Direct to garment printing, also known as DTG printing, digital direct to garment printing, digital apparel printing, and inkjet to garment printing, is a process of printing on textiles and garments using specialized or modified inkjet technology. All direct-to-garment printers have their origins in the desktop inkjet printer.

Direct-to-garment printing is commonly used on garments that are cotton or cotton blends. Typically, it is cheaper to print on a white t-shirt, instead of a dark one. However, it is now being accomplished by a number of manufacturers. Dark t-shirts must first be pre-treated which is a time consuming, costly, and hard to perfect process.

Digital printing process has been around now for approximately ten years. The technology keeps getting better and better. The digital printers are driven from a computer through software. We certainly can expect better quality printers in the near future.

When would it make sense to use digital printing instead of conventional screen printing? Digital printing typically is more expensive per piece price than custom screen printing. However, if a job consists of a low quantity, say less than 24 pieces, and the logo has multiple colors, then it would be more advantageous to use digital printing. With digital printing, there is no set up involved with screens. When a job is very colorful, you could use up to 4 or more screens depending on the logo. Digital printing works very well for photographs too.

Please give us a call for all your custom screen printing, digital printing, or embroidery. We look forward to hearing from you in the Columbia, MO area.