There seem to be more and more options for those who want to print t-shirts (and other items).
When we started in 2006, we offered the option of screen printing and flex. It was as simple as choosing meat or fish.
Today's market is very different and it's the customer who gains from this.
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Now that we've launched two more methods for personalising clothes, it's important to take stock.
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The method of decoration that has grown the most in recent years is direct printing.
In 2021 we made more than 1,000 direct print productions and this number is expected to grow in 2022.
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To put it very simply, a direct printing machine is a printer like the one we have at home (but a giant one) which, instead of printing on paper, uses specific inks to print on fabric.
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It's my favourite way of printing and decorating clothes because it allows us to print images in dozens/hundreds/thousands of colours without difficulty and with very high quality.
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The big disadvantage of direct printing is that you can only print one garment at a time. As such, the cost of labour is always high as it doesn't allow for great productivity.
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Screen printing is always the safe option for textile printing
When a client comes to us asking for a lot of garments to be printed with basic logos (1 or 2 colours), you can't beat screen printing.
In terms of both speed and price, this is probably the best option on the market for stamping.
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Unlike direct printing, it has minimal production (only 24 garments), but it's well worth the effort sometimes.
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DTF is the latest option for printing clothes
We've written a lot about the DTF in recent months and the truth is that it has brought a revolution to the international market.
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DTF is an acronym for Direct to Film and is the direct replacement of print flex.
As another option for digital logo printing, it has the enormous advantage of allowing you to print logos with lots of colour and detail quickly and cheaply.
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This textile decoration option finally puts an end to the plastic films or borders around images that flex printing used to have. It's a great complement for a number of logos for which there were previously no alternatives for quality personalisation.
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How does DTF work?
The DTF is a method that goes through several steps to completion.
- The DTF is a method that goes through several steps to completion.
- The printer prints CMYK (colour) and W (white), in that order, reversing the image. This is printed on a transparent film;
- Powdered glue is applied while the paint is still wet. This powder will only stick to the paint, not the film;
- The roller goes through an oven that will cook the paint and turn the glue into a gel that is permanently attached to the image;
- Cut the film around the image;
- We place the image on top of the garment, where we apply heat and pressure with a heat press;
- We remove the film and the image is permanently attached to the garment.
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Embroidery is also an option to consider
Embroidery tends to take a back seat, but with the innovations we've introduced, we've already managed to produce quite capable productions in terms of quality
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Embroidery is mainly used on personalised caps and work uniforms, although more and more clothing brands are using our service to make embroidered shirts.
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Embroidery has very different characteristics to the rest of the decorations. They are charged by the size of the embroidery (we don't charge by the number of stitches, just by the area) and they don't like details or small text (at all). In embroidery, the larger the area, the better the work.
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This is perhaps the most difficult option for us as textile printers.
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The laser is just special
Being a new service, we couldn't leave out the laser.
We know it's a method with some limitations, but we love seeing laser cutting and applying it to garments.
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Extremely durable, after all we're engraving a fabric, I love this option for small applications on clothes and caps. It's simply unique.
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This printing option allows us to work with leather or cork and make unique works that we know will be loved by the market. We can finish with embroidery or print directly onto the garment using thermocol.
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What method do you like best for personalising clothes? Have you worked with us in the past?
