[jt713]

Hello - new to the biz, helping some friends set up a brand. If they ask me to find someone who does "dye injection" printing, is that the same as DTG printing? Also, if they want to use 100% cotton shirts, dye sublimation will not work (only works on 50/50 or more man-made fibers), correct? Is there any real high-quality non-screen printing that works on 100% cotton garments?

thanks very much for any info anyone can provide, and if there is another thread I missed which has this info, my apologies.

 

[charles95405]

I don't think it is DTG. I have had two DTG machines. Still using one and have never the term in conjunction with DTG. Maybe some one can enlighten both of us

 

[Smalzstein]

This is a medical term

 

[NoXid]

Never heard of dye injection. Maybe it is just dye sublimation by another name?

Yes, dye sublimation works only on synthetic fibers. In the case of a 50/50 blend, it is working on the synthetic half, and not at all on the 50% of fibers that are cotton, so the results will be muted as compared to a 100% synthetic fabric.

There are pros and cons to every technique. Screen printing is by far the best technique for single color reproduction of a large number of one piece of art. DTG has advantages for photo-like images reproduced in small numbers, or even one-of-a-kind prints. DTG is slow and expensive compared to screen printing, but if printing only a few of a given design, DTG avoids the time and expense of burning screens.

Some use laser or inkjet transfers (professional level materials, not the junk you can buy at the local store). But many consider these to still be far less durable than screen printed art (my own experience as a consumer).

Discharge screen prints are probably the most durable type of print.

What's best for your friend? It depends. Is he going to print 100's of copies of each design or a few copies of customer-specific designs? Is long life of the printed image important? Etc. etc. etc.