Best Custom Screen Printing in Fort Worth!

Plastisol Screen Printing in Fort Worth

Plastisol is the foundation of most screen print shops, and for good reason. It delivers solid, opaque prints that hold up to repeated wear and washing, without soaking into the fabric.

• Ink Composition: Plastisol ink is PVC-based and does not air dry. It cures at high temperatures (usually 320°F), creating a durable, flexible ink layer bonded to the fabric surface.
• Print Surface: Because plastisol sits on top of the fibers, it creates strong edge definition and intense color saturation.
• Garment Compatibility: Works on nearly all fabrics, including 100% cotton, cotton/poly blends, polyester, tri-blends, and even specialty finishes.
• Color Accuracy: Holds Pantone-matched colors with consistent registration, which is essential for logos and brand work.
• Best Use Cases: High-quantity orders, brand merch, event giveaways, promotional T-shirts, construction uniforms, and team gear.
• Why We Use It: It's versatile, reliable, and scalable. For most custom screen printing in Fort Worth, plastisol delivers the best value-to-performance ratio.

Water-Based Screen Printing in Fort Worth

Water-based printing is chosen for comfort, not just looks. Instead of coating the fabric, water-based ink absorbs into the fibers, creating a lightweight, print-free feel.

• Ink Composition: Uses a water suspension with pigment. Cures via evaporation and heat, requiring accurate environmental control.
• Feel on Garment: The final result feels like nothing is there. This is called a “soft-hand” print, and it’s especially preferred in fashion-focused jobs.
• Garment Compatibility: Best on 100% cotton with light or medium shades. Dark fabrics reduce opacity unless combined with a discharge base.
• Color Outcome: May appear slightly muted compared to plastisol, but offers smoother tonal gradients and a vintage effect over time.
• Best Use Cases: Retail T-shirts, lifestyle brands, artist prints, band merch, or any shirt worn close to the skin.
• Why We Use It: For brands ordering custom screen printing in Fort Worth that want their product to feel like a retail garment, not a promo tee.

Discharge Screen Printing in Fort Worth

Discharge printing chemically removes the dye from dark garments and replaces it with pigment. The result is a bright, soft print with no ink buildup.

• Process: Discharge ink activates during curing, stripping dye from the fabric, and depositing new color simultaneously.
• Fabric Requirement: Only works on 100% cotton garments dyed with reactive dyes. Inconsistent results on blends or certain pigment dyes.
• Feel on Garment: The softest print possible on dark shirts-feels like it was woven into the fabric.
• Color Handling: Can achieve brighter results than water-based alone on black, navy, maroon, and forest green shirts.
• Best Use case: Streetwear, retail prints, high-volume dark shirt orders, vintage-style artwork, and premium client jobs.
• Why We Use It: For clients who want full-color designs on dark shirts without plastisol texture, discharge delivers unmatched softness and depth.

Puff Ink Screen Printing in Fort Worth

Puff ink creates a 3D, raised texture that expands during curing. It gives your print a physical presence and is often used for detailed emphasis.

• Ink Behavior: Puff ink contains a heat-reactive additive that causes it to rise under high temperature (usually 320°F+).
• Design Requirements: Bold lines and simple shapes print best. Fine detail may lose clarity due to ink expansion.
• Fabric Types: Cotton and thick blends are ideal. Lightweight shirts may warp or pucker if not handled correctly.
• Durability: Puff lasts through regular washes but should be handled with care in industrial settings to prevent cracking
• Best Use case: Logos, small graphic accents, standout elements on chest prints, fashion-forward brands.
• Why We Use It: Puff is an option we offer in Fort Worth when clients want a print with actual texture, not just visual contrast.

Metallic and Specialty Inks in Fort Worth

When you need something different-inks that shimmer, reflect, or glow-our specialty screen printing methods are built for visual impact.

• Metallic Inks: Contain fine aluminum particles suspended in base ink. Reflective under light, especially silver and gold.
• Shimmer/Glitter Inks: Designed to catch light and sparkle. Ideal for limited-run prints, youth items, or celebratory designs. fabrics
• Glow-in-the-Dark: Uses phosphorescent pigments that charge under UV and emit visible glow in low-light environments.
• Considerations: Best used in minimal areas. Overuse can impact washability or comfort.
• Best Use case: Concert merch, nightlife event shirts, specialty campaigns, novelty items, or themed promotions.
• Why We Use It: For orders where standard ink falls flat, these finishes make the print feel deliberate, limited, and collectible.

Choosing the Right Method for Custom Screen Printing in Fort Worth

We don’t expect you to know which method fits your job best-that’s our role. When you place an order, we look at the file, fabric, order size, turnaround time, and the kind of result you’re aiming for. From there, we pick the right screen printing method and set it up in-house at our Fort Worth shop. Every job is reviewed by a production lead before we run anything through the press.

• Custom Tank Tops: We print tanks for Fort Worth gyms, festivals, and promo teams who need lightweight gear that doesn’t fall apart. The armholes stretch if you use the wrong blank. We use blanks with taped seams and tight knits to stop that. Ink dries faster on thinner fabric, so we reduce flash times to avoid scorching. If the order includes front and back placement, we use press inserts to stop bleed-through. This is a go-to item for seasonal orders under custom screen printing in Fort Worth.
• Custom T-shirts: If you’re printing in volume, this is where it starts. Every brand drop, company uniform, event giveaway-it all starts with tees. We’ve printed them on 5 oz tubular for giveaways and 6.5 oz combed cotton for resale. The fabric weight affects ink deposit, especially with discharge or split-fountain prints. We’ve tested over 30 shirt styles in Fort Worth alone to find the ones that don’t shrink, twist, or fade after three washes. That’s what we run on press for our custom screen printing in Fort Worth work.
• Custom Long-Sleeve T-shirts: Long-sleeve t-shirts aren’t just tees with more fabric. The sleeves pull tight on platen corners, so print alignment can drift if your off-contact isn’t right. We use a sleeve platen for vertical prints and make sure the wrist seams don’t break the graphic. If you’re doing full-front and sleeve combos, we flash between each hit to avoid buildup. These are often printed for winter merch, Fort Worth skate shops, and school teams through our custom screen printing in Fort Worth setup.
• Custom Tie-Dye Shirts: These are loud, unpredictable, and everyone wants them to match-but they won’t. We don’t print tie-dye unless the base blanks come from a dye house that tests for pH and colorfastness. Otherwise, the ink won’t hold. We reject about 1 in 20 tie-dye blanks due to pattern misalignment or color bleeding. We adjust screen placement manually based on how the spiral lands. Fort Worth youth camps, summer events, and indie brands use these often in custom screen printing projects in Fort Worth.
• Custom Hoodies: Printing hoodies is about pressure, temperature, and weight. We never use the same settings we use on tees. Fleece holds heat longer, so we use a higher-lift platen and slow the belt speed on our dryer. If your hoodie is poly-heavy, we use low-bleed ink to stop dye migration. For zip-ups, we break the graphic or shift it above the zipper line. Hoodies are a core part of winter orders in custom screen printing in Fort Worth, especially for brands and sports programs.
• Custom Sweatshirts: No hood, no zipper-sweatshirts are simpler, but the print surface is bulkier. Most blanks are 8 oz+ with brushed fleece, which can cause undercured prints if the dryer dwell is too short. We run plastisol here, but we thin it with reducers to avoid stiff prints. These are common in staff uniforms, band merch, and nonprofit orders we run locally through custom screen printing in Fort Worth.
• Custom Zip-Up Sweatshirts: Zippers are a pain. They block ink, shift during press, and make full-fronts nearly impossible without splitting the graphic. We work around them using cut graphics, chest-only hits, or back prints. Press pressure has to be adjusted to keep seams from ghosting. Most zip-up orders in our Fort Worth shop come from teams, roofing companies, or schools printing gear that needs to be easy on/off. It’s a niche item in our custom screen printing in Fort Worth services, but we do them right.
• Custom Polo Shirts: Polos are about limitations. If you try to print over seams or under the placket, you’ll get lift. We only print on the back or left sleeve unless the chest is flat enough for vinyl or thin plastisol. Ink must be soft-hand, especially for athletic or synthetic polos, otherwise it peels after a few washes. Most Fort Worth orders come from trade shows or service teams using custom screen printing as a faster, cheaper alternative to embroidery.
• Custom Tote Bags: Canvas shifts. We stop it by inserting a rigid platen and taping down the handles before flooding. We run high-opacity plastisol using 86–110 mesh for ink thickness. No, underbase-tote fabric isn’t tight enough to stack layers cleanly. These are used constantly in Fort Worth for branded packaging, bookstores, and eco promos. If someone’s using custom screen printing in Fort Worth to make something people carry in public, this is it.

We don’t pick products based on trend. We pick what prints clean, fits right, and holds up after wear. Everything listed here runs through our shop because it works-not just once, but over and over. If you're ordering from us in Fort Worth, you're getting gear we trust enough to print every day.