Screen Printing - The Best Gifts for Screen Printing2024-09-20

Printing promotional gifts with screen printing

Screen printing is an excellent branding technology, ideal for marking promotional gifts, t-shirts, canvas bags, workwear, and other textile materials in large quantities. This method allows companies to communicate their message economically and effectively to their target audience on textile products that can be gifted to large crowds at sports events, conferences, and during holidays.

The Screen Printing Process

In screen printing, the artwork?prepared in the appropriate format?is transferred onto the material through a pre-prepared screen. The process consists of several steps to ensure high quality and durability:

Graphic Design: This is the first step. The logo or message intended for the promotional gift is designed and placed on a visual representation of the product. We only show a layout that is feasible. If the initial idea isn't viable, we create an alternative plan. After approving the layout, the mass production preparation begins, including film and screen preparation.

Screen Preparation: The screen is a fabric similar to silk stretched over a frame, coated with a photosensitive emulsion, and then exposed to light, which hardens the emulsion.

Exposure: The designed graphic is transferred onto the screen using UV light, and the areas that remain unhardened are then washed out.

Screen Washing: The unhardened emulsion is removed from the fabric's pores with a water jet, allowing the ink to pass through this area during the next step.

Printing: Ink passes through the open areas of the screen, leaving a print on the secured item. This stage can be done manually or using an automatic machine.

For multi-color printing, the colors are applied sequentially. Securing the product is crucial as the printed colors must align with the original design, ensuring that the product does not shift between each color application.

Marketing Opportunities with Screen Printing

Screen-printed promotional gifts can be powerful tools in a company's marketing strategy and brand building. Below are some benefits that screen printing offers:

Wide Reach: Products branded with screen printing generally belong to a higher-positioned category. Jackets, vests, t-shirts, caps, towels, and bags are cherished items that we might even purchase for ourselves. Their use extends beyond the workplace, as they are used during commutes, travel, and sports activities. This broad usage and durability combine to ensure that screen-printed gifts provide extensive reach, making them a worthwhile investment in your marketing mix.

Cost-Effectiveness: For large quantities, screen printing is more economical than other printing techniques.

Durability: Products made with screen printing are durable, ensuring ongoing brand visibility and a long-lasting advertising effect.

Versatility: T-shirts, caps, workwear, canvas bags, backpacks, and other textiles are excellent for displaying company logos and messages.

Types of Screen Printing

When screen printing promotional gifts, we can choose from several methods depending on which is the most aesthetically pleasing and economical for the product and quantity ordered.

Direct Screen Printing: The most common method where the print is applied directly to the textile through the screen. This technique is only suitable for completely smooth surfaces, such as t-shirts, shopping bags, drawstring bags, and umbrellas. Direct screen printing uses a lower mesh density compared to transfer printing, so fine lines and small text details may be lost. Fast drying of the ink is ensured by passing it through a heat tunnel.

Automatic Screen Printing: This process is the same as direct screen printing, but the operation is performed by an automatic multi-station screen printing machine instead of by hand. The advantages of the automatic screen printing machine are most evident when printing larger quantities of products, making it ideal for quick and efficient printing.

Transfer Screen Printing: In this case, the graphic is first screen-printed in reverse onto transfer paper and then applied to the item using a heat press. Printing on transfer paper allows for fine lines, colorful, and raster graphics to be beautifully executed due to the finer mesh density. The advantage of this method is that the heat-transfer prints can be made without the product being present. The "decals" can be applied to the product at any time when it arrives at our warehouse later. This method is particularly suitable for decorating "textured" surfaces, such as nylon bags, piqué fabric t-shirts, and the curved front panels of baseball caps. We often choose this method over direct screen printing, not only to ensure print quality but also for the flexibility it offers in work organization.

Screenround Printing: A method suitable for decorating straight-walled, cylindrical bottles. During the preliminary design, we spatially represent how the wrap-around graphic will align at the two ends. Often, the available creative does not consider how the print will appear where the beginning and end of the graphic meet. We recommend designs that leave a 2-3 mm gap and avoid overlapping graphic elements, as alignment might not always be achievable due to size anomalies during product manufacturing.

Summary

Screen printing is an excellent method for branding promotional gifts, enabling companies to effectively and economically increase their brand awareness. From photo-realistic printed gifts to logo-embellished textiles, screen printing offers numerous possibilities for enhancing corporate communication and marketing.

Contact us, and with over 30 years of experience, we will handle everything from product design to packaging and delivery. Thanks to our significant stock, we are sure to have what you need, whether it's screen-printed, transfer-printed t-shirts, hoodies, jackets, vests, baseball caps, backpacks, or any other promotional gift to promote your business. In our facility, we print, engrave, sew, press, and pull anything onto everything.

You can read a summary guide on other available branding technologies in this blog post.