Screen, DTG or Heat Transfer

Three print methods, three different sweet spots: colour count, run size and cost pattern decide the choice before artwork is started.

Screen printing pushes ink through a mesh stencil onto the garment. The technique descends from stencilling used in China during the Song dynasty, before 1300 — the same principle of forcing ink through an opening still runs the process today.

Because each colour needs its own screen, screen printing becomes cheaper per shirt as quantity grows. Large runs of a single design with a controlled colour count are where the method pays off; a one-colour run of 200 shirts behaves very differently from a six-colour run of 20.

Direct-to-garment printing, DTG, is an inkjet process that prints full-colour artwork straight onto the fabric. Commercial DTG printers appeared in the early 2000s, and the method suits small one-off runs — no screens are set up, so a single full-colour shirt costs about the same as the hundredth.

Heat-transfer printing applies a printed film to the garment with a heat press at roughly 150–180 degrees Celsius for 10–20 seconds. It works for small batches, for placements that are awkward to screen, and for artwork where a film carries detail more cleanly than a mesh.

The choice also depends on fabric. Cotton takes screen-print plastisol and DTG inks well; polyester blends need dyes or inks formulated for synthetics, which can rule out a method before the run size is even considered.

• Screen: large run, few colours, cost falls with quantity
• DTG: small one-off run, full colour, no screens
• Heat transfer: small batch, film applied at 150–180 °C for 10–20 seconds
• Cotton: takes plastisol and DTG inks well
• Polyester blend: needs synthetics-formulated dyes or inks

Further reading

• Artwork That Survives Printing
• Ordering Before the Date