Our Processes
Pier32 is a market leader in green and ethical t-shirt printing. We focus on your needs and are happy to advise whether your design is best suited for print or embroidery. Together we can create the perfect promotional clothing, helping you to gain the maximum exposure for your brand, cause or event.
By using modern machinery we are capable of screen printing over 100,000 items per week in up to 14 colours using plastisol, water based or 4 colour process inks. Also available are special effect inks such as glow in the dark, reflective, puff (expandtex) and metallic. For our custom screen printing we use plastisol to match exactly any pantone colour. Following printing the garments are fed through an oven to cure the inks into the design. As well as the print colours being more vibrant, the final product has a better wash resistance in comparison to water based inks, increasing the image longevity.
Our water based inks are as safe as plastisol. Both plastisol and water based inks are low level hazardous waste with low levels of volatile organic chemicals. Both are PVC-free and phthalate-free.
The post-printing clean-up chemicals for plastisol and water-based inks are the same, although screens that have been used for water-based printing require much more cleaning than plastisol. There is also far more wastage with water-based inks as plastisol can easily be collected and re-used. For environmental and ecological reasons we would always recommend plastisol over water-based inks.
Index printing on t-shirts is what we consider to be the most effective and best way for printing highly detailed prints on many different garment colours. Index printing also gives you a superior soft hand feel to the finished printed garment without the environmental issues of using discharge inks. The bright vibrant colours and consistent print quality are truly fantastic. Pier32 specialise in this process and we don’t use automated artwork programs to create our index separations, a skilled colour separator controls the image from start to finish. Imagine thousands of tiny squares printed one colour at a time, each placed next to each other with a selection of specially chosen ink colours. The ink colours build up next to each other until eventually you end up with a piece of art on a t-shirt.
We also have the very latest in machinery and technological developments for embroidering up to 10,000 items per week. We’ve hundreds of thread colours to choose from and the ability to thread up to 8 different colours. Together with a monogramming facility, embroidery will give your product a higher perceived value.
At Pier32 we have the knowhow to handle the most demanding of print requirements. We can advise you on the best way to tackle your print job, whether it’s index printing, spot colour process or something different. Artwork is produced in house to ensure total control of the production process, ensuring we can turn around your order quickly with the minimum of fuss.
Pier32 is a company registered in England & Wales
