From automation vs manual printing, DTG vs screen printing, or water based ink vs plastisol ink, screen printing shops have to be ready to make these decisions on a daily basis. Sustainability is increasingly becoming a more important issue among textile printers. How much does Screen Printing CostMost printers and screen-printing companies will readily offer a table complete with a price guide on a list. The printer translates the digital image or graphic file onto your blank tee! When produced by a professional using the right equipment, either printing process will result in a high-quality t-shirt, but a few important differences still come into play depending on your design. Screen printing versus digital printing. As pointed out before, it heavily depends on the number of colors you want to print, the number of color ways and the number of printed meters per color way. During the screen printing process, the image is turned into a stencil or screen. Digital Printing, Changing colors to make another colorway can happen instantly, where in conventional you need to clean out the printing paste in each screen and replace it for the new color. Print is not as durable as screen prints; Fewer options of printable fabrics; Printing in bulk does not offer cost reductions because of fixed prices; Digital printing, while more limited than screen printing in some ways, is a fine choice for finely detailed images or designs that feature complex gradients. We’ve previously written about what high quality screen printing is (and why we have thousands of happy customers through using it), but there’s another type of printing that you may have heard of called Digital Printing (which is also known as Direct To Garment, or DTG). With years of t-shirt designing experience, we’ve collected our top tips for optimizing your design for printing. Each separated color is exposed to individual screens. Direct-to-garment is down two rounds to one and is looking to change the momentum of … A major limitation of screen printing is its maximum capability of four colors. By contrast, dye sublimation is time consuming, expensive and highly impractical for large orders. This comparison will lead you in the right direction. On top of that, the fashion industry is changing as a result of digitalization. There are so many variations between each customer order that it's difficult to qualify which printer is the cheapest. But with screen printing, there are typically cost savings built in as you print more t-shirts! This break-even point depends on different parameters, mainly in the rotary printing process. Let’s go over digital printing vs screen printing and what the difference is. In digital printing, however, the print heads are able to produce any possible color without additional adjustments. In rotary screen printing, on the contrary, a design has to be adjusted with special separation software to reduce the number of colors. Next, a woven screen stencil is used to apply a single color of ink at a time — one stencil per color used in the shirt’s design. DTG and screen printing yield fine quality prints, but they differ in method and cost. Archer technology, Find out what they are and if they could be of value to your company by downloading the Gherzi white paper: hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(2131785, '83e2775e-6cd7-4e76-8446-f17ac7af98af', {}); Categories: Learn more about the difference between digital textile printing and rotary screen printing when it comes to fast-fashion manufacturing in the video below: Did your cost comparison show that digital textile printing could be of value for your printing company? The obvious question is the break-even calculation of both technologies: until what print length the costs of digital are lower than rotary? Screen printing is the more traditional technique that involves pushing the ink onto the fabric through a stencil, while direct to garment is a newer method that uses a printer to apply the ink to the shirt. Both screen printing and direct to garment (DTG) are methods of printing custom designs onto fabrics. Since no screens have to be engraved, lead times can be shortened considerably. Water-based ink is applied in a single layer that quickly absorbs into the shirt’s fibers. This is typically done using design software like Photoshop or Illustrator. So, you have a flat cost before you print even one sheet of paper. This means that when printing a design that consists of more colors no additional costs are made. If you print more color ways with the same set of screens, the costs are divided over more printed meters. The more meters you print with a particular set of screens, the lower the costs of screens per printed meter. It is tough to compare screen printing vs digital printing when each method offers exclusive, worthwhile benefits. Screen printing also has the advantage of a large selection of different types of inks that are all considerably less expensive per garment than Digital Printing inks. Small orders can be equally impractical for screen printing. This process means that screen printing is better suited to certain kinds of t-shirt designs. Although there is no hard rule in our operation, a run of 1,500 pieces is usually the “break even” point between offset and digital printing. Screen Printing vs Digital Printing. When the screens are engraved, they have to be installed and registered in the rotary printing machine so all colors match up perfectly. Again, both can be great choices, but it depends entirely on the specifics of your project. DTG Costs. For that reason, digital textile printing can be a more cost-friendly option for printing companies that work with very colorful designs and many color ways per design. The biggest differences that you should consider when choosing a method fall into two general categories — design and cost. By following this guide, you’ll create a design, The best way to make the highest profit per shirt that you can is by keeping your production costs low. Screen printing can bring to life designs that have minimal detail or amount of colors within the artwork… The prices for silk screen printing versus DTG printing can vary. That’s why we’re able to offer you custom t-shirts for any project at cost and with no order minimums. Multi-pass Scanning Printing, The most important one is printing what you’ve already sold instead trying to sell what you already printed. Custom School Shirts: Design School Spirit Tees in 5 Steps, The Art of a 1-Color T-Shirt Design: How a Single Color Design Can Be Anything But Ordinary, Orders of 11-50 shirts (depending on the artwork). DTG uses a printer to spray the ink into a garment, while screen printing layers the ink on top of the fabric. Screen printing is a method of printing that gives you your artwork laid down layer-by-layer with a solid base underneath. Screen Printing. Your design is uploaded to a computer that then prints directly onto your merchandise. For example, when you do a 4-color printing job, you have 4 plates. In an independent study, Gherzi identified the three main investment reasons for digital textile printing. Textile Printing, Digital printing is a fresh and innovative solution that offers more flexibility than screen printing on glass. Subsequently, colors are applied one by one to the shirt, which is then dried and cured to complete your final product. Here’s how they stack up: Screen printing is most cost-effective for larger batches of shirts. Fashion brands are under the pressure to produce a large variety of designs and rapidly respond to changes in trends. Screen printing as a production method quickly overtakes Digital Printing in cost per print. A heat press makes sense if you are looking to create a t-shirt line for an apparel company, as it can be more cost effective than screen printing small batches. It explains how all parameters can influence your overall printing costs. The Verdict: Digital printing. The difference between screen printing and digital printing. This has a few important effects, particularly on how you use color in your design: This means that certain types of t-shirt designs are better suited to each method. The number of colors used won’t seriously affect the final price. Sometimes to get […] Offset vs. Digital Printing. Changing colors to make another colorway can happen instantly, where in conventional you need to clean out the printing paste in each screen and replace it for the new color. The ink, while good quality, is not as durable as the ink from screen printing. With most companies, the more you purchase at once, the lower the “per item” rate will go. The ink is pulled across the stencil using a blade or foam tool, producing a single layer of the design with full, saturated color. In an independent study conducted by Gherzi (. The fundamental differences between each process also translate to differences in final costs. Here at Bonfire, we use both DTG and screen printing methods. When you’re screen printing designs, whether it’s with Bonfire or any other company, you’re typically charged for every ink color used. With years of experience, Jos can tell you all about the basics of textile printing as well as the latest innovations that help you grow your business. Single-pass Printing, When should you use one versus the other? High volume is the bread and butter of screen printing. Another valuable parameter in a cost comparison is the batch length that you expect to print with the specific technology. DTG printers are large and capable of handling all kinds of designs in many colors. Screen printing and digital printing are two different printing processes. Knowing when to choose offset printing or digital printing usually depends on the following factors: Price. On top of that, digital textile printing helps printers to reduce water consumption by 60%, chemical usage and power consumption by 55%. No matter how many shirts you need or what your design looks like, we’ve got the tools to offer you the best quality and price for your custom apparel! Digital Printing vs Screen Printing The question of which method of printing is better has been asked many times over the past few years, and the answer is not cut and dry. This means your design must first be broken down into different layers by color. This process creates a high level of vibranc… If you’re looking to design and print your own custom t-shirts, you’ve likely encountered these two terms — DTG printing and screen printing. Digital Textile Printing, A market study from Smithers Pira, "The Future of Digital versus Analogue Printing to 2020," outlines the key trends in digital printing compared with that of analog printing… Jos Notermans For starters, a silkscreen run requires an extensive setup process; this is why we have a 25-shirt minimum order. Digital textile printing can effectively help printers to reduce their carbon footprint and improve their green image. Jos Notermans attempts to answer all your questions regarding textile printing in 'The Note'. When making a cost comparison between rotary screen and digital printing, the initial investment is often the only parameter besides the price of inks that is taken into account. 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