What Is Digital Shirt Printing?
Digital shirt printing is a process, which uses a modified ink jet printer to print designs directly onto shirts and other garments. Called DTG (direct-to-garment) printing in the industry, the process burst on the professional printing scene around 2004.
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Process
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DTG printing uses ink jet printing technology, and is able to print complex, multi-color designs in small quantities. Garments are loaded and stretched onto special printing platens, and sent into the machine where the print heads do their job printing digital images.
Ink
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DTG printers use different inks than screen printing, and offer a softer feel to the printed image. Although early prototypes were disappointing in colorfastness due to washing, inks are being continually improved.
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Speed
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Printers are fairly slow, moving about as fast as a normal computer printer. Multi-station machines have been developed to print a number of garments at a time.
Cost
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Average cost for a single station machine is around $10,000, with multi-station machines costing up to 10 times more. Ink cost to the printer is significantly higher per garment than screen printing, but customers are willing to pay whatever the market will bear, as expensive screen printing screens and set-up costs do not apply.
Learning Curve
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Aside from operators learning to scan and create digital graphic images, the learning curve to use the machine is minimal. Machine maintenance is largely automated, and quite similar to desktop printers.
Future
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Printers of all kinds are buying DTG printers as an add-on service, and will continue to do so as the technology becomes more accepted. Mall kiosk operators and specialty gift stores are prime customers for DTG printers.
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References
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- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Rob Lee
