I have to chuckle every time I think about this particular technique. After 25 years of learning to produce prints that are durable, washfast and long lasting, the hot “look dejur” is a print that appears to have been laundered 50 times via being beating on a rock by the side of a mountain stream. Why? Because the older and more washed out your T-shirt looks, the cooler you are. The customer is now willing to pay extra for a look that he would have refused to pay for at all not long ago.

Though some struggle with it, the distressed look is well within the technical reach of nearly any print shop, and here are a few tips, tricks and techniques that can maximize effectiveness and productivity. There are a number of specialty inks on the market that can be used to create a vintage look. Most of these products are designed to crack when stretched after drying. One of them actually continues to “enhance the degradation,” according to promotional literature, with every wash. (I think this means that it will fall apart on an on-going basis.) The degree of degradation, and the exact method of achieving it vary by manufacturer. I find that, while all of these inks have some degree of merit, the best and most believable distressed-look results are achieved using them in conjunction with artwork that is prepared specifically for this purpose.

Full article by Geoff Baxter available in the August 2007 issue of Printwear magazine or online in our article archive see: Distresses Prints