DTG is Direct to Garment printing, meaning a design is applied directly to the garment with a digital printer. Think of it as a color printer for your clothing. DTG is relatively new in the grand scheme of customized apparel, but is making advancements all the time. At one time DTG was best suited for light colored items, but now modifications have been made to allow printing on all colors, dark or light.
Another advantage is that DTG can be used on basically anything. Shirts, jackets, pants, or bags to name a few. DTG will even print on the zipper of a sweatshirt, creating an unbroken design.
There are benefits to DTG over Screen printing to be considered, cost being an important one. With Screen printing, a design must be broken down into individual colors and each color applied with a different screen. With DTG the entire design is printed at once, therefore there are no screen charges. This can be a major cost savings when a design has many colors.
Another advantage to DTG printing is that if you need one shirt you can have one shirt. Because the printing is done digitally, you can have one item made or 100. The cost of setting up a screen for each color in the design is no longer a cost issue.
DTG also makes it easier to modify a design. If you want to change something about your image, you can. A new screen doesn’t have to be made at greater cost, everything is accomplished digitally.
While there are still reasons to consider Screen Printing rather that Direct to Garment printing, knowing that there are options available is always a good thing!
