There are three main methods to produce screen printed shirts for the fashion conscious, marketing or merchandising. 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.
Ink colours used in remaking graphic images, are usually Pantone, as specified by the graphic designer. Pantone coated or noncoated color types are selected to clarify the ink hues of the pattern. Used in publishing, printing and design whereby each colour is identified by a unique pantone name and number, the Pantone matching system is an international colour reference.
This method of spot colour printing is particularly suited to the printing of branded promotional garments or merchandise where colour identity and uniformity must remain constant throughout a diverse range of products.
Another method of screen printing used is called ‘4 Colour Process’. This method of printing is used mainly for photographic images and illustrations that consist of a wide range of colours, tones and graduations. Hard covers, paperbacks and periodicals all use the same four-colour process.
The inks are translucent and merge together on a white background to reproduce all the hues and tones of the original. This is certainly a much harder procedure to do on material than it is to do on paper. However, the actual method used is mostly the same. If you are going to use this kind of printing it will obviously only work on white garments and will not work for 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 garment screen printers copy full colour pictures using coloured cloths. Using method similar to spot colour printing to achieve the overall look and feel of the original image the artwork is separated into various colours and shades
This is a standard method used by all printers and most popular for example with the reproduction of heavy metal and fantasy imagery taken from CD cover artwork and reproduced onto black tshirts for band merchandise. This type of printing is the most expensive. For that reason, it is used entirely on large print runs. This is because it costs more to set up the colour separations, and it takes a greater number of colours to print the pictures.
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