One of the clothing apparel that lasted throughout the history is T shirts, which started to evolve in the 19th century as undergarments. As the years went by, it evolved into something that everyone can wear whatever the gender, age and size. And together with their modernization came the era of T shirt customization.
The customization of T shirts started in the 1950's where several companies designed them by putting names of companies and other designs. Cartoon character designs and tie-dyed shirts were some of the popular as well. Companies such as the Sherry Manufacturing Company started the screen printing business on scarves. In the later years, screen printing was developed on shirts where companies such as the Monster Company made fine art designs. Some of the popular designs were: Grateful Dead and marijuana symbols, rock and roll related emblems, and the face of revolutionary Che Guevarra.
By this time though, screen printing on T shirts were limited to different colors and some areas in the shirt because of the mesh screens being used. The process printing is a type of screen printing that is used on lighter shirts and only uses inks such as yellow, magenta, cyan and black. The other kind is the simulated process which is only used on darker shirts and are limited to the colors of white, gold, blue, green and red. When using different types of colors, some companies use plastisol in order to achieve other designs, but this still limits the creativity of the design for the customer.
As the years evolved, more and more colors joined the process of screen printing as more people became very creative in designing their T shirts. Shimmers and glittery colors, as well as metallics became part of the screen printing process as the technology evolved.
Then came the heat processing way of customizing T shirts, where a laser printer is used to print the design on plain paper. The ink of these printers contain special dyes where the design is transferred to the shirts permanently. Here, customers can make their designs on their computer and just bring it to the company.
By the year 2000, where internet came and technology has advanced, customization of T shirts has evolved as well into digital form. Online customization became popular as more companies offered their customization services online using digital printing. Here, the design is printed on the T shirt by using special printers and dyes. In this way, customers can make their own designs online and submit it to the company with no minimum orders or even extra charge on making the design. The good thing about this is customers can make the design even at home and just wait for their shirts to arrive in their doorstep.
Indeed, customization of T shirts has evolved through the years to make it simple for people who want their things personalized. In this way, people can show others their personality with custom shirts.