Choosing event shirt colors and ink
Shirt color affects three things: price, how the art reads from across a field, and which inks you can use. Battle Born Clothing prints with plastisol, water-based and discharge inks; here is how to pick.
Light vs dark: the $0.25 flash
A dark shirt gets a white underbase, flash-cured, before the top color. That is $0.25 per print location. On 48 shirts with a front and back it is $24 across the order. Light shirts (white, ash, natural, most pastels and safety colors) usually skip it: a 1-color front on a light PC61 is $10.38 at 48 vs $10.63 on a dark one.
| Shirt | Flash | All-in each | 48 shirts + $40 screens |
|---|---|---|---|
| White, ash, safety green, safety orange, light pastels | No | $14.72 | $746.56 |
| Black, navy, royal, red, forest, heathers | Yes | $15.22 | $770.56 |
Crew colors
Volunteers and staff should be visible in a crowd. Safety green and safety orange on a PC61 or PC54 are bright, cheap and skip the flash. They are not ANSI-rated garments; if a traffic-control job needs a rated vest, that is a different product.
Ink by fabric
| Fabric | Plastisol | Water-based | Discharge |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100% cotton, light (PC61, PC54, 64000) | Yes | Yes, softest | Not needed |
| 100% cotton, dark (PC61 black, Comfort Colors) | Yes, with flash | Limited | Yes, softest on darks |
| 50/50 blends (PC55, PC78H) | Yes | Light colors only | No |
| Polyester (ST350) | Yes, low-bleed | No | No |
Readable sponsor backs
- One ink color with strong contrast: white on dark, black on light. Gray on navy is unreadable from ten feet.
- Minimum logo height about 1 inch for a grid of small sponsors.
- No thin lines under about 1 point; they fill in or break up.
- Garment-dyed shirts shift the ink color slightly; we show it on the proof.
Matching an event color
Tell us the color and the blank. Port & Company's PC54 line has one of the widest color ranges, which is why we steer color-specific events there. Ink is matched to a PMS as closely as plastisol allows, shown on the proof.
Questions
Can we mix shirt colors in one order?
Yes, with the same ink color. A mix of light and dark shirts means some get the flash and some do not; we price each.
Does white ink on black fade?
A properly cured plastisol print outlasts the shirt. Discharge prints soften over washes, which is the look people want them for.