Silkscreen Printing

Silk screen printing is a printing method where ink is printed directly onto the T-Shirts or apparel.

The designs printed via silkscreen printing are durable and very long-lasting. They can withstand thousands of washes, allowing apparel that is customized with silkscreen printing to last for many years.

In screen printing each colour has to be applied using a different screen, one colour at a time. Therefore multiple screens are needed for multi-coloured designs, which explains the different costs in t-shirt printing when it comes to silk-screen printing.

Advantages of Silkscreen Printing

• Cheap for large quantity printing.
• Cost effective when fewer ink colours are needed (i.e. 1 or 2 colours).
• Designs can be very detailed (e.g. small text, fine lines).
• Silkscreen printing is highly versatile, suitable for use on many different materials (cotton, dri-fit polyester, metal, wood, plastic, glass).
• Silkscreen Prints are highly durable.
• Silkscreen screens can be kept and reused, reducing lead times for repeat orders.
• Silkscreen prints are light and thin, resulting in garments having a soft-hand feel.

Disadvantages of Silkscreen Printing

• Not cost effective for smaller quantities.
• Not cost effective when design has many colours (i.e. 3 colours or more).
• Only cost effective if design graphics are identical across each piece.