Inkjet printers replacing traditional screen printing
By Florie Lyn Masarate
Printing into garments has been an age-old process that people have been doing many years before it had become widespread. The process is long and complicated and needs expertise to be able to achieve the right result.
With the development in technology came the process of sublimation, which paved the way to transferring decorations in garments. This is simpler compared to the traditional direct screen printing. Just like the traditional screen printing, sublimation transfers have been done before people printing companies came to know about its possibility. This has given people another option in decorating variety of products in full colors and in small amounts.
With the use of inkjet printers as screen printing methods comes another addition to the transfer of prints into garments. The fact that this method has been proven as much more effective and result-oriented than the traditional and sublimation process has made people wonder if this will be able to replace those other methods in the long run.
Printing on garments using these printers is less time consuming as the only process involved here is the loading of the materials needed. With inkjet, full colored prints are printed in a matter of minutes, from the start until finish. This is just like putting graphics into prints, without the use of paper. The cost involved in this process is not as expensive as that of the sublimation and the direct screen printing. Inkjet printers can be considered competitive garment printers with only the cost of the initial printer cost to take into account.
Inkjet printing on garments may have its advantages but it also has its many disadvantages. It is only practical on light colored garments. Because of the transparency of these printers, they have the tendency to take on the color of the garment. It is therefore ideal printing them on light colored garments. The amounts of prints that will be made are also an advantage over the others as these printers have low production rates. But if you take the set up preparations and the procedures needed for the sublimation and traditional printing, the slower time rate of the inkjet printers would surely beat the preparation periods of the others.
With more additions to the screen printing technology, people will be questioning the fact that maybe the traditional printing would be replaced as time goes on. The manufacturers of inkjet printers would surely be able to develop its disadvantages to work on its advantages.
Is this the future of screen printing?
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About the author:
Florie Lyn Masarate got her first article printed in the school newsletter in the third grade. Her hobbies include reading any book she can get her hands on.
