Caring for Your Decorated Apparel!

                          Caring for Your Custom Decorated Apparel!

Have you ever had your screenprinted t-shirt crack and peel or fade?  Has the threads of your custom embroidered jacket started to fray?  Do you think the screenprinter or embroiderer did a lousy job?  It may not be them but the way you are taking care of your garments.

Here’s what not to do with your custom decorated apparel:

• Don’t just throw them in the washer; turn them inside out. Turning them inside out will prevent fading and damage caused by abrasion against other garments, zippers, buttons, etc.
• Don’t use fabric softener. The chemicals in fabric softener has a reaction with the plastisol inks which causes the screenprinting to crack over time. If you must use fabric softener, use as little as possible.
• Don’t leave zippers and buttons open, close them to prevent the threads of the embroidery from catching and breaking on them.
• Don’t clip the threads on the back of your embroidering. There are “lock knots” in the embroidery to keep it from pulling out.  If you clip these, your embroidery can start pulling apart.
• Don’t wash your garments in bleach. Screenprinting will not hold up when bleached. Rayon thread will fade and some rayon colors will run. However, polyester thread can be bleached if the garment fabric itself can be bleached.
• Don’t use any “green” detergents, whiteners or aggressive cleaning solutions.
• Don’t wash in hot water. Wash in cold water preferably but can be washed in warm.
• Don’t iron directly on screenprinted design. The high heat will soften the ink and may burn it. Don’t iron directly on an embroidered design.  Rayon threads will melt.  If you absolutely must iron the garment, place a dish towel or cloth over the design and iron on a LOW HEAT setting. 

Taking a little bit of care when washing your decorated apparel will give you years of wearability.  In fact, most embroidery will last longer than the garment itself!    

Thanks for Reading!