The very best printers for T-shirts allow you to create your individual bespoke clothes with out counting on third-party companies or investing in a DTF or DTG printer.
For those who’re been impressed to create your individual bespoke T-shirts, there are a variety of choices accessible to make them. Many use third-party firms with heavy-duty T-shirt printers and screen-printing amenities. It’s an particularly standard selection whenever you want bulk orders or extremely correct, high-resolution pictures on T-shirts and different clothes. Alternatively, you too can get your individual Direct to Cloth or Direct to Garment printer – though this will show costly, significantly for limited-run prints.
As an alternative, most house or small enterprise setups select a devoted inkjet or laser printer which is appropriate with switch paper particularly designed for warmth switch purposes. As soon as the design is printed onto the switch paper, it may be warmth pressed onto the T-shirt, permitting the design to switch and bond with the material.
Usually talking, all of the finest printers help warmth switch however how do you select the easiest printers for T-shirts? Effectively, we’ve put the gadgets to the check. Throughout our rigorous testing and evaluate course of, we’ve assessed the highest T-shirt printers in the case of pace, accuracy, and worth for cash.
What’s the very best printer for T-shirts in 2023?
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Greatest printer for T-shirts total
The ‘EcoTank’ vary of Epson printers has a quite simple premise : they supply quite a lot of printer ink the field, accessible in bottles. In our unique evaluate of this all-in-one printer we discovered that the provided ink was sufficient to print 14,000 black and white pages, or 5,200 coloration, equal to round 70 common print cartridges.
Substitute bottles are additionally cheap to purchase. This goes a great distance in direction of justifying the upper price ticket for this EcoTank mannequin relative to different all-in-one printers, particularly as creating T-shirts can devour massive quantities of ink.
The EcoTank is particularly designed for warmth switch printing. It comprises an ADF (Auto Doc Feeder), which means it might probably deal with a number of warmth switch sheets (as much as 250 at a time). Its high pace is rated at 15 ppm (pages per minute) which is not very spectacular in comparison with its rivals however the picture high quality is superb, which is most necessary when creating your individual T-shirt design.
From doing on-line analysis we additionally found that it is comparatively straightforward to transform your EcoTank right into a “sublimation” printer, by way of including specialist inks. This can lead to higher picture high quality however keep in mind sublimation solely works on polyester, while warmth switch works on every kind of material.
The one actual draw back to this printer is a few corners have been reduce : the display is obvious and simple to make use of however it’s important to navigate it utilizing the printer buttons. This will make coming into WiFi passwords very impractical given there is no onscreen keyboard. Fortunately you too can use the companion app ‘Epson Sensible Panel’ to attach the EcoTank to your property wi-fi community.
Learn our full Epson EcoTank ET-3850 evaluate
Greatest photograph printer for T-shirts
Canon first launched the Professional mannequin in 2012, designed particularly for printing high-quality photographs. It achieves this by way of an 8-ink dye primarily based system which leads to skilled high quality prints.
There are two paper trays although – one for photograph papers and a handbook feed. Most significantly in your T-shirt initiatives, it helps printing to each switch paper and printable vinyl on sheets of as much as 13 inches x 19 inches (33cm x 48.26cm).
Apart from supporting print by way of WiFi & USB the PRO-100S can also print straight from cloud-based and on-line photograph storage providers such Fb, Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive by way of PIXMA Cloud Hyperlink.
As a premium printer, the Professional-100S is designed for high quality not pace. Nonetheless, if it might probably produce one borderless 6″ x 4″ photograph in simply 34 seconds, that bodes effectively for working off a number of high quality warmth transfers.
This mannequin has really been outdated by the Canon Pixma Professional-200, which affords larger picture high quality however availability just isn’t pretty much as good.
The one actual disadvantage to this printer is the very excessive value it’s important to pay to be able to have this sort of print high quality. Nonetheless, it could be a great funding should you wish to print photographs in addition to T-shirts.
Learn our full Canon Pixma Professional-100S evaluate
Greatest for printing T-shirts quick
For those who wish to hold your printing easy then the HP Officejet Professional 8034e could be for you. This cheap printer can churn out pages at an astonishing fee (as much as 20 per minute for black and white). After all this pace could fluctuate should you’re printing high-res T-shirt designs onto specialist paper.
You even have the choice to enroll to HP’s “Instantaneous Ink” service, which implies the machine will inform HP whenever you’re working low on ink and mechanically order extra cartridges for you. The price contains delivery and recycling of outdated cartridges.
You are mechanically given a 6 month subscription to Instantaneous Ink should you purchase direct from HP – unusually the itemizing on Amazon exhibits this to be one 12 months, so it might be finest to examine with the retailer straight earlier than shopping for.
After checking the HP web site, we had been capable of verify that the 8030 sequence of OfficeJet Professional do help warmth switch printing. The official HP web site even has a useful information on how to do that.
You may as well use the HP+ Sensible App to scan/print your T-shirt designs from wherever. The printer additionally contains “self-healing” WiFi, which seemingly mechanically diagnoses and fixes connection points. For those who choose peace of thoughts, you too can plug into the 8034e straight by way of USB or Ethernet cable.
As handy because the Instantaneous Ink program is, you may nonetheless set up cartridges your self however HP warns the printers are solely designed to be appropriate with their very own, not these manufactured by third-parties and can search to dam cartridges utilizing non-HP chips or circuitry.
The web site additionally warns that HP iron-on transfers for inkjet printers can’t be used with LaserJet printers, or with copy machines and inkjet printers which have a heating factor. These merchandise can soften the switch and trigger harm to the {hardware}.
Greatest mono laser T-shirt printer
This small, dependable laserjet printer is ideal in your house or small enterprise. If you may get over the actual fact there is no wi-fi printing (USB 2.0 solely), you may begin to see a few of the advantages of utilizing this machine to run off your warmth transfers.
This printer is quick. It might probably run off as much as 30 sheets a minute and even has a devoted “straight by way of paper path.” In plain English this implies a handbook feed slot and rear paper exit so you may simply examine on designs as they print. The paper tray can take as much as 250 sheets, so that is undoubtedly one for mass T-shirt manufacturing. This capability is mirrored within the “starter toner” packages which in concept comprises sufficient for 250 pages, although it’s possible you’ll discover your T-shirt designs are extra thirsty.
Even bearing in mind the sharper pictures produced relative to inkjet printers, high quality continues to be wonderful with a decision of as much as 2400 x 600 dpi.
For a laser printer, that is additionally wonderful worth for cash. It is solely actually let down by the actual fact you may print solely in black and white. Nonetheless, should you do not thoughts specializing in monochromatic T-shirt designs you are able to do a lot worse.
Learn our full Brother HL-L2300D Mono Laser Printer evaluate
Greatest for big codecs
Just like the P700 and P800 sequence earlier than it, the P900 is designed with graphic artists in thoughts. That is most evident from its dimension, given the printer can output on pages as much as 17 inches (43.18cm) huge.
Epson’s web site particularly states its capable of print on numerous forms of media, and it might probably deal with media as much as 1.5mm thick which ought to embody practically all forms of warmth switch paper.
Departing from the same old 4 coloration cartridge CMYK setup the P900 comes with no fewer than 10 coloration cartridges. Epson describes this as: a “10-color archival pigment ink with an expanded coloration gamut”.
In plain English this implies it makes use of a particular printhead with a variety of nozzles, every able to capturing out ink droplets of three various sizes. The printer additionally has separate channels for each photograph and matte black ink, which may make for a a lot sharper image. The “Carbon Black know-how” could make for a lot deeper shades of black, significantly when utilizing warmth switch paper for T-shirt designs.
After all having 10 cartridges, every of which can be utilized for various quantities by differing print jobs means there is a price by way of pace. Bigger photographs can take as much as two minutes to print totally however naturally speeds for working off T-shirt designs could also be slower.
The one actual query stays whether or not you may justify the hefty value for having such excessive print-quality in your T-shirts.
Greatest printer for T-shirts: FAQs
Can I print T-shirts with any printer?
In concept you would attempt to insert warmth switch paper into any inkjet or laserjet printer, then hope for the very best. In observe it is best to make use of a printer which the producer has confirmed is particularly appropriate with “warmth switch” paper. Bonus factors if the producer can suggest a selected print medium for his or her printer.
Is it costly to print T-shirts?
For those who’re planning to run off tons of of T-shirts, it’s essential to be ready to pay for ink. We advise doing a small check run first to be sure you’re pleased with the T-shirt design and high quality earlier than going into mass manufacturing. Some firms like Epson and Brother additionally provide decreased priced ink/ink subscriptions. For extra heavyweight equipment and bigger print runs, search for the very best sublimation printers – they are often costlier, however appropriate for devoted T-shirt printing.
The place can I discover warmth paper for printing?
In style on-line retailers like Avery or Amazon inventory every kind of warmth switch paper for printing. These fluctuate by way of the type of material for which they’re designed, thickness and printer compatibility. All the time examine together with your printer producer earlier than shopping for to ensure your media is appropriate.
Which printer is finest for T-shirts?
Some printers listed right here such because the Epson SureColor P900 are finest suited to producing small numbers of high-quality designs. For those who’re on a mission to print monochromatic T-shirt designs for everybody in your class, it’s possible you’ll choose to save lots of money and time with a printer mannequin designed for mass manufacturing such because the Brother HL-L2320D.
Whichever kind of printer you select, do not forget that outcomes will fluctuate primarily based on the capabilities of your printer, your chosen picture and the kind of media on which you wish to print.
If you do not get the outcomes you want instantly, make sure that to examine the applying settings in your printer to see if there is a particular mode for warmth switch paper. It will optimize it for the duty. Do not be afraid to experiment with various kinds of media for printing your designs both.
How to decide on the very best T-shirt printers
For those who’re deciding which printer for T-shirts is finest, there are some broad classes to think about:
Inkjet vs. laser
This is without doubt one of the most necessary selections you may make. Inkjet printers often contain much less upfront price however ink can turn into costly should you’re producing massive numbers of designs. Laser printers may be costlier however usually produce sharper wanting pictures.
Cartridge array
You will get some wonderful outcomes with the common 4-color CMYK setup of cartridges however the easiest printers could use additional cartridges to ship the easiest high quality pictures. You also needs to take note of the way you load extra ink : as an example the Epson EcoTank entails loading bottles of ink right into a sequence of reservoirs.
Picture high quality
In terms of printing onto warmth switch paper, the DPI (dots per inch) of a printer is as essential because the number of colours accessible. Within the nature of issues because you’re utilizing warmth to switch the picture onto material, the upper the standard is earlier than being transferred to the T-shirt the extra probably you might be to be glad with the outcomes. Test the printer producer’s web site for the total technical specs of your chosen machine.
Straightforward loading
For those who’re producing a number of T-shirt designs, an auto-document feeder may also help pace issues up significantly. Your printer also needs to be capable of accommodate completely different thicknesses of paper relying on the fabric you wish to use, resembling extra-thick warmth switch paper or vinyl paper.
Price range
If value is not any object, there are some premium printers on the market which may run off designs for you with precision element utilizing all hues of the rainbow. Most individuals need to be slightly extra real looking however keep in mind: usually talking the upper the upfront price of the printer, the much less you may need to pay for ink down the road. If you are going to make numerous T-Shirts, make sure that to examine how a lot ink will price you, in any other case a finances printer might be a false financial system.
How we check the very best printers for T-shirts
We have examined tons of of printers for house, workplace, and studio. This contains the very best all-in-one printers, finest label printers, and the very best small enterprise printers.
Whether or not we’re testing for the very best T-shirt printers or some other activity, we assess a spread of things, from print speeds to print high quality, in addition to value-for-money throughout each the machine itself and the ink cartridges.
Whereas we sometimes carry out detailed comparisons and evaluation, timing the printing speeds in single sheet and duplex mode – it is slightly completely different when printing T-shirts versus printing paperwork. Right here, we additionally take a look at the constancy of printing onto warmth paper. We’re mainly searching for high-accuracy, high-resolution prints, whether or not you are printing textual content or pictures.
When testing print high quality, we at all times print the identical check paperwork for an correct overview throughout all printers. This doc contains textual content in several font sizes and colours, in addition to pictures. We additionally check patterns, evaluating sharpness and coloration constancy.
Lastly, we calculate working prices, and evaluate the interface, design, and construct high quality to others in the identical class and use-case.
Discover our extra about how we check, evaluate, and fee printers on TechRadar Professional