T-Shirt Printing Carbondale, IL
T-Shirt Printing Carbondale, IL. When you have a group trip, work event, or fundraising endeavor to organize, custom screen printed t-shirts are a fun and effective tool. Carbondale, IL t-shirt printing is meant for everything from marketing a brand to enhancing team-building efforts to having some fun with a life event. When it comes to t-shirt printing, the options are virtually limitless. To get the best possible design and print, you need a reliable t-shirt printing shop with talented print and design team members who serve the Carbondale, IL area. You get that and more with STL Shirt Co.
STL Shirt Co. is the best Carbondale, IL area screen printing shop. We have been meeting your screen printing and embroidery needs for nearly half a century. You will always experience the best Carbondale, IL t-shirt printing experience at STL Shirt Co. To start your order or to speak to us about our capabilities, call us at 636-926-2777 or message us at 636-299-0162 today.
The T-Shirt Printing Process
STEP ONE – Make your order.
You’ve decided you need to have some t-shirt printing done for some upcoming event, school group, sports team, or some other use. You place the order and that is where the Carbondale, IL t-shirt printing journey begins. When you place your shirt order, you will have to determine the:
- Shirt brand, style, material, and color
- Ink colors or special effects
- Design to be printed
Don’t sweat it if you are intimidated by the thought of creating a design and making all these choices! STL Shirt Co. is here to offer advice and support through the entire t-shirt printing process. Our expert screen printing artists and designers are at your disposal. For assistance in creating the perfect logo or design work with our professional design team. We can also help you select the right shirt and ink colors.
STEP TWO – We make the screen
Once you determine your design, we get to work on preparing the screen that allows us to get your design printed on your shirts. The design is first printed on a transparent sheet of film. Depending on the specifics of your order, our t-shirt printing staff will select the best mesh screen for your order. The screen is coated with a photo-sensitive substance called emulsion. That film we printed your design on is placed on the screen and the screen is exposed to light. Light is blocked from reaching the screen wherever the design is on the film but the rest of the emulsion hardens in the light. This creates the stencil.
For designs with more than one color ink, we repeat the process above, making a screen for each color in the design.
STEP THREE – We print.
This is where the ink comes in. T-shirt printing and other screen printing typically uses a special ink called plastisol. You might have noticed that the prints on shirts are slightly textured, a little rubbery, but still smooth and flexible. That’s plastisol for you. Plastisol works well for screen printing because it withstands washes, moves with the fabric material of your shirt, and shows up vibrantly on any color t-shirt.
Next, we mount the prepared screens to a printing press, with each shirt pulled taut and placed on a plate below. We work deliberately to make sure everything is registered and lined up precisely so we know that your design will end up in the right place on your t-shirt. We add ink onto the screen and pass a squeegee from end to end of the screen to apply and press the ink onto the shirt. This process is repeated for every single t-shirt in your order. For designs with multiple colors, we repeat it for each color on every shirt. It takes skill to get the ink precisely to where it shows up nicely and retains the sharp lines in the original design. Lucky for you, our t-shirt printing team has mad skills.
STEP FOUR – The ink cures.
You can now see the design on your shirts! But there is still one more step. Once the ink is applied as a viscous liquid, it must be cured. In other words, we have to turn the ink from a liquid into a solid so it becomes permanent on your t-shirts. In order to do this we have to apply heat to the ink. Ink curing is a science, and it’s possible to damage the shirt or the print with temperatures that are too high. You can rest assured that we have the curing process figured out, so you know your prints will turn out great.
STEP FIVE – You get your shirts!
Once the ink is cured, your t-shirts are officially printed! Next, we fold them up neatly and hand them off to you. We will package them up and have your shirts or other printed items ready in just a handful of days. Ask us about having your order shipped to you. For those last-minute situations when you need your t-shirts ready in a week or less, we even offer rush printing services.
T-Shirt Printing Orders
In our humble opinion, [t-shirt printing is a magical, beautiful thing. What can we say — we’re passionate about what we do. Now that we’ve gotten you thoroughly excited about the idea of screen printing t-shirt, we bet you can’t wait to place an order. If you like the idea of t-shirt printing but don’t have a specific need for it, keep in mind the following reasons and occasions for which t-shirt printing is ideal.
Try Carbondale, IL t-shirt printing for…
- Sports teams
- Sports fans
- School groups and organizations
- Fundraising
- Volunteers
- Bachelor & bachelorette parties
- Corporate events
- Class reunions
- Family vacations
- Company picnics
- Birthdays
- Clubs
- Non profit and small business merchandise
- Employee shirts
- Union events and organizations
The list goes on! There are endless occasions that t-shirt printing and other screen printing can make even better. You name it, we have probably printed for it. No matter what Carbondale, IL t-shirt printing services you need, you can trust STL Shirt Co..
Choosing a Partner for Carbondale, IL T-Shirt Printing
Custom screen printed t-shirts are a fun opportunity that can be effective for many different purposes. However, not all t-shirt printing is the same. With printed garments or any screen printed items, there is a huge difference between the work of a top printing shop and a school group applying iron-on’s in the basement. We are rooting for aspiring garment decorators and certainly have nothing against printing out of the basement (many great screen printing shops began there!). Still, as the customer, you will see a obvious difference in the quality, customer service, and abilities available to you when you choose an accomplished and skilled t-shirt printing company for the Carbondale, IL area like STL Shirt Co.
The cherry on top of it all is that we are a union screen printing shop. Having your Carbondale, IL t-shirt printing done by a union shop means that the people printing your t-shirts have had extensive training and have proven their skill in what they do. On top of that, shopping at a union shop for anything, including t-shirt printing, allows you to endorse excellent labor conditions and support the local and US economy. For your next Carbondale, IL t-shirt printing order, make the choice to support a union print shop.
Screen Printing Services
Embroidery
Basic Polo
With Embroidery
STL Shirt Co.: A Top T-Shirt Printing Company for Carbondale, IL
At STL Shirt Co., we love t-shirt printing. You may think us a bit biased, but the objective truth is that screen printing on t-shirts, hoodies, and other clothing is an amazing and versatile way to give you quality custom apparel for your next event. Whatever the reason, whether you have a school sports team in need of cotton jerseys for the upcoming season or a group or organization you are a part of needs new swag, you can count on STL Shirt Co.’s t-shirt printing services. When you need t-shirts printed for a special occasion, you expect great quality and helpful service. With STL Shirt Co., that is what you get.
STL Shirt Co. has been providing quality t-shirt printing and other screen printing services for people in the Carbondale, IL area and beyond for nearly half a centry years. With highly skilled union-member screen printing specialists, a rapid turnaround time, and professional design services, our t-shirt printing services are the best around. The next time you need t-shirt printing in Carbondale, IL, count on STL Shirt Co. Speak to us today at 636-926-2777, text us at 636-299-0162, or request a quote online to get started on your t-shirt printing order today.