History of Screen Printing

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No one really knows for sure when the art of screen printing first came on the scene. However, we believe that the art of silk screen originated in China. The technique of silk screen printing was the most efficient way of replicating patterns on to substrates such as wall paper. It was then later used on fine linens as well as fine silk.

It wasn't until hundreds of years later that this craft finally made its way across the oceans into the Americas.

Americans were for some reason very protective about this replication process. They practiced it in the back room where their customers could not see them working. They were afraid that their craft might be copied. Silk screening was a highly efficient and time saving method of replicating an image from one type of substrate on to another. In spite of Americans' best efforts to hide it, this secretive method eventually got out and was adopted by many other sectors of the economy such as glass makers. As time went on, this technique eventually evolved into the preferred method of replicating one image onto another substrate, such as records and T-shirts.

These days the most common use for screen printing is on tee shirts and other types of wearable items. In today's society, one would find it very difficult to go into a public place and not see someone wearing a T-shirt with some kind of slogan or corporate logo on it.

Wearable items account for the majority of screen printing done in the United States. Technology has crossed into every sector of our lives and the silk screen industry is certainly no exception. Information shoots across our planet at the speed of light from one cell phone to another. This has lent itself to digital printing, which is the preferred method used for posters and displays. It eliminates the need for costly color separations and films and significantly expedites the process. The main advantage in which evolution of conventional as well as digital logo applications has given us is speed. Very large amounts of product can be produced quickly and efficiently with state of the presses. The T-shirt printing industry is evolving at an alarming rate. It makes one wonder, "What things be like five years down the line?".