The Print Column DTG or transfer printing?
This month Amaya Sales UK’s managing director, Peter Wright, explores the differences and similarities between direct to garment printing and transfer printing.
I
am often asked whether DTG or transfer printing is the best process for printing on to garments such as T shirts, polos hoodies etc. Well, there is no straight answer to this question, both processes have a place in the market, and it depends on many variables, the feel and quality of print you want to achieve, your target market, what money you have for capital investment verses how much each print cost, the speed of production you are looking to achieve and more. Letʼs look at each process in a bit more detail.
Transfer printing
So where did it all begin? Heat transfer printing has been around for over 30 years but it was kick-started in the late 80s early 90s when copy shops and stationers, like Kall Kwik, Prontaprint etc popped up on our high streets everywhere.
These businesses having made a big investment into colour and black and white copiers were looking for another revenue stream other than business stationery. For a small additional investment, they could purchase a heat press and a pack of transfer paper, a few T shirts and offer a cheap solution for promotional one off type events. At this time transfer papers were only good on white coloured garments, had a very low wash threshold and were definitely low end of the market.
Through the 90s further development of the colour copiers and laser printers meant that the demand for transfer paper grew massively, meaning further development to improve the papers was necessary in terms of production, usability and durability. These improvements meant that transfer printing was fast becoming a process favoured by businesses in the personalised gift market and promotional printing, alongside other the more conventional printing methods like screen print. However, laser transfer printing at this stage was still restricted to white or pale garments, and the solutions for dark shirts that followed through the noughties were basic, like a shape of white plastic stuck on top of the garment, with poor washability.
Thank goodness in 2012 OKI launched the first white toner printer on the market, and set the transfer industry by storm. Manufacturers quickly developed two paper processes, where sheet one could be printed through the OKI printer to capture the colour and white in your design, and then applied to a second sheet of glue which only stuck to the areas where there was toner. When heat pressed onto a garment, you now had a full colour transfer print on any colour and black.
Improvements have been made over the past four years to the papers, and now the transfer for darks, is a very acceptable printing process with bright colours and good washability, with a smaller capital investment than other printing methods. Some manufacturers have now produced A3+ paper which works with the OKI A3 PRO9420WT white toner printer. This gives a print size which matches some of the DTG printers.
DTG printing
In basic terms, a DTG printer is an ink jet printer that will print ink directly onto fabric. The garments must be either 100% cotton, or a cotton mix, although more recently new processes allow for polyester.
DTG printers first came onto the market around 2004 and at that time could only print onto white or very pale T shirts. The main reason for this was that the white ink base, which is required for
| 22 | February 2017
dark shirts, was not invented. White ink became available about a year later. It still took a few years for the white ink to be perfected and many systems had problems with blockages in the pipes and print heads. This put some garment printers off purchasing them, but in the last four or five years this issue has dramatically improved to a point where most brands of printer are acceptable. The key to no blocking problems is to purchase a printer that has a pressurised ink system, which means you can leave the printer unused for up to 30 days with the power switched off without any problems. Other systems, have to be flushed if left for more than a few days or left with the power on with an ink circulating system. DTG printing stands out from other printing techniques for
several reasons: l Unlike most other printing techniques that apply ink on top of the material, DTG inject colour pigments into the fibres of the fabric. This means that when you touch the finished product the feel will be softer because itʼs part of the fabric and the washability
is much better. l DTG is easier to use than most other print processes because it
requires fewer steps to set up. l The cost of the equipment starts from around £7,500 up to around £200,000. Most customers who need small to medium production would pay between the £7,500 to £15,000 for each printer. The more expensive ones are used for high volume
production and try to compete with screen printing. l The lower end of the price market is ideal for one offs or runs of
up to a 100, after that, screen printing comes into its own. lA big advantage over screen printing is that DTG gives you the full colour spectrum without any limitation and you do not have to
produce a screen. l DTG will give you the best quality of design of any print on to fabric and can be as intricate as you require.
Conclusions
DTG printers are easier to use, taking less steps to print a design, they print into the fabric, giving a better feel and greater washability. Using the RIP software can give you more control over colour matching. Its disadvantages are the cost of the equipment and the restrictions on substrates it can print on. The advantages of using transfer paper are the cost of the equipment is much lower and it can be printed on to most substrates. Its disadvantages are its cost per print and it takes more steps to print. At the end of the day itʼs your choice and how much you want to invest. Ideally, having both in your business is the best solution. You can then cater for most print jobs that you receive.
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
DTG printing or transfer printing – you decide
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