Screen Printing vs. Dtg | Comparison, Cost & Pros, Cons | What’s best?

The battle between these two printing methods has been raging for a while. It is long overdue to weigh its pros and cons.

An entrepreneur is driven by success, an artist longing to showcase creative flair to the world. Or simply someone who’s finally ready to dip their toes into a more adventurous.

Commonly referred to as ‘Digital Printing,’ DTG is relatively new to apparel printing (around 15 years). Tee Junction was one of the pioneers and the first company worldwide to offer complete DTG printing solutions for custom t-shirts.

Suppose you are looking to design and print! You may have come across the terms DTG printing and screen printing when searching for custom shirts. Both screen printing and direct-to-garment (DTG) are popular and traditional methods for printing custom designs on fabrics. But what is the difference (Screen printing vs. DTG ) between these two methods of printing t-shirts? When should you use one against the other?

The topic can be confusing if you’ve never printed custom t-shirts before, so we’ve compiled this quick guide. We will answer these four most common questions:

• What is the difference?
• What is DTG printing?
• What is screen printing?
• How do they compare?

If you’ve never printed your custom shirts before, follow these best practices and study the different ways shirts are produced, whether for a creative project, a fundraising campaign, or another purpose. Understanding the printing process will help you make the best decisions possible. Ready to get started?

What is the Difference Between (Screen Printing vs. DTG) DTG and Screen Printing?

Screen printing is the most traditional technique, which involves pushing ink onto the fabric through a pattern. Direct printing on the garment is a more recent method that uses a printer to apply ink directly to the shirt.

What is Direct Print on the Garment (DTG)?

DTG printing involves using a digital printer to apply ink directly onto the fabric of the clothes you are customizing. This new method of printing t-shirts has gained much popularity in recent years, thanks to the technological improvements of DTG printers.

How Does DTG Printing Work?

DTG printing works like an inkjet printer in your home office. The printer translates the digital image or graphic file into your blank t-shirt! DTG printers are large and can handle many projects in many colors. Water-based ink is applied in a single layer and quickly absorbed into the fibers of the jacket. The DTG printing method is accurate and produces high-quality results; the ink is not deeply embedded in the fabric, unlike other techniques such as screen printing.

What type of design works best with DTG shirts?

• T-shirts with particularly elaborate designs, with tons of different colors
• Small batches of custom shirts (10 shirts or fewer)

It makes DTG printed shirts excellent for individual creative projects, uniforms for small-scale events, or personalized thank-you gifts.

What is screen printing?

Screen printing is the classic and proven method of pushing ink through a woven mesh stencil over the fabric. It is a profession that expert printers have perfected over the years to produce beautiful and resistant garments.

As a more labor-intensive process, screen printing produces beautifully saturated colors and a distinctive, authentic appearance. Screen-printed shirts are a classic and economical option.

How Does Screen Printing Work?

Screen printing involves pushing the ink through a woven mesh template on the fabric. Each color used in the design is printed separately on its screen.

Your design must first be divided into several layers by color. It was done by design software, such as Photoshop or Illustrator, usually. Next, use a template for braided screens. Apply only one color of ink at a time, according to the template for the color used in the shirt design.

The ink is extracted through the template using a knife or foam tool, producing a single layer of the design with full and saturated color. This process means that screen printing is better suited to certain types of t-shirt designs.

However, it produces high-quality results that have remained extremely popular among consumers for decades.

What kind of design works best on screen-printed shirts?

• Eye-catching graphics or typographic t-shirt design
• Designs with a few different colors, Large batches of custom shirts (more than 10 shirts)

That makes custom screen-printed shirts a wiser choice to collect more considerable funds for events, like 5K or a fundraising campaign for mission trips.

How Do You Compare DTG Shirts and Screen-Printed Shirts?

Because these t-shirt printing methods differ significantly, each has its pros and cons. Depending on the details of the custom printing project, one option may be better than the other.

The significant differences to consider when choosing a method fall into two general categories: design and costs.

Differences Between Screen-Printed and DTG Designs | Screen Printing vs. DTG

If produced by a professional using the right equipment, any printing process will result in a high-quality t-shirt. However, there are still some significant differences depending on the design.DTG printing involves leaving just a single layer of ink to create your final design, whereas screen printing produces several layers. That has some significant effects, particularly on how you use color in your design: screen printing will create a vibrant and durable design with more saturated colors than the DTG process.

However, the intensive process of converting the design into multiple models limits the number of colors that can be used. DTG printing produces a slightly faded design with a single layer of ink, but without limits on the number of colors used. However, certain color combinations are made difficult by some limitations.

For example, it can be challenging for digital printers (such as heat press machines) to produce light-colored ink drawings on dark fabrics. So some types of t-shirt designs are more suitable for each method.

The most uncomplicated and most stylized designs, featuring graphics or text in a handful of colors, are excellent for screen printing. In contrast, DTG printing can handle more elaborate designs in multiple colors, usually in light-colored fabrics.

Click here to get more details about the digital t-shirt printing machine.

Screen Printing vs. DTG: Difference Between DTG Costs and Screen Printing Costs

The fundamental differences between each process also translate into differences in final costs. Again, both may be good options, but it depends entirely on the project’s details. That is how they accumulate:

Screen printing costs

Screen printing is more convenient for large batches of shirts. The template process means installation costs are slightly higher, making screen printing for large design orders more efficient.

Using a more significant number of colors than recommended slows down the process, increasing final prices since each color used requires the creation of a template for the screen.

However, with screen printing, there are typically cost savings associated with printing more shirts. Having master templates for each layer simplifies the process as the number of shirts increases.

DTG Printing Costs

DTG printing is the most convenient for small batches of custom shirts. The number of colors used will not seriously affect the final price. However, large batches will use more ink and time. Additionally, the printer can only handle one shirt at a time, resulting in higher prices.

DTG printing generally does not offer massive savings, as with screen printing. The scope of your custom t-shirt printing project is a key factor in choosing a printing service to manage it.

Some custom clothing services offer one or the other, while others provide screen and DTG printing options depending on the project size. If you choose a DTG-only service, the cost per shirt remains unchanged when you buy more. In contrast, with screen printing, you typically pay less per shirt as the quantities increase.

Finding a personalized t-shirt printing service that offers the best techniques (DTG and more traditional screen printing) will give you the best long-term value.

Understanding the differences between the two methods will help you better determine what you need from a partner, starting with your custom t-shirt project.

Fancier studio Power Heat Press Digital Heat Press 15 x 15

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