Screen printing

Despite all the advances in digital printing, the majority of all T-shirts worldwide are still screen printed today. This will remain so for the foreseeable future.

 

For larger print runs, textile screen printing is superior to all other processes in terms of price, quality and durability. As one of the first textile printing companies in Europe, we can offer textile screen printing certified according to GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard)!

How does screen printing on textiles work?

We will receive a digital template from you (preferably a tif with at least 300dpi, but any other professional graphic format is also possible) and for the printing colors, if possible, an indication in HKS or Pantone (see also our FAQs).

We take care of everything else:

  • We separate the individual printing colors from this template and – if printing on colored T-shirts – create an underprint.
  • From this we create a screen printing film for each printing colour.
  • The screen is exposed from the screen printing films.
  • The screens are set up in the printing press. The preparation and machine set-up takes up more than 90 percent of the total working time for small runs.
  • Then the actual printing takes place.
Advantages
  • Quality and washability better than other printing methods
  • inexpensive (except for short runs)
  • Unbeatable value for money for large print runs
  • Variety of colors and color fidelity (exact color specification according to Pantone C possible)
  • Wearing comfort due to the absence of carrier material
  • High wash resistance (at 30°C)
  • Implementation of photorealistic motifs and color gradients
Disadvantages
  • in the case of photos and color gradients, grids that are not as fine as on paper are not possible
  • Expensive for short runs with many colors due to the fixed costs of prepress
  • Minimum order of 50 pieces per motif (reordering of smaller orders is not possible)
Working method & steps
  • receipt of the print data
  • Separation of the printing colors
  • Screen Printing Film Creation
  • exposure of the screen
  • Setup of the printing press
  • The pressure

Screen printing on textiles

In order to be able to print photos or color gradients, the print template must be rasterized, i.e. broken down into small pixels. Since the surface of textiles, in contrast to paper, is relatively coarse-meshed, it is not possible to print with such fine screen rulings on textile substrates. Usual grids in screen printing are between 16 and 24 grids. In contrast to the usual rasterization in offset printing into the four basic colors CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black), in textile screen printing the motif usually has to be broken down into more tones. Six to ten printing colors are often required on colored T-shirts.