SanMar (major screen printing wholesaler) is formed.Dave Gardner and Jon Weiss develop modern simulated process screen printing.Screen printed t-shirts become commonplace.Early screen printing industry develops.Mark Coudray and other technical screen printers develop powerful techniques for printing lifelike colors, including Coudray’s iconic Nocona prints.Warhol prints his Marilyn Diptych, bringing screen printing to popular art.First multicolor screen printing machine developed by Michael Vasilantone of Vastex.

Post-war boom enables a robust supply chain for materials for modern garments and fuels consumer demand.National Serigraph Society is formed, formalizes silk screening.Nylon is invented by Du Pont, the building block for modern screen mesh thread.Photo imaged stencils (light sensitive emulsions) are developed.Silk screening is known in Asia but neglected in Europe.Chinese artisans develop silk screen printing.At the highest level, screen print shops are actually tech companies: they have mastered software, hardware, and web services to provide their customers with seamless and custom online experiences. Screen printers typically dabble in multiple decoration techniques, mastering embroidery and DTG printing alongside screen printing – or outsourcing work to a robust network of contract printers throughout the world. Screen print shops do much more than print t-shirts.

The industry captured billions in sales, with consumer merchandise maintaining growth throughout multiple recessions.īy 2021, screen printing has blossomed into a large umbrella of services. By the 2000s, advanced screen printing technology was commonplace in screen printing shops of all sizes. Millions upon millions of t-shirts are printed and sold, and robust multicolor screen printing techniques are developed. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, screen printed t-shirts became a commonplace consumer good. A globalized trade for cotton, ink, and other raw materials used in screen printing developed quickly. Rapid development in the material and scientific front followed in the next decades, and by the 1970s there was a robust market for multicolor screen prints. His famous prints of soup cans, Marilyn Monroe and other iconic images boosted the profile of screen printing as an artist’s medium. Some soldiers reportedly learned screen printing vis-a-vis their experiences in the armed services and used screen printing afterward to start businesses.Īndy Warhol popularized screen printing as a pop-art medium in the 1960s. The crew-neck t-shirt was developed as a common undergarment for soldiers during the second World War, and the armed services used screen printing to print on garments and materials (think of the common “ARMY” shirt). T-shirt screen printing is rumored to have began by soldiers in the US Army and Navy. Nylon mesh becomes the standard for mesh screens used in screen printing within a few short decades. A second major technological breakthrough meant that screen printers were no longer limited by silk: nylon mesh was developed by Du Pont Chemical in 1939. They would then press ink through this stencil for a variety of purposes, from posters to light industrial applications. Thanks to breakthroughs in chemistry in the 1900s, early screen printers made hardened stencils with light-sensitive emulsions. The silk trade acted as a limiting factor on the spread of silk screening, since silk was heavily in demand for garments rather than for use in industrial and artistic applications. There is evidence of silk screen techniques being used in China during the Song Dynasty hundreds of years before, though the technique was used for documentation, art, and tapestries more than for garments. Modern screen printing begins in the early 1900s. Using a mesh screen and a stencil image, screen printers deposit ink on everything from t-shirts to electronics. Screen printing is a widely used printing technique with thousands of applications. If you’re looking to make some quick cash printing shirts, understanding that there’s a process you must adhere to will help you hustle harder – with more consistent results for your customers. Screen printing is process oriented – meaning that if something goes wrong, you may have to start over at the first step. While the overall process is simple enough, there are lots of details to learn.īefore you dive in and spend thousands on new screen printing equipment, take some time to learn about the process. The screen printing process is a mystery to many new screen printers.

Print a whole manual screensteps