Direct-to-garment printing (DTG) is a process of printing on textiles using specialized aqueous ink jet technology. DTG printers typically have a platen designed to hold the garment in a fixed position, and the printer inks are jetted or sprayed onto the textile by the print head.

DTG typically requires that the garment be pre-treated with a PTM or Pre-treatment machine allowing for the following:

• Stronger bond between garment fibers and the pigmented inks

• Lays down loose fibers to provide for a smoother substrate

• Chemically reacts with the inks to promote drying and curing

Since this is a digital process the print is sharper and has a higher resolution, or DPI, than traditional printing methods such as screen printing. However, unlike screen printing, there is no long setup or clean-up process, and DTG has the ability to print just one single shirt for minimal cost

WHY CHOOSE HXD DTG

With DTG, the entire design is printed in one go. And since DTG doesn’t have a color count, there’s no extra setup time to start printing, so your order gets fulfilled as soon as the print file comes through.

​

This printing model gives you the freedom to introduce new designs or enter new markets without losing any money. If the product doesn’t sell, you can discontinue or replace it. 

EXAMPLES

With DTG printing, there’s zero set-up time. Methods such as screen printing require individual screens to be created for each color. That alone could take over an hour, and we haven’t even gotten to the printing part yet! With DTG, we get to skip that pesky step and get straight to the fun stuff.

​

As mentioned above, with DTG, the entire design is printed on your shirt in one single pass, no matter the amount of colors involved. With methods like screen printing, a separate pass and screen is required for each individual color. As every screen needs to be individually created and set-up, that adds to the time, and the cost.

​

Though the results of screen printing are stellar for shirts with a limited color palette, that makes designs with lots of of colors at best pricey, and at worst virtually impossible.

​

The biggest joy of DTG printing is how it allows for printing as soon as the graphic has been submitted. Though the literal printing of each DTG shirt usually does take longer than a screen printed shirt—as it’s literally printing out a detailed, full-colored image rather than a series of very large brush strokes—skipping the set-up makes turnaround more or less immediate.