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Map printed on shirt?

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Apr 1, 2011 at 11:41 pm #1271573

Gregory Petliski
Member

@gregpphoto

Ok, so what if you printed a map on your t-shirt, upside down so you could view it without taking it off? Obviously this would only be for well traveled trail navigating, as you would need to remove the shirt to take a bearing. But for the day hike stuff where you want a map as more of a backup and a reference, I think it would be super rad and save weight.

Apr 1, 2011 at 11:58 pm #1718777

Bob Gross
BPL Member

@b-g-2-2
Locale: Silicon Valley

Great idea. But then you wash it a couple of times and watch the trail disappear before your eyes.

The other factor is that you can print maps on good paper with a lot finer detail than you can print on a cotton t-shirt.

–B.G.–

Apr 2, 2011 at 5:34 am #1718804

Diane “Piper” Soini
BPL Member

@sbhikes
Locale: Santa Barbara

You could print a map on a bandana. The craft store near me sells blank bandanas. If it's on a bandana, you wouldn't have to pull your shirt up or take of a jacket to look at your map.

Apr 2, 2011 at 8:06 am #1718832

Steofan M
BPL Member

@simaulius
Locale: Bohemian Alps

Dharma Trading Company sells raw silk. A silk bandana or scarf would be very nice, lightweight too.

Apr 2, 2011 at 9:38 am #1718858

Gregory Petliski
Member

@gregpphoto

Well I wasnt thinking cotton, more polyester. Would it still fade from poly? Like I said, not meant for serious navigating, just for quick references. If printed upside down, all you'd have to do is look down at your chest haha.

Apr 2, 2011 at 10:04 am #1718865

Bob Gross
BPL Member

@b-g-2-2
Locale: Silicon Valley

For some reason, they seldom use polyester fabric to do t-shirt transfers. Nearly always, 100% cotton is used. I'm not sure exactly why. Cotton will absorb the ink/dyes better, and it won't melt quite like some synthetics will.

–B.G.–

Apr 2, 2011 at 11:58 am #1718924

. .
BPL Member

@biointegra
Locale: Puget Sound

I had a fairly detailed graphic printed on a l/w wicking poly shirt via silk-screen and it ended up being highly durable. It was done at your standard mall-fare t-shirt graphic outlet…I just brought the shirt in and they charged me around $9, or something like that. It should work fine for a map. Maybe I will try that, but print it upright on one of my hiking partner's (a.k.a. wife) shirts.

Apr 3, 2011 at 9:51 am #1719289

Gregory Petliski
Member

@gregpphoto

That would work even better! I'm a solo hiker so I've learned to do things by meself.

Apr 3, 2011 at 2:14 pm #1719382

Ken K
Member

@thefatboy
Locale: St. Louis

The problem is, as you put on the pounds, the scale on that t-shirt map gets out of whack.

The bandana maps have been done. Seen them for JMT, PCT, and AT. Here's a company that does national parks: http://www.mindbird.com/bandana_maps.htm

Apr 12, 2011 at 3:04 pm #1723711

Terry Trimble
Member

@socal-nomad
Locale: North San Diego county

If you get a white all polyester T shirt or cloth and take the topo map to a printer who can do custom multicolored or one colored heat sublimation printing they can print the topo map on the shirt and it will out last silk screening. Plus it cooler because it dyed into the fabric verse screened on top of the fabric.
The guy at the mall that will custom print a photo on a mug ,calendar,Hat, T shirt is using a sublimation heat printing.
It only works on polyester fabric. I use to work at athletic shoe shop back in 1985 and we also offered custom heat sublimation printing on T shirts and hats. We used a machine called a express machine that looked like regular copy machine with different color toner cartridges. I could do different color printing of words and images with cut and pasting the images on to a sheet of paper.
It was fun to do but very time consuming we were kind of on the ground floor of sublimation printing.
Terry

Apr 23, 2011 at 8:17 am #1728354

Alec Farmer
Member

@feltproductive

Hi Guys,

I often read this forum – its full of amazing ideas! It is interesting that this topic came up – I run a company making messenger bags for cyclists, and we have just released a set of bags that have maps printed on the liner, upside down, so when you get lost, you can swing your bag around and just find out where you are! There are printers around now that can print on basically anything (wood, metal etc..) so there is no reason not to print on whatever you want. If ink wont hold, you could always screenprint using a medium that will adhere to the fabric in question.

We started out by looking at soliders in the world wars, who had silk maps sewn into their clothing in case they found themselves lost in enemy territories, but t-shirts is a great idea – you would form a set of t-shirts from each trail you walk!

Anyway, feel free to have a look at our bags here:

http://www.trakke.co.uk/blog

Apr 23, 2011 at 8:19 am #1728355

Alec Farmer
Member

@feltproductive

It also might be worth mentioning that you can print on tyvek – light, waterproof, hard to tear – great for maps, surely? Plus you could make windshirts from it…

Apr 23, 2011 at 10:25 am #1728400

Gregory Petliski
Member

@gregpphoto

WHOA. Did not consider how many applications Tyvek could be used for! Gotta look into this.

Apr 23, 2011 at 10:36 am #1728401

Rick Dreher
BPL Member

@halfturbo
Locale: Northernish California

I like the bandana option. I've done century bike rides where they handed out bandanas with the route printed on it. Now, very detailed topo maps might be a challenge to print crisply, but the bandana was just fine for an illustrated route.

A fun project!

Rick

Apr 25, 2011 at 12:15 pm #1729219

Matt Lauterbach
Member

@loudbay

I've been on the hunt for a printable ripstop. I think I'm getting close, although not very light. 1.9 oz ripstop w .75 oz poly coating that can be printed on one side. Comes in 60" width that will have to be trimmed to 54" to be printed on. Someone could print on a 60" piece, but my printer is 54". (Sign Shop).

I would figure out a way to start hammock camping without my family, just to lay back and stare at USGS maps on my tarps.

Please pray for my wholesaler…

Matt

Apr 25, 2011 at 1:24 pm #1729252

Steofan M
BPL Member

@simaulius
Locale: Bohemian Alps

Try PolyArt synthetic paper. It's the rip-proof plastic stuff used for the waterproof USFS maps.

Apr 25, 2011 at 3:13 pm #1729311

Matt Lauterbach
Member

@loudbay

I've got tyvek, and a few other water resistant papers. I was looking for a ripstop nylon that could be sewn into gear. Poncho/Map, Tarp/Map, Sack/Map, etc.

May 30, 2011 at 10:40 am #1742776

Walter Underwood
BPL Member

@wunder
Locale: San Francisco Bay Area

A friend of mine made river maps on bandanas for a while. Turns out it is not a new idea. Here is a map of Washington DC on a handkerchief from the late 1700's. I saw it at the Newseum in DC.

May 31, 2011 at 12:42 pm #1743216

Noel Tavan
BPL Member

@akatsuki_the_devil

You could print it on tyvak and use that as groundsheet.

Jun 9, 2011 at 9:35 am #1746957

Chas Ho
Member

@i_charles

I like bandana idea or else a miniturized map in a magified viewer thingy.

Jun 11, 2011 at 7:07 pm #1748029

J Chandler
Member

@sccrman13
Locale: VA

antigravity gear sells maps for the App Trail printed on bandanas in three sections. http://www.antigravitygear.com/bandanas.html

Apr 3, 2012 at 3:10 pm #1863206

Alan Moore
Member

@alan_in_az
Locale: Sunny Southwest

Lots of crews last year at Philmont Scout Ranch had their trek plans (simple map) printed upside down on their crew shirts – so its certainly been done, not really that much good for real navigation but for a destination like this its nice to look forward and back to the camps to come & already visited – and indeed often navigation there only requires following clear signage…

As much as anything its a great talking point – especially for those doing the big mileage treks.

Saw one crew with a map right side up on the shirt back – not sure how that was going to work while backpacking…

Alan

Apr 4, 2012 at 3:04 pm #1863680

Justin Baker
BPL Member

@justin_baker
Locale: Santa Rosa, CA

That's pretty cool, but wouldn't the ink fade from getting wet constantly?

Apr 4, 2012 at 5:10 pm #1863722

K C
BPL Member

@kalebc
Locale: South West

How about a tattoo map? Haha, of course on your hiking partner!

Apr 10, 2012 at 9:36 am #1865720

Erik Basil
BPL Member

@ebasil
Locale: Atzlan

I'm having my right left contact lens inscribed with a Tom Harrison topo for my next trek. I can shift back and forth from dominant eye to the map, and the contact now weighs a little less… Ha! Wouldn't that be cool?

I love the upside down screen/ink print on the shirt.
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