If you are familiar with DTG or Direct to Garment printing, you may be wondering about the pros and cons when compared to DTF printing. Both options are digital and require no screens or art separation as required with screen printing.
In fact, when DTG was first introduced to the apparel decoration industry, it was applauded as the ultimate solution, especially for printing multi-color designs and low quantities. However, many who jumped on the DTG bandwagon soon learned of the limitations of the DTG process. DTG printers can have steep learning curves, including a complicated pretreatment process. You are also limited to certain garment types and may have limited placement options on each shirt or item. With DTF, there is no pretreatment process, you print directly onto film instead of fabric and you can print your transfers in advance. Neither DTG nor DTF will ever replace direct screen printing, but they are both important digital options to consider.
It may be fairer to compare DTF transfers to other transfer types. For example, DTF is different from using heat transfer vinyl because you don’t need to cut and weed your images. When compared to other types of digital transfers, DTF is usually more cost effective. This is especially true when there are multiple colors in a design and the quantities are low, less than 35 pieces. From a quality standpoint, DTF transfers have crisp, defined edges and you are able to print floating text and fine lines without a problem. In addition, they are really a great option for small quantity orders and can be extremely user friendly. You get the same type of artwork flexibility—you can print any type of artwork—as you would find with sublimation transfers. But the advantage of DTF over sublimation transfers is that you can print on fabrics other than polyester. You can also print on dark or light colored shirts, instead of being limited to white or light colored shirts as you are with sublimation.