Screen printing
Also known as: Screen printing, Silk screen
Printing process in which plastisol or water-based ink is pressed through a fine-mesh screen onto the textile with a squeegee — the standard for promotional and sports textiles in medium to large runs.
Description
Textile screen printing is the dominant process for runs from about 30 pieces upwards. For each colour a separate screen is exposed with an emulsion stencil that leaves the print areas open. The ink is pressed through the mesh onto the textile with a rubber squeegee. Common mesh counts range from 43 to 120 threads per centimetre — the finer the mesh, the thinner the ink deposit and the more detail.
Textile inks are mainly plastisols (PVC-based, heat-cured, very opaque) and water-based inks (pigment or reactive, softer hand feel, more eco-friendly). After printing the textile is cured at 140-160 degrees in an oven so the ink bonds permanently.
Advantages: very high opacity even on dark textiles, brilliant spot colours (Pantone), special effects like puff, metallic, glitter, glow-in-the-dark. Disadvantage: high setup effort — one screen per colour, only economical from medium quantities and for motifs with a limited number of colours (usually 1-6).
Properties
| Process | Screen + squeegee + heat cure |
|---|---|
| Application | T-shirts, hoodies, bags, sports jerseys |
| Cost | Setup expensive, unit cost low |
| Durability | Very good, 50+ washes at 40 °C |
Related product categories
Sources & references
1- Wikipedia: Siebdruck Wikipedia — Freie Enzyklopädie https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siebdruck
