Surf Design T-shirt

Screen Printing

The chances are that if you have owned a cool graphic t-shirt at any time in your life it was most probably screen printed.

Screen printing produces bold, vibrant colours and, if printed and cured correctly, the print itself should outlive the life of the garment.

As a result, this method of printing is perfect for printing onto t-shirts, hoodies, hi viz vests, tote bags and many other items.

Minimum Order Quantity: 20 items.

What Is Screen Printing?

As the name suggests, screen printing is a printing method whereby ink is pushed through a stencil within a mesh screen.

A separate screen and stencil is required for each colour within any given design. So, for example, if your logo happens to made up of three different colours, three separate screens are required. Each colour is then printed individually.

We then use a conveyor dryer to cure the ink at 160 Degrees Celsius. This is to ensure that the print does not come out when washed.

Creating a screen and stencil isn’t easy; consequently, it involves a considerable amount of work and preparation. This is why we have a minimum order quantity for screen printing of 20 items. It’s also why designs with multiple colours are more expensive to print than single colour designs.

screen printed t-shirt

Advantages of Screen Printing

Screen printing is still one of the most popular methods of printing. Here are a few reasons why.

  • It produces the most vibrant colour prints.
  • It can capture very fine details.
  • There is pretty much an endless choice when it comes to ink colours and ink types (neons, metallics, glitters, puff and suede additives to name just a few).
  • We can pantone match most colours.
  • It is the most effective way to print large volume orders.
  • The print is very durable and in most cases it should outlast the life of the garment.

Things to Consider

You will need to consider the following issues when deciding if screen printing is right for you.

  • It’s not suitable for smaller orders (20 items or less) due to setup costs involved.
  • Designs with multiple colours are more expensive to print than single colour designs.

  • When printing light colours onto darker fabrics a white underbase is often required, to make sure the colours appear vibrant. This adds to the cost of printing.