You’ve probably heard this from someone starting their own t-shirt store. Perhaps you’ve even said it yourself.
The buzz you get from envisioning a design idea can wear off quickly once you’re faced with the more technical questions, the first one being—which apparel printing method should I choose?
There are quite a few options out there, but the two most popular are direct-to-garment (also known as DTG printing) and screen printing. Choosing the right one for your online business can be the first building block that leads to satisfied customers, saving costs, and being able to scale your business as it grows.
With so much at stake, it’s important to research your printing options by asking questions about the methods, such as:
- Will my design work with it?
- How cost-effective is it?
- Is it eco-friendly?
In this article, we’ll look into the differences between DTG and screen printing, the designs they work best with, and how sustainable each technique is.
What is screen printing and how does it work?
Screen printing is a printing method where ink is pushed through a woven screen (also called mesh stencil) onto fabric. The ink doesn’t soak into the fabric, but lays on top of the product.
With screen printing, a special screen has to be made for each element of your design. Once that’s done, the colors and elements of the design are applied layer by layer onto the garment. The more layers your design has, the longer it’ll take to print it and the thicker the design will feel on the product.
