One screen per colour
Screen printing: the method that gets cheaper the more you order
Screen printing pushes ink through a stencilled mesh onto the garment, one colour at a time, with a separate screen for each. That single fact explains everything about its economics: the setup is the expense, the printing is cheap, and the cost per garment falls sharply the more you print.
It is the method that suits a supporters’ tee, a squad of practice shirts in one colour, or any large run of a simple design.
How the economics work
Nothing here is a price. It is the shape of the cost, which is what determines whether the method suits your order.
- Setup
- Per colour, per print location, once per design
- Marginal cost
- Low — the hundredth shirt costs much less than the tenth
- Breaks even against vinyl at
- Typically a few dozen garments, sooner with a one-colour design
- Colour count
- Each added colour is another screen and another setup
- Fabric
- Cotton and poly-cotton above all; it works on polyester with the right ink
- Reorders
- Cheap, because the screens and the separation already exist
When it is the wrong choice
For a squad of eighteen with a four-colour design, screen printing is usually the most expensive option on this site, because you pay four setups and then print eighteen of each. The same design sublimated has no per-colour charge at all.
It is also the wrong method for anything photographic. Screen printing separates a design into flat colours; a photograph does not separate into flat colours without becoming a different image.
Where it is unbeatable is a plain design at volume — a club’s name across the chest of two hundred supporters’ shirts. If that is the job, nothing else comes close on cost.
Where the money actually goes
Screen printing has one expensive step and one cheap one, and understanding which is which explains every quote you will ever get for it. Making a screen — one per colour, per print location — is skilled setup work. Pulling a print through that screen costs almost nothing.
So the cost per garment falls steeply with quantity and rises steeply with colours, and those two are the only levers that matter. Two hundred shirts in one colour is the cheapest decorated garment anybody can sell you; eighteen shirts in four colours is close to the most expensive.
This is the exact opposite of how sublimation behaves, where colour is free and quantity matters less — which is why asking for a quote both ways is worth the email, and why a design simplified to keep a screen-printing quote down was simplified for the wrong process. The comparison is on our page about dye bonded into polyester fibre.
What to specify
Six decisions, in the order they affect the quote.
- Colour count
- One screen and one setup per colour. This is the first number a printer asks for and the one that moves a quote most.
- Print locations
- Front, back and sleeve are three separate setups, not one job. A design across two locations doubles the setup before a single garment is printed.
- Ink
- Plastisol sits on the fabric and is opaque; water-based sinks into it and is softer. Water-based lasts longer through washing and cannot cover a dark garment on its own.
- Underbase
- A white layer laid down first so colours read true on a dark garment. It counts as one of the colours for setup purposes.
- Fabric
- Cotton and poly-cotton above all. Polyester works with the right ink and needs a printer who has chosen it deliberately.
- Reorders
- Cheap, because the screens and the separation already exist. Ask how long they are kept before you plan around it.
When to choose something else
Four situations where screen printing is the wrong answer, however good the printer.
A photographic design
Screen printing separates artwork into flat colours. A photograph does not survive that separation as a photograph.
A team-sized run in full colour
Eighteen shirts and four setups is the most expensive combination in this range. Sublimation charges nothing for the colours.
A garment washed three times a week
Plastisol on practice kit cracks eventually, and always sooner than anybody expects. Dye cannot.
A design that crosses a seam
You cannot print flat across a finished seam. That needs panels printed before they are sewn.
Straight answers
How many colours can you screen print?
Technically several, commercially about four before another method makes more sense for a team-sized run.
Does screen print crack?
Plastisol ink can, after a lot of washing, particularly if it has been tumble dried hot. Water-based ink sits softer in the fabric and lasts longer, and is what we use where the design allows it.
Can you print on dark garments?
Yes, with an underbase — a layer of white laid down first so the colours above it read true. It counts as one of the colours for setup purposes.
Is it worth it for twenty shirts?
For a one-colour design, often yes. For anything complex at that quantity, ask us to quote it both ways; we would rather tell you the other method is cheaper than take the order.
How many colours can you screen print?
Technically several; commercially about four before another method is cheaper for a team-sized run. Each colour is its own screen and its own setup.
What is an underbase and does it cost extra?
A white layer printed first so colours read true on a dark garment. It counts as one of the colours for setup purposes, which is why a two-colour design on black is really a three-screen job.
Will screen print crack?
Plastisol can, after a lot of washing and especially after hot drying. Water-based ink sits in the fabric rather than on it and lasts longer, and is what we use wherever the design allows.
Is it worth it for twenty shirts?
For a one-colour design, often. For anything complex at that quantity, ask us to quote it both ways — we would rather tell you the other method is cheaper than take the order.
Can you screen print polyester?
Yes, with the right ink chosen deliberately. Standard inks can bleed on polyester, which is a printer problem rather than a fabric one.
How long are the screens kept?
Ask before planning a reorder around them. When they exist, a repeat run is much cheaper because the expensive step has already been paid for.
Where we use it
The other methods
Not sure which method your design needs?
Send the artwork and the garment you have in mind. We will tell you which method suits it, including when the answer is the cheaper one — and if you would rather work it out visually first, the step-by-step kit design tool asks the same questions in order.