Trends in Apparel Printing

The level of interest in our printing services continues to increase as more and more people find the low entry costs, minimal inventory risk and brand building opportunities. The increasing number of printing venues has further accelerated this growth. Let's review the different systems.

Plastisol Screen Printing- This is the most common method of printing, and the one you have likely seen. Screens are burned for each color seperation, resulting in screen charges, and the garments are placed on pallats which then have the screen placed on top and a squeegie presses the plastisol ink onto the garment. This can be done in low volume with hand presses and in large volume with automatics. It is the least expensive form of printing. The image can be felt as a soft slightly rubbery surface, although this can be minimized with proper screen densities and applications. For more complex images that require sensitive color gradients, 4 color process printing can be employed that utilizes CMYK colors to acheive better color blending. Our minimums for this process are 144 pieces per image.

Digital Printing- This method involves no screen making. Art is directly transferred to the cpu of the print machine. A water based ink is used to spray onto the garment and the results are near photographic quality. Most digital printing is done on light shades of garments for several reasons. The first is that color control is more difficult, and the darker the shade the more it affects the color being applied due to bleed through. The second reason is that new systems do allow for putting down a white base first, then applying the image, but the time it takes and the higher ink usage make the economics difficult to justify. Digital printing is about 4 times more expensive than plastisol printing, but the excellent "no feel" hand and the near photographic reproducibility give it some distinct advantages. Our minimums for this process are 72 pieces.

Jumbo Water Based Printing - This system is the one used on the garments you see that have all over printing that crosses seams, is very complex and can't be felt. The brand Affliction uses this technique. This process is also more expensive than plastisol, and very few companies in the USA are using it. Setups require signifigantly higher minimums. Our minimums for this process begin at 1200 pieces per style/graphic design.

Naturally, Style Source Inc will provide private label services for custom made and re-labeling services for branded programs. Bear in mind that your art must be created in Illustrator so that the art is vectored.