When it comes to printing there are a few processes that can be confusing for those not in the know. All of the prints that we do have been trailed and tested to be very durable and washable up to 40 degrees, To shed some light onto the various processes, We have put this small article together for our customers.

SCREEN PRINTING:

In this method, we need to make actual screens. Essentially,The screens act a a template for each colour in your design, This process requires an extra setup charge per color.

Once your screens are made we then , Load them with ink and print your design, this is the fastest and cheapest process if you are doing bigger runs, But due to the setup costs it would not make economical sense to use screen print for just a few t shirts.

In fact most printers have a minimum print charge for this process as it would not be worth while doing this for just a few shirts

Comparing Processes Vinyl & Screen Printing

The difference in quality between screen and vinyl is that they are both top notch printing but have a slightly different feel.

To the touch vinyl vinyl has a smooth feel and you can also lose your background if required. Another plus with vinyl is you have much cheaper costs and no minimum quantities as you do not have to make up screens.

One thing to bare in mind is vinyl does not hold complex designs or fades with fine detail but works great for simple designs & logos that are symmetrically shaped.  Screen print is capable of holding allot more colours and fades.

VINYL PRINTING:

Vinyl printing is way cheaper for smaller runs as setup costs are kept to a minimum. That’s due to the fact that the set-up time is little relative to that of screen printing.

They are also slower to produce but as there is not much preparation vinyl makes a great candidate for same day t shirt printing.

Screen Printing

Our minimum quantity for screen print is 25 pieces, Due to the time and effort it takes to prepare your screens.. Setup can also take up to a few days to prepare depending on the complexity of your design.

We have to rip your design, Prepare films, Expose them wash them out ect and then load ink and match colours etc.

But if your looking to make large orders screen printing would definitely be the process that would get your cost per unit down.

Screen printing vs vinyl + DTG:

This process is great for holding little to full on detail ie: A Scenic image or photo with high or low detail there is always a way to work out a near enough match T shirt Version of your design.

Also there is an abundance of colours as we can pantone match your logo, Although we can do this digitally with vinyl, We have slightly more colour control when screen printing

Spot colours. High detail designs with alot of colours would have to be printed as a process colour method which has slightly less control over colour matching but still looks great.

Vinyl

Although vinyl is mainly recommended for simple graphics , We have also developed this process to hold great detail ( including photographic images and multi colour logos) This also works well with simple shaped logos and vector images.

When it comes to football number printing and single colour logos Vinyl is king and the most cost effective.

DTG printing ( Direct to garment )

This premium process is where your garment is loaded into an actual T shirt printing machine which is similar to a desktop printer. And inks are sprayed onto the t shirts via a computer aided setup. This allows up to unlimited colours to be put down onto a t shirt.

This process is the most costly method as the inks and running cost o the machine that prints DTG are much dearer than the above processes but the colour posabilites are endless, The garment must  good weight 160 – 170gsm and be at least 80% ring spun cotton. This process is also very durable and vibrant. And can print onto T shirts, Hoodies, Bags and even sweatshirts.

For further info get in contact with us :

0208 – 925 – 2537