Screen Printing
What is Screen Printing?
Custom screen printing is one of the most popular and time-tested methods for decorating t-shirts and other apparel. Perfect for bold, vibrant designs, screen printing involves transferring ink through a mesh screen that has your design "burned" into it. Each color in your design requires its own screen, making this method best suited for simple artwork and high-volume orders.
At our shop, we can print designs with up to 7 or 8 colors, but keep in mind that additional colors increase production time and cost. If your artwork is highly detailed or contains many colors, we recommend considering DTF (Direct-to-Film) or DTG (Direct-to-Garment) printing instead.
Screen Printing Artwork Requirements
To ensure the best print quality, we require vector artwork for all screen printing jobs. For one-color screen printing (which we offer most frequently), your design should be created using only black (CMYK value: 60/60/0/100 or 100/100/100/100). This ensures precise output for screen exposure.
Accepted File Types:
- Adobe Illustrator (.ai)
- CorelDRAW (.cdr)
- Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg)
- Encapsulated PostScript (.eps)
- Vector-based PDF (.pdf)
Please avoid using Photoshop to save a file as .eps—that doesn’t create true vector artwork.
Need help? We offer artwork creation and raster-to-vector conversion services for a small fee.
Screen Printing Locations
We offer screen printing on flat areas of a garment only. Most common locations include:
- Full front or full back (up to 13" wide x 15" tall)
- Short sleeves
- Long sleeves (only if the garment fits our sleeve platen)
We do not print on:
- Over seams or pockets
- Hoods
- Zippers
- Specialty or non-flat areas
Fabrics We Screen Print On
We screen print on a variety of fabric types, including:
- 100% cotton
- 50/50 cotton/poly blends
- 100% polyester (with white, black, red, and Vegas gold inks only)
Other materials such as fleece and tri-blends are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. We do not screen print on nylon, vinyl, or synthetic blends not suited for heat-based ink curing. For those materials, vinyl decoration may be a better fit.
Why Ink Curing Matters
Curing is a critical step in the screen printing process. Properly cured ink ensures your design will stay vibrant and durable after many washes. Unfortunately, some printers rush this step, which leads to cracking, fading, or peeling prints.
Pro tip: If the ink stretches without cracking, it’s properly cured. If it cracks, it wasn’t fully cured and may not last long in the wash.
Visit our shop—we’ll be happy to show you the difference!
Screen Printed Garment Care Tips
To keep your custom-printed apparel looking great:
- Wash inside out in cold water
- Hang dry or tumble dry on no heat/fluff
- Never iron over screen-printed designs
With proper care, your screen printed apparel can look great for years. Just remember, no garment or print lasts forever—treat it well and it’ll go the distance.
Interested in Screen Printing?
Contact us below with the apparel & quantity you would like and upload the artwork you want produced. Let us know you're interested in the screen print decoration method and we will provide you with a free quote. Browse our catalogs to view some of the items we can provide for you, but keep in mind we have access to thousands of products that are not listed in these catalogs. You can supply your own apparel instead, just make sure it is new and correctly tagged.