Finding a printer is actually easier than you might expect. Since the equipment
needed to just get some globs of ink on a shirt is rather rudimentary, garage
t-shirt butchers tend to proliferate like lawyers. If your needs are simple
and your expectations flexible you can pick up the Yellow Pages and shop
on price alone. If you have more complex art you will need to dig deeper.
Word of mouth is certainly a more educated way to perform your search and
can lead to a decent results, as long as someone you know has dealt with lots
of printers and has similar needs. Perhaps a better way to find what you
are looking for is to find some examples of what you hope for at a local
t-shirt shop and find out who did the work. Another way is to visit or call
a local screen print supply house and ask them to recommend someone. If they
are reluctant to pick sides you can browse some of the industry rags, (for
a list of such periodicals click here), and see if any of the profiled artisans
fit the bill. In this modern information age there is little necessity for
your printer to be local. The cost of shipping these goods is small in comparison
to cost of the goods themselves, so this need not be a limiting factor. High
end printers capable of superior results with challenging images are rare
and generally more expensive, but worth seeking out if you have high standards.