Teesprings facebook page

[mk162]

king...i wouldn't use language like never.  DTG will replace screen printing...maybe not in the inkjet version it's in now, but an end to screen printing as a production method is ending.

Everything about it has improved compared to what it was 10 years ago.  It will only improve from here.  Might be after we are dead, but it's coming.  Heck, look at how disruptive it has been to offset.  And let's not forget the sign industry.

I think Scott was on to something with a continuous feed system moving under a print head.

The main drag on inkjets now is the ink formula.  If they could move to more universal inks for poly and blends AND also improve the integrated pretreating we'd see a huge change.

[jsheridan]

We've been screen printing since the 1500's.. i don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon 

[kingscreen]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDrYkwG6Tuo

[mk162]

We've been screen printing since the 1500's.. i don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon 

we've been riding horses as a primary mode of transportation since before 2100BC...now we fly at supersonic speeds and horseback riding is for fun and competition...

[DannyGruninger]

There's lot of companies working on bridging the world of dtg and screen printing together. Knowing what I know that manufactures are working on I'm confident to say that within the next 24 months you will see digital like prints being done on a printing press at the speeds that can compete with standard printing. It's coming and if anyone doesn't want to believe it, the times are going to pass you by. Loading shirts on press that prints digital is not far out. Just sayin

[3Deep]

Danny is very correct I can see press's still here but you'll be loading the top of the head with individual ink bottles instead of adding ink to a screen, no screen's to mess with,just load your art from your thumb drive to the press control head then shirts on a pallet and let it go, but still ink price and the right heads will still be an issue which I'm thinking they will figure out one day.

[Frog]

And the next step will be machines like this as self-service at copy stores or in kiosks in malls.

This is a great time to be 67 years old and not too worried about the future! 

[ffokazak]

Digital on a standard press is fine, but will it be at 3.5 second indexes?

[kingscreen]

Knowing what I know that manufactures are working on I'm confident to say that within the next 24 months you will see digital like prints being done on a printing press at the speeds that can compete with standard printing.

But who will be able to afford it?  And what will pricing have to be for companies to justify purchasing said equipment?
I suspect at that point, it will be a very small number of big companies beating each other up while many of us will still be churning out a decent living.
With a high grade DTG printer starting in the 50-75k range, most shops can't even afford that.  I would venture to assume equipment you describe would be double or triple that.

[jvanick]

teespring/amazon/customink/[insert other "online" retailer here] will likely never be able to offer the level of customer service that we as printers can and do offer to our customers (even contract customers) every day.

from the 'can you get this done for me quick' order to the corporate customer that appreciates us confirming corporate branding standards to the race organizer that wants to check out the quality of different blanks/printing options, all of this is relationship building that the super large shops can't/won't be able to do because it doesn't fit in with typical VC-run business models.

Amazon does customer service for the consumer better than most, but the level at which we take care of our better customers, they just can't compete.

I can't see the cost of the inks and printing systems that DTG units use coming to parity with 1 to 2 color screen printing anytime soon... maybe it'll happen somewhat in 20 to 30 years, but there's a LOT of printers out there and will continue to be well after we're all in the ground pushing up daisies.

[jsheridan]

teespring/amazon/customink/[insert other "online" retailer here] will likely never be able to offer the level of customer service that we as printers can and do offer to our customers (even contract customers) every day.

The next two generations coming up, the 30 somethings and the 20's somethings buy differently. they don't go out shopping or driving around town, they've been told to conserve so who's gonna waste gas and drive across town when I can use my phone to find you during commercials of the voice. Those generations don't care about a handshake, just that you take ipay and can deliver by next tue.

[tpitman]

So Amazon, and any other venture looking to break into these markets, will need screen printing at some point in the near future, at least until DTG can match the output, versatility and quality of our print technique.  How far away is that?  And where do us screen printers fit in and for how long?

In my opinion the unwashed masses see the humble shirt as a throw away item. My buddies (one runs and one owns) that print amazing poster art have the key. I just typed poster "art," not poster throw away item. I hope I am wrong and I really do for all of us but I can see in 10 to 15 years automatic printing as we know it now going the way of the taxi cab. Screens, seps, the whole industry. Holy crap I hope I am so wrong. But in 10 to 15 years from now there will be no human taxi cabs in any major US city. UPS, FedEx? Ha, don't get me started. But I can see in 25 or so years two dudes finding a manual press somewhere and manually printing shirts and starting a "retro" business.

It is kind of like CD's and Vinyl and digital music now. Vinyl far, far outsells CD's and is considered art. So...... how long till t-shirts go full circle?

Don't laugh. There's a shop here in sunny Orlando who does flatstock screenprinting and "boutique" letterpress work - mainly stuff like wedding invitations but also business cards. I ran a handfed letterpress in my old man's print shop back in the early 70's, and even then it was "old school". It was a good way to lose a hand if your weren't paying attention, too. I could pound out 500 business cards in about 15 minutes while smoking and drinking coffee. We'd get about $8.00 for a box of 500, 1-color, and if we put lots of "squeeze" under the paper covering the platen, you could read the card from the back if you had some braille skills and turned around backwards.
I can get 1000 full color business cards today for $12.00. This shop in O-Town charges $100 for 500 one-color business cards, although it's probably on some art stock. Some people want to feel the impression from that old foundry type. They do very nice work, but sometimes you wonder how much people who buy it really appreciate it, or just want to be able to brag about it, or say the guy that printed it wore an apron and had a pica pole in his pocket . . .

[tpitman]

And the next step will be machines like this as self-service at copy stores or in kiosks in malls.

This is a great time to be 67 years old and not too worried about the future! 

Yup, although you're up on me by a couple of years. I'm bailing at the end of this year. Got a couple of motorcycles and nothin' to do but breathe . . .

[Lizard]

There's lot of companies working on bridging the world of dtg and screen printing together. Knowing what I know that manufactures are working on I'm confident to say that within the next 24 months you will see digital like prints being done on a printing press at the speeds that can compete with standard printing. It's coming and if anyone doesn't want to believe it, the times are going to pass you by. Loading shirts on press that prints digital is not far out. Just sayin

You saying that $60,000 CTS is just collecting dust now? Dang it....

[mimosatexas]

There are lots of different types of screen printing shops, from people like me (one man shop) to places like tee spring and Amazon.  I could care less about the massive online shirt services as my business is entirely based on personal referrals from other shops and my current customer base, and those people use me because they like MY services.  There is absolutely plenty of business to go around, and it doesn't take much to gain loyalty from your clients vs a service like teespring/custom ink/{insert whatever venture funded flavor of the month "we're a tech/logistics/blahblahblah company not a printshop"}