Why digital fabric printing has taken over from screen printing in Brisbane

Over the past few years, the rapid increase in digital fabric printing has meant that printing companies have tended to moved away from the more traditional printing methods, particularly in Brisbane. Screen printing is now less popular and it can be difficult to find a company that offers this method of printing.

So are there really any reasons to use the older methods, like screen printing, rather than the more modern digital fabric printing? Well here at Everything Vibrant, we only offer digital fabric printing, because our customers find that this is the best option for them.

There are however, some instances when screen printing might be the better option, so let’s take a look at how the two printing methods stack up against one another.

Screen printing: In this older method of printing, layers of different coloured inks are laid down on a specially created stencil that represents the design. You need a different stencil for each colour (so you are usually limited to 3 or 4 colours) and between creating the stencil and having to apply the colours one after the other (once each layer has dried), this is a long drawn out process. It does produce a lovely, handcrafted quality to the designs, but can also be costly because of the craftsmanship required in creating each stencil and the length of time it takes to complete the job.

Digital fabric printing: This newer method of printing simply involves uploading your design to a PC and printing the design onto the fabric, using a specialised printer. It is much faster than screen printing (as you can imagine) and creates photo quality images of complex designs, which can have as many colours as you like.

One problem with this method is that whilst the number of colours is infinite, the actual colours of the design depend on the type of pre-loaded colours in the printer. Also, the size of the design is limited by the size of the printer, whereas, within reason, with screen printing your design can be as large as you want.

So at Everything Vibrant in Brisbane, screen printing is not a method we use for our clients. We focus on producing high photo quality images, at low cost and fast. You are most welcome to call us on 07 3386 0536 to discuss your needs or visit our website.