Screen Printing

Screen printed business, promotional and advertising gifts are everywhere; in fact, it's difficult to imagine the promotional gift industry without screen printing for it is one of the more popular personalising methods.

It's used on fabrics, plastics, metal simulated leather (PU). Screen printing is a fairly straight forward process where ink goes through a mesh which once was made of fine silk - hence the name - but today more likely to be nylon.

Screen printing has always been popular for tees, sweats, hats, polos and many other garments such as company uniforms. However, it is fair to say that over the last few years other processes capable of spectacular full colour have overtaken it.

Nonetheless, screen printing still has its devotees and on dark colours it is still difficult to beat.

One of the drawbacks with screen printing is that on low volumes it requires a separate pass for each colour and this usually involves an additional charge for each screen. On some applications sublimation printers charge an inclusive price for full colour pring...and without additional charges for extra colours or set-up. However, sublimation printing is not at its best when faced with printing onto a dark substrate whilst a screen print has no trouble at all on dark backgrounds.

Currently sublimation printing is difficult on a dark substrate; in fact, sublimation printers have been known to bail out completely on these applications. Not the screen printer who can print vivid colours on any substrate...whatever the shade of black. Therefore, if the design and substrate are the correct mix there are some application where screen printing cannot be beaten.

If you are buying business gifts it will be helpful if you know about digital printing, die stamping, embroidery, engraving, etching, off-set ltho, tampo (pad printing), screen printing, sublimation printing, transfer printing and weaving.