Well, there are two reasons why this is important.

First, is the screenprinting set-up cost. This is probably the most important reason. At tshirtprinting.com.au we give you the total price which includes the set-up cost for your print job. As discussed previously, the number of colours in the design will affect your set-up costs. To give you part of the total price we divide the set-up costs by the number of shirts you want printed. So, as you can see, any variation to the print run (the number of shirts to be printed), will affect the price.

This is the main reason why the print run is so important, and the reason why most screen printers set a minimum quantity for screen-printing. If you divide the set-up costs by 1 or 2 t-shirts the cost per shirt is very very expensive and probably not worth printing. In this situation we would use Direct to garment Digital t-shirt printing, which is excellent for small runs. At tshirtprinting.com.au we look at how many shirts and your artwork and make an assessment as to which printing method is best for you.

The other reason, of course, is the economies of scale: the saving we make when volumes get bigger. This means that the more t-shirts we print, in a single run, the cost per print is reduced. So we pass this onto you, the customer. 

If you have any more questions regarding screen printing and the processes involved. Please use our contact form and we will be glad to help.

This is because screen printing uses screens with an image burnt into it to apply that image to the t-shirt. Each screen can only have one colour applied to it.  If more than one colour was put into the same screen, the printing inks would mix together changing the colour of the ink.

So, if your design has more than one colour, each colour will need its own screen. First, your design will be split up into the different colours, (usually by a graphic artist) this is called colour separation. Then each separation needs to be transferred to film. This is a transparency for each of the separated colours in the design, filled in with solid black. The film, with the positive image, is used to burn the image onto the silk screen.

When quoting on your t-shirt screen printing order the number of colours in your design is very important to determine the price. The more colours, the more expensive the printing will become. It’s not just the number of screens and the set-up costs for each screen and film, there is also the printing of each t-shirt that will cost more the higher the colour count is. Basically it takes longer to print 3 colour layers that to print, say, 1 colour layer.

Printing onto dark or black colours usually requires a white under-base or possibly an extra pass of white to make the printed image more vibrant and not look like it is all washed out. A white under-base is also an extra screen, as this image is different to maybe a white colour that may be also in your image. This means that sometimes printed designs need to have 2 white colours. A white under-base under all colours and a high white that also maybe in your design.

If you are not sure on the number of colours in your design, just send us your design and we will be glad  to advise you on the number of colours and what will be involved in printing your design.

1. How many colours are there in your print/design?
2. What is the quantity you want printed?
3. What kinds of t-shirts do you want printed?
4. What colour are these t-shirts?
5. What is the size of your print(s)?