FAQ
Printing
Screen printing is a process that pushes ink through a fine mesh screen onto a garment which is then run through a hot dryer to cure the ink.
Most jobs are printed using spot colors, but we do print CMYK when the design lends itself to the process. Since the CMYK inks are transparent, the shirt has to be white or a very light color for the design to translate well.
Spot color printing means each color in the design is printed individually with an exact PMS-matched color. This is the most common way to screen print in contrast to Process Printing which uses cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.
The largest we can print is 15″wide x 17″tall, however keep in mind that a print this large will not fit on some womens shirts or unisex smalls.
Yes, the artwork size will be the same on all garments. Depending on the art complexity and order size, we may be able to print two different sizes on the mens and womens tees, however it is typically cheaper to print the same size artwork on all shirts.
We do have the capability to match a Pantone Solid Coated color, however we do already have an extensive ink library to choose from. If we don’t have your color already mixed, we’re bound to have something close!
Underbase is not just our fictional rock band, it’s a white screen that is laid down underneath overprint colors on dark garments. This makes the overprint screens bright and opaque.
We can print 1 color designs on foam front trucker hats. The hats are loaded onto a special template, and we can help you setup your art to maximize the print area.
Ordering
Minimum quantities are based on the number of colors in the design. As the number of colors increase, so does the required minimum. Our minimums generally start here –
1 color design = 36 pieces
2-4 color design = 72 pieces
5-10 color design = 144 pieces
We send over a digital mockup that represents the garments and artwork placement, size and color. We don’t start printing until the mockup is approved.
You can call, email us, stop by the shop, or contact us though our contact form on this site.
Our turnaround time is 2-4 weeks depending on the complexity of the art and size of the print run. Reorders tend to move quicker since the artwork is already squared away.
We don’t have a standard price sheet because every job is a little different. Pricing is affected by the print locations, number of colors in the design, type of garment, and how many shirts you print.
Artwork
We prefer to work with vector artwork in Adobe Illustrator. Accepted file types are AI, PDF, EPS. If you do not have an Illustrator file, a high res (300 dpi) PSD or TIFF created at the final print size will work. When submitting art, please convert all fonts to outlines and retain layers in Photoshop files.
Screen printing has 20% dot gain and the smallest line that we can hold on screen is a 1pt line. If the line is knocked out of a solid print area, we suggest a 2pt line so it won’t fill in with ink.
Please send along your fonts with the design or convert the fonts to outlines in Illustrator by selecting your artwork and in the “Type” menu click “Convert Outlines.”
Web images are too low of a resolution to use for printing. We prefer vector artwork, but raster images need to be created at 300dpi at the actual print size. Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to make low resolution image look clean.
We use the Pantone Solid Coated book for ink matching.
PMS stands for Pantone Matching System and these books are the only way to ensure colors match exactly over different platforms and media.