Today’s screen printing industry is split into different areas. We see a few print shops and screen printer’s combining water-based and plastisol ink for screen printing, some using the discharge white as an under base then overprinting with plastisols.

Today, many customers look for soft-hand prints.

Wilflex™ Inks for Screen Printing

Wilflex™ offers a broad portfolio of colour, white and specialty screen printing inks. including fluorescent, special effects, opaque and process colours, offering screen printers and artists more vibrant colours, greater coverage, smoother workability, a softer hand and excellent clean up.

The Wilflex EPIC™ Rio is the latest non-phthalate colour mixing system from Wilflex, and it’s been designed with the latest pigment technology for optimum colour strength.

Wilflex™ ink for screen printing is more than just textile inks. Wilflex focuses on total ink-room management, providing an efficient, cost-effective environment possible to help you win in competitive marketplaces.

We see the snowball of water-based printers growing very rapidly over the next few years, as technology from the likes of Wilflex Aquarius range of inks allowing wet on wet printing as unseen with the typical high profile manufactures. Water-based inks that can be printed without stopping during an eight hour shift without drying in, or stopping to clean, this offers a more efficient solution.

Aquarius Inks for Screen Printing

Aquarius inks are high performing no-dry inks able to meet the high standards required by the market, which can be printed wet on wet with the greatest simplicity and guaranteed desired results.

Water-based inks are slowly growing. Environmentally friendly water-based inks are fastly becoming an eco-friendly alternative to PVC based inks like Plastisol. However plastisol and water-based inks can run alongside each other to produce the most beautiful of screen printed garments.

Creating a soft hand feel, means that the ink film output on the surface of the fabric feels soft when touched, a modern look and feel in today’s textile industry.

In the search of a softer print, however this is not always the best solution and some plastisol’s can give the same effect with the correct selection and pre-press consideration. Those who print for the high street, whether it be on light or dark fabrics, they are the fastest growing market for water-based printing. Retail increasingly require PVC and Phthalate free solutions, whilst plastisol manufactures have offered solutions, they are not always a workable system in production.

The pre-press manufactures are now investing in research and development to match the next generation of ink for screen printing. The Foteco emulsions we now offer are triple curing. They resist all the raw materials such as water, alcohol and solvent that can be involved in the print process.

Whilst water-based will become more common, don’t underestimate the new technology that is coming from the plastisol manufactures. Being the exclusive UK distributor of Wilflex plastisol’s, we are seeing some very interesting developments to keep their market share.

Get in touch with us now for help finding the right ink for your next screen printing project!