All White Ink is NOT the Same Oct. 25, 2006
See why we have THE BEST white in the industry. Don't let anyone tell you they have "Scott's" white.

Overview

In the middle of 2004 we started to develop white ink for our new Fast T-Jet line of printers. We found major resistance from all of the large chemical companies because they all said "it can't be done? you are crazy." Hey, that never stopped us before. We were persistent and in the summer of 2005 we were able to help them with a major breakthrough in white ink technology. We combined our screen printing experience and software rip experience with their ink technology and found a solution that was revolutionary. (A software RIP – Raster Image Processor – is the magic that makes inkjet printers do things do magic.) We had "screen print" quality bright white ink! And, we were the ONLY company in the world to offer this for desktop direct-to-garment machines.

The problem with printing white ink on an inkjet printer is you can't get the opacity using normal pigments. There is no way to prevent the thin watery inkjet ink from penetrating the garment and looking like a weak gray.

How did we develop white?

Our solution required "out-of-the-box" thinking. We created a special pretreatment for the garment that prevents the pigment from soaking in. It holds the pigment on top of the shirt giving the image opacity. But, that wasn't enough. We modified our popular FastRIP software to print A LOT of ink on the shirt. Normal inkjet printers try to limit the ink deposit because of bleeding. We needed to do just the opposite, and with our six years of RIP development for screen printing film output, we knew RIPS inside and out. The RIP is the magic that tells a printer what to do.

How does the white ink handle multiple washings?

The washability is good and getting better. This ink is not quite as stretchable as plastisol. The more color that goes on top of white the less the cracking and the better the washability. This process loves multi-color process color type prints! We do not recommend this for athletic printing.

The Underbase and Highlight are the key.

Still, that wasn't enough. In traditional black shirt screen printing, you print an "underbase" on the shirt. If the image is photorealistic you DO NOT print solid white. You print a grayscale image that has light and dark parts to let the image breath and to use the black or dark color of the garment as part of the design. U.S. Screen's CEO, Scott Fresener, has been the industry leader in dark shirt screen printing and he took his years of knowledge of developing and providing color separation software for screen printers (FastFilms) and used the same techniques to create a software package called FastARTIST that creates the proper underbase.

OK, that still wasn't enough. In traditional screen printing you also print a second white pass (or screen) called a highlight. It prints white ink over white ink only in the lightest or whitest parts of the image. This boosts the white you see and makes the print appear brighter. We did the same thing with FastARTIST. It prints a second white pass at the SAME TIME as the CMYK colors are printed. You get brilliant white prints with just two passes of the printer.

What makes our white ink better?

You will commonly hear from competitors "we have Scott's white." It is a complement that we are the "standard." But, they DON'T have our white. Yes, white ink is made by a number of large chemical companies. They all took our knowledge and well publicized methods and copied them. You can only hold back technology so long.

Our white ink is custom made for us to our exacting standards and specifications. Our competition does NOT have the same white as ours.

Our pretreatment is designed by us and is a very magical solution. Yes, there have been pretreatments available for textile cloth preparation for years. Ours is very unique.

Our software is not the same. It is another part of the magic of printing white ink on dark shirts. It creates the perfect underbase and highlight. It prints the colors of CMYK brilliantly on dark shirts. And, we developed a way to print bright screen print white in just ONE pass! It is a thing of beauty.

What about the competitor's white?

A number of competitors are offering white. One is offering an "off white" that is really a discharge ink that bleaches the dye from the dark shirt and leaves the natural shirt color. This process is NOT popular in screen print shops because you don't get true white. You get a dirty natural color. And, the process has a "rotten egg" smelling chemical. And, not all shirt brands can be discharged. This is NOT the proper way to print "white."

Another competitor is claiming to have a white that will NOT work well on black shirts. It only works on lighter shirt colors. They are calling it "level 1." They "claim" to have a "level 2" coming soon. If white was that easy to develop they should have had Level 10 to start with. We had "level 1" back in the summer of 2004. In the summer of 2005 we had "level 10" white. Do not buy a machine based on a promise of white ink (coming soon) or better white ink (coming soon). The key is "coming soon." We have it now and, again, have the key ingredients to make it work ? the pretreatment, the rip, the software and of course the ink.

What are the problems of white ink?

A number of competitors are offering white. One is offering an "off white" that is really a discharge ink that bleaches the dye from the dark shirt and leaves the natural shirt color. This process is NOT popular in screen print shops because you don't get true white. You get a dirty natural color. And, the process has a "rotten egg" smelling chemical. And, not all shirt brands can be discharged. This is NOT the proper way to print "white."

Another competitor is claiming to have a white that will NOT work well on black shirts. It only works on lighter shirt colors. They are calling it "level 1." They "claim" to have a "level 2" coming soon. If white was that easy to develop they should have had Level 10 to start with. We had "level 1" back in the summer of 2004. In the summer of 2005 we had "level 10" white. Do not buy a machine based on a promise of white ink (coming soon) or better white ink (coming soon). The key is "coming soon." We have it now and, again, have the key ingredients to make it work - the pretreatment, the rip, the software and of course the ink.

What are the problems of white ink?

White ink typically uses Titanium Dioxide for the white pigment. This is commonly called TIO2. TIO2 is somewhat abrasive and will settle over time. Inkjet printers like the Fast T-Jet2 and the Fast T-Jet Jumbo2 tend to move a little when the inkjet head goes back and forth. This keeps the white in motion and helps minimize settling. Our larger printers have ink stirring systems that "wake up" at night and mix the ink.

TIO2 is thought to wear the head more than normal ink and can sometimes have more head clogs. If you perform simple daily maintenance and have your T-Jet in the recommended environment (NOT in a hot/dry garage or shop), you won't have problems with white ink. In the case of machines like the T-Jet2 and Jumbo2, the head is very inexpensive and it might need to be replaced every three to six months - depending on the amount of use. If you are a printing 12 hours per day, you may need to replace it in three months at a cost of $295 (T-Jet2) or $395 (Jumbo2). If you print a few dozen shirts per day, you may NEVER have to replace the head. You can replace the head in less than 10 minutes on a T-Jet2 and in 30 minutes on a Jumbo2.

How well does white ink wash?

Since all white ink for garments is pigment based, it will wash well if the pretreatment is applied properly and the ink deposit is heavy enough. But, the customer is often use to a heavy, rubbery, plastisol print. Screen printed plastisol ink is more durable than inkjet white. In fact, we recommend that if you are planning on printing large bold white ink areas, you tell the customer the print many not hold up to dozens of washings as well as plastisol.

We have users who print black shirts all the time and in large quantities with no washability issues.

We have the experience to back it up.

Our experience level is years ahead of our competition. Since we were the first to develop this technology for desktop printers we know how it works. We have over 2,200 Fast T-Jet users around the world. We understand how to make an image really pop off the shirt. There is no guessing about how to use the pretreatment or FastARTIST or FastRIP.

Remember, the secret to printing bright white and brilliant colors on dark shirts is NOT just the ink - it is the system of pretreatment, ink, proper underbase and highlight software and the techniques to use them together!

Don't let anyone tell you that they have "Scott's" white and don't let the fact that they have white ink lead you to believe it will work.