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Decoration method guide

Screen Printing

Any fabric

Last updated September 14, 2026

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Screen printing pushes ink through a stencilled mesh screen, one screen per color, and has held the top spot in garment decoration for decades. Nothing else matches its color punch, wash durability, and per-piece economics once a run gets into the dozens. The trade-off is setup: every color in the design means another screen to burn, register, and clean.

Quick take

Best for
Bulk merch, uniforms, and event tees in a handful of colors; per-piece cost drops to pennies as quantity climbs.
Watch out
Per-color screen fees set 12–24 piece minimums, and polyester into the ink without low-cure handling.

Screen Printing categories

T-Shirt More ↓
96 colors

Bella + Canvas style number 3001

Jersey Tee

$6.93

Retail $9.25

Sweatshirt More ↓
Hat More ↓
Bag More ↓
Tank Top More ↓
Jacket More ↓
Pants 26 Polo Shirt 24 Accessories 14 Shorts 13 Other 2 Dress Shirt 1

How it works and where it wins

or is squeegeed through a fine mesh screen onto the garment, then cured with heat. Because the ink sits in a thick, opaque deposit, screen prints stay bright on dark garments, and a properly cured print outlasts the garment. It's still the benchmark every newer method gets compared against.

It wins on volume. Once screens are made, each additional shirt costs pennies of ink and seconds of press time, which is why bulk merch, uniforms, and event tees still run through a screen shop.

What it asks of the blank

Screen printing is the least picky method: cotton, blends, poly, fleece, canvas totes, all printable with the right ink system. Open-end cotton takes a screen print fine, which is why promo tees and screen printing are a classic pairing; ring-spun's smoother surface is worth it for fine detail.

The exception is polyester and poly-heavy blends. traditionally cures hot enough to reactivate polyester dye, which then bleeds into the ink: a red poly shirt can turn a white print pink days later. Decorators counter with low-cure inks and blocking , but the safest buy is to flag poly content to your printer up front and favor migration-tested performance blanks.

Costs and common pitfalls

Setup is the cost story: each color means a separate screen fee, so shops set minimums (commonly in the 12–24 piece range) and pricing only gets attractive as quantity climbs. A one-color print on 100 shirts is cheap; a six-color print on 12 shirts is not. That job belongs to DTF or DTG.

Pitfalls to watch: on poly, fibrillation (fuzzy prints) on rough open-end cotton, and reorders that don't match because the original screens were reclaimed. Keep designs to a handful of colors and order the full run at once where you can.

Browse Screen Printing by category

Screen printing handles nearly every blank we stock, so this browses the whole catalog by category, biggest first. Each row previews a category's best; the Shop all link opens the full set.

T-Shirt 269

Shop all 269 T-Shirt →
96 colors

Bella + Canvas style number 3001

Jersey Tee

$6.93

Retail $9.25

84 colors

Bella + Canvas style number 3001CVC

CVC Jersey Tee

$7.59

Retail $9.45

Sweatshirt 165

Shop all 165 Sweatshirt →

Hat 62

Shop all 62 Hat →

Bag 48

Shop all 48 Bag →
1 color

Liberty Bags style number 8501

Katelyn Tote

$4.82

Retail $6.43

Tank Top 40

Shop all 40 Tank Top →

Jacket 33

Shop all 33 Jacket →

Pants 26

Shop all 26 Pants →

Polo Shirt 24

Shop all 24 Polo Shirt →

Accessories 14

4 colors

Liberty Bags style number 5501

Waist Apron

$5.75

Retail $7.66

1 color

Liberty Bags style number 5508

Bistro Apron

$8.57

Retail $11.41

12 colors

Liberty Bags style number FT001

Can Holder

$1.25

Retail $1.67

3 colors

Liberty Bags style number 5506

Cobbler Apron

$16.52

Retail $22.02

Shorts 13

Other 2

Dress Shirt 1