Does the weight of a 100% cotton shirt affect the print quality?
Yes absolutely. That doesn’t mean light shirts don’t print well though. Don’t worry too much – for basic spot printing, your pretty safe with anything from 4.5 oz 50/50 to 6.1oz 100% cotton. When it comes to 4-color process, fabric matters – 5.3 oz shirts will work, but 6.1 oz clearly prints better. The 6.1 oz fabric has a tighter weave and thus the ink has better coverage. The popular fabrics of today, which are lighter at 4.5 oz typically, but have 30 single cotton are actually knit tighter than 6.1 oz open-end cotton which is only 20-22 singles (of yarn), so in this case lighter is better.
