This is the single most common question we get at the counter, and the answer genuinely changes depending on what you are ordering. Getting it wrong can double what you pay. Here is how the two methods work and where the line sits.
How screen printing works
Screen printing pushes ink through a fine mesh stencil onto the garment. One screen is burned per color in your design, so a three-color logo means three screens, three setups and three passes. That setup is the whole story on price: you pay for it once, whether you print 12 shirts or 1,200.
Because the ink sits in the fabric rather than on top of it, a properly cured screen print has a soft hand and survives years of washing. For large runs of simple artwork, nothing beats it on cost per shirt or on durability.
How DTF works
DTF stands for direct to film. Your artwork is printed in full color onto a PET transfer film, a hot-melt adhesive powder is applied to the wet ink, the powder is cured with heat, and the finished transfer is then heat pressed onto the garment. The film peels away and the design stays.
There are no screens, which means no setup charge, no minimum order and no limit on colors. A white underbase is built into the transfer, so colors stay accurate on black and dark garments without a separate underbase screen.
The cost difference, honestly
DTF has a flat cost curve. The hundredth shirt costs roughly what the first shirt costs. Screen printing has a steep curve: you absorb the setup up front, then the per-shirt price falls away as the quantity climbs.
Where exactly those two lines cross depends almost entirely on how many colors are in your artwork. A one-color design has cheap, fast setup, so screen printing takes the lead at a fairly low quantity. A six-color photographic design needs six screens, and DTF can stay cheaper well into the hundreds.
Be skeptical of any shop that quotes you a single universal breakeven number. Published figures range from around 50 pieces to over 800 depending on color count and who is doing the math. The only number that matters is the one for your artwork at your quantity, which is why we price both ways when it is close.
The rules of thumb we actually use
- Simple one or two color logo, 24 pieces or more: screen printing, almost always.
- Full-color photograph, gradient, or artwork with many colors: DTF, often well past 100 pieces.
- Fewer than 24 pieces of anything: DTF, because setup costs have nowhere to amortize.
- One sample before committing to a bulk run: DTF the sample, then screen print production.
- Mixed garment types and colors in one order: DTF, since a single transfer works across all of them.
Feel, durability and finish
A screen print with a soft-hand ink is the closest thing to no feel at all. DTF sits slightly on top of the fabric, so on a large solid print you can feel a thin film. On small to medium prints most people never notice.
Both are durable when done correctly. Screen printing has the longer track record and generally wins on very heavy commercial laundering. DTF holds up well through normal domestic washing, particularly inside out and in cold water.
Fabric compatibility
DTF is the more forgiving of the two. It bonds to cotton, polyester, blends, nylon and performance fabrics without changing the process. Screen printing on 100% polyester requires low-bleed inks to stop the garment dye migrating into the print, which is manageable but adds a consideration.
What we will tell you
When you send us a quantity and artwork, we price whichever method genuinely costs you less and say so. If screen printing saves you money, we will tell you even though DTF is faster for us to produce. Ask for both numbers if it is a close call.
See the full range on our apparel and promo page, or call us with your quantity and we will run the comparison.
Need this printed? We are on Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens.