Every Back Issue design is printed on one tee: a vintage-wash tee, 270 gsm, 32s cotton, pre-shrunk. The 270 gsm is the weight of the fabric, in grams per square metre. The 32s is the yarn count, and the higher that number, the finer the yarn. Vintage wash is the worn-in finish, and pre-shrunk means the fabric is treated to shrink before it reaches you, rather than in your first wash.
The design goes on by direct-to-garment (DTG) printing, after you order. Below is what each of those words means on the label and on your back; every figure here comes from how an issue is made. The same tee carries every design on the all issues shelf, so this answer covers the whole rack.
What 270 gsm means
Gsm stands for grams per square metre. Cut a square metre of the fabric, weigh it, and that is the figure: this one is 270 gsm. It is the standard way to say how heavy a fabric is, and it tells you more about how a tee will feel than any adjective on a label.
By tee standards, 270 gsm is on the heavy side. A heavier fabric has more body. It hangs straighter, holds a shape rather than clinging, and feels substantial in the hand. That weight helps the boxy cut keep its square line.
Weight is not thickness of yarn, though. A fabric can be heavy because its yarn is packed densely, which is where the second figure comes in.
What 32s cotton means
In 32s cotton, the 32s is the yarn count: a measure of how fine the yarn is. In this system a higher number means a finer, thinner yarn: a 32s yarn is finer than a 20s, for example.
A finer yarn generally makes a smoother face to the fabric. Put that together with the weight and, on paper, the fabric is heavy because the yarn is packed densely, not because the yarn is thick.
The store describes the yarn, not a fibre percentage. The full fibre breakdown is on the garment label, so check there if you need it.
Vintage wash and pre-shrunk
Vintage wash describes the finish. Instead of the stiff, flat feel of a new blank, a washed tee is softened to feel and look like a tee that has already been through the wash for years.
The terms of service add that vintage-wash garments vary slightly from one to the next, and that small differences in shade and wash are not a fault.
Pre-shrunk means the fabric has been put through a shrinking treatment before it reaches you. Cotton tightens up when it meets heat and water, and the point is to get most of that over with before your first wash.
Pre-shrinking does not make the cotton immune to heat. That is why the care line keeps it cold and off the dryer, which the last section covers.
How the print goes on: DTG
Direct-to-garment (DTG) printing puts the ink straight onto the cotton with a printer that works much like an inkjet on paper. A screen print does it differently: a stencil is cut for each colour and the ink is pushed through it, one layer at a time.
Because DTG needs no stencils and no set-up for each design, a single tee can be printed on its own, in full colour, the moment someone orders it. That is how Back Issue works. Nothing sits in a warehouse: when you order, our print partner prints your tee by direct-to-garment (DTG) and it leaves within 2–4 business days.
It also means the number of colours in a design does not add steps the way it does with screens, so a detailed, many-coloured design prints the same way as a simple one.
The back print and the front badge
The big print is on the back, up to 40 × 53 cm, the most the printer takes. Each design's exact size is under “The print” on its page, because a tall, narrow design and a wide one fill that area differently.
On the front there is only a small badge on the chest, about 10 cm, carrying the issue number. Every design is an issue with its own number, printed in the front badge, which is how we find your design when you write to us.
Every cover starts from reference art of the character, so the costume, the colours and the small details match the source. The good stuff is on the back: turn around.
The cut and the sizes
The tee is boxy, with dropped shoulders: square through the body, with the shoulder seam set out past the point of the shoulder. Take your usual size, or size up for more room. There are six sizes, S–3XL.
The full chart, measured flat in centimetres and inches, is on the size guide, and the guide to how a Back Issue tee fits walks through it, including what to do between sizes.
Keeping it that way
The care line is four instructions: wash cold, inside out, hang dry, and do not iron over the print. Cold water and no dryer protect the cotton from the heat that shrinks it. Inside out keeps the print from rubbing against everything else in the drum. Keeping the iron off the print keeps direct heat off the ink.
That is all it takes. Every tee is printed after you order it, so pick a design from the full rack, check the size guide, and the rest is on how an issue is made.
Read next: how to wash a DTG-printed tee so the print lasts, and how a Back Issue tee fits: the boxy cut, measured.
Back Issue is fan-made, unofficial merchandise. We are not affiliated with, licensed or endorsed by any studio, publisher or rights holder. Character names, titles and marks belong to their owners and are used only to describe what a design shows. Rights & IP