Is Screen Printing Right for Your Order?

Pricing, Artwork & More

Screen printing is a popular method for customizing t-shirts by applying ink through a mesh screen with your design on it. This technique is widely used for custom t-shirt printing, offering vibrant colors and long-lasting designs. Businesses, schools, and sports teams often choose bulk screen printing for its cost-effectiveness on large orders.

At our Toronto screen printing shop, we specialize in high-quality custom t-shirts with screen printing for bands, businesses, events, or general promotion. Contact us today for the best custom printed t-shirts in Toronto with fast turnaround and premium results!

Continue reading to learn about the advantages and disadvantages of screen printing, different types of inks used and artwork requirements and determine whether it is the right choice for your custom order! If you have any questions, feel free to contact us for more details.

Standard Plastisol Ink

Advantages of Standard Plastisol Ink

Our standard print method is a bright, fully opaque layer of plastisol ink. One major advantage of plastisol ink is its ability to easily match any provided Pantone colour sample. With standard plastisol ink we can mix and print in any colour that you need. Another advantage of plastisol ink is that it is quite durable and will not wear away from multiple washes. Additionally, plastisol ink can maintain a high level of detail and can easily achieve thin lines, halftone patterns, and small, delicate text.

Disadvantages of Standard Plastisol Ink

One of the major disadvantages of standard plastisol ink is that you cannot achieve any sort of photographic colour blending or gradients. Additionally, when printed in plastisol designs with large areas of flat colour can quite become a bit thick or heavy to the touch. This is especially so when printing bright colours on dark garments.

Vintage Style Printing

Advantages of Vintage Style Ink

Soft-hand printing is similar to our standard plastisol ink except that it has been thinned out so that the end result is soft and translucent. One of the major advantages of this is that it achieves a very soft print that does not feel thick in the way that standard plastisol ink can. This soft print can be used to give your shirts a distinctive pre-worn or vintage look. Although soft-hand ink is thinner and softer than standard plastisol ink it just as durable and has the added benefit from being too thin to crack as it ages.

Disadvantages of Vintage Style Ink

One of the biggest disadvantages of soft-hand ink is that it is unable to achieve bright opaque colours as it is translucent and will always show the colour and texture of the fabric below it. Additionally due to this aspect soft-hand inks are highly variable and much less accurate in terms of precise colour sample or Pantone code matching, especially on darker garments.

Metallic Ink Printing

Advantages of Metallic Ink

Metallic printing is similar to our standard plastisol except the ink is full of a reflective particulate that will give the print a metallic shine. The main advantage of metallic printing is its eye-catching, distinctive aesthetic.

Disadvantages of Metallic Ink

The main disadvantage of metallic printing is that the reflective flakes don’t allow for fine halftones, thin lines, or small text. Additionally the metallic flakes result in slightly more fragile print that can be affected more strongly by washing processes. Lastly, like standard plastisol metallic ink produces a heavy texture with an end result that can feel quite thick especially in larger designs with wide areas of colour.

Technical Guidelines for Screen Printing

File Format

When sending in your art file please make sure that it has been saved as a 300dpi Photoshop file (psd, pdf, jpg, tiff, png, etc) or as a vector-based Illustrator file (eps, ai, svg, etc). If you are unfamiliar with these terms please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have regarding your design.

Detail and Gradients

Extremely fine lines or small text can be problematic with screen printing, especially if the lines are being constructed from negative space. Photographic results are somewhat possible, but it will involve your design being converted into a halftone pattern. If you have any concerns over how your design might work as a screen print please feel free to contact us.

Size Restrictions

With screen printing your design can be up to 14 inches wide by 16 inches long. However the maximum print size of whatever garment you are printing on also needs to be taken into account (smaller garments have a smaller print area). Also please be aware that large areas of solid colour can feel heavier to the touch when being worn.

Pricing Guidelines for Screen Printing

PER ITEM PRICING

NUMBER OF COLOURS

NUMBER OF LOCATIONS

The first thing required to calculate your cost is the individual price of the item you want customized. You can find this information in the catalogue section of our website. All of our products get incrementally cheaper based on the total size of your order. These price breaks occur when your order reaches 30, 60, 100, 250, 500, and 1000 pieces. Minimum order size is 12 pieces for all garments. Minimum order size for other promotional items is variable (though typically higher). Please contact us or check the specific product page for more details.

The next factor that will affect your total cost is the number of colours within the design you are having printed. Each separate colour adds an additional $35 for orders under 100 pieces, or $25 for orders over 100 pieces.

The third thing that adds additional costs to your order is the total number of imprint locations.  Every separate location is subject to its own set-up charges as described above.  

Each new print location adds an additional $1.50 for orders under 100 pieces. Orders over 100 pieces add an additional $1.00. Both of these are for single colour prints. Additional colours cost $.50 each for orders above 100 and $.25 each for orders under 100.

HELPFUL LINKS

If you are unsure about anything related to your print projects, here are some extra helpful links. These explain a little bit more about our printing processes and apparel pricing. Additionally, you can generate a quote on any product page and we’ll get back to you. Alternatively you can contact us by phone or email and we will happy to answer any questions you may have.

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