Main advantages to DTG Printing

Low Minimum Print Runs

You can print as little as 20 of each design, if you want between 20 to 50 prints then our DTG service can handle the order - while you will benefit from bulk discounts, there are no setup charges meaning that printing low quantities is still very affordable for multi-colour artwork. For large runs with 1-8 colours screen printing may be a better option. If you’re unsure, make contact with one of our team for advice.

Fast Turnaround

With our DTG printing service, we can take a design and run off a print soon after saving the artwork. Other more traditional methods such as Screen Printing can take a long time to setup as we need to create the individual colour screens prior to printing. DTG printing just requires the file, the printer and you're off!

Multiple Colours

Direct to Garment printing is not charged per colour. So, unlike screen printing where you will pay a screen setup for each colour, DTG prints could have a single colour, a small number of colours or even 1,000 colours in your design and the price will remain constant.

Complex Designs Easily Printed

As this print method is digital, complex designs can be printed with ease - for example full colour photographs, intricate designs or small text. It would be more difficult with alternative methods and impossible with others.

Light and Dark Garment Printing

When printing onto a light or white garment, the DTG machine will print the image just using the colours. This means that the ink will ‘drive down’ into the fabric to give a very soft feel due to the waterbased inks. When we’re printing onto dark garments, the machine must first print a white underbase – in a similar way to screen printing. This will allow the ink to sit on top and not soak in to garment fibres, ensuring a more vibrant print. Printed dark garments will feel slightly more ‘rubbery’ than a white or pastel garment prints. We can print full/unlimited colour designs on light, dark or on any colour garments you want.

Main Disadvantages of DTG printing

Even with all the advances made in DTG technology over the past 15 years, there are still a few setbacks to this method of printing. As mentioned earlier, in order for a printed design to look good on dark fabrics, a white underbase must be printed prior to the top colour being applied. Because we are printing onto a soft fabric surface that can move, you can very occasionally see a thin white line around the colour in the design. For those reasons, some DTG printers do not print white ink first, which means your design may not look as good on dark garments as it does on light garments. It’s a toss up between the two. DTG inks are more expensive than screen printing inks. Direct to Garment printing takes less time to set up and longer to print per item. Screen printing is ‘setup heavy’ but the time on press is relatively quick in comparison. For this reason the price breaks or discounts when using DTG do not change much from low quantities to printing in volume.

Still not sure if DTG is the right choice?

We can advise you on the best decoration method based on your artwork, quantities and garment choice. We will never just allow you to place an order if the design or garment isn’t suitable. Any issues that we foresee will be discussed with you before an order is processed. No garment decoration order will commence until we have your approval via email.