Decoration methods

Five methods cover almost everything you will want to make. They differ on four things that matter commercially — how cost behaves with quantity, how many colours you get, how the print feels, and how long it survives washing — and on one that matters creatively, which is what the artwork can be.

Getting this choice wrong is the most common reason a drop costs more than it should. It is also the easiest thing to get right, because the decision is mostly arithmetic.

The short version

Screen printing

Ink is pushed through a mesh screen, one screen per colour. Each screen has to be made, aligned and cleaned, which is where the setup cost comes from — and that cost is per colour, not per order.

That shape is the whole story. A four-colour design carries four setups whether you print fifty shirts or five thousand, so the setup cost per shirt falls off a cliff as quantity rises. Above roughly a hundred pieces screen printing is usually the cheapest option available and it keeps getting cheaper. Below that, you are paying mostly for screens.

What it does well. Solid, dense, saturated colour that no digital method matches. Speciality inks — metallic, puff, high-density, glow, water-based discharge — exist here and almost nowhere else. Correctly cured, it outlives the garment.

What it does badly. Photographs and gradients, which need halftone simulation and many screens. Every additional colour is another setup, so a design that looks free on a screen is not free on a press.

The dark-garment surcharge. Ink is translucent. On anything but white you need a white underbase printed and flash-cured before the colours go down — an extra screen, an extra cure, more press time on every single piece. Designs intended for dark garments should be costed as one colour more than they appear.

DTG — direct to garment

An inkjet printer, essentially, printing water-based ink straight into the fibres. There is no screen and therefore almost no setup, so the first shirt costs about what the hundredth does.

What it does well. Photographic images, gradients, unlimited colours, one-offs and samples. The print goes into the fabric rather than sitting on it, so the hand feel is very soft.

What it does badly. Cost never falls with quantity, so it loses to screen printing on volume. It needs high-cotton fabrics to bond properly; on blends the result is softer and less predictable. Dark garments need a pre-treatment sprayed and cured first, which adds cost and can leave a faint halo if applied carelessly.

DTF — direct to film

Artwork is printed onto a film, powdered with adhesive, cured, then heat-pressed onto the garment.

What it does well. It is fabric-agnostic in a way nothing else is — cotton, polyester, blends, nylon, all with the same process. Full colour, no screens, and the transfers can be made in advance and pressed later, which decouples printing from assembly.

What it does badly. The print sits on top as a thin film. Modern DTF is far more flexible than the vinyl it replaced, but it is still a layer, and on a large solid area you will feel it. Durable, though it will typically show wear before a good screen print does.

Embroidery

Thread stitched into the fabric. Setup is digitising — converting artwork into a stitch path, which is skilled work and specific to the design and the size it will be sewn at.

Cost then scales with stitch count, not with colours or coverage area directly. A small dense logo can cost more than a large open one.

What it does well. Reads as permanent and expensive, because it is. It is the default for headwear, polos, outerwear and anywhere a mark needs to feel structural. It does not crack, fade or peel.

What it does badly. Fine detail and small text, which disappear below a certain size — the thread has a physical width and cannot be made thinner. Gradients are impossible. Large filled areas are slow, expensive, and stiffen the garment.

Sublimation

Dye is printed onto transfer paper, then heat converts it directly to gas, which bonds with polyester fibres. The dye becomes part of the fabric rather than a layer on it.

What it does well. Edge-to-edge and seam-to-seam coverage, which no other method here can do, and a print with literally no hand feel. It cannot crack or peel because there is nothing sitting on the surface.

What it does badly. It only works on polyester, and only on light colours — the dye is translucent and cannot lighten what is underneath. On a cotton blend it will fade in proportion to the cotton content.

Choosing

Work through it in this order and the answer usually appears on its own:

1. What is the fabric? Polyester and you want all-over: sublimation. Mixed fabrics in one run: DTF.
2. How many pieces? Under about a hundred, digital. Over, screen printing — and the gap widens the further you go.
3. How many colours, and are there gradients? Gradients or photographs rule out screen printing unless the quantity is large enough to justify simulated process.
4. Where does it sit on the garment? Anything structural, or on a cap, is embroidery.
5. What should it feel like? This is the tiebreaker people forget, and it is the one customers notice first.

The numbers above are shape, not quotes — the crossover point moves with colour count, garment, placement and press. If you want the arithmetic for your actual design, that is what a brief is for.