Screen Printing
Print method — one of 28 in the glossary
Ink pushed through a fine mesh stencil onto the garment, one screen per colour. The oldest commercial decoration method and still the cheapest at volume, because the cost sits in the setup rather than the run: once the screens are burned, the hundredth shirt costs almost nothing. That same economics makes it a poor choice for one-offs and for designs with many colours. Produces dense, durable colour including on dark fabric.
Where the cost sits
Every colour in a design needs its own screen: a mesh stretched on a frame, coated in emulsion, exposed to the artwork and washed out so ink passes only where the design is.
Burning those screens is the expense, and it happens once. Once they exist, each additional shirt costs almost nothing but ink and a few seconds.
So a four-colour design on ten shirts is painful and the same design on five hundred is the cheapest method available. The break-even is usually somewhere in the low dozens.
What it does well
Dense, opaque colour, including on dark fabric, which is where most other methods struggle.
Durability: a properly cured plastisol print survives a great many washes.
Speed at volume, because a carousel press lays down a colour per station and a good operator moves fast.
What it does badly is photographs and unlimited colour — every tone needs a screen, so gradients have to be faked with halftones.
Which blanks suit it
Smooth, stable cotton. Combed ring spun holds fine detail noticeably better than open-end carded, because ink sits on the surface rather than sinking into fuzz.
Polyester and blends need low-bleed ink and a lower cure to stop dye migrating into the print.
Textured fabrics — pique, oxford, corduroy, mesh — break the print up, because ink lands on the raised parts and skips the recesses.
Common questions
- How does screen printing work?
- Ink is pushed through a fine mesh stencil onto the garment, one screen per colour. The stencil is made by coating the mesh in emulsion, exposing it to the artwork and washing out the unexposed areas.
- Why is screen printing expensive for small orders?
- Because the cost is in making the screens, and that happens once regardless of quantity. Ten shirts carry the whole setup cost; five hundred spread it thin.
- How many colours can you screen print?
- As many as you have screens and press stations, but each colour adds a screen and a setup. Beyond about four to six, DTG or DTF usually becomes more sensible.
- What fabric is best for screen printing?
- Smooth, stable cotton — combed ring spun holds fine detail best. Textured fabrics break the print up and polyester needs low-bleed ink to stop dye migration.
Where this comes up
See also
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