The Screen Print Column


Why DTF isn’t killing screen printing (it’s actually saving it)


With DTF taking over the industry at an increasing rate, some people may think that screen printing may be on the way out. Dave Roper, owner of Screen Print World, begs to differ and, in this column, goes on to explain how both are possibly a match made in heaven.


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pend five minutes on any print forum, and you’ll find the same panicked question doing the rounds like a bad smell from the washout booth: Is DTF about to


kill screen printing?


Spoiler alert: it isn’t. Screen printing is absolutely fine. In fact, it’s never been better. DTF hasn’t come to bury screen printing – it’s come to do the jobs screen printing never really wanted anyway.


The craft still reigns supreme


Let’s be clear about something. When the job is big, bold, and involves running the same design 500 times before lunch, nothing on earth touches screen printing.


Once a press is dialled in, it becomes an unstoppable production machine – churning out print after perfect print with a consistency and cost-per-unit that would make a digital printer weep quietly into its ink cartridge.


And then there’s the magic. Screen printing isn’t just about getting ink onto fabric – it’s about what that ink Does. Raised puff prints that you can feel. Metallic finishes that catch the light. Soft water-based inks that breathe like a dream. For brands that treat Pantone numbers like sacred scripture, nothing beats hand-mixed ink for colour accuracy.


For volume, texture, and sheer control? Screen printing remains completely, gloriously untouchable.


M&R Quatro DTF transfer printing system


Enter DTF: The problem solver nobody asked for (but everyone needed)


If screen printing is the backbone of the industry, DTF is the brilliant colleague who quietly handles all the awkward jobs you’d rather not deal with.


Small runs, for example, have always been the industry’s guilty little headache. A dozen hoodies with a seven-colour photorealistic design? Setting up screens for that is the print equivalent of using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. DTF just... does it. Print, press, peel, done. Off you go. Then there are the properly awkward requests – printing on sleeves, beanies, nylon, polyester blends, and other fabrics that traditionally made print shop owners go a bit pale. Jobs that used to mean apologetic phone calls and turned-away revenue. With DTF, they become Tuesday afternoon.


The rise of the hybrid shop


Here’s where it gets interesting. The sharpest print businesses aren’t picking sides in this entirely unnecessary war – they’re doing both, and cleaning up as a result.


Picture this: A client wants 1,000 T shirts with a simple one-colour logo – perfect for the screen press, fast and


www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk


economical. The same client also wants 12 personalised full-colour hoodies for the senior team, who presumably feel they deserve something special. Rather than holding up the entire press run or farming it out, DTF handles the small job while the press keeps hammering through the big one. Maximum uptime. Zero bottlenecks. Very happy accountant.


A more profitable future


DTF isn’t replacing screen printing. It’s doing the jobs screen printing never particularly enjoyed, freeing up the press to do what it was born for – high-volume, high-quality, premium production at scale.


The result is a print shop that can say yes to almost anything, waste less time on awkward setups, and make considerably more money in the process.


In an industry that never stops evolving, the winners won’t be the ones defending their equipment like it’s a medieval castle. They’ll be the ones smart enough to pick up every tool available and use them together.


Because sometimes the best way to protect a craft isn’t to resist change. It’s to make change work for you.


June 2026 | 47 |


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