We use spot colours or Pantone printing for our screen printed t-shirts. Learn all there is to know about spot colours here.
What is a spot colour?
A spot colour is simply a solid colour. The spot colour ink is pre-mixed using a set of base colours to ensure consistency in colour reproduction.What is spot colour printing?
Spot colour printing is where individual colours are printed using a screen plate or pad in a single pass. This is different to process printing, where CMYK inks are layered on four passes, one per colour, to create a vast spectrum of colour.
Spot colours are typically used in screen printing. They provide an exact match and are therefore a great choice when you want perfect colour reproduction across different materials and substrates.
What is the difference between spot colours and CMYK colours?
The main difference is in their use in the printing process. As mentioned, spot colours are pre-mixed inks that are applied in a single pass whereas CMYK inks are layered on four passes to mix the correct colour. This is due to CMYK inks being transparent so they interact with each other. Spot colour inks, however, are opaque and won't interact and we therefore can't accept gradients or overlapping colours in T-shirt artwork files.
When to use spot colours
We accept spot colours for our screen printed t-shirts only. You should continue to use CMYK colours for all other printed items, such as business cards, flyers, leaflets, signs and posters.