When Hazenberg Designs came to us for custom t-shirts, they weren’t looking for a logo on a blank. They wanted the actual truck they painted — a real vehicle, captured as a graphic, printed on a shirt. We made that happen. Here’s the breakdown.
The Client: Hazenberg Designs, Barcelona, NY
Hazenberg Designs has been doing custom paint, body, and specialty paint work out of Barcelona, New York since 2013. They do the kind of jobs most shops won’t touch — intricate custom finishes, show-quality paint, work that reflects a real craft. When they came to us, they knew exactly what they wanted on the shirt.
The Print: 9-Color DTF on Black, Half-Toned for Feel
For the shirts themselves, we used the Tultex 202, a soft ring-spun cotton tee that wears more like a premium blank than a standard promotional shirt. When you’re putting your name on something, the shirt quality matters as much as the print.
The print is DTF (Direct-to-Film), run through our 9-color system. That 9-color capability is what lets us hit the vibrant oranges, purples, and greens in the flame and explosion effect without banding or muddiness. Full color, sharp edges, no screens.
One decision we made intentionally on this job: the design was half-toned. Instead of printing a fully opaque layer of ink across the entire back, we screened the graphic so the black of the shirt comes through in the mid-tones. The result is a print that feels lighter on the fabric, moves with the shirt, and looks more dynamic than a flat fill. Less ink, better result.
The layout: a full back print with the truck and flame graphic, and a left chest logo with the Hazenberg Designs flame wordmark.
Photo to Vector: The Part Most Shops Can’t Do
The truck on the shirt isn’t a stock illustration. It started as a photograph of a real vehicle Hazenberg Designs painted. Our team converted that photo into a layered graphic that could be scaled, colorized, and printed cleanly at any size.
It’s a service most print shops in the Jamestown, NY area don’t have in-house. If you have a logo, a photo, or a rough sketch, we can turn it into print-ready artwork. No outside design agency needed.
28 Shirts, All Done In-House in Frewsburg, NY
The full run of 28 shirts was produced in our Frewsburg shop. Printing, pressing, and quality check all under one roof. Businesses across Chautauqua County don’t need to go to Buffalo or place an order online to get this kind of work done. We’re right here.
DTF vs. Screen Printing: What Frewsburg and Jamestown Customers Should Know
A lot of customers come to Mags Custom after searching for screen printing in Jamestown, Frewsburg, or around Chautauqua County. We’re glad they found us, because we have something better. Traditional screen printing works well for large runs of single-color designs, but for most local businesses it comes with real drawbacks: high setup costs, per-color pricing, and minimums that make small orders impractical. DTF (Direct-to-Film) printing eliminates all of that. When Hazenberg Designs came to us for 28 shirts with a detailed, multi-color graphic, DTF let us hit every color exactly right, keep the price reasonable for that run size, and turn the order around fast. If you’ve been searching for a screen printer near Jamestown or Frewsburg and haven’t heard of DTF, this is the post to bookmark.
Here’s how the two compare:
- No minimums. Screen printing requires burning a separate screen per color, which makes small runs expensive. DTF prints one shirt as affordably as a hundred. For a 28-shirt order like this one, that matters.
- Unlimited colors, flat rate. Screen printing charges per color. A 6-color logo can double the price. DTF handles photographic gradients, fine detail, and as many colors as your design needs for the same flat cost. The Hazenberg truck graphic has dozens of colors. On a screen press, that job wouldn’t be economical. On DTF, it’s straightforward.
- Vibrance and wash durability. Modern DTF transfers bond at the fiber level. The print holds color wash after wash without cracking, peeling, or fading. That matters for work shirts that see real use.
- Faster turnaround. No film positives, no screen exposure, no press setup. DTF skips several production steps that screen printing requires, which means quicker delivery for local businesses on a deadline.
If your business, team, or organization needs custom apparel across Chautauqua County, let’s talk. Request a quote online or reach out directly and we’ll work through the options with you. Custom built. Professionally branded.