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?