What is screen printing and how does it work?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\nScreen printing is a printing method where ink is pushed through a woven screen (also called mesh stencil) onto fabric. The ink doesn\u2019t soak into the fabric, but lays on top of the product.<\/p>\n
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With screen printing, a special screen has to be made for each element of your design. Once that\u2019s done, the colors and elements of the design are applied layer by layer onto the garment. The more layers your design has, the longer it\u2019ll take to print it and the thicker the design will feel on the product.<\/p>\n
The long setup time is why screen printing is primarily used to print items in bulk. It\u2019s not cost-effective to print only a t-shirt or two if it\u2019s taken hours to create the stencils for your design.<\/p>\n
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What type of designs work best with screen printing?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\nScreen printing works best for solid graphics without small details. This basic typography, geometric designs, symbols, and shapes. That\u2019s because making stencils for intricate designs is time-consuming and it\u2019s difficult to get the details right during the printing process.<\/p>\n
Since each color is applied separately, screen printing is also mostly used for designs with few colors. Print providers often limit how many colors you can have in your design, and usually no more than 9 are allowed.<\/p>\n
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Is screen printing eco-friendly?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\nAs a store owner, you should also be aware of how your business affects the environment. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to take into account the sustainability of each printing method.<\/p>\n
Sellers who use screen printing usually order in bulk and then send out the items as the orders come in. That\u2019s why there\u2019s a chance of overproduction, which is one of the main problems the\u00a0sustainable fashion movement\u00a0is tackling.<\/p>\n
If the products you screen-printed don\u2019t get sold, they might end up in landfills or get burned, contributing to pollution.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, screen printing uses a lot of water and it\u2019s often done with isolation\u00a0inks that don\u2019t biodegrade.<\/p>\n
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Is screen printing the right choice for your business?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\nScreen printing can be cost-effective for designs with simple graphics (ideally with only a couple of colors), but it requires upfront investments. Most third-party print services have order minimums that can be anywhere from 5 to 100 items.<\/p>\n
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The final price of your screen printing bulk order is based on the number of colors in your designs and the screens needed to print it. So screen printing can be financially challenging if you\u2019re just starting out or want to experiment with designs.<\/p>\n
Ordering in bulk also means you\u2019ll have to figure out where to store the printed garments if you don\u2019t want to have piles of clothing laying around your home or office. This limits how many designs you can offer on your store because each design will have to be printed in bulk.<\/p>\n
Also consider whether you\u2019ll be able to sell all items that get printed, so you wouldn\u2019t contribute to textile waste. This can be difficult to predict for new business owners who don\u2019t yet have an established customer base.<\/p>\n
Some printing services will ask you to submit print files separated into layers of each color. They might ask you the color codes for inks they should use to print your design. So if you\u2019re looking for an \u201cupload your design and forget about the rest\u201d type of experience, screen printing isn\u2019t the right choice for you.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/b><\/strong>What is direct-to-garment printing and how does it work?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\nDirect-to-garment, or DTG, is a printing method that sprays the ink onto the garment. The ink then soaks into the fibers of the garment. It\u2019s like printing on paper, but on clothing.<\/p>\n
The main advantage of DTG is that it\u2019s easy to print one-offs because there\u2019s almost no setup time. And the price of dtg printer is cheap a lot.<\/p>\n
With DTG, you can print customized logos\u00a0if that\u2019s what your customer requires.<\/p>\n
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What type of designs work best with DTG?<\/p>\n
DTG printers offer a lot of color options which means you can print detailed designs and photo-realistic\u00a0images with almost no color limitations. This is important for those businesses that want to try out various colors and designs.<\/p>\n
The thing to avoid with DTG is transparencies. Elements that are less than 100% opaque don\u2019t translate well in DTG printing\u2014printers will attempt to make up the missing color by spreading the ink, causing the fabric to have a lot of gaps. That\u2019s why it\u2019s best to use solid colors or fake\u00a0semi-transparency by half-toning.<\/p>\n
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Other than that, you can work with detailed designs and color patterns as much as you wish. For best results, we suggest creating graphic\u2014it matches DTG\u00a0 printer color possibilities the best.<\/p>\n
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Is DTG printing eco-friendly?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\nDTG is a\u00a0more sustainable fashion business model\u00a0than screen printing. Mainly because printing one-offs allows businesses to avoid overproduction and textile waste. With 92 million tons of textile going to waste in the fashion industry each year, a business model like this is a game-changer.<\/p>\n
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Is DTG printing the right choice for your business?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\nDirect-to-garment printing is a hassle-free way to get the products ready for your customers.<\/p>\n
With DTG, the entire design is printed in one go. And since DTG doesn\u2019t have a color count, there\u2019s no extra setup time to start printing, so your order gets fulfilled as soon as the\u00a0print file\u00a0comes through.<\/p>\n
This printing model gives you the freedom to introduce new designs or enter new markets without losing any money. If the product doesn\u2019t sell, you can discontinue or replace it.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s better: DTG or screen printing?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\nDTG and screen printing yield fine quality prints, but they differ in method and cost. DTG uses a printer to spray the ink into a garment, while screen printing layers the ink on top of the fabric. Most importantly, DTG enables order fulfillment on-demand with no upfront cost, while screen printed products are ordered in bulk.<\/p>\n
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Choose your printing method wisely<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\nWhether you want to create and scale your apparel business using DTG or screen printing is completely up to you. Before you make your final decision, consider:<\/p>\n
your brand image<\/p>\n
the complexity of your designs<\/p>\n
your product quantity needs<\/p>\n
your willingness to invest in the stock upfront<\/p>\n
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If you\u2019re looking for the easy way to successfully grow your business, \u00a0DTG\u00a0printer\u00a0is your best bet. With this printing method, it\u2019s easy to introduce new designs to your store risk-free, and you don\u2019t have to worry about keeping stock.<\/p>\n
Using DTG printer\u00a0gives you more time to experiment with your product offering and marketing, which\u00a0you can bring out the eco-friendly qualities of DTG printing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI just want my t-shirts printed!\u201d You\u2019ve probably heard this from someone starting their own t-shirt store. Perhaps you\u2019ve even said it yourself. The buzz you get from envisioning a design idea can wear off quickly once you\u2019re faced with the more technical questions, the first one being\u2014which apparel printing method should I choose? There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[26,27],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wer-china.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wer-china.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wer-china.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wer-china.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wer-china.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1131"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.wer-china.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1335,"href":"https:\/\/www.wer-china.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131\/revisions\/1335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wer-china.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wer-china.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wer-china.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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