shirts.
Custom polo shirts or custom printed polo shirts can be an excellent tool to print the event sponsor’s name, logo, slogan or any message.
Employees wearing custom printed polo shirts are also commonly seen at any famous departmental store, restaurants and supermarkets.
Types of custom printing
When it comes to custom printing, thanks to adoption of modern technology in the printing industry, there are a few different ways to do the custom printing.
The most popular of these are the screen printing and the sublimation printing methods.
Screen Printing
Screen printing is the most widely used method of custom printing but is only suitable to print products in large and bulk quantities.
This is because for each design printing, a different screen needs to be made so technically the set up costs in this method are high. Therefore by having a bulk order, per unit cost can be easily spread and decreased to a favorable point.
A limitation of screen printing is that it cannot be used to print complex or vivid colored designs. Another limiting point is that even if a complex design can be printed using the screen printing method, it needs to be broken down into smaller parts and for each part a different screen needs to be made.
Also for the manual screen making process, the person needs to be an expert and very skilled to maintain the precision and smoothness of the design being printed.
So the overall costs can rise which makes it hard to use this method for smaller quantities.
A good thing about screen printing is that screen printing can be used to print almost any type of product. This thing also contributes to its wide use despite its limitations.
Sublimation printing
Sublimation printing might not be widely used but it still is a preferred method of custom printing objects whether it is a single piece or several hundred units.
While this method’s initial investment cost on purchasing the basic equipment might seem high, it is only a one-time expense and can be used to print anything, even a different design each time, for many years ahead.
In addition to this, this method doesn’t require any set up costs each time for a different job and the recurring nature costs of maintenance and buying the basic supplies such as the heat transfer paper, printer dye sublimation inks, etc. is also affordable.
In this method, all you need is a computer, a printer and a commercial size heat press iron.
Due to using the computer and the printer, almost any design, in any shape and color can be easily printed and transferred on the material or product.
The downside of this method is that it cannot be used for each and every type of product as it involves transferring print from the paper onto the object using a high degree of heat temperature.
Also when printing fabrics, sublimation printing method is not suitable for printing on cotton made clothing items as the end result is quite dull and tends to wash away after just a few initial washes.
However, when polyester fabric is used instead of cotton, the end results are surprisingly bright and eye-catching.
Another limitation is that sublimation method does not deliver good quality results on dark color fabrics. So to get a more clear and appealing printout, using light color polyester fabric is always recommended.
Other types of custom printing options
Aside from the two most popular methods used for custom printing, another method used is the vinyl cutting method.
Vinyl cutting method
As the name suggests, this method involves cutting off a vinyl sheet into different shapes and then pasting it onto the fabric using a heat pressing method.
To cut vinyl sheets into different shapes, you need a digital cutter or a CAD machine to cut out exact designs with precision for edges, curves and sharp corners.
Vinyl sheets come in different glowing colors that can reflect in the dark and under low light conditions, therefore making them an excellent choice to use on custom safety vests.
However, there is a downside to it too.
Vinyl sheets come in plain colors so multicolor designs cannot be printed with it. All you get is a single color design in most cases although a design with different separate portions can be cut using different color vinyl sheets and then can be compiled together to form the final design.
Another limitation factor is that vinyl printing in most cases may involve wastage as well as the sides and the areas around the main design are usually wasted.
Difference between personalized and custom printing
When it comes to talking about custom printing solutions, a lot of people confuse and interchangeably use the terms personalization and customization in the same context.
This is totally wrong and incorrect as the two terms technically apply to serve different kinds of user needs and criteria.
Personalization is more about getting things done to suit an individuals’ taste, likes and dislikes. You might get something personalized printed from a local print shop or an online store that caters single unit or very small size quantity orders and charges retail prices for it.
When it comes to customization, the term is generally used to refer to turning ordinary products to suit one’s intentions, e.g. marketing, on a much wider or commercial level and involves recurring nature jobs.
Conclusion
Custom printing is seen as the most appropriate and applicable way to bring uniqueness and develop user interest in the products of a company even well before any person actually uses it.
It is a way to make someone feel attracted and captivate a user’s attention to drive them towards any particular product or a set of products that form a diversified portfolio of a company.
And while there have been many upgrades and technological developments in the way custom printing actually works today, from its inception till today, its usage and dependability has only increased.
In fact, custom printing is also considered as a way of marketing technique that lasts longer and attracts more people in different ways even when it has been discarded by the original user. For example, giving your customers a reusable custom printed shopping bag or a t-shirt that can be worn at any place.