Screen Printing

Traditional silk-screen printing is a very popular process. It involves “color separating” graphics and producing silk-screen stencils using the information from each color separation. Each color in the design will have its own designated screen. This means that a 1 color graphic would require just one screen for its single ink color, while a five color graphic would require five screens for each of the five colors being printed. These silk-screen stencils for each printed ink color are aligned with one another and the graphic is formed by depositing ink from all the individual screens onto the garment, one by one.

This process is known for its ability to produce vivid colors that “POP”. Other printing processes like dye-sublimation on blended fabrics or DTG digital printing fall short when it comes to generating bright, opaque colors. This makes it a popular choice for people who want their graphics to be as eye-catching as possible.

Another great feature of screen printing is that it allows you to apply special effects to a garment. Making your shirt glow in the dark, reflect light, or even change color in sunlight are all possible to do by means of screen printing.

Pricing for screen printed apparel is driven by several key factors:

  • Total quantity ordered
  • Number of colors in your print
  • Quality of the blank garment being printed on (basic/high/highest)
  • Number of imprint locations (front only, front and back etc.)

SCREEN CHARGES

ONE TIME USE ONLY $25 PER SCREEN

INK COLOR CHANGE

EACH INK CHANGE $15 PER COLOR CHANGE

COMPLEX COLOR SEPARATIONS

COMPLEX ART SEPARATION $50 ONE TIME FEE FOR SET OF SEPARATION

ARTWORK

For optimal printing results, create and send your artwork at its “life-size” or actual printed dimensions in a vectorized format like ai, pdf, or eps. If this is not possible and you need to send rasterized art, please send you graphic sized approximately as large as you’d like it to be printed and set at a resolution of 300 dpi. Rasterized files are acceptable in psd, pdf, tiff, or jpeg formats.
Adjusting the settings for your image size/canvas space to “life-size” dimensions and resolution to 300 dpi needs to be done BEFORE you begin designing. If you design your graphic on a small canvas and at a lower resolution, you can’t simply enlarge the design and change the resolution to 300 dpi and get a high detail file. Starting with the canvas space sized correctly and the resolution set at 300 dpi before you design will improve the quality of your print.
If you need assistance with correctly formatting your artwork or if you have a poor quality image, we can assist you for a flat fee of $35. You will end up with a high quality image that is also perfectly optimized for screen printing.

OTHER PRINTING COSTS

Screen Charges
Because we have to make a screen for each color being printed, there is a screen charge assessed on each color in your graphic. This charge is only applicable to orders under 100 units per design (screen charges are waived on orders over 100 units per design).
1) ONE-TIME USE RATE = $25 per screen

Color Changes

When we drop ink into the screens to print your graphic, this first color set up is free. If you would like to change a printed ink color on a portion of your order, there is a $15 color change fee for each color change. For example, if you wanted to print a one color image on both black and white tees you may consider printing half the order in black ink on white tees and then change this color to print in white ink on the black tees. The change from white ink to black ink on the last half of the order would result in a single color change fee of $15 (the first black ink color to start the run was free).

Complex Separations

When screen printing photographic images or designs with complex elements like gradations and fades, there is a one-time charge for creating the set of complex color separations. This cost varies depending on the complexity of your artwork but we offer a flat fee of $50.