Direct Screen Printing is usually the best option for decorating garments.  It’s long lasting and provides a great looking product that could become that “favorite shirt” in your closet.

Screen printing begins with creating separate pieces of art for each color being printed on the garment. These “Color Separations” are used to make a separate screen for each color. Then, each color is printed on the garment; usually twice on dark colored garments. Despite the time and labor it takes to produce them, this is the preferred way to put designs on a garment.

We have plenty of samples of all processes for you to look at in our customer showroom. Together, we can decide which will be the best for you.

Screenprinting Advice

If you can arm yourself with certain information before getting your garment quote, the process will be a lot smoother for your printer and yourself.  We have been doing this a long time and here is a nice guide into questions you will be asked about your project.

How Many do you Need?

For Screen Printing, 12 is usually the minimum order.  That’s where our Price List starts.  Of course, we will do less than that, but be aware that it takes a certain amount of time and labor to do art, make screens, set up the presses and print the garments and clean everything up.  Those processes don’t happen faster because there are fewer shirts to print, fewer shirts means higher prices.

So, for orders of less than a dozen, you may want to consider Heat Transfer Lettering, Ink Jet Prints, or Digital Transfers.

Screen Printing price breaks occur at 12, 24, 36, 72, 144, 288, 500, 1000 garments and so on. It is always beneficial to print more environmental-concreteLogo-300x249than less to achieve a price break. You are better off ordering a few more than you believe you need because of the set up costs involved in having to set-up and reprint a small quantity of garments after the fact. It takes the same amount of time to set up a press whether we are printing 1 dozen or 100. No one wants to be in the position of needing 2 more shirts and having to pay minimum set up charges.

Know what influences pricing

• How many? The quantity of shirts printed with the same logo in the same print area in the same ink color is large factor. Styles may be combined for a quantity discount if all of them are getting printed identically. (ie: 24 tees and 12 sweats achieves a 3 dozen price break).  12 garments with one logo and 12 shirts with another logo are 2 different jobs.
• How fast can I get them?   Laser / Ink Jet Prints can be 24 hours, if your art is all ready and shirts are in stock.  
• Digital Transfers can be 48 hours if your art is all ready and shirts are in stock.  Screen Printing is usually a week to 10 days.  This changes daily though and you should call to see how many people with RUSH JOBS have called before you.  Every day is different.
• What color?  There are 4 price levels for 1/White, 2/Ash or Heather gray, 3/Colors and 4/Premium Colors. Material that’s dyed from the manufacturers cost more.
• Does printing on Dark colors cost more?  Yes.  Printing on dark colors with super opaque color inks requires double printing and an additional spot cure step for an additional fee.
• Is there more than one kind of T-Shirt?  Yes. There are many companies and many styles of garments.  When ordering the first time, you should stop in to our customer showroom and see all of the possibilities.
• Are there different prices for different sizes?  Yes. (adult oversize 2X, 3X, etc. incur an additional charge).
• How many ink colors are being printed?  Every color, including black, needs separate art, films, screens and set-ups.  This adds to the initial set-up charges and the “per shirt” pricing.
• Where on the garment are you printing?  Multiple locations being printed (front, back, sleeve). Each location requires art, screens and press set-ups.
• What color inks?  Special Ink Mixes or Standard colors. Special colors can be done at an additional cost. We stock 24 standard ink colors suited for white and light color garments and 24 super opaque ink colors suited for dark color garments.
• What if I want different shirts with different inks?  Ink Changes within an order may incur an additional fee.
• What do I need for Artwork? If you can provide vector artwork created in Adobe Illustrator CS4 or previous, with fonts converted to outlines, normally no additional art charges are needed. Stroke widths should be 4 points minimum at the finished size. Photoshop files need fonts converted to shapes. Other file formats such as pdfs and jpgs must be saved at 300 dpi. Remember that jpgs are a copy of the original art, not the actual original. These may require additional work to change to vector and incur an art fee. We can also scan hand done art or rebuild it as needed, with art charges to be determined.
• Can you put names on garments?  Individual lettered or embroidered names are available and priced separately.
• Can you do numbers for teams? Individual Numbering for sports teams is available and priced separately.
• Can I provide my own garments?  That’s sort of like going to a restaurant and asking if you can bring your own food, but the short answer is yes… for a minimal service charge.

Know what size the printer can manage

Standard print size is a maximum of 12″ by 13″. Oversize is at 12″ by 15″ and is available at an additional cost.  “All Over” designs are usually done before the garment is made (sewn together), so we can’t do that.