The guide
Glossary
Trade terms used across the guides, in plain English.
- Airlume combed and ring-spun cotton
- Bella+Canvas's branded name for their highest-grade cotton yarn. Combed removes short fibers; ring-spun twists them tighter. The result is a very smooth, pill-resistant fabric.
- carded open-end
- The lowest-cost cotton process. Fibers are carded (aligned) but not combed, then spun on an open-end rotor instead of a ring. Faster and cheaper than ring-spun, but the yarn is thicker and the print surface is rougher. Full guide →
- combed
- A step after carding where short fibers are combed out. Combed yarn is smoother, stronger, and pills less than straight-carded yarn.
- CPSIA
- The US Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. For children's apparel it requires third-party safety testing at a CPSC-accepted lab and a Children's Product Certificate (CPC) based on that testing. Full guide →
- CVC
- Chief-value cotton: a cotton/poly blend where cotton is the majority fiber, commonly anywhere from 52/48 to 60/40. It keeps cotton's breathability but shrinks less and holds shape better than 100% cotton. Full guide →
- discharge
- A printing technique that chemically removes the dye from a dyed fabric rather than laying ink on top. The result feels like the shirt itself, with no hand feel.
- DTF
- Direct-to-film printing. A design is printed onto a PET film, then heat-transferred to the garment. Works on any fabric including polyester and prints fine, full-color detail; the transfer sits on top of the fabric, so it adds some hand. Full guide →
- DTG
- Direct-to-garment printing. An inkjet printer sprays water-based ink directly onto the fabric. Excellent photographic detail and a very wide color range; requires cotton (or high-cotton blends). Full guide →
- dye migration
- On polyester, fabric dye can bleed up into an ink layer after heat is applied, especially with light inks on dark poly. Results in a washed-out or discolored print over time.
- embroidery
- Thread stitched directly into the fabric by a computerized machine. Durable and premium-looking; better for logos and text than for gradients or fine photo detail. Full guide →
- fabric weight
- How dense a knit fabric is, measured in oz/yd². Typical ranges: under 4.5 oz is lightweight fashion; 4.5–5.5 oz is the midweight band most everyday tees fall into; 5.5–6 oz is heavy everyday and fleece; 6 oz and up is the heavyweight tier, with 7 oz and up the streetwear max-weight class. Heavier fabric drapes more substantially, holds prints flatter, and costs more per blank.
- flash cure
- A quick burst of heat applied between ink layers during screen printing. It gels the first color so the next color can print over it without mixing.
- GSM
- Grams per square meter: the standard weight unit for woven and knit fabrics. A heavier GSM means a denser, usually more durable fabric. Most tees fall between 145 GSM (4.3 oz) and 207 GSM (6.1 oz).
- halftone
- A technique that simulates gradients and shading by printing tiny dots of solid color. The dots vary in size or spacing. Closer together they look darker; farther apart, lighter.
- hand
- How a fabric feels against the skin. Printers also use it to describe the tactile thickness of an ink deposit (a thick plastisol print has "high hand").
- heather
- A color made by blending two differently-colored yarns (usually a dye and an undyed or gray yarn) before knitting. The result is a mottled, slightly textured look rather than a flat solid color. Full guide →
- heavyweight
- Loosely, any tee at or above 6 oz (about 200 GSM). Heavier fabrics drape more, feel more substantial, and are less see-through than midweights. Full guide →
- HTV
- Heat-transfer vinyl. A colored vinyl film cut to shape and pressed onto a garment with a heat platen. Simple, sharp, and cost-effective for small runs; less suitable for fine photo detail.
- open-end cotton
- Cotton yarn spun by an open-end (rotor) method rather than ring-spinning. Faster to produce and lower cost; the yarn is coarser, which makes it more absorbent but gives a rougher print surface. Full guide →
- plastisol
- The most common screen-printing ink. PVC particles suspended in a plasticizer. It sits on top of the fabric rather than soaking in, which gives a slightly raised feel and very opaque coverage.
- platen
- The flat board a garment is stretched over during printing. In screen printing it holds the shirt in place; in DTG it positions the shirt under the print head.
- pretreatment
- A liquid sprayed onto dark garments before DTG printing. It reacts with the ink to improve adhesion and helps white ink stay bright on dark fabric.
- ring-spun cotton
- Cotton yarn made by continuously twisting and thinning the fiber strands on a ring-spinning frame. Tighter and smoother than open-end yarn, with a softer hand and a better print surface. Full guide →
- screen printing
- Ink is pushed through a mesh screen (one per color) onto the garment. The most cost-effective method for large runs of one to six solid colors; minimum setup cost per design. Full guide →
- side-seamed
- A tee cut from flat fabric panels and sewn with seams at the sides. This allows a more fitted, tapered silhouette compared to a tubular-knit tee, which has no side seams.
- singles
- A yarn made from a single strand (not plied). Most tees use singles. The lower the count number, the thicker the yarn (30s is thicker than 40s). Higher counts produce finer, lighter fabric.
- sublimation
- Dye-sublimation printing. Heat turns solid dye into gas that bonds with polyester fibers. Produces photo-quality, all-over prints with no hand feel. Only works on white or very light polyester. Full guide →
- tear-away label
- A printed neck label attached with a perforated seam so the wearer can tear it out without scissors. Common on retail-grade and private-label blanks.
- tri-blend
- A fabric made from three fiber types, typically cotton, polyester, and rayon. The combination gives a soft hand, slight stretch, a vintage-looking surface, and less shrinkage than 100% cotton. Full guide →
- underbase
- A first layer of (usually white) ink printed under the design on dark garments. It stops the dark fabric from showing through and keeps colors bright.
- vinyl
- See HTV. "Vinyl" in decoration most often means heat-transfer vinyl cut and pressed onto a garment. Full guide →
- water-based ink
- Screen-printing ink where the carrier is water rather than PVC. It soaks into the fabric fibers instead of sitting on top, so the print feels like the shirt itself. Less opaque on dark garments than plastisol.