Direct-to-garment, or DTG, is a printing method that sprays the ink onto the garment. The ink then soaks into the fibers of the garment. From design to printing, it can finish in an hour, which is just like printing on paper.
Well, let me tell you something about this brilliant technology. The main advantage of DTG is that it’s easy to print one-offs because there’s almost no setup time. With DTG printing, there’s no set-up time. Methods such as screen printing require individual screens to be created for each color. That step alone could take over an hour! For DTG, it can skip that step and get straight to the key steps, which allows businesses to avoid overproduction and textile waste. Also thanks to the lack of set-up, there’s no minimum amount of orders. This makes DTG the best choice for smaller orders. This makes the cost of printing the t-shirt much lower.
DTG printing is a fairly new method that can easily hold either a small batch of orders or a large amount of custom clothing. In this field, it is far better than screen printing, which is dominated the customized t-shirt market for decades. If you have an online shop that prints cotton T-shirts for customers, and your customer sends an order, you can Create up to 200 fantastic, long-lasting tees in under an hour.
With one skillful designer and some Excellent performance printing machines, you can make a crazy amount of cotton shirts. Besides, DTG printers offer a lot of color options which means you can print detailed designs and photorealistic images with almost no color limitations. That is a fantastic tool for designers that want to try out various colors and designs.
However, each method also has its unique advantages and disadvantages. Before making choices on buying printing machines, consider exactly what you need and whether it is a good option for your business.
Direct to Garment Printing
| DTG Pros | DTG Cons |
| Fast turnaround time for small orders | Not cost-effective for larger runs |
| Easily print tons of colors; Great for photos | Slow printing time per shirt |
| Cost-effective for smaller runs (better to print on a cotton T-shirt) | Not available in all colors or materials |
| No minimum order | Limited design placement |
DTG printing is eco-friendly
With millions of tons of textiles going to waste in the fashion industry each year, a printing process like this is a game-changer. When you use a DTG printer to handle orders, clothing only gets printed once they are already sure to be bought by someone. Plus, some DTG printer manufacturers produced advanced machines which create almost zero wastewater, lowering the carbon footprint. Most inks are non-hazardous, toxin-free, and contain no animal by-products.
Direct-to-garment printing is a good way to handle the products ready for your customers. With DTG, the entire design is printed in one go. If you are in the business of printing pure cotton t-shirts, I suggest you buy a DTG printer because it has many advantages in this regard. However, if the fabric you want to print contains low cotton content or is made of chemical fiber and other materials, and you need to print large format fabrics, it is recommended that you consider other types of printing machines.