For T-shirts and apparel, signs, containers and pad printing clichés. True thermal imagesetter film, no inkjet ink: dense black, dimensionally stable, and shipped the next business day from the prepress department that runs our own production lines.
Most online film services print dye ink onto inkjet film. Ink density varies from sheet to sheet, fine halftones can plug or wash out, and many of those services won't stand behind their film for pad printing at all. Whether you're burning a 230-mesh screen for a shirt run or exposing a pad cliché, you need a crisp edge and a black that blocks UV right to the line.
We image our film thermally on an Exile imagesetter. Heat turns the coating black. There's no ink to pool, smear or run thin, and the film lies flat on the plate. It's the same film we use to make plates and screens for our own CPG work, every day.
Prices are per film. Art must be print-ready: 100% black, sized to print, halftones already applied. Need help? Add file prep below.
| Film size | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Small — up to 4″ × 8″ | Pad plates, left-chest and sleeve prints, tags | $8.00 |
| Medium — up to 6″ × 10″ | Pad plates, pocket and youth prints | $10.00 |
| 8.5″ × 11″ | Ganged pad sheets, small screen prints | $10.00 |
| 11″ × 17″ | Standard adult T-shirt front/back, container art | $14.00 |
| 14″ × 17″ | Full-front shirt prints, wrap-around bottle art | $15.00 |
| 14″ × 24″ | Oversize and jumbo apparel prints, posters | $20.00 |
| 14″ × 36″ | All-over-style placements, long wraps, panels | $28.00 |
Halftones: we recommend 65 lpi or coarser, which suits most apparel work on 156–230 mesh. Minimum line weight is about 0.004″. Not sure your art will hold? Send it and we'll check it before we print.
Build your order, send it, and email your art. We check every file before printing and confirm your total and payment before anything ships.
Inkjet services spray dye ink onto a receptive coating, so the black depends on ink load, humidity and drying. Thermal imagesetter film has a heat-sensitive layer that turns black where it's imaged. Nothing sits on the surface to smear, and the density stays consistent from sheet to sheet.
Yes. Spot color, simulated process and halftone separations all burn cleanly. Send each color as its own file or layer and add registration marks if you'll be setting up on a multi-head press. Tell us your mesh count and LPI in the notes so we can check your halftones.
Yes. That's what we use it for in our own plant. It works for photopolymer (water- and alcohol-wash), thin steel and ceramic clichés. Tell us your plate type in the notes and we'll set the film up to match.
Print-ready art: 100% black, sized to print, one color per layer or file, and any halftones already applied. Vector (.AI, .EPS, .PDF) is preferred. Raster files should be 600 dpi or higher at full size. If it isn't ready, add file prep and we'll handle it.
Films can be up to 14″ wide and up to 36″ long, which covers standard and most oversize apparel prints. For pad work and left-chest prints we gang several small images across one sheet and price each piece individually.
Standard orders ship the next business day after your art is approved. Rush orders approved by 11 am CT ship the same day. Pickup at our Rockford, IL plant is always free.
We've screen printed and pad printed for CPG brands since 1946. We can take the job from film all the way to finished product.