T-Shirt Screen Printing

March 3, 2021

Looking for screen printing on t-shirts? Look no further. Check out Great West Graphics. We are a wholesale t-shirt screen printing company located in Vancouver BC. We can deliver all over North America.

Established since 1980, we have serviced a wide range of businesses from independent t-shirt labels through to large corporates, record companies, fitness centers, schools, breweries, caterers, graphic designers, charities, event organizers and many more.

We can source and supply a wide range of t-shirts to suit all. Our selection of t-shirts vary by color, size, brand, material etc. The material of t-shirts is a major factor for our clients. We carry 100% cotton, 100% polyester, cotton blends, fleece, organic cotton, bamboo rayon etc. We have vendors supplying us different brands of t-shirts such as ATC, Gildan, Threadfast, Next Level, Bella Canvas, American Apparel, Russell, etc. Check our website for more options.

We can screen print your designs in a variety of finishes including plastisol ink, water based ink, discharge, metallic inks and foils. We also offer labelling and bagging services. Our minimum orders start from just 12 items per design. We always have great special offers for the budget conscious customers.

Why choose Screen Printing for t-shirts

If printing t-shirts in bulk is what you’re after, then probably screen printing will be the best way to produce them. This is a technique which requires time to set up the machine and create the screens. But once these are in place, the production process is rather quick.

The quality of a screen print is also hard to match. The prints are crisp, smooth and long-lasting. These are the reasons that make screen printing so beloved by professionals in the T-shirt printing business.

Whilst there are setup charges and minimum order quantities, the price per unit is the lowest overall.

When to choose screen printing

• When you need to print 12 or more units. For less than this, we’d recommend a different technique. Like DTG, for example.
• Your design consists of only 1 to 4 colors. Remember that every color is a different screen. So costs increase exponentially whenever we add one.
• Different t-shirt sizes do not increase costs. The pricing of screen printing is calculated by design and number of units but not type. This means that you could order 50 t-shirt different sizes or colors as long as the print stays the same.
• You can potentially screen print any garment but it works like magic on t-shirts.

T-shirt Printing Process

Our process for printing t-shirts consists of few steps:

1. Firstly, we create the design. It is important to keep it simple as screen printing is not compatible with color gradients and small details.
2. Through a photo emulsion process, we transfer the design to a screen. We create a different screen every color in the design.
3. Place the garment under the screen. The screen is covered with the corresponding ink and spread evenly throughout.
4. Manually or automatically, the squeegee then pushes the ink through the screen mesh, allowing the substance to only go through where it allows.
5. If the design has more than one color, then steps 3 and 4 are repeated for every tone. Different screens must be created for each, as well.
6. After the design has been applied, the t-shirt is passed through an industrial sized drying machine to cure the ink.

For more information on screen printing in lower mainland, contact us. Also, We offer affordable and reasonable shipping to all over Canada. Follow us in Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more updates.