🇺🇸 MADE IN USA 🇺🇸
Contact Us: info@udptextile.com
Factory Address:
2303 E. 11th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90021
(213) 746-0818
Universal is a renowned fabric printing company based in Los Angeles, with a strong focus on providing garment manufacturers with top-notch digital and screen printing services. Situated in the heart of LA’s Fashion District, we have a rich history of delivering exceptional printed fabrics dating back to 1990.
Universal specializes in wet printing on a wide range of substrates, including knits, wovens, spandex, polyester, cotton, modal, rayon, nylon, and blended fabrics. Our expertise extends to employing a diverse array of colorants, encompassing pigments, disperse dyes, reactive dyes, acid dyes, and vat dyes.
Digital Printing
Digital fabric printing offers several advantages over traditional screen printing. Firstly, it eliminates the need for design engraving and separation, as well as the processes of screen making and color mixing. This results in significantly shorter setup times for printing. As a consequence, minimum order requirements can be reduced, and lead times are also shortened.
Furthermore, digital printing is not constrained by limitations on the number of colors that can be printed, in stark contrast to traditional screen printing, which typically faces restrictions of around 12 colors or less. This limitation is primarily due to the size of the screens and the capacity of the screen printing machinery that accommodates them.
Lastly, digital printing excels in producing exceptionally smooth and highly detailed prints, surpassing the capabilities of traditional screen printing methods.
Traditional Screen Printing
The key strength of traditional screen printing, in contrast to digital printing, primarily centers around cost efficiency, especially for substantial production volumes. Although it demands a greater workforce for individual design production, the per-yard cost can significantly decrease when handling larger print runs. Regarding print quality, digital printing excels in delivering finer details, while screen printing achieves richer and deeper dark colors.
Universal operates six flatbed printing machines capable of producing designs with a maximum of 12 colors and a maximum width of 72 inches. These machines are capable of achieving a printing speed of 800 yards per hour.
Rotary Screen Printing
Universal has one rotary screen printing machine with the capacity to print up to four colors. It has a maximum width capability of 65 inches and can achieve a printing speed of 1,200 yards per hour.
Flatbed vs. Rotary vs. Digital
Design constraints typically determine the choice of printing machine—whether it’s rotary, flatbed, or digital. For designs that lack continuous motifs spanning the fabric’s width and lack joint lines, the suitable options are either a rotary screen printing machine or a digital printing machine.
Moreover, the scale of the print runs can influence the selection of the printing technique. Small print runs often favor digital fabric printing to circumvent setup expenses associated with design engraving, screen creation, and color blending. In cases of medium-sized print runs, flatbed fabric printing may be the preferred choice, provided the design permits it, as rotary screens tend to incur higher costs than flatbed screens. For exceptionally large print runs, rotary screens may become imperative due to their superior printing speed.
Hybrid Digital Flatbed System
Universal is the only fabric printing company in the U.S. with digital printing, traditional screen printing, and hybrid digital screen printing capabilities. Depending on the customer needs, Universal can deliver the goods at the best price and best quality. Universal is located in Los Angeles’ Fashion or Garment district and can deliver custom printed goods locally fast.
Our hybrid digital flatbed printing machines can print both digital and screen at the same time. This improves quality and greatly reduces cost by combining the best of both print methods: smooth detail from digital printing and deep color penetration from screen printing. Maximum printing width is 72 inches and speed is 600 yards per hour. Currently only available for polyester fabrics.
Fabric Edge Trimming
Universal has fabric edge cutting and trimming capabilities for all types of fabric where material edges get removed leaving behind only relaxed fabric ready for precise laser cutting.
Custom Design Services
Universal can print your custom designs digitally or with traditional screen printing methods. We can make color separations, match colors, create engravings, produce screens, and print strike-offs. The customer must approve the strike-offs before production to ensure adherence to our quality control process.
Stock Prints
Universal has a library containing thousands of stock prints. No matter what style of pattern you need, whether it be polka dot, stripe, ethnic, paisley, tie-dye, scarf, border, animal, floral, or wallpaper, we probably have a print that will meet your creative requirements. Need to print your own custom design? Learn more about our custom design services here.
Machine Washable Face-Masks
We print your cotton or polyester fabric with eco-friendly dyes. Printed fabrics can be machine washable, reusable, moisture wicking, anti-microbial, and water proof. You choose the design and colors. We print on an industrial scale so our minimums start at 400 yards for polyester and 1,000 yards for cotton.
Post-treatment
Universal has 1 electric oven for curing polyester fabrics and 3 steamers for curing cellulose or nylon fabrics. Universal has 2 washing ranges and 2 drying frames. Drying frames can be used to pre-shrink your fabric to your specifications (i.g. 3×3 or 5×5 shrinkage). Learn more about fabric shrinkage here.
Flatbed Screen Engraving
Universal makes its own flatbed screens in-house in various widths, repeat sizes, and mesh sizes.
Coating and Finishing
Universal has coating and finishing capabilities. These include durable water proofing, anti-wrinkle and mechanical finishing machines to greatly enhance fabric hand and performance value.
Quality Management System
Universal has strict control procedures designed to maximize quality and reduce waste. Your fabrics are printed with eco-friendly water based dyes to promote environmental sustainability.
Camouflage Printing
Universal is a fabric printing company that is approved to produce camouflage fabric prints for the U.S. military meeting strict quality and performance specifications.
Contact Us: info@udptextile.com
Address:
Universal Dyeing & Printing
2303 E. 11th Street
Los Angeles, California 90021
(213) 746-0818