Xanith

I know this probably gets asked all the time, But I couldn't find anything that told me exactly what I wanted. I've found a guy locally with a DTG printer, and he said he'd print my designs for me at $5 a shirt. With no setup fees. Which is kinda where I wanted to be on my shirts starting out. What are the downsides/upsides to DTG printing, and why is it not more preferred over screen printing. It looks much more simple..

 

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Solmu

Downside: unreliable (not your problem), slower (not really your problem), more expensive, poorer quality
Upside: reasonable quality, cheaper for low quantities, full colour prints are cheaper/easier

Not preferred over screenprinting because: not as good as screenprinting

If you're starting out and need to be able to do ones and twos, and can get those done at $5/shirt, that's a good option.

You can find a few comparison threads under the versus tag (though most of them will be about other processes, e.g. heat transfer vs. screenprinting):
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/tags/versus/

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binki

With screen printing you will be paying a setup fee per color. If you have a print with a lot of colors short runs will be expensive. So DTG offers an alternative to screen printing for short runs.

Now, I have a number of screen printed shirts on white and light colors that cracked right away so quality is with the producer. Can good prints that don't crack or wash out come from DTG? We have some good results but we also have some great screen printed results that have not cracked in over a year.

$5 for a print, assuming the shirt is on top of that, is not a bad price to pay. You can get similar results with transfers but you will face the same restrictions of screen printing that are plastisol transfers. If you use a transfer like iron-all or duracotton then your price should be consistent with DTG printing or a little less.

So, downsides and upsides.

Screen printing:
Chemicals involved in screen emulsion and reclaiming
Larger runs are more economical
Lots of colors are more expensive
The standard in garment decorating with ink
Needs skilled screen printers to do a good job

DTG:
Can do one unit for the same price as 1000 (artwork excluded)
Far less chemicals involved
Newer technology still working out issues with quality prints so finding a skilled DTG printer is more difficult
Fine resolution capable
Light colored garments seem to be pretty much on par with screen printing, dark colors still need work but acceptable quality when done right

 

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Xanith

Thanks for the information guys. You pretty much gave me exactly what I wanted.

 

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martinwoods

Good morning
I will have to totally disagree about the direct to garment printing, I just got through printing a ton for a company and they turned out great, could have never been done with screen printing with that many colors (which we also do) . We did have to screen print the navy blue shirts because we cannot do white ink, but a lot less colors than the sports gray shirts with the sme design on them. They loved the dtg on the sport gray but some wanted the navy blue shirts so we told them those would have to be screened. I have the Brother and am looking to add a 2nd machine, the quality is great (if done right) and it washes great, I use hot water and bleach on mine and have never had a problem with fading and it will never wash out, or crack.

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Xanith

I got mine DTG printed today, and I was amazed with how it looks.. I noticed a few things I did wrong in my design for the template. But it's my fault lol. But I really like the quality of the DTG, and I think I am going to stick with that way... I'm going to be possibly considering buying one of these machines myself.

 

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