For t-shirt printing and other promotional garments and merchandise, screen printing is often employed using one of three different methods. ‘Spot Color’, for a t-shirt printer, is the method most often used for a large variety of graphics. It is also the best suited method for such a task. Spot color printing is the most suitable method used for the printing of graphics that are not photographic in nature.
A graphic design professional typically determines the exact Pantone colors that the ink will be matched to in order to produce a high fidelity image. Pantone coated or noncoated color types are selected to clarify the ink hues of the pattern. An international color reference used in publishing, printing and design whereby each color is identified by a unique Pantone name and number and is called the Pantone matching system.
Spot color printing is well suited to printing branded promotional garments or items in which color identity and uniformity needs to stay the same throughout a varying range of items.
Another method of screen printing used is called ‘4 Color 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 colors, tones, and graduations used. 4 color process is also the same method of printing by which all images in books and magazines are printed.
Reproducing the colors of the original image requires a mixing of translucent inks on a white background. This is certainly a much harder procedure to do on material than it is to do on paper. But the method that is utilized is virtually identical. This particular sort of printing will, obviously, only be effective on white cloth. It won’t work on colored garments. The print set up costs are higher than that of simple spot color designs and as such only suitable for larger print runs of 100+.
When garment screen printers reproduce such full color images onto colored fabrics a method called ‘Simulated Process’ is used. The artwork is separated into various colors and shades using a method similar to spot color, as used by a t-shirt printer, to achieve the overall look and feel of the original image.
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. Due to the higher set up prices which includes the separating of the color as well as an increased amount of colors used to print the pictures, this works out to be the most expensive way for a t shirt printer.
