What Is Screen-Printed Cotton? The Therajloomfashion Way
Walk into any kurti store in India and you’ll see the words “screen-printed” on tags everywhere. It’s a phrase that gets used loosely — and often misused. So what does screen-printed cotton actually mean, why does it matter, and how can you tell the real thing from a mass-produced print? At Therajloomfashion , screen-printing is the foundation of how we make every kurti, so we wanted to share what we know.

Screen-Printing: A 200-Year-Old Indian Craft
Screen-printing in India dates back generations — long before factories, long before mass production. Artisans would carve a design into a wooden block or stencil, lay it onto fabric, and press dye through the open spaces by hand. The result: a print with depth, slight imperfections, and a feel you simply can’t replicate with digital printing.

Modern screen-printing uses fine mesh “screens” (one per colour) stretched over a frame. Dye is pushed through the open mesh onto the cotton fabric. Each colour in the design needs its own screen, so a 4-colour print means 4 separate pressings.

How Screen-Printing Differs From Digital Printing
The kurti aisle is full of both. Here’s how they compare: