You asked for it… The Cliffs Notes: Discharge inks usually come out without major issues and are great for soft, breathable prints. But know this… Discharge inks can give unique color results each time and are relatively imprecise. Combining ink types can help to get colors closer to where you’d like them. All shirt colors from all manufacturers discharge differently. Discharge inks only work ‘correctly’ with 100% cotton. Shirts won’t feel ‘ink-free’ until washed, and colors lighten slightly after the first wash. The Novel: Discharge printing is unique, imprecise & somewhat unpredictable. The colors can vary slightly, giving unique results each time, which also makes them impossible to color match exactly. Standard plastisol inks are relatively easy to control, but since discharge inks are chemistry in action, they’re one shade when they’re mixed, another shade once they’ve been printed, yet another once they’re cured & dried, and just slightly lighter after they’ve been washed the first time. We can usually get it within a pantone number or two, but you need to be aware that you might not be able to get a color exactly where you’d prefer it. Additionally, please keep in mind that we can’t always stop and change discharge inks on press because it dries quickly and breaks the screen emulsion down. This is especially true with fine detail and halftones. Combining ink types can help to get colors closer to where you’d like them. We can print a discharge white underbase first, then print thinned plastisol inks on top of it. This would make the print much softer than straight plastisol inks, but not completely unable to be felt. The colors are usually a bit richer this way than with discharge inks alone. Exact Pantone matches are still difficult, but they are much more likely to get closer to a desired Pantone color this way. All shirt colors from all manufacturers discharge differently. A black tee from one manufacturer could look different than a black tee from another manufacturer. Even two of the same color shirts from the SAME manufacturer will discharge slightly differently sometimes. This is especially true of black shirts since some manufacturers will mix their leftover dyes to make black dye, or ‘overdye’ color shirts black. So if they used mostly red dye to make their black dye, and we discharge print the shirts, the print could have a bit of a red tint. This is uncommon but has happened to us more than once. Some shirt colors just don’t want to discharge print well. Royal blue and kelly green are hopeless. The only way to get a color that’s close to what you’re looking for is to combine a discharge white underbase with thinned plastisols on top (see ‘Combining ink types’ above). Discharge ink only works “correctly” on 100% cotton items. 50/50-blend shirts get a dulled or salt and pepper kind of effect (see George & Dragon example to the right). Sometimes this looks fantastic, and sometimes it looks terrible. The results are even more unpredictable with tri-blend shirts like rayon/cotton/polyester blends. The shirts will not feel close to ‘ink-free’ until washed, and colors lighten slightly after the first wash, so it’s recommended that the shirts be washed before sale to your customer. Also, discharge can cause skin irritation if worn before being washed, though it’s very rare. No special washing is needed, but we can wash them for a small charge if you’d like. Discharge printing adds to the printing price per color, per shirt, per location. But keep in mind that a dark shirt with discharge printing will often need one less screen since it doesn’t need an underbase of white. As mentioned above, it’s possible to combine the ink types and print one discharge white first and then print thin plastisol inks on top of it, which would make the print softer, but not completely unable to be felt. We have a lot of standard discharge colors, but non-standard discharge ink colors add a one-time charge for a custom mix. Having said all that, discharge printing usually comes out without major issues and is a well worth the effort. The soft, breathable print looks and feels great. Have at it!