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DTG Examples Please

42K views 121 replies 36 participants last post by  equipmentzone 
#1 ·
Hi,
Can any Forum members post good examples of T-Shirts that have used DTG printing especially on Dark Shirts. As previously posted I saw a Tjet in action and thought the whole process unimpressive, the quality of print poor,with dificulty in getting the print perfectly straight. One of the designs being demonstrated had to be printed twice to get good definition. I've been involved in garment decoration for over 20 years and to spend $15,000 on a kit like this seems ridiculous. Please prove me wrong with your examples.
paul
 
#3 ·
Hi,
Well surely it would be advisable before any Forums members are encouraged to use this 'Bleeding Edge' technology that is as you say not perfected and part their hard earned cash that something is posted to indicate this.
Buyers beware if it's difficult for guys with years of experience to get decent results then start ups have got no chance. Let the manufactures of these machines prove to the industry the value of this technology and until they do avoid it like the plague until it's perfected. Don't use start ups wishing to get into the industry as guinea pigs.
 
#4 ·
Well, I wouldn't quite say say 'avoid it like the plague' either; if nobody tries it out, it will fail and/or not improve. They do offer advantages, and could be useful for some folks (even in their current form). However, the only people that could reasonably afford these will likely be medium to large companies at this point, so I wouldn't even worry about DTG much at this point if you're a small business.

I do look forward to how this technology advances over the next few years; it has a lot of potential.
 
#5 ·
Well surely it would be advisable before any Forums members are encouraged to use this 'Bleeding Edge' technology that is as you say not perfected and part their hard earned cash that something is posted to indicate this.
Buyers beware if it's difficult for guys with years of experience to get decent results then start ups have got no chance. Let the manufactures of these machines prove to the industry the value of this technology and until they do avoid it like the plague until it's perfected. Don't use start ups wishing to get into the industry as guinea pigs.
You can get good results with a direct to garment printing machine, so there really is no need for a "buyer beware" sort of warning :)

Anybody spending that kind of money on the machine is of course going to be given an education about the machine, test out the printing quality, the cost per print and make a decision for themselves whether the quality will meet the needs of their business model and customers.

I've seen a few of them in action at a tradeshow and for whites and light colored garments, they are pretty darn impressive.

For blacks, it takes a little extra work, but I saw a couple of machines that could do it "decently". More improvements are being made on the process all the time and new releases are supposed to be made within a year that should really change things.

Even now though, direct to garment printing is used every day by businesses and is a very successful printing proceess (cafepress uses it to print 1000's of shirts per day, zazzle uses it as well...if the quality wasn't there, they wouldn't be spending so much money on the technology only to have a bunch of returns).

So while the quality may not be on par with screen printing yet in all circumstances, for many end customers that wear the shirts, the quality is great. The hand is super soft, and it can handle images that screen printing can't do at the same cost.

We have a couple of members here that use (and have used) various DTG machines and make good money with them (printchic, skibum, and I think one other member)
 
#6 · (Edited)
Paul, I know what you are saying.

The year that the Red Skins won the super bowl (about 10 years ago), I saw 2 guys working for a German Company (cant remember names) that had a set-up next door to my office. They made me a "KURT #58" for the Red Skins white t-shirt from my Player Card (long story) printed directly on to the shirt in front of my eyes.

This tech has been around for years, the problem has always been the price points against screen print and the ability to print on black.


add on edit: still have that shirt around somewhere.
 
#7 ·
Thanks guys. Sorry if my post was agressive but I felt that it should be pointed out to start ups the limitations of this technology. I saw it and didn't rate it at all. But hey I'm ready to listen and learn and would love to see Forum members who use this process to post examples of their work. I still think the jury is still out on this. I'm most passionate about T-shirts and would never ever put out a T-shirt with this quality print. It depends I suppose on how high you set your standards and whether you are content to 'satisfy' your customers rather than delight them.
 
#8 ·
It depends I suppose on how high you set your standards and whether you are content to 'satisfy' your customers rather than delight them.
I don't think that would be an accurate statement.

People are "delighting" their customers now with DTG printers. Just because you personally weren't impressed, doesn't mean that all customers wouldn't be impressed and all printers using the machine don't care about quality.

We're all different here Paul :)

ut I felt that it should be pointed out to start ups the limitations of this technology.
People truly interested in purchasing the technology will learn all the benefits and the drawbacks of it and make their own decision :)

You saw one machine and it didn't rate. There are several machines with different print qualities and benefits and they are obviously working well for lots of people. So it could be that you may have seen a bad test, or it could be that the quality isn't on par for what you personally would want to use.

It's not fair to make a blanket judgement of what everyone else's idea of good quality might be.
 
#10 ·
I actually think there is a large growing market for DTG. I also believe the technology is the wave of the future for T-shirt printing. I am not ready for DTG for one simple reason...cost of the machine. If it were cheaper there would be one right next to my heatpress simply to do white shirts. I dont much like the loading but this is all going to improve as is the white inks and abilities to print on darks. Keep an open mind and watch this thing improve....there is a lot of money going into those products right now.
 
#11 ·
Hi,

I used to own a t-jet but sold it and opted for the Brother GT-541. The t-jet has the ability to do white ink the Brother doesn't. White ink isn't easy to do and the wash quality is not consistent which is something I didn't want to deal with at this time.

So i just order screenprinting heat transfers when i need dark shirts.

However, per your request here are a few samples off my Brother GT-541.

http://www.promotees.com/samples/mysamples.jpg
http://www.promotees.com/samples/tigertee.jpg
http://www.promotees.com/samples/shirtlineprev.jpg
http://www.rureadysports.com/yourshirts.jpg
 
#12 ·
Thanks guys, and yes Rodney you are right my first impressions of this technology was a let down but I'm open minded and am glad to see this technology is working well for some people. My initial contact did cloud my judgement and I can now see the value in DTG priniting. Let's all hope the prices come down soon as I'm sure they will and I look forward to further developments.
Thanks again for all your replies , and thanks to T-shirt Forums this is a excellent place for all those involved in garment decoration!
 
#19 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi All,
we just received our DTG printer. We are still waiting on our heat press from imprintables.com. Also the electrician is coming over this weekend to set me up 2 new dedicated circuits for the heat press and printer.

The white ink proccess is diffuclt with DTG because of the white ink. Most white inks will harm the print head so special inks are created. These special inks require a pre-treatment prior to printing. When the white ink hits the pre-treatment it bonds and becomes more like a glue.
 
#22 ·
Thanks alot guys!

I ended up going with the DTG Kiosk, with the white ink upgrade. Here in Sacramento, CA they have a location where I viewed a demo. The machine was awesome. Very easy to use - not much different than a home printer. The only exception is that it takes a little knoweledge of graphics program as the software is made to be used with Photoshop, Corel, etc.

The guys at Swf Mesa are excellent to work with.

P.S. I will keep a diary for everyone and try to update it every few days.

Thanks guys!
 
#23 ·
Which machines were you refering to??
I think the DTG Kiosk that Adam purchased is one that I saw that did decent black t-shirts (it required a coating be sprayed on the t-shirt first I think). I know they had a local office here in Sacramento when I met them at the tradeshow.

The other one was the FastTJet, although the design was a bit muted (one pass), I think it would work for some designs.
 
#26 · (Edited)
Yes, they both do. The Mimaki is the only one that I know of that doesn't use a pretreatment (and the $180,000 Kornit), but it's because they use discharge inks, I believe they are doing away with the discharge inks because of the gases they produce when making the shirt.

So far, every other white ink needs the pre-treatment. It's a lock and key system. You need to use the same manufacturer's pre-treatment as the white. If you switch inks, you switch the pre-treatment.

The goal at this time for the ink manufacturers is to produce the white ink without the pre-treatment. Everyone claims they are close, but I have heard that before from manufacturers. When it happens, my guess is all the DTG manufacturers will be buying the new white ink.
 
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