Screen printing, also known as silk screening, is one of the most popular ways to create your very own t-shirts. But despite its popularity, not many people understand the work that goes into creating shirt designs.
Here, we’ll show you how Shirt Agency creates all of your screen printing orders at our shop in Los Angeles.
What does the screen printing process look like?
The entire process starts with your artwork. We create a negative of your custom shirt design for each color that will be used. These negatives are printed on transparent film, which can be used to create the screen.
Next, using a UV light table, we "burn" this negative image on a frame overlaid with thin photosensitive mesh. Think of the mesh used on screen doors for an idea of the kind of mesh we use.
Once that’s prepared, we select the exact color you’ve requested for your order. We only use long-lasting, premium inks because we want your shirts to last as long as possible.
Next, we stretch a blank shirt onto automatic ROQ press and load the screen we prepared earlier. The press applies the color in the corresponding imprint on the mesh screen.
If you request multiple colors for your custom t-shirts, we’ll load an additional unique screen into the press for each color needed.
Then, every shirt is dried in a 25ft conveyor dryer. The special conveyor belt-type dryer ensures that the inks dry quickly and cures completely. That concludes the screen printing process for one shirt.
Once we’ve finished printing all of your shirts, we check them all to ensure they’re up to our strict standards. After they’ve passed our quality assurance test, they're ready for you and your customers to enjoy! We ship them out, and you can expect to receive your shirts in a matter of days.
3 things to know before you place your screen printing order
As you can see, screen printing takes work — but for us, it’s a labor of love. All of this is done by hand, which ensures the utmost quality for your order.
However, this also means that, to keep things affordable, it’s best to limit the colors in your t-shirt design if your budget is price sensitive. Ordering shirts in higher volumes will also help to bring down your printing costs.
Depending on the size of your order, the whole process can take a little more than a week to complete. So when you place your order, keep this timeline in mind as well.
Work with us for your next screen printing project
Shirt Agency is a screen printing company located in Los Angeles. Whether you’re looking for affordable screen printed shirts, direct to garment orders, or custom embroidered tees for your family and friends, we’re ready to help you with all of your t-shirt needs.
And if you plan to sell your custom shirts, talk to us about our dropshipping and fulfillment services too.
Use the form on our website to contact us with all of your questions and concerns. Otherwise, request a quote for your project so you can get started today!
