SCREEN PRINTING

What Is It?

Screen printing is a big part of how your designs get turned into products here at McKenzie & Co. It's the process of transferring a design onto a surface (t-shirt, hoodie, tote bag, poster, etc.) by pushing ink through a mesh screen with a squeegee, it’s equal parts art and craft.

1. Your Design Is Split By Color

We separate your artwork into layers, one for each color. A 3-color design means 3 layers and 3 screens.

2. Each Layer Becomes A Screen

We "burn" your design onto screens. This creates the shapes where ink will go, like a coloring book outline.

3. Screens are carefully set up.

We mount the screens on a press and align them so every color lands exactly where it should on the shirt.

4. Ink is pressed through the screens.

Using a squeegee, we pull ink across the screen so it prints onto the fabric—one color at a time.

5. Printed shirts go through a dryer.

This cures the ink—so it stays bright, soft, and durable after lots of washes.

6. Quality Check

Each one is inspected for print quality, then folded, packed, and ready to wear or ship.

Minimum order size for first time customers is 24 pieces of each style of garment.

Screen printing requires the same amount of set-up for 1 shirt or 1,000, and price per shirt increases substantially.

Using fewer ink colors, or letting the shirt’s color be part of the design, can lower setup costs.