DTG printing, in itsmost basic form, refers to the process of printing designs onto fabrics andgarments, most prominently, in our case, t-shirts. The technique is a modifiedform of an inkjet printer. You can print whatever kind of graphic you desire onthe shirt by making use of customized inkjet technology. Imagine it as agigantic inkjet printer, but one that prints on clothes rather than paper.
Instead of printingtedious thesis papers or brochures for your book club, our DTG machines printimages of ferocious dragons leaping through rings of blazing unicorns or, forexample, a charming bunny for your child's birthday party. Whatever you wish tohave printed, we'll do it, but fierce dragons are our favorite. The digitalprinting of cloth works in the same way as a color inkjet printer, which yourworkplace may already have. A surface is coated with the cyan, magenta, yellow,and black inks that make up the CMYK color model.
A sheet of paper mayserve as the surface of your office. T-shirts can be used as the surface of aprinting press if necessary. Direct to garment, or DTG, printers are similar tohuge inkjet printers in that they print directly on textiles, fabrics,garments, and other types of textiles. The performance is significantly higherthan that of an applied screen printing method that has been usedtraditionally.
The direct-to-garment(DTG) printing process is far less complicated than its screen printingequivalent. You are not restricted to the capabilities of a screen printer atits peak, and you are free to employ an endless number of vivid colors in yourwork to get the appearance you desire. Because of the innovative technologyused in the quick-dry application process, some colors, such as black, white,and a variety of tints in between, particularly pop out when they are used inclothes. You can think of it as a huge photo printer if that helps.
It is a specialistpiece of digital printing equipment that uses water-based inks that aredesigned to be absorbed into the fabric as rapidly as possible. The printingprocedure for direct-to-garment digital printing is extremely comparable to theprinting procedure for printing a sheet of printer paper at home or the office.When the image is printed on the shirt or garment, the final product will behigher in quality if the dpi and resolution of the image are of a higherstandard. When a digital image design is printed on a garment, the process isreferred to as DTG printing, which is also known as direct-to-garment printing.
Despite this, it doesnot rule out the possibility of using digital printing on clothing made ofpolyester or blends including polyester. Printing on stretch canvases, murals,personalized pillowcases and covers, quilts, and other things that are directlyrelated to fabric is something that some DTG printers are capable of doing.After the custom garment, such as a t-shirt, has been subjected to theappropriate pre-treatment, the shirt (or garment) is then positioned on asinker system that is intended to secure the shirt in its current position.Direct screen printing is done in layers, depending on the number of colorsthat are required, by manually forcing the ink through the screens so that thedesign can be printed on the t-shirt. This kind of printing is known as"layering."
With a print-on-demandbusiness model, it is considerably simpler to acquire direct-to-garment (DTG)t-shirt printing services without being required to personally own a machine.Because of the way the design links the garment's interwoven cotton threads,prints that are applied directly to the garment have a lifespan of many years.It is possible to discern remnants of the pretreatment that was applied aroundthe image that was printed on the completed product, particularly on clothesthat are light blue, light pink, gray, or neon. Another aspect to consider isthat in contrast to screen printing, which requires a minimum order quantityfor each garment, this method only permits the printing of a single item at atime.
Because the inks usedin garment screen printing are thick, the printed designs are not absorbed intothe fabric; rather, they are deposited directly on the surface of the material.
The digital printingprocess on cloth operates exactly like a color inkjet printer, which yourworkplace may already have. A surface is coated with cyan, magenta, yellow, andblack ink, which is abbreviated as CMYK. A sheet of paper may serve as thesurface of your office. A t-shirt may serve as the surface in a print shop.
Likely, you can'tprint on black paper in your office because the ink won't show up on thesurface. Because black t-shirts have a white under base, they can be printed ina print shop even with digital printing thanks to the under base. To ensurethat the white under base ink successfully adheres to the fabric of the t-shirtduring the digital printing process, the tees go through an additional phase inthe process known as pre-treat.
When digital printingis done on dark clothes, a primer called pre-treat is utilized. This primer isnon-toxic. The use of pre-treat assists in the bonding of the white under baseink to the fibers of the garment. The direct-to-garment (DTG) white underbaseink won't attach to the t-shirt unless you pre-treat it first. In the examplethat was presented, the print on the top has been pre-treated, while the printon the bottom has not.
The shirt is sprayedwith a pre-treatment and then put through a heat press to generate an evensmoother surface for printing on. Around the printed image on the finishedproduct, traces of the pre-treatment may be evident, particularly when thegarments are light blue, light pink, grey, or neon. In most cases, thesevisible traces disappear after the first wash; however, if you plan on printingon these colors, you should be sure to consult with your decorator first. It isadvisable to place an order for a pre-production sample to ensure that yourclient will not be taken aback by the product's quality when they get theirpurchase. Your decorator can also assist you in developing an alternativeoption that might produce superior results when printed.
For direct-to-garmentprinting, high-resolution files and vector graphics are both acceptable formsof artwork. You can transmit the artwork to us in the same way that you wouldfor screen printing or embroidery. It is recommended that raster pictures bemade at a resolution of at least 150 dpi and, if at all possible, up to 300dpi. If you are providing vector graphics, you must ensure that linked files orembedded copies of the vector graphics are included on your page. Make outlinesout of all of the fonts.
When printing directlyonto garments, unlike with screen printing, it is not possible to match colors usingPantone or any other system. When printing directly onto the garment, there isno room for color corrections or other minor alterations.
When customers placeorders, they frequently request t-shirts in a variety of styles and sizes,including unisex, ladies, and youth styles. When transferred to an adult largeshirt, a print that was designed specifically for a youth small shirt mayappear overly small. Because volume pricing is based on a single setup, youneed to have an accurate estimate of the number of setups required to producean order that will satisfy the aesthetic expectations of your customer.
To assist you withthis, we have developed a download. The download comes with a quick referencethat you can give to your customer. Your customer and you can determinetogether how many various print sizes they wish to utilize based on the overallappearance and the available money.