Discuss the various aspects of direct to garment printing. DTG printers include Brother, T-Jet, Flexi-Jet, DTG Kiosk, Kornit, Mimaki, Tex-Jet and others! Discuss and learn about this up and coming printing technology.
I would like to know the reasons that you all bought your t-jet or dtg printers. I don't care about brands specifically. I'm just trying to justify the cost. If my wife and I can produce the same quality with sublimation and plastisol transfers and an automatic press, and get the same quality and produce around 40 shirts an hour, why bother with a dtg printer when I still have to load the shirt and then heat press it after its done printing? What is there to justify the price tag. The only thing that really appeals to me is that you can do the different substrates on the same machine, but I already have a mug press and a cap press. Please help.
From what I can tell, it's pretty specific, and really depends on both how much volume you do and what types of shirts you do.
I haven't personally used a DTG printer, but I'd say they would be quite handy for small to medium sized runs (large runs would be better screen printed, even with colors most likely) of complex designs (vinyl can't match), multi-color (plastisol can't match cheaply), mid-color or dark shirts (heat transfers won't be able to except for low-quality opaques), an end product with a soft hand (normal heat transfers probably won't match), and on cotton t-shirts (dye sub won't be able to match).
Basically, some combination of factors might make it worth it to some people. There are a few areas it excels at that other methods don't quite match, but for a lot of t-shirt work it wouldn't be worth it and could be better done in another way.
Ok here is why I picked mine up (I have a tjet2)
Reasons:
>>>I run my Internet t-shirt biz from my home so I do not have lots of room for inventory, with dtg printing I can do one offs, this lets me keep a low inventory of shirts.
>>>My printer and heat press take up a 6x6 foot area, this is ideal for me.
>>>Although cafepress and other companies of the sort provide a great service I want to keep more profit and have more flexibility in my designs (I can print over collars and seams with my T-jet)
>>>I can print on terrycloth and golf balls with the tjet.
I plan to buy a kiosk in the near future as a companion to my embroidery business. I plan to travel to events and print on site. I now to transfer on site. I will be able to have less $ in a garment as it leaves my business. I won't need to order transfers and have leftovers.
About 90% of my screen printing sales are on dark garments. I'm waiting for the technology to make white ink consistent and reliable.
I would buy one if I had enough sales of lower qty runs. I see DTG fitting in under the 4c screen printing on light garments. DTG would also work well in the one-up personalized market. You bring in a photo, I'll put it on a T-shirt while you wait.
Ok here is why I picked mine up (I have a tjet2)
Reasons:
>>>I run my Internet t-shirt biz from my home so I do not have lots of room for inventory, with dtg printing I can do one offs, this lets me keep a low inventory of shirts.
>>>My printer and heat press take up a 6x6 foot area, this is ideal for me.
>>>Although cafepress and other companies of the sort provide a great service I want to keep more profit and have more flexibility in my designs (I can print over collars and seams with my T-jet)
>>>I can print on terrycloth and golf balls with the tjet.
This is how we started out as well however, we have moved from selling our own items to being a standard print company.
Can Someone mention about the quality of the print please, maybe no the best for whites but what about a 4 color print (A simple solid 4 color seperated image) done on Sreen print and DTG, what do you say about the print quality, which is better on a scale of 1-10, 1 being the best.
(A simple solid 4 color seperated image) done on Sreen print and DTG, what do you say about the print quality, which is better on a scale of 1-10, 1 being the best.
I still prefer screen printing. I would give screen printing a 10 and a DTG a 6-8 depending on the machine and operator.
First, a qualifier - I am a DTG distributor, I have over 16 years experience in the decorated apparel and graphics markets and I stayed at a Holiday in Express last night!
Direct to Gartment will replace screen printing when the marketplace demands that it do so. The common mistake I see is that people arr trying to compare direct to garment output with screen printing output (on the exact same piece of artwork). Direct to garment excels in high color images, as more and more artists become empowered and begin to design for direct to garment (as opposed to designing for the limited colors of screen printing) we will see the market begin to shift faster. No doubt the costs of output are currently higher than screen printing on a per shirt basis, but, as more and more cities, counties and states begin to regulate the wastes produced by traditional screen printing more and more folks will switch to the environmentally friendly direct to garment process. This process may take 2 years it make take 20 years, but it will happen.
As an apparel decorator the benefit to direct to garment now is in the short run and/or high color marketplace. The sooner you begin to educate your customer base about direct to garment, the sooner you can begin making money on this form of garment decoration. The longer you delay, the more likely that the guy down the street will educate your customer for you and force your hand.
I am a relative newcomer to the garment decorating business, but chose DTG for a few reasons. I should point out that we are primarily a custom embroidery business, but shirt printing is growing. I looked at heat transfer and sublimation as alternatives but ultimately decided DTG was the best solution for my business. A few reasons:
1. I can always make more money by doing something myself rather than paying someone else to do it for me. I had no intentions of buying/learning the screen printing equipment and placing it in my retail store.
2. We are a retail store and get a lot of walk-ins. We are able to sell DTG because of the quick turn times.
3. As Don said so well, no limitations on the design
4. Short runs are not a problem. Want just one - can do easy!
5. We can easily customize each shirt! For instance, we have done family reunion shirts with a common design on the back and individual names on the left chest of each shirt. This was done easily with DTG and impresses the heck out of customers.
6. We have an outside sales rep that takes prototype shirts to prospective customers. If they like it, we just print more of them as the prototype is the actual product.
7. We build custom web sites for our larger clients and allow them to order and customize designs online. We don't have to stock inventory as we print on demand.
8. Wearability/Durability - There is no 'hand' to the DTG print - you simply can't feel it like screenprinting. Landscapers love that fact given it is near 100 degrees in the summer here and very humid - large screenprints on the backs of their shirts make them hot! It washes/irons well too.
9. I'm a techno geek and easily drawn to new technologies!
My biggest concern going into this was the whole 'no white ink' thing. The Brother simply doesn't have it yet and no matter how hard you try you're not going to print with an ink that isn't darker than the garment itself. This has not been a problem for us. We offer several pastel colors (blue/grey/sand/pink/yellow/etc) of shirts and they have been extremely popular. When a customer demands a dark shirt, I send that to my screen printer and just make less on that sale. White inks are available on several DTG printers, and will most likely be on all of them in the near future, so this limitation will soon be gone. I am very happy with our printer. I expected the payback to be several years on this piece of equipment - it looks like it will pay for itself in less than one year!
Why buy a DTG printer? 
