Screen Printing
BBF Offers Both Contract and Commercial Screen Printing Services
When printing garments, screen printing should be your first choice and consideration. Not only does screen printing allow for the creation of high quality custom apparel, it also produces durable, wearable results. Stylus’s screen printed garments will last through many washes — as long as the garment itself lasts!
We offer a large number of blank stock garments and accessories, along with a wide array of standard print locations. However — if you have something a little more unique and custom in mind, just ask! We will work with and for you to bring your design to life — whatever it takes. Our experienced design and production teams will devote themselves to delivering exactly what you want.
We print with plastisol or water and discharge inks. However, you can always add high-end effects and embellishments to further customize your screen printed apparel and create something truly remarkable. Custom apparel with foil printing or specialty inks are simply eye-catching.
Plastisol Screen Printing
Plastisol ink is the most economic and high quality choice for screen printing the widest variety of apparel. Since they are very durable and opaque, plastisol inks are the most popular type of ink used in screen printing. Plastisol is vibrant, opaque, and affordable; additionally, plastisol is preferred when screen printing dark or boldly-colored fabrics.
Branded By Faith has over 20 years experience working with plastisol inks. Our experience ensures your image is printed using the best techniques, ink and equipment on the market. We look forward to fulfilling your screen printing needs!
Plastisol inks can be printed on almost every material — but there are limitations to screen printing. Namely, plastisol inks cannot be used if the material isn’t porous enough to absorb the ink, and screen printed plastisol inks cannot be used if the material cannot withstand heat treatment.
If plastisol ink isn’t enough, remember we also do Water-Based and Discharge printing, as well as Specialty Plastisol Inks. Stylus Apparel also offers Foil Printing — perfect for high-fashion designs and that extra bit of “unique.”
Water Based & Discharge Screen Printing
Water based screen printing, known as discharge screen printing when applied to dark garments, is a choice production method for many high-end and fashionable brands. Water based screen printing creates a soft, light print layer that blends in perfectly with the fabric of the garment. Water-based and discharge printing produces comfortable, wearable garments — perfect for those seeking a stylish alternative to plastisol screen printing.
BBF has completely dedicated itself to mastering water based printing because of the comfort and wear-ability it gives custom printed shirts. Water based screen printing more of an art than a science and Branded By Faith results speak for themselves. We are one of the few and the top discharge and water based printers in New Jersey.
Why Choose Water-Based Screen Printing
Breathable, Comfortable, Quality Fashion
Because water based ink seeps into the fabric of the screen printed shirt instead of laying on top (as with plastisol-based printing), it allows the skin of the garment-wearer to “breathe” more easily, increasing the overall comfort and wear-ability of the garment. If you’re looking for a soft, vintage feel on your shirt, water based and discharge screen printing is the way to go.
Special Effects
Water-based and discharge screen printing can also achieve effects that screen printing with traditional plastisol ink cannot:
- A feathered tie-dye look. The “tie-dye” look produced by water-based garments is not as stark or as strongly-contrasted as classic, traditional tie-dye — but it can provide an interesting look, all the same.
- Distressed styles. Distressed, faded, vintage, worn-out, and other “destroyed” style designs look great in water-based or discharge prints. This is because water and discharge screen printing leaves behind an extremely light, low-opacity print that is generally transparent enough for the garment color to be seen beneath.
- Seam and zipper printing. While plastisol can be printed over zippers and seams in some applications, the results are tough to achieve with consistency. Water-based and discharge printing excels at these tough-to-print spots — and, unlike plastisol, will not interfere with zipper function.
Other Advantages
- Water-based and discharge inks are excellent for super-soft, super-lightweight fabrics. These garments often just feel “wrong” with heavy printed plastisol sitting over the lightweight, breathable garment.
- Water-based and discharge inks are eco-friendly. Water-based inks generally do not have harmful chemicals. When retailing your water-based and discharge printed garments, you may find labeling your garments as “produced in ecologically sustainable and friendly ways” can be a huge selling point for many brands.
- Unlike plastisol prints, water based screen prints can be even ironed without melting!
Limitations of Water-Based Screen Printing
Artwork Limitations of Water-Based Screen Printing
The best artwork for water-based and discharge screen printing is different from the best artwork for plastisol printing. In water-based and discharge prints, because the end result can have minor variations, it’s best to avoid very precise artwork. Soft-edged artwork, artwork with distresses and fades, and sketched or hand-drawn artwork generally looks best.
General Limitations of Water-Based Screen Printing
- 100% cotton is recommended for the best results; however, cotton is not a hard requirement of water-based printing.
- Water-based and discharge printing works by removing dyes — garments must be direct or reactive dyed.
- Plastisol screen printing provides a more vivid, bold look than water-based and discharge screen printing.
- Some color-changing may occur — for instance, using light blue ink over a deep gold shirt. This may result in the ink turning slightly greenish in the end product. Water-based and discharge printing is not recommended if you have very strict color precision requirements (e.g., a corporation with specific and required Pantone colors). Precise color matching is not possible to achieve in water-based screen printing.
- Water-based printing is generally a more expensive process than traditional plastisol-based screen printing.
Foil Printing
Foil is a great way to bring your design to life. Foil can contrast well against virtually any color and works with almost any design — stand out from the crowd with reflective foil apparel designs!
Highly reflective and shiny smooth, foil screen printing is an eye-catching way to make your custom apparel truly unique. Metallic foil is well-suited for band merchandise, stressed and distressed designs, accenting ink designs, and much more. Best of all — foil prints aren’t just gold and silver! Foil for printing comes in numerous colors.
Results to Expect when Foil Printing
You must be prepared for your foil print to fade. Fading on foil prints cannot be avoided — from your first wash, the foil will begin to lose shine. The older the garment is, the more faded it will be. You can, however, work around these limitations if you keep the following in mind:
- Creating your whole design with foil transfers will make the tarnishing more apparent.
- Foil prints should always be washed inside out — and by hand, if possible. Machine drying is not recommended.
- Foil prints may be created with a distressed, “grungy” look to begin with. This makes the fading less noticeable.
Specialty Inks
Sometimes screen printing isn’t enough by itself. Specialty inks provide a unique print with effects that truly stand out. Whether it’s the soft, light print of Fashion Soft inks or the heavy, raised print of High Density inks, your screen printed apparel can be customized even further with specialty inks.
At BBF we are known for our specialty printing and embroidery techniques. Our screen printing division team are leaders in printing special effects. We attend seminars and conferences to see new technologies and inks available. BBF also experiments with combining specialty inks to take the printed garment one level further in uniqueness.