Overheard a guy at the print shop say "white ink is just for show" and I had to bite my tongue

So I'm dropping off a job at Alpha Graphics on Tuesday and this customer is telling the clerk that white underbase is a waste of money. He said he's been printing for 10 years and never uses it. I wanted to jump in so bad because I just had a run of 200 dark tees last week where I skipped the underbase to save time and every single one looked like garbage after wash. The colors turned muddy and you could see the shirt fabric right through the design. Has anyone else tried cutting corners with white ink and just regretted it later?

2 comments

2 Comments

maxhart2d ago

Man I don't know, sounds like you maybe just had a bad batch of shirts or your washout temp was off. I've printed plenty of dark tees without white underbase and they held up fine as long as the ink is cured right. The guy at the print shop probably wasn't wrong for his specific jobs, some people overcomplicate this stuff. Is it really that big of a deal that you had to bite your tongue?

skylergrant2d ago

A full shop arguing about screen printing and he had to bite his tongue?