Guide to T-Shirt Fabrics
December 18, 2017
Because not all fabrics are created equal.
Some t-shirt fabrics are best for casual wear, while some are more suited for athletics. Naturally, if you’re creating a shirt for your 5K race, you want breathable and moisture-wick fabric. If you’re looking for a stretchy and extremely soft shirt for lounging around the house, you might opt for modal as opposed to a structured fabric like cotton. If you want to screen print your design on a garment, there are some fabrics that are better suited for that than others.
We created a breakdown of fabrics and their qualities so you can easily determine what fabric is right for your needs.
Cotton
Highly Printable
Comfortable
Wrinkling
Shrinking
Jersey
Stretchy knit
Comfortable
Soft
Flexible
Lightweight
Modal
Resists shrinking
Prone to pilling
Slinky feel
Durable
Soft
Pima Cotton
Highest quality of cotton
Resists pilling
Resists stretching
Get softer with washing
Poly-Cotton
Affordable
Not as easy to print on
Lighter feel than pure cotton
Long-lasting and durable
Polyester
Athletic performance
Strength
Wrinkle resistant
Low Breathability
Printing limitations due to dye migration
Rayon
Affordable alternative to silk
Breathable
Extremely absorbent
Doesn’t hold up as well
Hard to screen print on
Tri-Blend
Typically composed of cotton, polyester and rayon
Very soft
Wrinkle resistant
Comfortable
Breathable
