Coating to improve durability post-print?

[redwoodtees]

Well, here's a wacky question for you.

I have a stack of shirts which have issues. They were printed for our retail store, but I don't feel comfortable selling them, and I am looking for a creative way to use them. They are black 100% cotton shirts (AA) which were printed with Virus Discharge + Special White. Stupidly, I used a really old mixed batch of ink. Stupidly x2, I printed 100 shirts before noticing that there were issues. First, the ink did not discharge, and second, the ink did not really penetrate the shirt as it should. It's sitting on top like plastisol, rather than integrated into the fibers. Wash test actually looked OK, but I just don't feel confident selling them.

Anyway, We are sitting here trying to come up with a creative way to use these shirts. One idea that we are tossing around is to remake the shirts into tote bags. I'm wondering if there is a product we could print or spray on the shirts to (a) stiffen the fabric, (b) help bond the ink to the fabric, and (c) give some abrasion resistance. The fabric equivalent of a polyurethane coating. Any ideas?

[Maff]

What about coming up with a distressed style design to print over the original print? Bigger in size. Maybe use a second color, dark gray? Or even a 2 color print. Still using discharge or water base ink so it has the same feel. Maybe throw some splatter graphics in there... Making it into a new design.

After that you could even do some sort of wash treatment (stone wash??)  Turn it into a vintage style shirt. Mark up the price even more and Bam!! now you've turned it all around! 

[Frog]

You could try a product like Thompson's Water Seal. I seem to remember it stiffening up a pair of jeans.

[jsheridan]

print over the original print?

printing DC over cured DC makes for some interesting effects.

If you can make it look like something its not supposed to be, it always works.

[Sbrem]

Sorry to say, I would look at them as test shirts probably, but the other suggestions do have some merit. How much time do you want to spend on fixing the problem is something you should consider as well...

Steve