Clockwise offers screen printing, embroidery, digital printing, and dropshipping services in the greater Pittsburgh area. The company’s clients have included Adobe, Adidas, Squarespace, and American Eagle. Clockwise specializes in water-based and discharge printing. Clients can store and ship items directly from the company’s fulfillment depot or take advantage of the on-demand printing program.
Embellished Images by CSDI provides a variety of embellishment services for Pittsburgh-based clients and beyond. The company specializes in laser etching, screen printing, embroidery, digital printing, and dye sublimation. Clients include golf and pro shops, fire departments, resorts, spas, schools, sports teams, campgrounds, small to large businesses, and special events. Embellished Images by CSDI is affiliated with the Norwin Lions Club, Norwin Chamber of Commerce, Specialty Graphic Imaging Association, and Promotional Products Association International.
Embroidery Etc. has provided embroidery and screen printing services in the Pittsburgh Metro area since 1997. Clients praise Embroidery Etc. for timely and trustworthy work. The business works with most types of apparel and customizes logo wear, sports uniforms, and professional clothing. Each product is personally inspected for quality before being delivered to the client.
Embroidery Pittsburgh serves clients in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas with embroidery, screen printing, promotional products, and design. Embroidery Pittsburgh prints company logos as well as creates custom designs. A wide variety of apparel options are available from trusted suppliers, such as SanMar, Holloway, and Badger Sport. All projects are completed in-house by the owners.
Kaules Screen Works is a Pittsburgh-based company that offers custom screen printing and embroidery services. Options include water-based inks with discharge screen printing, Plastisol printing, foil printing, and 3D embroidery. The company has over a decade of experience and has worked with clients such as Google, New Balance, and Microsoft.
Metal Photo Service is a Pittsburgh printing house known for metal imaging products such as identification tags, signage, awards, plaques, murals, and preserved articles and photos. The business also offers commercial printing, graphic design, laser engraving, and screen printing. Metal Photo Service has over 60 years of experience in the printing industry.
Public Print House offers custom screen printing in the greater Pittsburgh area. The business accepts rush orders and provides sustainable material options. Public Print House specializes in apparel but prints a variety of products. Past clients recommend Public Print House for high quality work and creative designs.
S & S Trophy has specialized in creating customized trophies, awards, and promotional products since 1967 for the Pittsburgh Metro area. Products include plaques, medals, pins, signs, ribbons, crystal, and glassware. Other services available are engraving, embroidery, silk screening, and screen printing. Customers can request free estimates.
SpeedeeShirts has offered full-service promotions and printing in Pittsburgh and throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania for 30 years. Services include screen printing, graphic design, offset and letterpress printing, and advertising products. Other available products are photo shirts, magnetic signs, banners, and team uniforms.
Trau & Loevner specializes in apparel screen printing for clients in the Pittsburgh Metro area and across the country. The business opened in 1897 and now has one of the largest collections of licensed properties in the world. Trau & Loevner creates original designs for retail resellers as well as custom screen-printed apparel for local and national clients.
Two-Eight Printing specializes in custom screen printing and embroidery for the greater Pittsburgh area. Based in Natrona Heights, Two-Eight Printing also offers corporate awards, fundraising packages, letterman jackets, large format printing, decals, and banners. The company’s clients include teams, organizations, events, and other groups. All products are customized in-house by the trained staff.
Screen printing is a method of applying graphics to a T-shirt. It typically involves layering thick inks onto the shirt's surface instead of soaking them into the fabric. Screen printing is also sometimes called silk screening.
Since screen printing generally uses thicker inks, this type of fabric printing is usually better for graphics with one or two colors. If you have more complicated, colorful graphics, direct to garment printing, or DTG, may be a better option.
Major fabric printing methods include:
Screen printing or silk screening
Direct to garment printing
Stamp printing
Thermal transfer printing
Sublimation transfer printing
Screen printing works by using a silkscreen with an exposed design. Ink is swiped across the screen with a squeegee tool, and this action sends the ink design through the screen and onto the T-shirt.
When graphics are printed onto a T-shirt using screen-printing techniques, the colors are sometimes allowed to dry between color applications, and subsequent colors are printed with another screen after the T-shirt is realigned on the press.
Traditionally, screen printing has been called silk-screen printing because originally, silk was the primary material used in the process. The mesh portion of the screen was made of silk. In modern times, synthetic threads are commonly used in the silk-screening process, with polyester being one of the most popular choices. Nylon and stainless steel are also used in some screen-printing applications.
If you want to try screen printing at home, you can do it with a little bit of practice and some basic materials. To get started with screen printing, you may need:
A screen, usually made of polyester
Photo emulsion
A 150W light bulb
A screen-printing squeegee
Fabric paint
Two pieces of glass
To print T-shirts at home, you can try the screen-printing method described above. To print a lot of shirts, you may consider using a screen-printing company.
While the exact steps and process varies by company, in general, you can expect to provide the T-shirt company with your desired design, either electronically or in person. You can choose other options, and the screen-printing company typically sends you a mock-up of what the finished design will look like; Then, after you approve it, they produce it according to your specifications.
If you'd rather not go the screen-printing route, you can customize T-shirts in other ways.
Heat transfers, which involve using a printing machine and heat press machine to transfer designs to fabric
Embroidery, which involves intricate stitching using thread and special needles
Direct to garment (DTG) digital printing, a process that uses a special inkjet printer with special ink to print designs onto the fabric directly
Engraved roller printing, a process that involves dye being applied to fabric that’s passed through rollers engraved with designs in a printing machine
When you design a T-shirt, there are a lot of factors to consider. Most of the time, screen-printing companies will ask you to submit a high-resolution file of the design you want printed. Sometimes, the company has in-house graphic designers who can create a design for you based on your specifications or ideas.
Here are a few suggestions for optimizing your T-shirt design:
Ensure any text is readable, and you can do this by selecting the right fabric and paint color combination
Consider creating a contrast between your chosen T-shirt color and the screen-printing ink
Make sure the type size is big enough to read from a distance
Direct to garment printing involves spraying ink directly onto a T-shirt, and then the ink soaks into the garment fibers.
Where DTG uses a printer to spray ink on a garment, screen printing layers ink on top of the fabric. DTG is typically better for more detailed designs, and you may be limited to a color palette for screen printing. This may not be a problem if your design is meant to be simple and uses only three or four colors, for example.
Custom all over print shirts typically have a design printed over the T-shirt's entire length or width instead of just being centered in one area, as it typically is with screen printing.
It's usually advisable to use a T-shirt printing company for all over print T-shirts because they have specialized equipment, like DTG printers, to create intricate all over designs. Screen printing can either be done DIY or with a screen-printing company.
