T-shirt printing has seen a lot of changes throughout the years. From the more traditional methods of silk screen printing or hand painting to more modern methods like heat transfer and direct to garment printing, transferring designs to shirts have become faster and easier.
More modern printing methods such as digital direct to garment digital printing allows for more detailed prints on shirts. Compared to traditional methods, digital printing offers more dimension and a faster pace of achieving the finished products. Because of this, digital printing is the ideal solution for mass-produced shirt prints. It is an efficient method of achieving uniform results for t-shirt printing needs.
Tools Used for Direct to Garment Printing
You can think of direct to garment thinking as the usual kind of printing you see when you print documents. The difference is that instead of using usual printers and paper, the direct to garment digital printing process makes use of a special inkjet technology. The inks used in the printers are inkjet textile inks, which are then printed straight to the garment to be absorbed by the fabric.
The printer will print out the design and copy it exactly as it looks like on the computer screen. Since the inkjet textile inks are made particularly for clothes, the fibers on the shirt will absorb it while being able to retain the design that it is intended to have. Using the printer with some specialized software to achieve detailed effects such as ink layering and proper utilization of ink makes the process of direct to garment prints even more efficient.
Advantage of Direct to Garment Printing
Since direct to garment printing makes use of modern printers and digital designs, there is more detail to be seen on the finished products compared to when screen printing is used. Printing directly on the garment using printers also allows people to print on other items like banners, fabric posters, bags, and other items which have fabric surfaces.
Because it uses printers and software, you can expect the turnaround to be much faster compared to when using more traditional methods. Because of this, bulk orders and printing the same design over and over with the same consistency is made easier. Direct to garment prints also tend to last longer than heat transfer prints since the inks are absorbed into the fibers rather than being carried on transfer paper which is what happens when using the heat transfer method.
Although direct to garment digital printing is great for bulk orders, it is also a friendly solution for those who need just a few shirts printed on. The printers used for this shirt printing process can be programmed to print even just a single shirt and the need for ordering in bulk won’t be necessary especially when you deal with a t-shirt printing service provider who does not have minimum orders. With the quality that this kind of printing has, more and more people are appreciating customized t-shirt prints.
Have you ever had a customized shirt printed out for you? We’d love to hear your experiences in our comments section. Sound off below!