Screen Printing

At FC Team Sports, we can handle all of your screen printing needs, from a single colour print to complex ‘Simulated Process’ 10 colour photographic reproduction prints. The process is simple, you supply us the artwork, and we will determine if it will print well, or we will offer suggestions and recommendations for better printing if necessary. Once we get art that is good for printing, a design request, or other direction, upon request we can set up an art proof for you, showing a mock up of the design on the garment style and colour(s). On this proof, we’ll list out the exact imprint sizes and list the pantone colours we intend to use. The mock-up is an estimate for sizing and location, so if you have any questions or concerns, now is the time to let us know!

The Artwork

Graphic Design Software comes in two basic formats, Vector Programmes and Bitmap Programmes. One uses lines to identify shapes, the other uses millions of tiny pixels (tiny squares) to identify shapes.

Vector Design Programs

Vector Design Programs are otherwise known as Drawing Programs. Vector design programs use lines to identify shapes. The most popular Vector design programs are Adobe Illustrator, Freehand & Corel Draw. When you create any shape in one of these programs it is made up entirely of lines. If you re-size or re-shape any of these shapes the software recalculates the new shape and re-draws the new shape instantly. Because the software redraws the art every time you edit it, the quality and sharpness of the lines is constantly kept at an optimum level. For screen printing this is great. We often have to increase the size of the art sent to us to a size which suits a t-shirt print. Having vector art makes this step easy with no fear of compromise in the final quality of the print.

Where would you have a Vector format copy of your logo?

If you have ever had a sign made, your sign maker will most probably have a copy on file. The printer who did your letterhead & business cards will probably have a copy on file. Most printers prefer this format and if you have had any graphics done at all, chances are whoever did them for you has your logo in vector format filed away.

What we need from you.

Any vector file is great and easy for us to work with. Files with .ai .cdr or files saved from a Vector design program as a .pdf or.eps are fine as well. Remember though before you send the file to us, convert the fonts to outlines.

Bitmap Design Programs

The second type of common design format is Bitmap Design Programs otherwise known as Paint Programs. Bitmap design programs use tiny tiles to identify shapes called bits or pixels. The most popular Bitmap design graphics programs are Photoshop, Paint, Gimpshop. When you create a design in any of these programs, the design is entirely made up of tiny tiles called bits or pixels similar to tiles in a giant mosaic.

When screen printing, your image will be converted into individual spot colours with sharp edges. Most people want any curves on their final screen print to appear smooth. The minimum ppi we need the art to be is 300 ppi at the final t-shirt print size. Any less than this and curves appear as tiny steps or jaggered.

What we need from you.

If you want to give us an image to screen print in a bitmap design format, your art needs to be at minimum 300 ppi at the size you want the final screen print to be. As an example, if you give us a design which is 10 cm wide at 300 ppi but you want us to print your design at 20 cm wide, when we resize the image to 20 cm wide, the resolution will drop proportionally to 150 ppi and will not screen print clearly.

Common file formats for bitmap images are .jpg .jpeg .psd .gif .tiff

If you don’t have exactly what we need, don’t worry! Give us a call, and if need be we can have your logos redrawn for a minimal cost.

Embroidery

Jerseys, Shorts, Jackets, Bags, Beanies…at FC Teamsports we can look after all your embroidery needs. Large runs, small runs, small text or large club and sponsors logos. Bring it to us and we’ll help turn your garments into professional looking club gear!

ART REQUIREMENTS: WHAT KIND OF ART IS GOOD FOR EMBROIDERY

All art files are re-drawn as digital stitch files in preparation for embroidery. The best embroidery comes from very clean, high quality digital files. Vector format is preferred. Specify fabric type when submitting a logo for embroidery. An embroidered logo may look different when sew on different fabric types. By specifying the fabric type, we can digitize for the best embroidery for that material. Submit Adobe Illustrator vector art files for best quality embroidery. Smallest letter size can be no smaller than 7mm tall. Thin lettering and small detail does not embroider well on deep pile garments.

EMBROIDERY: THE PROCESS

There are a number of very detail driven steps that go into creating a beautifully embroidered garment. The real magic happens between order entry and final pack out.

Review Art Submission
Digitising
Sew Out
Hooping & Clamping
Run the Lines
Trimming

REVIEW ART SUBMISSION

When reviewing the art, we look for fine detail, gradients and small lettering that may not translate well. We’ll be sure to make a recommendation or give you some options if your logo will not embroider well on a particular garment.

DIGITIZING

Digitizing is the process by which we translate digital art files into stitches. The first part of the process is a virtual drawing that maps the stitches we will use to embroider the final logo. This is done using specialized software.

SEW OUT

Although the digitized file gives us a pretty realistic assessment of what the final embroidery will look like, we prefer to create an actual stitched out sample to be sure. We’ll make any tweaks or adjustments from there. The final sew out can then be sent out to you for approval.

HOOPING & CLAMPING

An embroidery hoop is a plastic ring that snaps around the area of the garment to be sewn. This hoop is affixed to a head on the embroidery machine. This is called clamping. These steps are taken to stabilize the garment as the needle sews the fabric.

RUN THE LINES

Our highest capacity embroidery machine has 15 heads. Many times orders are larger than 15 pieces. A production run for embroidery is called running the lines because we produce the order in a line of 15 at a time.

TRIMMING

Once the garments are sewn, we remove the excess backing from the embroidered design. Sometimes a tear-away backing is used, and it can be pulled off. Other times the backing must be cut, or trimmed, from the back of the garment. This step in the process is referred to as trimming no matter which method is used.