What are the different types of screen printing?

There are several methods of printing on garments. With these methods, you can achieve multiple feels, qualities, and distinct looks. By understanding these different methods of screen printing, you can decide which ink is suitable for your application.

Plastisol Ink

Plastisol is the industry standard for inks. It achieves great longevity on t-shirts after multiple washes, a textured feel on top of the shirts, as well as vibrant coloration. There are several types of Plastisol inks that vary from standard, heavyweight and soft-feel. The standard is used by many large clothing companies such as Vans, Hurley, Nike, Supreme, and etc. This gives a light texture over the shirt depicting that the ink is firmly applied and vibrant to stand out. Here is an example of standard plastisol:

Heavy weight plastisol is typically used for shirts that require heavier prints. Imagine a basketball texture on your shirt. It is typical that those are printed using heavy weight plastisol.

Lightweight/Soft-Feel plastisol on the other hand mimics Water-based Ink. It creates a softer texture that is almost sunk into the shirt which isn’t as rigid as standard or heavyweight plastisol ink. Here’s a cool little example that depicts a lightweight soft-feel plastisol:

On later updates, we’ll continue with water-based inks, discharge inks, direct-to-garment printing, and specialty inks. Stay tuned in for more updates!

As always, if you have any comments, questions or concerns, feel free to contact us here at Blankstyle.

Email: tickets@blankstyle.com
Toll-Free: 866 792 5265