Customers ask me whether they should go with DTF or screen printing a couple of times a month. My answer is always the same: it depends on the job. How many pieces, how complicated the art is, and what you’re printing on. Here’s how I actually work it out, including where DTF is the better call.

What we do here, and what we don’t

We screen print in-house. That’s the only way we print shirts ourselves. Our DTF transfers are made by a partner, and we press them onto your garments here in the shop. Embroidery goes out to a partner too. We rarely use vinyl anymore, and we don’t do true foil or flock on apparel at all. There are metallic DTF transfers that come close to a foil look, but that isn’t foil, and I won’t sell it to you as foil.

When DTF is the better call

Small runs. Almost anything under about 20 pieces is usually better as DTF. That number is my estimate, not a rule, and it moves with the art: the more colors in the design, the higher it goes. With a lot of colors, DTF can still make more sense at 36 pieces, maybe more.

The reason is setup. In screen printing, every color needs its own screen and its own setup, and that’s labor and material before the first shirt gets printed. DTF skips all of that. The transfer gets printed, we press it, and it’s done.

Names and numbers are the other place DTF wins. We used to cut those in vinyl. Now we order them as DTF and press them, because it lets us customize every name and number, especially on sports jerseys.

DTF also works on a wide range of fabrics, which is a real advantage.

Where DTF runs out

The usual line is “DTF for small orders, screen printing for big ones.” That’s close, but the real limit is the pressing. Without an automatic heat press carousel, most shops don’t want to press more than 50 pieces, maybe 100 on a bad day. A hundred shirts takes several hours, and that’s one side. Print the back too and it doubles.

The art has a limit too. A DTF print has hard edges, because that’s how it’s built, and it doesn’t handle fades well, the kind where the design thins out and the shirt color shows through. If your design depends on that, it’s a screen printing job.

Where screen printing wins

Price at volume. That one is always screen printing. The setup costs the same whether we print 50 shirts or 500, so the more you print, the further it spreads.

Feel, most of the time. A good screen print usually feels better on the shirt.

Wash durability, by a little. Screen printing tends to hold up better, although DTF is very durable these days, and customers don’t come back unhappy with DTF after it’s been washed.

Specialty inks. Puff, metallic, glitter, shimmer and discharge. We run all of them on press.

What each one feels like

A DTF print today is very thin and very soft, and like anything else it gets a touch softer after a few washes.

Most of what we screen print is plastisol ink. It has a firmer base, so it sits a little thicker on the shirt.

Water-based discharge is the other option, and we run it less often. It gets very, very soft once it’s washed. The trade-off is color: discharge prints aren’t quite as bright or vivid.

A heat press isn’t a third way to print

You’ll see “screen printing vs heat press” comparisons everywhere, so it’s worth clearing up. A heat press is how a transfer gets onto a shirt. It isn’t a separate way of printing. When people say “heat press,” they usually mean vinyl or a transfer like DTF, and at our shop that means DTF.

The fabric changes the answer

Tri-blends print very well. We tend to use a poly ink on them so the dye bleeds less, but they take all kinds of inks. You can see the tri-blends we print on our garments page.

True polyester is different. That’s where I trust screen printing more than DTF, because it holds back dye migration better.

Dye migration happens when the ink cures. The heat makes the polyester give off some of its dye, especially if the dye wasn’t set well, and that dye comes up through the ink and tints it toward the color of the shirt.

The classic case is white ink on a red 100% polyester shirt. Run it longer and hotter through the oven and that white turns pink, sometimes dark pink. The part that catches people out is that it isn’t always immediate. The print can come off the press looking perfect, sit in a stack or a box, and when the customer opens it, it’s pink.

It’s worse on cheaper fabric, but I’ve seen it on the highest-end polyester too. There’s no knowing ahead of time. Handling it takes experience.

On the polyester we source, bleed is rare. If you bring us your own polyester garments, I’ll always talk to you about dye migration before we run them, because I can’t vouch for a blank I didn’t source.

So which one should you pick?

Under about 20 pieces, or a small run with a lot of colors: usually DTF.
Names and numbers: DTF, pressed here.
Big runs, specialty inks, art that fades into the shirt, or true polyester: screen printing.

Getting a quote

We print for people outside San Diego for all kinds of reasons. Some are traveling through, some have an event here, and some need something other shops can’t do or have turned down.

Whatever the reason, the quickest way to a real answer is our quote form. Tell us the garments and roughly how many of each, the date you need them in hand, and send the art. If you’re not sure which method fits, say so, and I’ll tell you what I’d do.

DTF vs Screen Printing: How a Screen Printer Actually Decides