The Print Bar Feature

Building community is a core value of Typism, so every so often we like to shine a spotlight on members of our community who’ve helped us to reach you and become what we are today.

This week, we’re shining the spotlight on our favourite award-winning custom t-shirt producer — The Print Bar! Jared and the team at The Print Bar have been amazing supporters of Typism for the past many years, printing our shirts all the way back to the 2013 Typism Conference — oh, the mems!

At the conferences each year, you may have seen our hardworking Typism team and volunteers running around, decked out in awesome Typism swag, and you may have wondered where we got it all from … The Print Bar! Speaking from our experience, working with the team at TPB has been nothing but a pleasure and a source of palpable excitement, come delivery day of our new Tee’s; so we sat down with Jared and The Print Bar team to ask some of the burning questions our community had for them.

T-shirts are what you’re known for, but what else can you print on?

The list is pretty extensive, and we're constantly adding to it! We print a lot of tea towels, totes, caps, sportswear, workwear, homeware, and drinkware, and if we don't stock it, you can BYO garments. We do screen and digital printing, embroidery, heat-transfer vinyl, dye-sublimation and pad printing, so there are many ways to deliver your idea!

That’s awesome. Who have you done work for?

We have been really fortunate to have worked with a diverse range of clients over the years, and it's certainly made for a great rhythm. From government organisations to start-ups, apparel brands to industry conferences like Typism, and a myriad of charities, universities and small businesses. On the flip-side, we get to print a lot of personal sentiments, family moments, inside jokes, and individual expressions. We’ve been at it since 2011, so there are plenty!

What have been some of your favourite projects/outcomes?

We’re not going to play favourites, but we've really enjoyed contributing to Wilderness Society, The Design Conference, Brisbane Street Art Festival, Yonder Festival, Jungle Love Festival, Brisbane Festival, as well as fundraising support for a host of different charities and causes like Epilepsy Queensland, WIRES, and the Fire Relief Fund for First Nations Communities. In the midst of our recent bushfires, we offered artists complimentary print services for fundraising efforts, and the response has been really positive; the creative community really knows how to rally when there’s work to be done!

Well, you may not play favourites, but we have to ask: What has been your favourite Typism t-shirt?

We’ve been working with the Typism crew for a couple of years now, and the calibre of type we get to play with and print is always a real treat. Last year’s artist tees in particular, Crystian Cruz’s ‘4 sale’ tee—rich in character, and Cyla Costa’s ‘Are You Experienced?’ tee—rich in sweet, sweet gold ink, would make the top shelf for us!

What can we expect to see from The Print Bar in the future?

More events like workshops and exhibitions, and with enough pushing, an in-house retail label somewhere along the line. We’re also investing a lot of energy into refining our production processes, and want to speed up our turnaround time, make our customer experience more engaging, and ensure our procedures are far more sustainable! 

What's the best thing about being The Print Bar?

Well, we’re a platform for people and businesses to express themselves and communicate their ideas, so there's genuine human diversity in the work we come to every day. We’ve all got stories to tell and to share the world of custom print potential with everyday people has been an extremely rewarding journey. We’re just a small team in this global creative community and we’re very proud of the work we get to do!

Our love of TPB is real. Their love of community and ethical practices is an affinity which resonates with the core values of Typism, so if you’re looking for some custom gear for your brand, next event or just because, check out The Print Bar’s website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up to date with all the awesomeness these guys create.