Hi there, welcome to T-shirt Helpdesk.com!

My name is Gary. I have been working as a brand graphic designer for 20 years now, and I am here to share my wealth of knowledge with you. I teach people how to design, market, and promote their t-shirt business.

This blog is all about screen printing. The screen printing has been the standard way of printing in the t-shirt industry for years!

However, today there are alternatives, and with that, there are some pros and cons associated with screen printing.

Therefore, in this blog, I am going to mention the pros and cons of screen printing.

So, let’s get started!

The Cons of Screen Printing

When you start screen printing, there are tons and tons of hidden fees associated, where they charge you for the colors, color separation, color changes, etc.

This means that they can charge you for a lot of things, and the list goes on!

For every color, there is a different screen, and for every screen, there is a new charge, where it is $75-$150 per color.

You can do the math; it all adds up to a lot of money for startup costs!

Also, once you commit to printing a t-shirt color, then that’s it! There is no change, and you are stuck with it.

If it sells, it sells and, and if it does not, then it will not, or you can use it to mop the floor!

Other methods like a vinyl cutter, DTG machine, custom heat transfers are used on their requirement! It means that you print a blank t-shirt when you get sales or when you go to specific events because you cannot just print your blanks and hope people will buy it!

Photographic printing

Another con of screen printing is photographic printing, which can be very expensive, especially when using patterns like CMYK that have four colors with a base color for the t-shirt. Now, you can do the math, as it is going to cost you a lot, where you get charged for every color.

Transport and Shipping

Unless your screen printer is right across the street, and if you buy your blanks yourself and you take them to the screen printer, this will increase your transportation cost.

Also, if you go to pick them up, then you have to transport them and pay for shipping, whereas on the other methods such as print on demand, there is no shipping cost, and it is done for you!

Expensive equipment

This is the last con of screen printing, and it is not for the people who will get the screen printing done from outside. It is for the people who are crazy enough to print it themselves. Keep in mind that the screen-printing equipment is expensive, time-consuming, and there is a learning curve which can be very messy, sloppy, and toxic (if you are not using the natural, organic, bio-degradable stuff). These toxic materials can make you sick and poison our environment.

So, make sure that you check out your city ordinance to learn the laws about screen printing near your home.

Pros of Screen Printing

1.) Screen printing is very fast!

Once you have everything set up, then your t-shirts are printed in seconds. Whereas when we compared this to a DTG machine, and it can take from a minute to a couple of minutes. But, with the vinyl cutter on the other hand, you would have to cut it out, and that takes time.

Therefore, screen printing is very quick!

2.) Screen printing is the best option for big orders!

Remember when I mentioned earlier that screen printing is expensive?

Yes, it is an expensive process, especially if you are just getting started in the t-shirt business!

But, when you start getting big orders, then it becomes the cheapest and the most cost-effective way to print t-shirts.

Yes, that’s right! Screen printing for big orders can cost anywhere between 25 to 75 cents per print for big orders. Also, you are going to notice that all these screen printers, who were charging you for all the nickel and dimes, when you bring up that big order, all of that disappears, and they want that big order!

3.) Variety of printing and the quality

The biggest pro of screen printing is the variety of printing and its quality.

Other ways may come closer, but nothing can beat the quality and variety delivered by screen printing.

You can do standard screen printing, high density, foil, puff, flocking, water-based printing, etc.

Therefore, when it comes to screen printing, then the sky is the limit!

Start a t-shirt business, or die trying!

I hope you liked this blog, and that it adds value and experience to your t-shirt business journey!

The t-shirt industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and you need to get your cut from it.

So, to help all of the aspiring t-shirt entrepreneurs, I have created something called the “Start A T-Shirt Business Or Die Trying” master course.

In this course, you are going to learn about printing t-shirts at home, and you are going to learn Photoshop and Illustrator. It has so much information, that it’s mindblowing.

Also, the job market is not doing too well these days, and the only way to fight a bad economy is to create an economy of your own.

So, cheers to your t-shirt business!