About Screen Printing Inks

Screen printing inks are the foundation of vibrant, long-lasting prints. Available in a variety of types—including plastisol, water-based, and discharge inks—each offers unique properties for different printing applications. Plastisol inks are known for their durability and opacity, making them ideal for printing on dark garments, while water-based inks provide a soft, breathable finish for a more eco-friendly option. Discharge inks chemically remove the dye from dark fabrics, leaving a soft, vintage look.

Explore our full range of inks and learn more below.

Inks at a Glance

  • Athletic Gloss

    Durable plastisol for nylon athletic uniforms.

  • General Purpose

    Easy-to-print, light and medium-colored garments.

  • High Opacity

    Direct print on dark garments.

  • Mixing – PANTONE

    High-opacity for color matching.

  • Process Colors

    Extremenly accurate, four color process.

  • Fabric – Patch

    For printing patches resistant to industrial washing’s.

General Purpose

Ultrasoft inks are versatile, lead-free, plastisol inks formulated for direct printing and heat transfer manufacturing. They have good coverage on light and medium-colored garments. When printing on dark fabrics, a white under-base is recommended. Ultrasoft’s new HS (high speed) formulation helps eliminate press stoppages due to build-up on the backs of screens.

High Opacity

Maxopake inks are the most opaque plastisol colors available. Even the neon colors are bright and highly opaque. Maxopake inks are recommended for direct manual or machine printing on black and dark-colored garments. When printing on whites and light-colored fabrics it is recommended to add the appropriate extender base for economy.

Mixing – PANTONE

Union’s Mixopake inks will enable you to create any color in the PANTONE® Matching System and all Union Ink standard colors when printed on black, colored, or light fabrics. Mixopake inks are also an excellent choice for standard colors when color matching is not required. Mixopake inks are balanced, ready-for-use plastisols – not concentrated pigments.

Process Colors

Union’s Tru-Tone (PRPL) plastisol inks are the premier inks for process color printing textiles. Tru-Tone inks have extremely accurate, consistent colors, very low dot gain, and are ready to print right out of the container.

Fabric – Patch

Fabric Patch is a two-part textile ink formulated for the ultimate in washability and dry-cleaning. Recommended for direct printing on polyester and other textiles. Specifically designed for special thermal path fabrics. These are fabrics with a special heat-sensitive adhesive coated on the reverse side. They were originally designed to allow screen printing to replace embroidered logos and names on uniforms, jackets, etc … The inks are designed to withstand 52 industrial wash cycles, which represents one year’s use.

Need help choosing the right ink?

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