Gary reflects on printing shirts in 1976 vs. 2018

While cleaning out my father’s attic over the weekend, I came across one of the first t-shirts I ever printed.  It was for a local elementary school in Deptford. I actually attended that school grades K-5. I probably printed in 1976 using water-based inks. That was all that was available back then, no plastisol inks like we use today.

I hung the shirts on an outdoor clothesline to air dry. Today we have large conveyor dryers to quickly and completely dry and cure the ink.

Take a look at the shirt label. As you can see, the original “Jerzees” brand label was called “Sportswear” back then. Many people still request the Jerzees brand today because they know the quality, especially their 50/50 t-shirts.

The artwork was hand drawn, and the lettering was created using rub-off letters. Today, George and I design all the art on computers, although we don’t hesitate to hand-draw elements when they are needed. As professional artists, we have a multitude of skills and tools to use to create whatever art our clients want for their printing.