What is Direct To Garment (DTG) Printing?

The simplest answer is that DTG Printing is a process that prints full color graphics directly on a garment (t-shirt). That answer leaves out a lot though, so here is a more complete answer...

DTG Printing is a process that uses ink jet technology on highly specialized equipment and software to deliver full color, photo quality graphics to t-shirts and other fabric products using specially formulated water based pigmented dyes (ink).

Most of us have seen an ink jet printer in operation at home or work and know they do a great job printing for everyday needs and produce great photos too.

How is DTG Printing done?

DTG Printers are designed to print on fabric rather than paper. This means they need to provide a way to deliver the fabric (t-shirt) to the printer. Most printers have some sort of platform that the garment is mounted to, then that platform is delivered by a drive system (e.g. conveyor) to the print head of the machine. The print head then delivers the dye / ink to the garment much like a home or office inkjet printer prints on paper.

Does a garment need any special preparation before it can be printed on?

At The Branding Iron, a T-shirt is first lint brushed to remove all excess lint from the t-shirt, then pressed to flatten the surface and remove any wrinkles and moisture from the t-shirt. We take the extra time to do this because it provides the best possible printing surface and results in a higher quality end product for our customers. So our answer is yes, a garment does need special preparation, and this is one of the things that sets us apart from many other DTG printers who don't take these extra steps.

Can DTG Printing be done on light and dark color garments?

All DTG Printers can print on light color garments, but printing on dark color garments is a specialized process that involves additional materials and processing, and not all DTG Printers are configured for this.
At The Branding Iron we do print on both light and dark color garments with our DTG Printers.

How is DTG Printing different for light and dark color garments?

DTG Printing on light color garments delivers water based pigments dyes directly onto the garment, these dyes are absorbed into the fabric and later cured with heat and pressure, in effect permanently dyeing the garment with the printed graphic. The dye / ink is not on top of the garment, it is in the fiber of the garment, and when you rub your hand across the garment, you don't feel the ink, just the garment, so you have a very soft touch that breathes.

Think of DTG Printing on dark garments like printing on black paper. Any ink color you use to print on a piece of black paper is just going to be absorbed into the darkness and not be very visible. It is the same on dark fabric, the water based pigment dye / ink is just absorbed into the darkness. To get past this problem, we have to do some extra things to get the color to stand out...
To print on dark color garments, the garment must first be pretreated with a special solution, and then cured with heat. Then the DTG Printer must put a layer of a specially formulated white ink on the pretreated garment surface wherever color will be printed. The white ink is formulated to form a bond with the pretreatment solution thus securing it to the garment. Once the white ink has been layed down, the DTG Printer prints the colors on top of the white ink delivering a very visible graphic that stands out on the dark color garment. The garment is then cured with heat and pressure to create a long lasting bond with the shirt. This is different than the light color garment in that the ink / dye is now on top of the dark shirt rather than dyeing the dark fabric of the shirt. Because the graphic is heat cured and pressed into the garment, it also has a very soft smooth touch.

What kind of products can be printed on with DTG Printing?

DTG Printing is designed for garments with fabric content ranging from 100% Cotton to 50% Cotton / 50% Polyester.
The most common products are T-Shirts, Sweatshirts, and Hoodies. The key is that the product must be able to be mounted on the printer platform and it must have a flat surface in order for the print head to be able to deliver a quality image to the product. The product also must be able to withstand the high heat and pressure introduced in the curing process. At The Branding Iron, our DTG Printers are primarily used for printing on garments like t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies, and we use other processes like dye-sublimation, embroidery, and heat transfer for imprinting on other products.

Is DTG Printing the same or different than Silk Screen / Screen Printing?

DTG Printing is mostly different than Screen Printing. They are really only similar in that they both result in a quality graphic on a garment or t-shirt. The actual printing process, inks, equipment, cost structures, and feel of the printed surface on the garment are very different.

Both DTG Printing and Screen Printing have seen tremendous improvements in technology over the years. DTG Printing is much newer than Screen Printing, and DTG Printing has proven to be more cost effective and timely in small to medium run quantities where Screen Printing maintains the advantage in larger run quantities.

One primary difference has to do with the handling of colors. The cost of the Screen Printing process is directly affected by the number of colors in a graphic design as each color requires an additional screen to be made for the printing of that color and additional effort to apply that color. If you have ever had screen printing done, then you are aware of the cost impact that the number of colors has and that the fewer colors used, the lower the cost.

The DTG Printing process has actually broken the color model by introducing full color graphic printing. Since ink jet technology is used, each color in the design is created on the fly at print time using the four color CMYK inks. DTG Printing offers full color photo quality printing on garments allowing more freedom in the use of colors in the logo or graphic design. So yes, you can now cost effectively print your actual logo or graphic as it was designed rather than going through color reductions. You can even print photo images on a shirt, think of the possibilities! For example, we have done shirts for fund raisers with multiple sponsors and were able to print the actual color logos for each sponsor on the same t-shirt. This resulted in a very sharp looking t-shirt with highly recognizable color logos from multiple companies, something that would normally be cost prohibitive with Screen Printing.

Another difference has to do with the touch and feel of the printed surface. DTG Printed garments have a very soft, smooth touch, whereas Screen Printed garments tend to have a rougher, more rubbery feel. This may or may not be important.