It may seem bizarre at first to compare a grilled cheese sandwich to a screen printed t-shirt. While the art of cooking and the printing process may seem distant from one another, a grilled cheese emphasizes the core values of silk screened apparel from Test Print. And considering that there are over 12,000 screen print companies in the United States, it becomes necessary to describe what sets TestShirt.com apart from other print companies.
A grilled cheese isn't that difficult to make once you know the basics: butter the bread, slice the cheese, turn on the stove, let the bread brown and wait for the cheese to melt. Congratulations, you've made a delicious little snack. Still, chefs tend to deviate from those steps in pursuit of a gourmet experience or, at least, a more satisfying meal.
Most of screen printing similarly comes down to four basic principles: pressure, angle, speed, and time. Over the years, I have printed for businesses, non-profits, and universities with different purposes and intentions about what their apparel would achieve. What I have always endeavored to accomplish for my customers is to print apparel somebody would want to buy. People buy t-shirts and printed apparel for many different reasons as well. Mostly, what people want is to buy into an experience that emphasizes their own identity. Despite people's undying fervor for streetwear, spirit wear, corporate swag, promotional gifts, and art, the printer must do their part (and it is only a part) to contribute to that enthusiasm. While it is not always necessary to be the best printer to achieve that level of desire signified by a purchase, the drive to be among "the best" has pushed me into expanding the limits of what can and what might one day be printed.
In the end, screen printing has limits much like a grilled cheese. When the cheese no longer factors into the equation, or when extra ingredients subsume the qualities of the simple soul food, it loses its distinction amongst the spectrum of sandwich-ism. When the printing becomes a minor concern about the shirt's marketability, it also loses the magic that a pedestrian trade like screen printing provides.
What I have come to regard as my distinguishing raison d'être, my reason for being just one of 12,000, is taking a personal interest in how I can help achieve my customer's goals in a way that surprises and excites them. By extension, the customers of my customers may also experience something simple -- like the placement of a left chest print or a perfectly blended halftone -- worth embracing and cherishing in their own collections. For reasons like long hours, little pay, poor benefits, bad personal situations, and so on, that level of attention to detail is not always adopted by screen printers, but it is the very thing that ensures success. It is my aim as I continue to build my business to impart the love of making something magical to the people I train, the people who become customers, and the community as a whole.
Sometimes, that layer of melted cheese is all that is needed to make someone happy, and in that spirit of refined simplicity I venture back into the world within my own trade.
Words, prints, photos, and a slightly blackened grilled cheese by IGShort.