Screen Printing

About Screen Printing

Screen printing is a tried-and-true, cost-effective practice used for decorating apparel. Cisco Athletic has taken this age-old practice and walked it into the 21st century. Today’s inks and machines allow us to create beautiful artwork on any surface, and with three decades of screen-printing experience, we know how to put them to proper use.

Cisco’s team uniform screen-printing department is second to none. No expense is spared — we use only the finest inks and other supplies, regardless of cost. Your uniforms are expertly printed, one at a time, we constantly check our conveyor dryers to ensure that the inks are properly “cured.” For larger orders, Cisco utilizes automated screen-printing equipment that allows us to offer quantity discounts. Each garment is thoroughly inspected after it’s printed, and if it’s not perfect, we re-cut and print it again.

The uniform screen-printing process is relatively inexpensive and can produce almost unlimited graphics. Although it was the most popular method of athletic printing for many decades, screen printing is beginning to give way to other processes such as sublimation.

How Screen Printing Works

This process involves the application of a plastisol type of ink to a garment. The garment and ink are then heated to a specific temperature at which time the ink solidifies and “bonds” to the fabric.

The Pros and Cons of Screen Printing

Pros:

• Inexpensive
• Variety of graphics
• Unlimited colors

Cons:

• Durable but not permanent
• Difficult to color match