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Discharge Printing

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What is it?

Discharge printing uses a chemical process to remove the dye in the fibers of a shirt and replaces it with a new color or leaves the natural cotton color when no color is added.  It allows for a clean, soft and breathable print on your apparel.  If you are concerned about the plastic-feeling, make-your-back-sweaty-in-the-summertime, raised ink that screen printed shirts sometimes have, then discharge printing is for you!  It’s some sexy stuff.

Here’s some important stuff you’ll probably want to know:

The Cliff Notes

Discharge inks usually come out without major issues and are great for soft, breathable prints.  But know this…

  • Discharge inks can give unique color results each time and are relatively imprecise.
  • All shirt colors from all manufacturers discharge print differently.  Click here to see a chart of shirt colors and their discharge print ratings.
  • Discharge printing only works ‘correctly’ with 100% cotton.  50/50 shirts get a salt and pepper kind of effect.  Sometimes this is a cool effect that people with use on purpose.
  • Shirts won’t feel ‘ink-free’ until washed, and colors can lighten slightly after the first wash.
  • The pricing for discharge printing usually adds about 10 to 50 cents per color at standard quantities.

The Novel

Discharge inks usually come out without major issues and are great for soft, breathable prints.  But here are a few things you should know.

  • The pricing for discharge printing usually adds about 10 to 50 cents per color at standard quantities. But keep in mind that a dark shirt with discharge ink will often need one less screen since it doesn’t need an underbase of white, so it can actually save you money sometimes.
  • Discharge printing is unique, imprecise & somewhat unpredictable.  The colors can vary slightly, giving unique results each time, which also makes them impossible to color match exactly.  Standard plastisol inks are relatively easy to control, but since discharge inks are chemistry in action, they’re one shade when they’re mixed, another shade once they’ve been printed, yet another once they’re cured & dried, and just slightly lighter after they’ve been washed the first time.  We can usually get it within a Pantone number or two, but you need to be aware that you might not be able to get a color exactly where you’d prefer it.  Additionally, please keep in mind that we can’t always stop and change discharge inks on press because it dries quickly and breaks the screen emulsion down.  This is especially true with fine detail and halftones.
  • All shirt colors from all manufacturers discharge differently.  A black tee from one manufacturer could look different than a black tee from another manufacturer.
    Even two of the same color shirts from the SAME manufacturer will discharge slightly differently sometimes.  This is especially true of black shirts since some manufacturers will mix their leftover dyes to make black dye, or ‘overdye’ color shirts black.  So if they used mostly red dye to make their black dye, and we discharge the shirts, the print could have a bit of a red tint.  This is uncommon but has happened to us more than once.  Click here to see a chart of shirt colors and their discharge print ratings.   discharge printing sample 1
  • Some shirt colors just don’t want to discharge well.  Royal blue and kelly green are hopeless.  The only way to get a color that’s close to what you’re looking for is to combine a discharge white underbase with thinned plastisols on top (see ‘Combining ink types’ above).
  • Discharge printing only works “correctly” on 100% cotton items.  50/50-blend shirts get a dulled or salt and pepper kind of effect (see George & Dragon example to the right).  Sometimes this looks fantastic, and sometimes it looks terrible. The results are even more unpredictable with tri-blend shirts (rayon/cotton/polyester blends).
  • The shirts usually won’t feel ‘ink-free’ until washed, and colors could lighten slightly after the first wash, so you could wash them before sale to your customer (or Acme can wash them for a small charge). In theory, discharge prints can cause skin irritation if worn before being washed, though we’ve never actually encountered this. discharge printing sample 2
  • Discharge printing adds to the printing price per color, per shirt, per location. But keep in mind that a dark shirt with discharge printing will often need one less screen since it doesn’t need an underbase of white.  As mentioned above, it’s possible to combine the ink types and print a discharge underbase first and then print thin plastisol or waterbase inks on top of it, which would make the print softer, but not completely unable to be felt.
    Because of the inherent variation of colors with discharge inks, we don’t usually offer Pantone/PMS mixes.  We have a lot of standard discharge ink colors to choose from and discharge ink mixes are not cheap due to all the testing required ($50 each), so they should be avoided.
  • Having said all that, discharge printing usually comes out without major issues and is a well worth the effort.  The soft, breathable print looks and feels great.  Have at it!

 

For more information on the best uses for discharge inks, check out this article on our blog for great tips for printing with discharge inks.

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705 N 7th Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85007
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email: info@acmeprints.com
call: 602-257-ACME
text: 602-461-7171

Acme Prints is a premier custom screen printer specializing in t-shirt and apparel printing, as well as posters, postcards, stickers & thousands of promotional products.

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#ACMEMADETHAT

Ye olde Acme. Though we really love our Phoenix lo Ye olde Acme. Though we really love our Phoenix location, it's nice to look back. #tbtPhoto by Kevin Dexter Scanlon
Our showroom is open once again!Don't think that Our showroom is open once again!Don't think that we're being unsafe, though! We've set up Plexiglas (yeah, only one 's', weird), and require anyone coming in to be wearing a mask. It shouldn't have to be said, but the mask must cover your nose, silly.If you'd prefer, we're still handling the majority of customer service over email and phone-- and if you're picking up, just give us a call and we'll bring your order out.Keep up the good work, AZ!
Mooby's is open now @thevanburenphx! Today through Mooby's is open now @thevanburenphx! Today through Valentine's day!Get your tix in advance for a safe & socially distant hang out and Four Peaks Brewing Co. beer.We're geeking out that we got to print the shirts for this project. If you aren't familiar, go watch some Kevin Smith movies, silly. What are you even doing?moobyspopup.com
Closed today in honor of MLK. Closed today in honor of MLK.
Repairing and rehanging our BLM banners. Torn down Repairing and rehanging our BLM banners. Torn down Fri night by someone I can only assume said, "ALL lives matter!". ...then did something racist towards black lives.
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#blm
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Someone tore down our Black Lives Matter banners. Someone tore down our Black Lives Matter banners. Following the lead of the proud boys. Racism is terrorism.#blacklivesmatter
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Pretty sure our shirts were the deciding factor in Pretty sure our shirts were the deciding factor in GA. 🗳✊
7 inks/screens. I started what would become Acme o 7 inks/screens. I started what would become Acme on my back porch in '99 to print Pollen shirts. Did a pretty good job I gotta say, but couldn't have done something like this back then.
For sale in our web store. store.AcmePrints.com
Pollen shirts are dialed in, ready to print, and s Pollen shirts are dialed in, ready to print, and shipping today! Printed only 40 extras but still available and *should* get delivered by Xmas (if the post office is on time).
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Customer Acclaim

  • Shout out to @AcmePrints for having wonderful customer service & for creating such high quality shirts and hoodies for our mission teams!

    Orchard Africa
  • Nice! They turned out well and I’m very pleased. You captured what I wanted to get across beautifully — shadows, colors, everything. I like the fabric itself, too. AA makes a decent tee. I’ll need a good stick to chase off the moochers.

    James Lipton
  • The shirts are awesome! We are headed out today to campaign at a breast cancer walk with 2500 people – so your shirts will be all over New Hampshire. Thanks … more later re: a second order.

    Annie - Women for Kerry - NH
  • Have I told you how much I love you guys! When I get home everyone at Acme is getting a big kiss from me! See you on 4/20!

    Jeremiah - President Gator - Phoenix, AZ
  • It matters more to me to work with people I trust.  Not only do i trust Dan, but as an added bonus, he makes quality shirts and has the quickest turnaround.  Dan, you rock!

    Dave - Sunset Alliance - Mesa, AZ

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