T-Shirt Printing Fairview Heights, IL
T-Shirt Printing Fairview Heights, IL. Custom printed t-shirts are festive, versatile, and effective and can be used for nearly any occasion. Fairview Heights, 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. The sky is the limit for t-shirt printing abilities and uses. Make sure to choose your t-shirt printing shop carefully – one with experienced printers and designers who serve the Fairview Heights, IL area. You can be confident that STL Shirt Co. has all that and more.
STL Shirt Co. is the best Fairview Heights, IL area screen printing shop. For more than 45 years, we have been the community leader for all your screen printing and embroidery needs. You will always experience the best Fairview Heights, IL t-shirt printing experience at STL Shirt Co. To submit your order or to speak to us about our capabilities, call us at 636-926-2777 or send a message at 636-299-0162 right away.
The T-Shirt Printing Process
STEP ONE – Place your order.
You know you want to have some t-shirt printing done for some upcoming occassion, club, sports team, or something else. You contact your shop to place the order and that is where the Fairview Heights, IL t-shirt printing journey begins. When you place your shirt order, you will have to determine the:
- Brand, cut, style, material, and color of the shirts
- Ink type and color(s)
- 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. will offer advice and assurance during the entire t-shirt printing process. Use our professional printers and designers. Need help designing a logo that perfectly captures your vision? You can work with our professional design team. We can also help you select the right shirt and ink colors.
STEP TWO – We make the screen
After you determine your design, we get to work on making the screen that allows us to get your design printed on your shirts. First, we print the design on a transparent sheet of film. Based on your unique parameters, 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 we expose the screen to light. Light is blocked from reaching the screen wherever the design is on the film and the rest of the emulsion hardens in the light. This creates the stencil.
If your design involves multiple ink colors, 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. What you are feeling is the plastisol ink. Plastisol is ideal for screen printing because it withstands washes, moves with the fabric material of your shirt, and shows up vibrantly on any color t-shirt.
The screens we made are attached to a printing press, stretching each shirt on a plate below. Our t-shirt printing artists take great care to line everything up precisely so we know that your design will end up in the right place on your t-shirt. We apply ink on top of the screen and use a squeegee across the entire screen to apply and press the ink onto the shirt. We repeat this for every single t-shirt we print. For designs with several colors, we repeat it for each color on every shirt. It takes skill to get the ink just right so 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.
Now your awesome design is on your shirts! We aren’t quite done, though. The ink goes on as a thick liquid, but in order to stay on the shirt, it has to be cured. In other words, we have to turn the liquid ink into a solid so it stays on your t-shirts. In order to do this we have to apply heat to the ink. It takes research and trial and error to perfect the curing process. It is easy 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!
After the ink is cured, it means that your t-shirts are officially printed! We fold the shirts up neatly and pass them off to you. We can have your shirts or other items printed and packaged within just a handful of days. If you need it, ask us about shipping your order to you. For those last-minute situations when you need your t-shirts ready in a week or less, check out our rush printing services.
T-Shirt Printing Orders
In our humble opinion, there is no debating the magic and possibility of the art of Fairview Heights, IL t-shirt printing promises. We are passionate about screen printing and aren’t ashamed to admit it. Now that you’ve heard all about the t-shirt printing journey, you are probably eager 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.
We do Fairview Heights, IL t-shirt printing for…
- Athletic teams
- Sports fans
- School clubs
- Fundraising
- Event and organization volunteers
- Bachelor & bachelorette parties
- Corporate events
- Class reunions
- Family vacations
- Company picnics
- Birthdays
- Clubs
- Non profit and small business merchandise
- Employee uniforms
- Union events and organizations
…And so much more! There are endless occasions that are perfect for t-shirt printing and other garment screen printing. You would be hard-pressed to come up with a reason that we haven’t printed shirts. Whatever the reason you need Fairview Heights, IL t-shirt printing services, you can trust STL Shirt Co..
Choosing a Partner for Fairview Heights, IL T-Shirt Printing
Screen printing custom t-shirts are a fun opportunity that can be effective for many different purposes. But not all t-shirt printing is equal. When you are looking for printed apparel 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 cheer on aspiring printers and certainly have nothing against out-of-the-basement operations (many great screen printing shops began there!). Still, you will notice a definite disparity in the quality, customer service, and capabilities you have access to when you choose an accomplished and skilled t-shirt printing company for the Fairview Heights, IL area like STL Shirt Co.
The cherry on top of it all is that we are a union screen printing shop. Going to a union shop for your Fairview Heights, IL t-shirt printing 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, going to a union shop for anything, including t-shirt printing, is a way for you to support excellent labor conditions and support the local and US economy. For your next Fairview Heights, 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 Fairview Heights, IL
At STL Shirt Co., we think t-shirt printing is awesome. You may think us a bit biased, but the fact is that screen printing on t-shirts, hoodies, and other clothing is an amazing and effective method for creating 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 you have a last-minute bachelorette party to plan, STL Shirt Co.’s t-shirt printing services are ready to help. You deserve and expect top quality and great customer service when you order t-shirts. With STL Shirt Co., that is what you get.
We have been providing quality t-shirt printing and other screen printing services for people in the Fairview Heights, IL area and beyond for nearly half a centry years. With highly skilled union-member screen printing technicians, a exceptional turnaround time, and professional design services, our t-shirt printing services are the best around. The next time you need t-shirt printing in Fairview Heights, IL, we are your partner. 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.