Superman Graphics and Scented Shirts

“I like to say we color outside the lines,” says Bruce Jolesch, president of PXP Solutions. The Dallas-based company serves a nationwide network of distributors, including Axis Promotions and Halo, with end users ranging from the NFL and NCAA to MillerCoors and Doritos. Jolesch takes pride in the shop’s ability to do it all: “We can print as small as the left chest or a sleeve and as large as a 40 x 40 [inch] adult print on a finished shirt.”

“I like to say we color outside the lines,” says Bruce Jolesch, president of PXP Solutions. The Dallas-based company serves a nationwide network of distributors, including Axis Promotions and Halo, with end users ranging from the NFL and NCAA to MillerCoors and Doritos. Jolesch takes pride in the shop’s ability to do it all: “We can print as small as the left chest or a sleeve and as large as a 40 x 40 [inch] adult print on a finished shirt.”

This shirt for a cookie delivery service is fittingly chocolate-scented.

Jolesch purchased the company six years ago after two decades working as a distributor, bringing a marketing mindset to the formerly named Pony Express Printing. “We use apparel to communicate,” he says. And in a communication-saturated world, a special effect on a shirt can go a long way to draw attention to its message. Jolesch says they love to tinker with different effects – sometimes just to show that it can be done. With scented shirts, for example: “It’s not for everybody. You’re not just going to walk around with a guacamole-smelling shirt.” But PXP has sold shirts with more basic scents like cherry, grape, bubblegum, and even chocolate.

This embellished Superman logo boasts several layers of high-density ink followed by an application of foil as it went through the dryer. It’s a design they’ve done before, but Jolesch says they’re always testing their limits: “We’ll tweak it and we may even tweak it the next time we run it because we’ll find a better way to do something.”

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Although specialty applications aren’t something they’re selling every week, Jolesch says “there is a demand for unique designs on a shirt,” and special effects are often popular for special retail openings and promotions.

Print Sequence

Specs
• Stencil: Kiwo XL High Density Emulsion 400 micron
• Frame: GSG 23 x 31
• Garment: Gildan Softstyle
• Inks: Wilflex Epic
• Press: 6-station M&R Chameleon
• Dryer: M&R Sprint 2000 HO
• Flash: M&R Cayenne D
• Mesh: Sefar

Read more from our February/March issue here, or check out more from our Special Effects series:

Scaring Up A Specialty Print

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Special Effects: ‘A Real Money Maker’

High-Density Inks Meet Glitter, Foil, and More