SCREEN PRINTING is right when you are printing the SAME design on a lot of shirts. The cost of separating art and burning a screen per color happens once, so the more shirts you run, the less each one carries of it. It lays down a thick, durable ink film that outlasts the garment in a lot of cases. It is the wrong choice for a run of eight shirts, because the setup has almost nothing to spread across.
VINYL is right for names, numbers and small counts. Each piece is cut and pressed individually, so there is no setup cost to spread and no screens to burn. That is why a roster is done in vinyl even when the front of the same shirt is screen printed: one run can carry forty different backs without forty sets of screens. For twelve shirts with one simple design, vinyl often beats screen printing on price.
EMBROIDERY is right for polos, caps and anything where you want the logo to read as permanent and dressy rather than printed. It is stitched, not inked, so it does not crack or fade the way a bad print can. It is priced by stitch count, which means a detailed logo costs more than a simple one, and it is the wrong choice for a large photographic image.
PHOTOGRAPHS are the case people most often get wrong. A full-color photograph does not screen print cheaply, because every color is another screen. If the design is a photo, expect a different method or expect to simplify the art into fewer colors. Simplifying is usually the better answer and it usually looks better on a shirt.
THE SHORT VERSION. Lots of shirts, same design, few colors: screen printing. Small count, or every shirt different: vinyl. Polos and caps, or you want it stitched: embroidery. Photographic art: talk it through before committing, because the honest answer may be to redraw it.
- Many shirts, same design, few colors -> screen printing
- Small runs, or names and numbers -> vinyl
- Polos, caps, dressy logos -> embroidery
- Photographic artwork -> usually simplify the art first
- Screen printing is the WRONG answer for eight shirts; say so up front
Questions people ask about which printing method do i need
What is the best printing method for 20 shirts?
Often vinyl rather than screen printing. Screen printing carries a one-time setup that barely spreads out across twenty shirts, while vinyl has no setup to spread. Ask before assuming screen printing is automatically right.
Can screen printing reproduce a photograph?
Not cheaply. Every color in the image is another screen and another pass, so a full-color photo gets expensive fast. The usual answer is to simplify the artwork into fewer colors, which costs less and generally looks better on fabric.
Which method lasts longest?
A properly cured screen print is extremely durable; the garment often wears out before the print does. Embroidery is stitched rather than printed so it cannot crack at all, which is why it suits polos and caps.
Why are names and numbers done in vinyl instead of screen printed?
Because every name is different. Screen printing forty different backs would mean forty setups. Vinyl is cut and pressed per shirt, so a whole roster fits inside one run at a sane price.
We take which printing method do i need work from Alice, Kingsville, premont, Freer and the rest of the Falfurrias area.
New to this? The plain-English guide to ordering walks through what to decide first.
Want numbers before you ask? See the published price chart for custom t-shirts.