AARD-ALLTUF is a Norfolk business that provides embroidery and screen printing. The business has an in-house design department and provides signs, digital banners, belts, hats, T-shirts, vinyl stickers, activewear, accessories, polos, outerwear, promotional items, and more. Clients appreciate their prices and punctuality.
Adver-Tees is a Chesapeake business that provides embroidery and screen printing services. The business offers logo and design services, corporate apparel, embroidered golf clothes, denim, towels, polo shirts, hats, jackets, blankets, aprons, sweatshirts, tote bags, hoodies, caps, and T-shirts. Adver-Tees serves the East Coast including Maryland, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Florida, Connecticut, Georgia, and Delaware. Customers appreciate their quality and customer service.
Coastal Threads, Inc. is a Virginia Beach woman-owned and operated business that provides promotional products. The business offers screen printing, embroidery, and provides a variety of apparel, computer accessories, desk items, key tags, mugs, watches, calendars, stress balls, pens, clocks, lanyards and badges, and other items. The city of Virginia Beach voted Coastal Threads, Inc. “Outstanding Woman Owned Business of 2008.” Customers appreciate the quality of the products, the prices, and the customer service.
Creative Business Solutions is a Portsmouth business that has been serving customers for over 32 years. The business provides design services and custom products such as signs, gifts, awards, trophies, caps, water bottles, mugs, towels, key chains, flashlights, pens, and more. Creative Business Solutions uses embroidery, screen printing, and small format printing. Creative Business Solutions is a Certified Small, Women-Owned, and Minority-Owned business enterprise.
Creative Embroidery is a Virginia Beach business that has been serving customers for over 16 years. The family business provides screen printing, digital printing, and embroidery services, and has employees who are trained to inspect items from the machines. Creative Embroidery also provides promotional products such as calendars, bags and totes, caps, umbrellas, cooler bags, drinkware, and pens. Creative Embroidery can ship to anywhere in the world. Customers remark on the quality of the work and the fast service.
DEWS Screenprinters is a Chesapeake business that has been serving customers for over 35 years. The business provides screen printing, marketing materials, rhinestones, embroidery, and promotional products. The variety of products to choose from includes towels, hats, bags, workwear, headwear, T-shirts, caps, fleece, and footwear. DEWS Screenprinters has a quick turnaround time and an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.
Hatteras Silkscreen is a Virginia Beach business that has been serving customers for over 27 years. The business provides graphic design, custom printed sweats and T-shirts, custom embroidery, and has low minimums and quick delivery. Other items include towels, hats, outerwear, fleece, bags, polo shirts, golf shirts, and shorts. Hatteras Silkscreen has an award-winning in-house art department and specializes in athletic teams, horse sports, and water sports. Customers appreciate the quality of the printing and the products.
Liberty Custom Designs is a Chesapeake business that provides printable apparel. The business customizes T-shirt designs for holiday attire, sororities and fraternities, team sports, bachelorette parties, family reunions, and promotional attire. Liberty Custom Designs also customizes hoodies, tanks, activewear, and fleece in a variety of brands. The business does not require minimum orders and offers gift certificates with different themes.
MSP Design Group is a Norfolk business that has been serving customers in Hampton Roads, Virginia, and other areas for over 28 years. The business’ services include marketing, screen printing, embroidery, websites, and promotional products. Screen printing and embroidery is done on items such as mugs, hats, uniforms, pens, golf bags, and T-shirts. MSP Design Group provides quick quotes and has a 22,500-square foot production facility. Customers appreciate their quality, service, and professionalism.
Rachel Screen Printing is a Portsmouth business that has been serving customers for over 33 years. The business provides screen printing, embroidery, and apparel. Apparel includes pants, shorts, sweatshirts, headwear, fleece, T-shirts, woven shirts, outerwear, accessories, bags, and knits. Customers appreciate their friendliness, knowledge, designs, and customer service.
SNiPS is a Virginia Beach family-owned and operated business that has been serving customers for over 17 years. The business serves corporate customers, individuals, and government clients by phone, email, and sales calls, and provides promotional products, embroidery, and screen printing. SNiPS customizes products including drinkware, bags, pens, apparel, watches, electronics, clip boards, stress balls, patches, clocks, and magnets. Clients appreciate the turnaround time and the quality.
T-Body Promotions is a Hampton business that has been serving Chesapeake, Yorktown, Virginia, Williamsburg, York County, Newport News, Portsmouth, Norfolk, and Hampton for over 48 years. The business provides fast service and offers custom silk screen printed apparel including T-shirts, caps, sweats, banners, custom printed signs, storefront door, window, and vehicle lettering, and stickers. T-Body Promotions also offers bumper stickers and decals, and artwork preparation as well. Customers remark on their quick service, quality, patience, and customer service.
The Graphics Shop is a Chesapeake veteran-owned business that specializes in vehicle graphics. The business provides window clings, vehicle wraps, wall graphics, signs, screen printing, laminates, stickers, banners, overlays, and die cutting. The business also offers food merchandizing printing and scratch off card printing. The Graphics Shop is a Certified Small, Women-Owned, and Minority-Owned business enterprise and memberships include the International Sign Association and the Professional Decal Application Alliance. The Graphics Shop won the 2014 and 2015 Wide Format Printing Top Shop awards. Customers appreciate their responsiveness, installation, and prices.
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
