Guide to printing on garments

Fabric printing is now a core part of the modern fashion, retail and promotional supply chain in the UK. Whether it’s local designers, big brands, personalised celebrity merchandising, sports teams or school uniforms, the possibilities for digital printing on fabric are endless.

The range of high-quality fabric printers on offer has transformed the economics and creative freedom possible for many small to mid-sized businesses. It has also made high quality fabric printing more accessible and affordable for everyone from start-ups to established studios.

Epson has led innovation in textile printing for over a decade. Our fabric printers are widely used across commercial print studios, fashion production spaces, garment automation workflows and specialised textile prototyping labs. Our printers support personalisation, customisation and sampling, with accuracy, efficiency and workflow automation options.

This guide will take you through the two most common methods of printing on fabric today, the differences between them, what to consider when choosing a fabric printer, and specific best practice considerations when deciding which approach to scale with.

Fabric printing methods explained

There are two main fabric printing methods used commercially today, each of them suited to a specific range of fabrics, run lengths and production models.

Direct-to-garment (DTG)

The direct-to-garment (DTG) method prints directly onto ready-made garments, typically made of cotton, using industrial inkjet printheads and textile-specific inks.

DTG excels at highly detailed artwork, complex multi-colour prints, photographic level detail, gradients, shadows, skin tones, small text, illustrator style artwork, and single unit production.

There are no screens, no plates, no screen prep, which means it is extremely efficient for on-demand fulfilment, one-off orders, ecommerce, limited edition drops and creator integrations. Find out more about direct-to-garment printing.

Direct-to-film (DTFilm)

The direct-to-film (DTFilm) method involves printing a design onto a specialised film, applying and heat-curing an adhesive powder, and then transferring the design to the fabric using heat and pressure.

DTFilm is ideally suited to polyester, nylon, denim, leather, cotton blends and more, offering a much broader material flexibility than DTG.

This is particularly useful for promotional products, workwear, hybrid fibres, accessories, caps, bags, and logo placement on hard to position garment areas. Find out more about direct-to-film printing.

When to choose DTG vs DTFilm

Direct-to-garment printing is best for readymade cotton garments, ultra soft hand feel, photographic detail and high colour accuracy for premium retail apparel.

Direct-to-film is the better option where fabric variety matters, including promotional products, hard shell structured garments, workwear, activewear blends and hybrid fabrics.

Many garment producers now operate both methods, utilising a DTG method for mainline collections, and opting for DTFilm printing solutions for outputs such as logo placement and fabrics that would otherwise require compromise on their design.

Workflow considerations when scaling your fabric printing

• Automate artwork pre-flighting where possible
• Standardise garment quality inputs to reduce colour correction cycles
• Use consistent colour management workflows across production devices
• Reduce SKUs with overlapping substrates and consolidate where possible
• Track margin per SKU, per fabric class and per print method
• Optimise your waste reduction wherever possible

FAQs

How long do DTFilm prints last?

Direct-to-film prints can last as long as the garments themselves. Exactly how long the DTF prints last will depends on a range of factors, including the type of film and powder, as well as how well the garment is cared for.

Is DTG printing durable?

Direct-to-garment printing produces long lasting durable prints for both clothing and accessories. The durability of a DTG print will depend on a number of factors, including the quality of the garment, the pre-treatment method and how well the clothing is maintained. UltraChrome DG inks, combined with pre-treatment offer a 40c wash durability.

Does DTG printing crack?

DTG prints do not crack or peel because of their direct application to the garment.

The cracking of prints would usually occur with other methods of printing when it is exposed to harsh sunlight or washed at a high temperature.

What’s better, DTG or screen printing?

DTG printing is made more for detailed, rich and multicoloured designs, that can be produced as a one off or batch production. Screen printing is only suitable for high volume production due to the lengthy setup process.

While traditional screen printing still has a role for extremely high run quantities, the modern UK apparel and print-on-demand sector is now dominated by digital. Printing on material fabric digitally allows you to print one unit profitably, avoid plate set up time, reduce waste, run more SKUs, and adapt artwork frequently. It also provides a faster route to prototype, sample, validation and scale.

Can DTG print on polyester?

Yes, DTG printing can be applied to polyester clothing that has been treated with a special polyester pre-treatment. Still, for the best results printing on polyester, use direct-to-film.

What’s the difference between DTFilm and DTG printing?

The direct-to-film printing process involves printing artwork onto a film, before applying and curing powder. Finally, the printed film and cured powder are heat pressed onto the garment.

Direct-to-garment printing requires a pre-treatment to be applied to the garment, before printing directly onto it. The final stage is curing the inks using heat.

Direct-to-film will have a raised hand feel compared to DTG but can be applied to almost any type of fabric, whereas direct-to-garment is best utilised on cotton.

Direct-to-film is an excellent technique to apply small logos on areas that could be difficult for DTG. It is possible to nest many designs onto a direct-to-film sheet for batch production.

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