A Magic Wear piece is a 100% cotton tee, crewneck or hoodie in black, bone or one of fifteen more colours, with your image set into it by direct-to-garment: water-based ink laid straight into the fabric, with no plastic layer on top. On a dark garment, a white base goes under the image first. You see the design in about a minute, and it reaches you in 20 to 24 days.
The specification
- Garments
- Tee, crewneck sweatshirt or hoodie
- Fabric
- 100% cotton
- Colours
- Black, bone and fifteen more in the studio; the shop's pieces in black or bone
- Technique
- Direct-to-garment, water-based ink set into the fabric
- On dark garments
- A white base under the image, then the colour: two passes
- Placement
- Large, in the centre of the chest
- Sizes
- Tee XS to XXL; crewneck and hoodie XS to 3XL
- Design
- Drawn from your picture in about a minute; free until you approve
- Lead time
- 20 to 24 days door to door; the estimate shown before you pay
- Care
- Wash cold inside out, no bleach, dry low or hang, do not iron the image
How a piece is made
You upload, the design comes back
Upload a photo, a drawing or a sketch, or type a few words. The design comes back on the garment you chose in about a minute, free and with no card.
You approve, then check out
What gets made is the design you approved, which is why the approving comes before the paying. Nothing is charged until you check out.
The garment goes on the platen
The tee, crewneck or hoodie is laid flat on the printer, the chest smoothed out under the head.
On a dark garment, a white base first
Ink is see-through on dark cotton, so a black or other dark piece first takes a white base in the shape of your image.
The colour is set in
Water-based ink is laid straight into the cotton, with no plastic layer on top, so the image moves with the fabric.
Packed and sent
Folded, packed and sent tracked to your door, usually 20 to 24 days after you order.
What does direct to garment mean?
The ink goes into the garment itself, the way a printer lays ink on paper, rather than onto a film that is pressed on afterwards. So there is no plastic layer on top: the image moves with the cotton, and photographs keep their detail and their gradients. The longer answer is in the guide to the direct-to-garment technique.
Which colours are there?
Seventeen. The pieces in the shop come in black or bone; when you make your own, the studio offers those two and fifteen more, from white and sand to navy, olive and light pink. On black and the other dark colours the image sits on a white base, so its colours hold against the dark; on bone and the light ones the ink goes straight into the cotton, which suits drawings and line work.
How does the hoodie differ?
On the hoodie your image is set on the chest as a graphic, drawn for the fabric from the shapes and tones of your source. The preview shows how yours comes out before you order.
Questions this leaves
Is the image on top of the fabric?
No. The ink is set into the cotton, with no plastic layer on top.
What does not come out well?
Very fine lines, tiny text and neon colours. Everything else, any number of colours, comes out as it is drawn.
Can I return a piece?
Each piece is made for you from the design you approved, so it is not returnable. The design is free to draw and redraw before you approve it.