Wait! Don’t get that polyester t-shirt for your class just yet. Unless you’re planning to get one of ours and want to print a cool, rad class group t-shirt, then we’ll tell you to go right ahead. Other than that, you might want to consider cotton t-shirts instead (which we, coincidentally, also happen to have in our stock).
Did you know that cotton accounts for half of all fabric manufactured in the world?
You got to admit that you’ve heard of cotton. There’s a good reason why it’s such a famously well known material for making clothes and, no, that reason is not attributed to “Cotton On”.
Cotton has been used to make garments for thousands of years for a variety of uses. The natural fibre is created by taking the ‘flower’ of Cotton plants and running it through a machine to separate the usable lint from the seed.
Sidenote and fun fact, did you know that the name of this machine is called a Cotton Gin? It’s said that the “Gin” is merely a shortening of the word “Engine”.
The ultimate result is a robust textile that may be used to make garments. Cotton is the preferred fabric for clothing due to various reasons including strength and versatility.
Why then do we recommend you choose cotton over plain old polyester or, the more evolved form of polyester, the Dri-Fit?
Well, first off, there are a few main reasons why you’d want to be looking at cotton t-shirt as your new favourite shirt let alone your go to material for custom printing.
Price
Cotton is a natural product that’s harvested and while there are environmental effects to contend with, it won’t be as costly as the petroleum or oil based polyester (which is what the Dri-fit is, in essence). What you might not know about this business of custom printing on apparels is that polyester or Dri-fit material is that we will tell you that it is harder to work with.
What we mean by this is that polyester lends itself to being a water-repelling material and, as such, won’t really be overly happy to be printed on by the water-based printing that we mostly use. While there are other methods that we can use in order to print on the water-phobic material of polyester, it will, however, translate into higher costs for both you and the printers to print on such a material with specialised methods and inks.
Cotton’s absorbency allows the ink to infiltrate the entire fabric rather than just the surface, reducing the chance of cracking and other defects. Cotton is incredibly soft, long-lasting, and biodegradable. This makes the fabric not only better for the environment, but also a better choice for a garment that will come into contact with skin.
Conversely, if you’ve ever accidentally gotten mustard or ketchup stains on your cotton t-shirt, you’d find that it has the uncanny tendency to somehow magically turn into a Jackson Pollock quicker than you can finish that hotdog (Or burger. Choose whichever food item and condiment that you often have trouble with which would manage to stain your clothes no matter what precautions you employ beforehand).
Comfort
We touched on this a little in the earlier paragraphs, but let’s look at it in more detail now.
Sure, you might have heard of fleece, polyester, denim, and all other manner of materials. However, which one can you wear the longest in this Singaporean tropical weather and still feel comfortable? We all know just how easy it can be to feel like you’re being attacked by thousands of fire ants…especially after a few minutes in the botanical gardens or simply just waiting for a bus under the sweltering noon day sun.
Fleece and denim would not be advisable given how thick they can be and how effective one of them is at trapping heat in to keep its wearer warm.
While cotton does have its downsides of being absorbent, the lightweight polyester does not do so well in absorbing sweat, so much as wicking it away from your body to keep your body feeling dry. While that may be ideal for some, polyester also has the tendency to trap in bacteria which gives rise to bad odours.
Environmentally sustainable
It is no secret that in this modern age, we are all more aware of environmental issues plaguing our planet. Well, maybe not all of us, but a good number of us anyway, if Greta Thunberg is any indication of the direction in which we are headed as a society.
That said, it is still surprising that cotton and polyester fibres account for 80% of all fibre production globally. What’s even more shocking is that they’re both produced in equal measure.
However, what we are more interested in here is the environmental impact given that they are both the most popular forms of fabrics on the market with equal demand for both cotton as well as polyester.
As mentioned earlier in this article, the polyester is oil or petroleum based and is synthesised. It’s basically wearing plastic, when you really think about it. On the other hand, cotton is a natural fibre. Right off the bat, the natural nature of cotton lends itself to being a more sustainable practice given that we can always regrow cotton plants.
At this point, some of the more astute of you might be thinking – Didn’t a certain Gail Baugh of the fashion industry state that the production of cotton and polyester take up equal resources AND that up to two-thirds of that is lost in the case of cotton production which gives polyester a stronger case for more yield per unit of resource input?
While we do recognise the plight of the Aral Sea Basin. We still have to note that Cotton has an added benefit in that it is naturally biodegradable unlike its polyester counterpart. Yes, we do recognise that you can recycle polyester, but that’s still up to individual efforts unlike cotton which can degrade by itself over time even if we don’t send it off to some recycling plant.
Closing words
There really is no denying that this little poofy flowering plant is awesome, strong, and the most ideally comfortable of fabrics to be used for a t-shirt and for custom printing. Speaking of “custom t-shirt printing Singapore”, all of you can stop trying to break Google now with your incessant searching of terms like “custom t shirt singapore” and “t shirt printing singapore” because we’re here now to save the day!
Yes, if it wasn’t already made abundantly clear in our article, we do actually deal in custom printing for apparels. Whether you are looking to print a class t-shirt or if you are simply wanting to outfit your entire company with a snazzy looking custom printed corporate uniform, we’re here for you! Get in touch with us today by dropping us a line or enquiring on our website to learn more.
