Yes, the US and California economies have fallen on hard times. There's no denying that everyone has been struggling, but for California screen printers and embroidery businesses you have 1 more thing to worry about. The State!

When times get tough and States need to cover their financial problems they step up enforcement of laws on the books that can generate revenue. One such law is California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 13630 - "Every person engaged in the business of garment manufacturing must register with the Labor Commissioner."

Technically no, you are not manufacturing the garment. BUT, you are adding value to the garment by adding embellishment and this is a form of manufacturing (at least in the eyes of California Law). The main purpose of the law is to protect migrant and legal workers. It helps ensure that workers are legal to work in this country and also prevents sweatshop conditions.

The law, in principal, levels the playing field for garment manufacturers and decorators throughout the state. In practice, it can cause a financial burden on anyone unaware of the statute. Fines are issued per employee for companies that violate the law and can quickly mount into the 10s of thousands!

1. How to Obtain a Garment Registration Certificate (official state website) - http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/HowToObtainGarmentRegistration.htm
2. Long post of screen printers and embroiderers talking about the law on the TShirt Forums - http://www.t-shirtforums.com/screen-printing/t77157.html
3. Tshirt Forum post about a possible change to the law - http://www.t-shirtforums.com/screen-printing/t110588.html
4. Another Tshirt Forums post talking about it - http://www.t-shirtforums.com/dye-sublimation/t63104.html

Artwork is the key to any successful screen printing operation. If you start with quality artwork, films and screens, the actual printing process is a walk in the park. We get asked all the time about artwork and outputting film positives. Some suppliers and manufacturers will tell you that a RIP program is required to produce dark black prints on film positives using an inkjet printer. This usually isn't necessary and many times you can actually produce very opaque images using standard inkjet printers and the right film.

Inkjet Printers

Not all inkjet printers are created equal. The industry standard are Epson brand printers. Epson builds reliable workhorse printers and most RIP software for screen printers are designed for use with Epson printers. Even without an Epson printer, you might be able to get similar results from following this general guide.

Epson 2200 Settings

From photoshop and with your document open, select FILE > PAGE SETUP. Next, choose the Printer... option and then Properties.... From the resulting dialog box, first ensure that you are seeing the "Advanced Settings" and select your PAPER TYPE. It is always best to choose a Photo Paper setting like Semigloss or Glossy. This will allow you to get 1400 dpi (or something close to this dpi) and it will setup the printer for handling a paper type that will take more ink.

Every printer has slightly different settings in the printer's dialog box but many Epson printers are similar to what is pictured here. Look in your printer settings for Contrast and Saturation settings and maximize these options. Also ensure that you are printing with more than just the black ink cartridge (more about this in Software Settings). By upping your saturation and contrast you will be telling the printer to load up on the ink amount for your film positive.

Some Epson printers have additional settings under Ink Config (or a similar option) that allow you to up the color density. On the Epson 2200 you can up the color density as much as 20% as you can see below. This will also help to output darker, more opaque films without the need for a RIP driver. On the 2200 there is also a setting called Drying Time per Print Page. This setting will tell the printer how long to wait between each print giving the previous print time to dry. This can help prevent your film positives from sticking together if you have to leave the room while the printer is processing a multi-color job.

Water Proof Inkjet Film

Our water proof inkjet film is a much higher quality film than standard inkjet film transparencies. Your prints will dry almost instantly on this newer type of film and last much longer. This film also resists fingerprints and dirt much better than the old style film. Water proof inkjet film accepts all types of ink including dye and pigment based inks from all the top manufacturers.

Software Settings

Your software settings can often be the most important piece of the puzzle when trying to output opaque films for screen printing. There are many programs available for creating screen printing artwork but the 3 most popular are Photoshop, Illustrator and Corel Draw. Each of these programs works a little differently but all are acceptable programs for outputting film positives. Corel and Illustrator are great because they can easily perform spot color separations in a few steps. Photoshop is a powerful tool because it is capable of outputting complex, photo-realistic designs.

The key setting for each of these programs is the color you are choosing as your "black" for the image details. What we see on our computer monitors is not always what the printer "sees" when it produces the final print. If you have Adobe Illustrator, you can see what I mean by going to Edit > Preferences > Appearance of Black. Under this setting, you can see the difference between "Rich Black" and "100k Black". Rich Black is much darker because it uses Cyan, Magenta, Yellow AND Black to create a much darker and "richer" black (hence the name!).

When you are outputting spot color designs it is best to have your color settings in CMYK mode and up your color values as follows....

You could up all the color values to 100% but this is overkill. You would end up wasting the extra ink. Even though the amount of ink you would waste is relatively small per print, the numbers would add up over time. The numbers above will product the darkest black images without the need for a RIP when printing directly to the printer.

During the past week our website has been closed to the public while it under went many performance and security upgrades and tests. This process took much longer than we anticipated and our website was closed to the public for approximately a week. We would like to apologize for this inconvenience and assure our loyal customers that these issues are behind us. Barring any uncontrollable catastrophes, our website will remain open for business 24/7 from this day forward.

A Little More About the Updates

There were many updates and upgrades made to our website software. Our website, like many in the information age, is a very sophisticated piece of software. Many of the updates went smoothly but there were still a few hiccups.

Missing Account Order History

The biggest issue that rose from these updates that will effect our current customers was the purging of order data from our website database. We still have your order information and on our local order management system and your accounts on our website are still intact and functioning normally. However, order history is no longer available online for orders older than July 22nd, 2010. Future order history will be stored in your account moving forward and we have put in place a system to ensure that this never happens again.

Full PCI Compliance

Our commitment to you, our customer is paramount to the success of Westix and WestixOnline.com. As part of this commitment, we began rolling out our compliance program for Cardholder Security and PCI Compliance more than a year ago, long before these rules went into law. During the update to our systems over the last week, we have put the last pieces of the puzzle into place and now meet or exceed all 12 PCI Compliance requirements as identified by the PCI Security Council.

100% PCI Compliance

1. WestixOnline.com is Built and Maintained on a Secure Network
2. We Protect Cardholder Data
3. We Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program
4. We Have Strong Access Control Measures
5. WestixOnline.com is Regularly Monitored and Tested
6. We Have a Strict Information Security Policy

The Color Matching Software for our Water Based Inks was updated on April 7th, 2010. To ensure you are mixing with the most accurate Pantone© formulas please download the updated software today.

The Color Matching Software works with matsui 301 RC Inks, 301 Clear and Pigment, as well as with Matsui Discharge Inks and Pigment.
For more information, please call 800-741-3887

There are a bunch of ways you can help the environment this Earth Day, especially when it comes to your screen printing operation. Here are a few suggestions...

Try using water based adhesive instead of spray adhesive. Not only will you save a ton of cash, but it's way better for you, your shop and the environment! Each pint of adhesive is more than 2 cans of spray adhesive and it lasts almost twice as long! Plus, you don't have those nasty aerosol cans to deal with and the shop won't be sticky! It just makes sense!
Checkout these Adhesives Now!

If you are hand applying the adhesive, you want to use TB-HV.

FranMar has been making eco-friendly products from Soy Bean oil for years, long before it was fashionable to be green! Using these products in your shop will make you and your staff happy little workers.
Checkout FranMar Products

These are just a couple of ways you can make your shop greener and save some green at the same time! Plus, right now all Green Ink ships for free through the end of the week! Purchase any amount of green ink or pigment and it will ship free until Saturday at midnight!

Dolphin shirt company is an "old school" screen printer in San Luis Obispo , CA. They've been screen printing for years and have been a customer of Westix since the beginning. Checkout the recent video they posted where they are printing with discharge inks they got from us! Thanks for the mention guys!

After more than a year of development and testing, the new and improved WestixOnline.com is finally ready! There are many improvements to the website that we hope you find as an improvment over the old website. Here's a list of features to look for:

• Improved Navigation - The new WestixOnline.com contains a brand new feature for enhanced navigation. On the left side of the catalog pages, you will find the ability to drill down through features and specifications of products that are important to helping you make an informed purchase decision. Simply click on the options on the left side of your screen under the heading "Shopping Options" to choose narrow down your selection for fast shopping!


• Improved Search - Our search engine is now powered by Google™ for a much better search experience. You should be able to find exactly what you are looking for without even trying! Give it a spin, just enter your search term in the orange search box to the right of the main blue menu and press enter to get started.


• Quick Ink Link - Do you already know all about the inks available at WestixOnline.com and you know what colors and quantities you need? Then you'll love our new Quick Ink Link! You can select from all our colors and sizes for each ink line from one page without having to jump all over the place to find what you need. Just make your selections and click the Add to Cart button once and your done!


• Inventory Control - Now the website will accurately track our actual inventory on the floor. This means that you can rest assured that the products you order are in stock and ready to ship at all times!


• Upgraded Security - The new WestixOnline.com is now hosted on an all new, state-of-the-art server with the latest is security features and controls. The site is monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to help prevent cyber attacks and outages and to ensure that the server is capable of running with lightning fast speed. You'll be in and out quickly, securely and easily so you can get back to printing!

Escondido, CA – December 1^st, 2009 – To help serve their customer base better, Westix, Inc. has moved to a new and larger location. This new location helps Westix provide better value to their customers, increase their of products and services and provide adequate stock to meet customer demand.

The new showroom is in the same building as their old location but the suite # has changed to Suite L and customer parking is in the back of the parking lot furthest from Simpson Way.