Why is it that a dark color custom screen printed t-shirt is so much more expensive than a white t-shirt? I know this can be confusing especially since every screen printing company prices and explains this differently. I will attempt to explain the process that create a price difference. First off, white and natural color t-shirts are less expensive than light and dark color t-shirts. Pricing from the manufacturers like Gildan and Hanes is priced as follows: Least expensive - white and natural colors, Most expensive - dark colors like red, black, dark purple, and then light colors like sport grey and tan are priced in between the white and dark colors. Next comes the printing process. When printing on white and light colors with a dark ink (like white tees with navy print) there is only 1 print and 1 screen required. Like painting a wall in your house, it only requires 1 coat. When printing a light imprint color on a dark color tee shirt, it requires a base coat of white and then the imprint color on top of the base color. Like painting a wall in your house, it requires a primer base coat and then the color on top. The flash is the process in which the bottom/ base color is cured or dried so that you can print the color on top of it. Since printing on dark color t-shirts requires a base coat and then the top color, then it also requires an additional screen. So all said, the dark color screen printed t-shirts needs an extra screen and the base color needs to be cured in the process. This requires additional labor and supplies for setup and in some cases, depending on the screen printing press used, the actual print time can be longer. As a result, the pricing is higher for darker shirts do to the cost of the shirt as well as the cost of the additional labor and supplies to print it. I hope this helps in explaining the cost difference. The example proof shown is a red t-shirt with a navy and white imprint color. The navy and white is printed on top of the white underbase color. The white makes the navy "POP" and look vibrant.
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