The main advantage of DTG is that it’s easy to print one-offs because there’s almost no setup time. It’s like printing on paper, but on clothing. The ink then soaks into the fibers of the garment. What is DTG or direct-to-garment printing and how does it work?ĭirect-to-garment, or DTG, is a printing method that sprays the ink onto the garment. So if you’re looking for an “upload your design and forget about the rest” type of experience, screen printing isn’t the right choice for you. They might ask you the color codes for inks they should use to print your design. Some printing services will ask you to submit print files separated into layers of each color. This can be difficult to predict for new business owners who don’t yet have an established customer base. This limits how many designs you can offer on your store because each design will have to be printed in bulk.Īlso consider whether you’ll be able to sell all items that get printed, so you wouldn’t contribute to textile waste. Ordering in bulk also means you’ll have to figure out where to store the printed garments if you don’t want to have piles of clothing laying around your home or office. So screen printing can be financially challenging if you’re just starting out or want to experiment with designs. The final price of your screen printing bulk order is based on the number of colors in your designs and the screens needed to print it.

Most third-party print services have order minimums that can be anywhere from 5 to 100 items. Screen printing can be cost-effective for designs with simple graphics (ideally with only a couple of colors), but it requires upfront investments. Is screen printing the right choice for your business? What’s more, screen printing uses a lot of water and it’s often done with plastisol inks that don’t biodegrade. If the products you screen-printed don’t get sold, they might end up in landfills or get burned, contributing to pollution. That’s why there’s a chance of overproduction, which is one of the main problems the sustainable fashion movement is tackling. Sellers who use screen printing usually order in bulk and then send out the items as the orders come in. That’s why it’s important to take into account the sustainability of each printing method. Is screen printing eco-friendly?Īs a store owner, you should also be aware of how your business affects the environment. Print providers often limit how many colors you can have in your design, and usually no more than 9 are allowed. Since each color is applied separately, screen printing is also mostly used for designs with few colors. That’s because making stencils for intricate designs is time-consuming and it’s difficult to get the details right during the printing process. Think basic typography, geometric designs, symbols, and shapes. Screen printing works best for solid graphics without small details. What type of designs work best with screen printing?

It’s not cost-effective to print only a t-shirt or two if it’s taken hours to create the stencils for your design. The long setup time is why screen printing is primarily used to print items in bulk. The more layers your design has, the longer it’ll take to print it and the thicker the design will feel on the product. Once that’s done, the colors and elements of the design are applied layer by layer onto the garment. With screen printing, a special screen has to be made for each element of your design. The ink doesn’t soak into the fabric, but lays on top of the product. Screen printing is a printing method where ink is pushed through a woven screen (also called mesh stencil) onto fabric. What is screen printing and how does it work?

In this article, we’ll look into the differences between DTG and screen printing, the designs they work best with, and how sustainable each technique is. With so much at stake, it’s important to research your printing options by asking questions about the methods, such as: Choosing the right one for your online business can be the first building block that leads to satisfied customers, saving costs, and being able to scale your business as it grows. There are quite a few options out there, but the two most popular are direct-to-garment (also known as DTG printing) and screen printing. The buzz you get from envisioning a design idea can wear off quickly once you’re faced with the more technical questions, the first one being-which apparel printing method should I choose? You’ve probably heard this from someone starting their own t-shirt store.

Silkscreen definition