What is screen printing?
How should I place an order for screen printing?
I have a logo. How should I give it to you?
I need a logo or artwork created. Can you create it for me?
What types of inks do you use in screen printing?
Once I place my order, how long will the process take?
What are my color options?
What are the position options for apparel?
What is screen printing?
Screen printing, silk screening, or serigraphy is a print making technique that creates a sharp-edged image using a stencil. A screen print or serigraph is an image created using this technique.
A screen is made of a piece of porous, finely woven fabric (originally silk, but typically made of polyester since the 1940s) stretched over a frame of aluminum or wood. Areas of the screen are blocked off with a non-permeable material to form a stencil, which is a positive of the image to be printed; that is, the open spaces are where the ink will appear. Ink is than pushed through the open spaces with a squeegee and onto the garment.
The garments are then heat dried, inspected, counted, folded and packaged.
Signet uses automatic and manual screen printing equipment. The Manual presses handle the lower volume jobs with 1 to 6 colors involved in the design whereas the Automatic Presses run up to 10 colors and can produce 800 shirts an hour.
How should I place an order for screen printing?
You may order by calling Signet, or visit us in our Winchester, Virginia showroom to view our complete line of quality products we offer for screen printing. Your logo or artwork can be applied to our brand-name T-shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, jackets, caps, aprons, bags and more.
Do you have a size chart for the items you offer?
Please refer to the size chart PDFs below.
Junior Sizing Chart
Ladies Sizing Chart
Sizing Chart 1
Sizing Chart 2
I have a logo. How should I give it to you?
Please refer to our Screen Printing Art Specifications Guidelines.
I need a logo or artwork created. Can you create it for me?
Yes! Signet has a very capable, creative team of artists to work with you in meeting your design needs. Fees start at $60 per hour for art creation.
What types of inks do you use in screen printing?
Plastisol – the most common plastisol based print used in garment decoration. Good color opacity onto dark garments and clear graphic detail with, as the name suggests, a more plasticized texture. This print can be made softer with special additives or heavier by adding extra layers of ink.
Water Based inks – these penetrate the fabric more than the plastisol inks and create a much softer feel. Ideal for printing darker inks onto lighter colored garments. Also useful for larger area prints where texture is important.
PVC/ Phalate Free - relatively new breed of ink and printing with the benefits of plastisol but without the two main toxic components - soft feeling print.
Glitter/Shimmer – silver flakes are suspended in a plastisol ink to create this sparkle effect. Usually available in gold or silver but can be mixed to make most colors.
Metallic – similar to glitter, but smaller particles suspended in the ink.
Expanding ink (puff) - an additive to plastisol inks which raises the print off the garment, creating a 3D feel.
Four Color Process – artwork is created using dots (CMYK) which combine to create the full spectrum of colors needed for photographic prints. This means a large number of colors can be printed using only four screens, making the set-up costs viable. The inks are required to blend and are more translucent, meaning a compromise with vibrancy of color.
Gloss – a clear base laid over plastisol inks to create a shiny finish.
Nylobond – a special ink additive for printing onto technical or waterproof fabrics.
Once I place my order, how long will the process take?
Our normal production time is 10 business days. Creation of artwork may require more time. However, we are happy to work with you if you are on a tight deadline.
What are my color options?
We offer apparel in many styles and colors. Up to 10 colors of ink may be printed. We can use standard colors or our printers can mix exact color matches for you company logos. We will make recommendations based on your design. See our Ink Color Swatch printable pdf.
What are the position options for apparel?
Please refer to our Imprint Position and Size printable pdf.