For the cover of our Spring Fashion Preview issue, we chose to spotlight the slogan print trend with a perfect choice, the tri-blend lightweight raglan pullover (BR394) from American Apparel (asi/35297; circle 81 on Free Info Card). The design was created by ASI Senior Designer Glen Karpowich and printed by Visual Impressions (circle 82 on Free Info Card).

   
1. Join the Crew
   Crewneck sweatshirts have begun to make a comeback, particularly as a fashionable women’s item featuring text designs and slogan prints. This raglan pullover from American Apparel offers the comfort of tri-blend fabric with a unique fit that’s loose on top and snug at the waist.
2. Talking In A Direct Way
   Visual Impressions offers a number of decoration techniques, including direct-to-garment, which was used for the cover. “DTG made a lot of sense for this print run as there were only a few shirts, but a considerable amount of colors,” says COO Marshall Atkinson. “Printing this job with traditional screen printing would require an underbase screen and a screen for each color. That’s a lot of prep work to print one or two shirts. With DTG, you just rip the file and print.”
3. Just Sayin’
   Slogan prints are “big, bold and sometimes colorful,” says Karpowich. “So I went with a heavy display font called Val Stencil which I’ve been diggin’ a lot lately. It really worked well with the phrase and I felt it playfully conveyed the theme of the issue. Mixing up the colors of each letter makes it pop a bit more.”

Decoration Tip :
With DTG, Atkinson suggests printers need to think in CMYK, and not spot color. “You are simulatingss the color with different amounts of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black and the prep work is similar to what you would do with a four-color process job,” he says. “Most printers have a rip system so the file is easily handled by the DTG printer.” And if a color change or tweak is needed, “it’s easy to jump into Photoshop and do a quick curve or level to handle any potential print issues.”

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