Bright Print Colors, Poly-Cotton Blends and Soft Hand

[ZooCity]

So I have these really awesome, super-wonderful clients who I just really love working with (innnndexxxxinggggg.....shhhh) who, despite a very careful and laborious selection of a pantone swatch for their brand color and a long and drawn-out process of garment selection (which resulted in the happy ending of me refunding the entire 1st order) these guys still don't have what they want.  I personally handled every step of the second order so I know we're on the up and up and it wasn't one of my crew mis-communicating but, still...not quite happy. 

I'm not 100% that they themselves know what it is they want and am about to fire a customer it appears.  I hate doing that when they're people that I actually like, it always feels like I could've done something better on my end. 

So, to that end, I ask you all a question to which I pretty much know the answer but figured I'd give it a shot here:

Being limited to poly-cotton blended garments of the heathered variety (AA and Royal Tri-Blends, Tultex Blends, etc.) is there some feasible way of getting a bright and opaque pink (like 232c) onto this material whilst having the ultra soft hand associated with 'fashion' inks or wb? 

I do believe I've exhausted most options.  It was my hope that the mix of fashion soft base with max fluoro pink PC was going to get it done but it didn't.  (keep in mind we used some very photorealistic mockups and went over every little detail prior) We haven't delved into discharge and wb yet but I could rally it later in the month and try to discharge enough of the dye to get a bright top hit of that flouro pink mix with a touch of white or maybe some wb in that color and pre-launder but I'm guessing that won't get me too much further.

Trying to make some lemonade here. 

[ebscreen]

No.

Well maybe:

Depending on the poly content you might be able to discharge underbase and overprint plastisol.
It still won't be what they want though. They need to get with the fact that they want
discharge but don't want to use the garments/color selection it will work with.

What looks way more awesome then that and is definitely a trend right now is
transparent waterbase over heathered garments. Sell them on that. And v-necks.

[squeegee]

What do the designs look like?  It would help a lot to see something.

Have you thought about distress?  Making something that looks old (but cool) to start with can hide limitations of the ink.

Some heathers will discharge, but it's trial and error.  Transparent over heathers sounds creative and could be a selling point, wait eb already said that.

I love the ones that don't really know what they want and then put it back on you.  Be clear about what can and can't be done, make sure they are willing to accept and pay for the consequences if they go against your judgement and Still don't like the result.

[jsheridan]

Bright almost Flo pink on poly blend "fashion" heathers... fire em!

Damn hipsters... grumble grumble

[tonypep]

When I worked with Alternative in their short-lived print division most of their heathered blends got an A rating for dischargeability. Don't have a lot of faith in the brands you mentioned though. That said any customer who cannot accept the fact that; along with this complicated process comes compromise, is not worth dealing with in my opinion. I just completed a nice program for a major sneaker/fitness corporation. They were a bit taken aback that I refused to accept the job on the blanks they wanted to use but after I diplomatically explained the hows and whys they bent. Something they are not accustomed to do for sure. I also explained about exact PMS matches and color shifting on different styles and colors. In they end they were extremely pleased with the end results.
Sometimes these "Design Groups" get a little over-enamoured with their work and forget about the end user and their expectations.
Some are worth working with others not.
tp

[mk162]

Been there, done that.  I have a really good customer that loves fluorescent colors on heathers.  It's actually an athletics line she is working on.  I let her know what they should look like and she hasn't had a complaint yet, she loves the work.

The last run felt very soft, and wasn't super bright, but I would trade a little brightness for hand any day.

[ZooCity]

That's about what I was expecting to hear.   I think these folks just have a listening problem. 

To clarify, their color isn't a neon, more like rhodamine red with just a bit of white in there.  The fluoro is referred to is fluoro pink pc maxed out in fashion soft base.  The result looked pretty good but didn't have that color pop they wanted I guess. (despite an extremely accurate mockup showing what the result would look like as well as a hour-long consultation on these matters with examples). They also insisted on Tri-Black in the run in spite of said consultation.  But if they don't want it to have any hand to it....

It would be totally do-able as a discharge white with wb pink on top, pre-laundered before delivery.  But that won't fly on tri-blends.  And we aren't running discharge/wb right now. 

Sadly, I'm probably going to have to send these guys off to another shop so they can finally learn they can't get exactly what they want and need to listen to what their printers are telling them. 

[mk162]

tri-blends are the WORST.  At least the customer I run them for loves them, and they do look good, but probably not what your folks are looking for.

[ZooCity]

Just an update, had to fire these guys.  First time that's happened in a long time. 

After the last order they were still "deciding" whether to approve the printing.  I sent a very firm email explaining that they made that decision when the order was placed and then again when they picked up their shirts.  Lucky for me, this was just abrasive enough to shoo them away.

I'm filled with wonder and awe and how poorly some clients treat their screen printers and don't seem to have any appreciation of the time and effort we put in to try and make them happy.   Few industries do this for customers anymore and I can really see why.  It's people like this that can't be bothered to listen and pay attention while they soak up hours of your time. 

Thanks for the brainstorming on printing this type of fabric everyone.