Originally it was best suited for light garments as white ink was not available. As the technology continues to advance, however, major DTG printing providers are adding dark garments to their lists.
Since the technology is relatively new it is more likely that small to medium-sized businesses will be able to incorporate a DTG printer into their operation as they are quite expensive. To give you an idea, I was at a trade show in Atlantic City marveling at a DTG printer in the process of printing a t-shirt when I was told the machine would cost upwards of US$10, 000. For me, the discussion stopped right there…
Long story short, DTG printing is not for everyone-at least not at this point. It suffers from mixed reviews. Determining if its right for your business will depend on your own judgement and research. How “good” or “bad” it is seems to vary depending on the type of business, its client base, and individual experiences. It is important to remember, however, that it is a relatively new technology and once perfected could change the lives of many a t-shirt printer due to its flexibility.
Here is an exert from an article on www. impressionsmag. com by Mark Collins in which he pits DTG printing against Sublimation ink printing (a heat transfer process):
The DTG Process
…Direct-to-garment (DTG), also known as inkjet-to-garment printing, involves using a printer to print ink directly onto a cotton garment and curing the ink with a heat press. There is very little set-up time, which usually involves little more than sizing the image correctly in Adobe Photoshop or CorelDraw. There is one limitation — I can print only light shirts via DTG because I have not yet found a printer with a “white ink solution” to inkjet print on darks that I think could work in my production environment.
Since my shop prints about 275 to 350 shirts a day using DTG, I shopped for a printer that could produce that volume without much maintenance or down time. I chose the Brother GT-541 and have found it to be a reliable and fast four-color (CMYK) printer that works for my needs.
I looked at printers with 8-color printheads that can produce a larger color gamut and finer detail, but the speed was more important to me.
Inkjet printing directly to a shirt obviously cannot yield the same image quality as inkjet printing to paper — just as printing on copy paper can’t compare to printing on high-quality photo paper. The substrate dictates the limits of your image quality.
Knowing that, I shop for blank garments that are closer to “photo” paper than “copy” paper. I look for thread count and a fine, dense weave that will provide a better print surface. I avoid garments with too much fluff, or pile, because that inhibits the inkjet process. Ring-spun cotton is softer and more expensive, but that soft hand comes from all the tiny fibers that stick up off the fabric.
These tiny fibers block some of the sprayed ink from making a solid bond with the shirt and little bits of the image wash away as the fibers wear off. These tiny fibers also can lift up immediately after being printed, exposing areas that did not get full ink absorption. Avoid both problems by using shirts woven from open-ended yarn, or yarn that is card spun.
How digital printing works
Put simply, DTG printers are bigger versions of your desktop inkjet printer (with specially tested water based inks) but instead of taking paper, they can take t-shirts, or other garments, as the print media.
The inks contain a ‘fusing agent’, so when the design has been printed and heat pressed on the garments, the ‘fusing agent’ enables the inks to permanently adhere to the fibres of the fabric. The outcome is a high quality, vibrant coloured print that is extremely durable and long lasting. So if you are worried about instant fading of your design, fear no more, as the inks have been developed and vigorously tested to prevent such problems occurring.
Manufacturers vary in the number and colours of ink carried, but the best machines will carry CMYK inks as well as a white ink. The white is important because it allows the design to be printed onto black or dark garments.
Artwork is sent to the printer via a USB cable, the t-shirt goes into the machine, the print heads move left and right and in under a minute the t-shirt comes out again with a bright, vibrant, soft to feel print.
Are digital prints durable?
DTG prints will suffer from fatigue quicker than screen printed garments though the technology has come a long way in recent years. Digital prints are fully wash and colour fast to 40ºc in all popular washing products, can be dry cleaned and even tumble dried at low temperature.
What artwork can be used with digital printers?
We can use most file formats e. g. jpgs,.eps,.pdf,.ai,.png etc and therefore doesn’t require vector based programs that are essential for other forms of printing, However, the quality of the image produced is directly related to the quality of the image supplied. In other words, the higher the quality of the image, the better the print result will be. If you have a poor quality image it will print out the poor image. So ensure the quality of the artwork in terms of resolution is high!
What Can You Make?
There is no shortage of things you can print on!
Although these printers are made for garment decoration, you can print a number of other items.
T-Shirts, polo shirts, golf shirts, aprons, pillows, towels, mouse pads, bags, bibs, sweatshirts, hoodies, shorts, jeans, blankets, and more!
As long as the material is Cotton, Poly-cotton, or cotton-blends, these Direct-to-Garment Printers will add a personal touch and professional look to any item.
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