We are Africa’s leading commercial prints service provider, security printers and screen printing company in Lagos Nigeria. We provide quality clothing and customized apparel for individuals, and businesses. Our screen printing services give you a total control over your textile products, packaging and promotional materials through personalized design and branding.

Screen printing is a popular printing method that uses a process that presses ink through a mesh screen in order to create a printed design. It is used for a wide range of retail, medical, electronics and textile products in the printing industry; especially to create custom clothing, canvas, labels, posters, signage, stickers, footwears, sports products, and more.

Please Contact us for all your screen printing job. iPrints is an innovative screen printing company in Lagos that has the tools and expertise to handle your designs for a custom t-shirts printing, head gears, tote bags, tea towels, pillowcases and much more. We use DTF printing technology and heat transfer, sublimation, embroidery, and direct to garments to ensure me meet our customers requirements. Our team of experienced graphic designers and printers is ready to turn your ideas into reality!

Everything You Need to Know About Screen Printing

Learn everything about screen printing types, their basic process and how to use them.

What is Screen Printing?

Screen printing or silkscreen printing is the process that involves transferring a stenciled design on a flat surface with ink, using a mesh screen, and a squeegee. Although paper and fabric are the most popular substrates used in screen printing, it can print on any surface such as metal, plastic, glass, card, leather or wood.

Perfect for corporate t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, schools uniforms, athletic wears, special events apparels, customizable polo shirts, hats, and more. There are six different types of screen printing that provide different results based on customers’ request. These include spot color screen printing, halftone printing, grayscale printing, duotone printing, CMYK 4-color printing and simulated process printing.

How Does Screen-Printing Work?

Screen printing involves making a stencil on a mesh screen or plate. The pushing of the ink through that stencil using a squeegee; which pulls the paint across the full length of the screen. This process creates the imprint of your design onto the surface of the chosen product material.

After transferring of the design using the transparent acetate film and squeegee, the ink emulsion is heat-treated on top printing board to produce a long-lasting product that would not be washed out. Screen printers use multiple shades of inks and can quickly reproduce a design in large quantities at low cost as compared to offset printing process.

While screen printing may be manual, it is very often automated, using advanced inks and materials combination with computer technology for mass prints production. Making it best for printing of bulk garments, apparels and clothing accessories. Hire the best screen printing company in Lagos Nigeria to handle all your special projects.

What is Sublimation Printing?

Sublimation printing is a popular way of printing high-quality images on a range of fabrics and items. It delivers an image print that is as clear as the source file, with little to no resolution loss. Items that are printed in this way can sustain their quality for many years. We use it to print sublimation shirts and sports jerseys.

Sublimation is a form of digital printing process that replicate images onto sublimation transfer paper using sublimation ink. Once the design has been printed onto this special paper, it is then placed into a heat press that transfer the design at extreme temperatures onto the materials.

Sublimation is a great printing process that gives you the opportunity to print clear, vibrant, and full color designs on your products. Sublimation will leave you with a more breathable, soft-hand feel to the fabric. The best part is that the numbers, letters, and graphics do not peel, wear off, or come out in the wash!

What is Embroidery Stiches?

Embroidery is a centuries-old decorative technique that involves stitching intricate designs onto fabric or other textile materials using needle and thread. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. By history, embroidery is an old creative practice; where artists or people use needles and threads to create handmade clothes with classic imprints on them. In modern times, we do this with the assistance of computerized embroidery printing machines.

Accordioning to Gimena Romero:  For me, embroidery is drawing; it is linework on a surface. Embroidery is to drawing what knitting is to sculpture.

As clothing printing company in Lagos Nigeria, we use latest embroidery machine with perfect needlework to create beautiful embroidery stitches on your fabric surfaces at low cost. Embroidery styles and techniques are used in making your unique team uniforms, home décor, t-shirts, caps, hats, fancy bags and more.

What is Monogram Printing?

Monogram is embroidered stiches on clothing. It is the process of imprinting alphabetic letters, logos, emblems, or single decorative letter; usually initials on textile, stationery, umbrellas, and so on. They are sued mainly for monogrammed t-shirts, face caps, towels, collage uniforms, aprons, vests, jackets, safety wears, travel suits, hospital dresses, overalls, apparels accessories, etc.

At iPrints Nigeria, we help you with all your screen printing projects. We offer low-cost monogram embroidery, quality screen printing, heat transfer, dye sublimation, laser engraving, UV printing, garments finishing and other business brands or personal customization options.

What is DTF Printing?

Direct-to-Film (DTF) printing is a modern method used to transfer high-quality, full-color designs onto various fabrics and substrates. The process starts with printing a design onto a special film using DTF printers equipped with vibrant, durable inks. Once the design is printed, an adhesive powder is applied to the film, which is then cured using heat to ensure the adhesive bonds well with the ink.

The film is then positioned onto the fabric or substrate, and heat is applied to transfer the design from the film to the material. This heat press method ensures that the design adheres securely and uniformly, resulting in vibrant, long-lasting prints.

DTF printing is a screen printing method known for its versatility and ability to handle a wide range of materials, including cotton, polyester, blends, and even non-textile surfaces like ceramics and metals. It offers high resolution and color accuracy, making it ideal for custom apparel, promotional items, and personalized products. The process produces durable prints that withstand washing and wear, making it a popular choice for both professional and personal applications.

What is DTG Printing?

Direct-to-garment (DTG) or direct to fabric printing (also known as D2 printing) is an textile decorating method in which graphics and images are inkjet printed direct to the materials. Unlike other textile printing methods, such as heat transfer or dye sublimation, DTG printing process also known as digital apparel printing uses specialized ink in order to print directly onto the garment, using a DTG printer.

Here the fabric fibers soak up the ink, and become part of the garment. This technology enables the creating of long lasting garment prints that do not crack, peel or distort in other ways. It is mainly used to produce packaging materials, gifts items, and advertising materials.

What is Heat Transfer printing?

Heat transfer printing on the other hand is the name given to any kind of printing that uses heat to bind a design to a fabric. Here the design is printed out onto a material coated with heat-reactive adhesive, called transfer or sublimation paper.

When a heat press is applied to the paper or film, the adhesive reacts to the heat and transfer the ink from the paper or film onto the fabric, creating a permanent printed textile. Heat transfer printing is known for its versatility and ability to produce vibrant, detailed images.

This method is ideal for creating custom apparel, promotional items, and personalized products. It offers flexibility in design, supports full-color prints, and is suitable for both small and large orders. Heat transfer printing delivers consistent, high-quality results with durable, long-lasting designs.

What is Ultra Violet (UV) Printing?

UV printing is one of the most flexible and exciting direct-to-object print processes ever created. It is a unique type of digital printing that uses ultraviolet light from the sun to dry or cure inks, adhesives or coatings as soon as they are printed on a surface.

In UV printing, mercury or LED lights are used for ink curing instead of heat. This specially designed high-intensity UV light closely follows immediately the ink is distributed on the printing medium, drying it as soon as it is applied.  UV printers are used to print on many materials such as paper, aluminium, foam board, wood or acrylic.

As leading screen printing company in Lagos, we use UV printing process to print on mobile phone cases, personalize wristwatches, golf balls, ball pens, key rings, plastic cards, textured device covers, coasters, drinkware, and wide range of other smart products.

Screen Printing Compared

1. Screen printing is only a practical solution for large print runs for orders of 500+ prints. Sublimation works well for runs of most sizes.
2. Direct to garment printing (DTG) uses a fabric printer to transfer an image onto a textile rather than being a manual process. The lack of setup makes DTG more cost-effective for smaller runs than screen printing.
3. Although silkscreen can be done by machines, it’s still a process which is not computerized, making it a manual process as compared to digital print.
4. Embroidery is better for smaller runs, as well as for physically smaller designs (think pocket logos) whereas screen printing is much better for large runs or larger prints.
5.  Large format vinyl printing is better suited for small runs as there is less set up whereas screen printing is better suited for larger runs as it is more cost-effective.

What is Laser Engraving /Cutting?

Laser engraving is the practice of using laser photographic beams to engrave an object on a substrate, especially hard and soft-touch materials such as metals, woods, leathers, aluminums or stainless steels. Laser marking, on the other hand, is a broader category method used to create marks on an object, which in some cases, also includes color change due to chemical or molecular alteration, charring, foaming, melting, or ablation.

Laser engraving machines are specifically designed for cutting, etching, marking, and engraving different materials. They are used to create clear, easy-to-read and long-lasting marks on print products. We use them in the production of trophies, awards, name plates, metal badges, keychains, bottle openers, customized vehicle number plates, wine glasses, office decors, belts, jewelleries, coin medals, outdoor signage, and recognition products made of different materials such as acrylic, marble, brass, crystal and many more.