DTG or Flex - Which Method Should You Choose?

T-shirts printed with different printing techniques have different look and feel, so which one should you choose?

Here's a handy guide on how to choose between DTG and Flex Digital Print:

Printing on garments with a high amount of synthetic fibers (such as polyester and rayon): Flex Digital Print

DTG ink does not bind well to synthetic fibers, so DTG is not a suitable method to print for this type of garments.

Some print shops use DTG to print on garments with high amounts of polyester (such as 50/50 cotton/polyester) but the printed image will have colors that look dull/muted/washed out. The image will also be prone to degradation in the wash.

Special print locations: Flex Digital Print

Flex can be printed on the standard front and back printing locations, short and long sleeves, pants legs, as well as special positions such as bottom-aligned print, over-the-seam print, etc. Please email us about printing on special print positions.

DTG can only be used to print the standard front and back printing locations.

Custom inside neck tag: Flex Digital Print

We print full-color, custom-printed inside neck labels with Flex Digital Print on garments that support it. This is most garments, with a few exceptions (for example, Comfort Colors 1717 and Shaka Wear do not have removable manufacturer's neck tags so we do not print inside neck tags on these garments. Fleece garments such as sweatshirts and hoodies have a fuzzy inner lining, which is not printable so we also do not print inside neck labels on these items).

Because of the printing workflow, we do not mix DTG and Flex so we do not print the front printed with DTG and then have the neck tag printed with Flex.

Hats and Caps: Flex Digital Print

Jumbo-size prints: DTG and Flex Digital Print

Both DTG and Flex Digital Print can print jumbo-size images.

The standard print size for DTG and Flex are 12x16 and 11x16 inches, respectively. The jumbo prints for DTG and Flex are 15x18 and 15x19, respectively.

Some garments, such as ladies slim fit tees and youth T-shirts, are too narrow for jumbo prints.

Soft hand feel of the printed image: DTG.

Flex has thicker ink, which gives the printed image very vibrant colors and solid, opaque ink coverage (meaning that you won't see the underlying shirt color through the print). But on the flip side, this makes Flex prints thicker and have a heavier/stiffer hand feel.

DTG prints have a softer hand feel because of its thinner ink, but sometimes you can see the underlying shirt color.

Please note that the printed image can feel heavy or stiff if you have a large solid block of ink (especially with Flex, but even with DTG). It's best if you can incorporate empty/negative space in the design itself to "break up" large areas of solid ink.

Zero hand feel of the printed image: DTG on white tee.

If you want the printed image to have absolutely no hand feel (i.e. zero hand feel), then the only way to achieve this is to print it with DTG on a white tee. Here, DTG on a white tee uses only CMYK ink which is absorbed into the fabric's fibers so you can't feel the print on the surface of the shirt at all.