T-Shirt Printing – What Is Involved?
For t-shirt printing and other promotional garments and merchandise, screen printing is often employed using one of three different methods. In t-shirt printing, ‘Spot Colour’ printing is the most common and works exceptionally well for a great variety of graphics. The most suitable method used for the printing of graphics that are not photographic in nature is Spot colour printing.
The colours of the inks to be used in the reproduction of the graphic images are usually Pantone specified colours chosen by a graphic designer. In order to isolate the hues of the ink in the image, Pantone coated or noncoated references are selected. The Pantone matching system is an international colour reference used in publishing, printing and design whereby each colour is identified by a unique pantone name and number.
Spot colour printing is well suited to printing branded promotional garments or items in which colour identity and uniformity needs to stay the same throughout a varying range of items.
Another method of t-shirt printing used is called ‘4 Colour Process’. The type of printing that is used, relates mainly to images dealing with either photography or illustration, as well as having a large degree of colours, tones, and graduations used. Book and magazine images are also printed by the same 4 colour process.
Reproducing the colours of the original image requires a mixing of translucent inks on a white background. It is a lot harder to process on fabric than it is on paper. However the method employed is essentially the same.
This method of tshirt printing is only useful for white garments, and will not work well on coloured fabrics.
This type of printing is only right for use in print runs of one hundred or more. This is because it simply costs more to set it up. A process called “Simulated Process” is used in cases where t-shirt printers copy full colour pictures using coloured cloths. Much like spot colour printing, the art is divided into tones and colours to preserve the essential qualities of the original.
Most t-shirt printers use this method, and it is especially popular when used to copy fantasy and heavy metal album artwork onto shirts to be sold by the band. Colour separations and the number of colors necessary make this the most expensive printing option, and the higher set-up costs mean it is usually reserved for larger runs.












