DTG Printing Explained (Direct-to-Garment)

DTG, or direct-to-garment, is the closest thing custom apparel has to a colour office printer for clothing. A specialised inkjet sprays water-based ink straight into the fabric, reproducing photographs and intricate, full-colour artwork that older methods struggle with. If you have ever wondered how a one-off tee with a detailed illustration is made, this is usually how. Here is exactly how DTG works and when to use it.

How direct-to-garment actually works

A DTG printer treats the garment like paper. The shirt is loaded flat onto a platen, the design is sent from a computer, and inkjet heads lay down water-based ink in a single pass. On dark fabrics the printer first lays a white underbase so colours stay vivid, then prints the colour layer on top. The garment is then cured with heat to bond the ink permanently into the fibres.

1. Pre-treat the garment with a fluid that helps ink bond and stops bleed.
2. Load it flat on the platen and align the artwork on screen.
3. Print the white underbase first, then the full-colour layer on top.
4. Cure with a heat press or tunnel dryer to set the ink for good.

What DTG does brilliantly

DTG excels exactly where traditional screen printing strains. Because it is digital, there are no screens to burn and no per-colour setup, so a design with fifty colours costs the same to print as one with two. That makes it ideal for photographic prints, fine gradients, detailed illustrations and one-off or low-quantity orders where setup costs would otherwise dominate.

• Full-colour, photo-realistic artwork with smooth gradients.
• Tiny runs and single samples without expensive setup.
• Soft, almost weightless prints that sit inside the fabric.
• Fast turnaround since there is no screen preparation.

Where DTG has limits

DTG is not a cure-all. Water-based ink loves cotton but struggles on polyester and many blends, so fabric choice matters. The cost per print stays roughly flat as quantity rises, which means at high volumes screen printing becomes far cheaper per unit. Bright neon and metallic effects are hard to match, and prints on dark garments rely on a good white underbase to look their best.

DTG vs screen printing in short

Think of it as digital versus stencil. Screen printing pushes thick ink through a mesh, one screen per colour, which is laborious to set up but unbeatably cheap and durable at volume with simple, bold designs. DTG skips setup entirely and wins on colour complexity and small runs. The right choice comes down to your artwork, your quantity and the fabric.

DTG turns a complex, full-colour design into a single print job — the more colours your artwork has, the more sense it makes.

Get the best results from DTG

Supply artwork at high resolution — 300 DPI at full print size — on a transparent background, and choose 100% cotton or a high-cotton blend for the punchiest colour. Wash garments inside out in cold water and skip the tumble dryer to keep prints crisp for years. Done right, DTG produces soft, detailed prints that rival anything in retail.

If your design is detailed, full-colour or needed in small quantities, DTG is often the smartest route. Velocity Wear prints custom tees, hoodies and more with DTG and other methods, with a low 50-piece minimum and tracked delivery worldwide. Send your artwork for a free, itemised quote.