Discharge in screen printing technique means removing the pigment from fabric through the printing of discharge ink.  Discharge ink is a mixture of water-based-color base and discharge agent.  Once a dischargeable fabric is printed with discharge ink and pass through a heat dryer, discharge agent in the discharge ink will be activated by the heat and either reduce or discharge the color pigment in the fabric.  Therefore the printed area becomes so-called naked (without being covered by color pigment).  The resulting color of the printed area is usually in canvas color, which is the natural color of the fabric before it was dyed into different colors.  The hand feel is very soft since it’s not an additive process. 

     Discharge technique works very well with vintage looking designs because of the natural look and soft hand feel.  It also works better with dark color t-shirts since the dark color t-shirts will set a stronger color contrast with the natural canvas color.  The discharge technique can be applied with water base pigment.  Therefore discharge printing in color can be achieved.  It still gives you all the advantages including vintage look and soft hand feel.  The only drawback is the difficulty in achieving accurate color matching.  We encourage everyone who wants to take advantage of the discharge printing to call us at 1-888-899-8199 or send us a request to discuss about the possibility to print your artwork with discharge ink.