ImagesMagUK_February_2022

www.images-magazine.com FEBRUARY 2022 images 61 SCREEN PRINTING Drop Dead Clothing: MHM S-Type Xtreme from MHM Direct GB Max Evans, print manager Tell us a bit about your business. We’re an alternative clothing brand based in Sheffield. We’ve been going since 2004, and five years ago decided to start printing in house. It allows us to have more control over the print process and be a bit more experimental. What screen printing press do you use, and what prompted its purchase? We started with an M&R Chameleon before purchasing an M&R Diamondback to increase production. In 2021 we bought a second auto in the form of an MHM S-Type Xtreme, again to increase production but more so to give us a bigger print area. Why did you choose the MHM S-Type Xtreme and what do you think are its main advantages? The first print shop I ever worked in had an MHM, and I’d always hoped I’d be able to upgrade to one here. The bigger print area was the main thing, our designers were constantly saying “Is that the biggest we can go?” with every sample I produced. Since getting the MHM we’ve had a few designs where they’ve actually asked for the print to be smaller! Print size aside, the S-Type just runs so smoothly. It’s quieter, faster and the control you get on each head makes such a big difference to really dialling in each job precisely. Is there anything you’d like to see in an upgrade or don’t particularly like about it? No complaints from me so far! What’s it like to use? It’s a joy to use. When we first had it installed we had Tony [Palmer] from Palmprint Consultants come in for the day to show us all the features, which was so helpful. He didn’t just show us how to do things, but also why you’d do them and any variables you may want to change for different jobs. What type of jobs is the MHM used for? Our designers always like to push what we can do with our printing, whether it be huge colourful designs or printing over pockets and seams. Most of our collections start with a conversation about whether what they’ve designed is even possible with screen printing. With this in mind we usually run a few hundred of a design first to gauge demand from our customers, and then reprint the more popular ones. What other machines do you have? We only do screen printing in house, for any other processes such as digital printing or embroidery, we get this done at the manufacturing stage. What’s your advice for others thinking of buying an automatic screen printing press? Our set-up is different to a lot of screen printers as we only really print for ourselves, so for other clothing companies thinking of doing the same I’d say you want to really make sure you’ve got the customer base built up to warrant the costs of printing for yourself before you consider getting a screen printing set-up. For any established printers looking to get a new machine, the best advice I could give would be to talk to other printers as much as possible. Every machine on the market looks amazing in a catalogue or on a website, so talking to other printers who actually use them daily is the best way to get an accurate idea of how they run. www.dropdead.world Max Evans says the MHM S-Type Xtreme is “a joy to use” Click or tap to view a video of Drop Dead Clothing’s S-Type Xtreme in action