In Detail: DTG/Direct to Garment (with Pics)

Depending on the garment you select when you create a new item, you may see multiple available printing methods.

Let's talk about one of the most popular printing methods for print-on-demand: Direct to Garment (DTG).

Example of T-shirt printed with DTG

Direct to Garment (DTG) Basics

Like its name says, DTG allows us to print the image directly on a piece of garment. As this method has no minimum quantity, it's perfect for printing just 1 T-shirt!

In the DTG printing process, we first spray a layer of liquid pretreat on the shirt (Pretreat is a primer that lets the ink bind permanently to the shirt's cotton fibers). Then, we dry the pretreat with an industrial heat press - this also flattens the shirt's surface to make it easier to print.

The shirt is loaded onto the printing platen and the print operator starts the machine. White underbase ink is sprayed onto the shirt, CMYK ink is sprayed on top to render the image.

The printed shirt is then loaded onto a conveyor dryer and heated to cure the image permanently on the shirt.

The shirt is then folded, packed, and shipped to your customer!

DTG Pros and Cons

Direct to Garment printing is perfect for all types of graphics - color photographs, logos, and digitally drawn images can all be printed at high quality, with sharp fine lines and vibrant colors. It works for white, black and color tees.

Examples of DTG-printed tees. Artists: Snouleaf, Hillary White and Edu Ely.

DTG is compatible with images with thin, fine lines, as well as soft edges (i.e. gradient to transparency, such as fades, drop shadows, and glows).

Fine lines, fades, glows, splatter and smoke effects printed with DTG. Artists (from top left): byhqartwork, Area31Studios, Shawn Porter, and edsonramos.

DTG have two printing sizes: standard DTG at 12 inches wide by 16 inches tall and DTG jumbo at 15 inches wide by 18 inches tall.

Standard DTG and DTG jumbo. Artist: kg07

DTG does have a limitation: it can only be used to print on 100% cotton T-shirts.

When washed and dried as instructed, DTG printed tees can last a long time. But, as DTG is a surface print, washing the shirt with harsh detergents (such as high efficiency detergents, those with added enzymes or peroxide like OxiClean) can lead to the degradations of the image.