DTG Printing: The Future of The Post-Pandemic Custom Apparel Industry
The pandemic has changed everything from our habits, lifestyle, social behavior, to the way of doing business. From the number of businesses it affected, print is one among them and a lot has been changed in it post-pandemic. Let’s understand whether it is a good change or bad?
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The Post-Pandemic Print Industry
Like every other industry, print too was affected a lot due to the deadly virus hovering upon us. Lockdowns, curfews, and other restrictions brought down the print market undoubtedly but hopefully, it is recovering gradually and is back into the business. With the change in the way of life, many things connected to it also changed. For example, due to social distancing, weddings and other events became virtual, education switched from offline to online, online shopping topped the markets, etc. So, the need for print came down due to the change in people’s behavior but due to digital printing, the industry survived and is on the pathway to boom further.
Is DTG the Future of the Printing Industry?
DTG means Direct-to-Garment Printing is one of the fastest-growing areas of the print industry. With the sky-rocketing rise in the demand for personalized garments, the sales of DTG equipment were in good numbers prior to Covid-19. Although temporary closures, reduced mobility, economic uncertainty, the need for diversification, and the web development of new business areas have changed consumer behaviour, the direct to garment print industry is still one of the driving forces of the textile industry after the pandemic. So, it can be said that DTG is definitely going to become the future of the printing industry due to its rising demand.
How Does The DTG Printing Process Work?
One can easily guess from the name that Direct-to-Garment, also sometimes called digital garment printing, digital apparel printing, and inkjet to garment printing is a printing technique where the ink is applied directly to the fabric. A special kind of printer is used in DTG as water-based ink is directly applied to the fabric and also 100% cotton fabrics can only be printed as only cotton fibers can absorb the ink very well. Now, let’s see the step-by-step process of DTG printing.
Step 1: Create your customized design digitally
Step 2: The completed design is sent to the DTG machine where the print driver instructs the machine on what to print and how.
Step 3: The fabric is prepared to be printed by spraying a pre-treatment liquid, which helps the ink bond with the fibers for increased vibrancy.
Step 4: The garment is left to dry under a heat press set to 330 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20-30 seconds or until the fabric is completely dry.
Step 5: The garment is loaded into the printer carefully, flat without a single wrinkle as that could ruin the design, and locked into place with a hoop.
Step 6: An ‘underbase” of white ink is laid down first on darker garments or otherwise is printed directly.
Step 7: The printed garment is dried or ‘cured’ to help the ink set, best done with a heat press, placing silicon paper between the garment and the press and leaving it for 90 seconds.
Step 8: The garment is washed and ready to wear.
Why is DTG so in Demand?
Unlike screen printing, DTG eliminates the pesky part of the printing and gets straight to the fun stuff. There’s zero setup time and no preparation is required to be done every time. Need more reasons? Well, here they are.
It’s quick, cost-effective, and time-saving
DTG printing is the quickest form of printing as the entire design is printed in one single pass, no matter the amount and number of colors involved. Whereas in screen printing a separate pass and screen are required for each individual color and each screen is required to be created and set up individually which takes up a lot of time and adds to the cost. Hence, DTG is in demand because of its no setup process, lower cost of production, and shorter and faster workflow.
Its versatile, long-lasting, and affordable
DTG printing is versatile because it offers a wide range of options that allow printing on garments that are difficult to print with other systems such as zipped garments, trainers, sleeves, etc. It can easily print almost any image regardless of its complexity. The prints of DTG are long-lasting, vibrant, full-color designs, as they capture intricate details of the image which are difficult to do with screen printing. Hence, due to its versatility, DTG is ideal for print businesses branching into new applications and offerings, including small businesses or start-ups looking to more easily create a broad range of products at an affordable price.
Gives high-quality output and high ROI
The quality of the output one gets from DTG printing speaks for itself. Its print brings life to the design you upload on the print driver giving out high-quality, durable, eye-catchy prints. Direct-to-garment printing technology is creating headlines for its ease of use, low-cost investment, and the ability to create full-color artwork and all these features are enough to drive ROI.
Allows personalization and customization
The only thing customers today look for in any business is customization or personalization. The trend of personalized products hit the market so high that it is showing no signs of coming down. Hence, DTG proves to be the most versatile printing process where one can easily get their customized or personalized apparel printed in no time.
How can online apparel design software can help?
Personalization and customization can now be done by the customers themselves all due to innovative technology like apparel design software. Such product design software allows customers to customize their product as they want in terms of color, design, pattern, print, size, material, etc. With no design experience or technical assistant, anyone can upload products and designate specific design areas that can be personalized using a visual editor, manage a library of clipart and fonts, and offer pre-designed artwork templates, all because of the apparel design software.
For example, for an online printed t-shirt business, one has to simply implement the t-shirt design tool on their store and then simply cater to multiple needs of the decorated apparel industry. Using the t-shirt design tool, a customer will be then able to decorate their t-shirt with fonts, color, and outline, apply text shapes: curve, arch, bridge, bulge, pinch, bird’s eye, wave, etc., upload photos from desktop, Instagram, Picasa, and Flickr, attach source files for printing with each image upload, check the health of the image on the monitor to get the acceptable resolution, add name and/or number to appear on the front or the back of the garments, apply the same design and mention names/numbers with size for all individual team players, bulk order in one go with consistent design, etc.
FAQs
Does DTG printing provide good quality output?
Yes, DTG printing produces the best quality products for their customers compared to other printing methods.
Is DTG printing better than screen printing?
Yes, in terms of cost, time, print quality, durability, versatility, DTG printing is much better than screen printing.
What are the cons of DTG printing?
DTG isn’t well-suited for large quantities because each t-shirt takes minutes to print and hence production costs can add up. Moreover, although DTG works best on garments that are more than 50% cotton such as polyester, 100% cotton garments are advised for the best results from DTG printing.
How long does DTG printing last?
The print quality of DTG is outstanding and is meant to last long even after multiple washes.
Conclusion All the latest digital printing techniques give satisfactory results depending upon how and for what it is used. Yet, DTG is skyrocketing due to its lightning-fast and badass way of printing method. So, if you too are planning to step into the printing world, approaching a web-to-print designer company should be your first step to make the beginning right for a successful future ahead.