A common question we receive nowadays is: Should we use screen printing or direct-to-garment printing for our order/business? Well, the answer isn’t always that simple! There are a variety of reasons why you might choose screen printing or direct-to-garment printing. We’ve laid out a list of pros and cons to help you make the decision that’s best for your business!
Our co-founder Kevin also sat down with Tom Davenport from Bella Canvas to go more in-depth on this topic, so watch this video and keep an eye out for more soon!

Screenprint
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Pros –
1. Screen printed designs will last longer and you will get more washes with this method.
2. You can PMS color match within your artwork so your designs come out just as expected!
3. More cost advantageous as you get into hire quantities. You’ll really start to see the best price breaks happening around the 72-144 piece price break.
4. There is a much wider variety of specialty inks and treatments within screen printing inks that allow for more customization. Metallic, reflective, UV, glow in the dark, glitter, high density and puff ink are just a few ways to achieve an elevated garment through screenprint!
5. There is a wide array of products that can be screen printed on so your product selection is not as limited as DTG.
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Cons –
1. Screen printing is more labor-intensive, so it isn’t as cost-advantageous for low quantity orders.
2. Each color in your artwork will require another screen setup. The more colors your designs have, then the more your orders can cost.
3. Typically not as cost-effective for orders less than 24 pieces.

Direct-to-Garment

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Pros –
1. There aren’t any upfront costs associated with most direct-to-garment printing companies.
2. A great option for printing less than 30 pieces.
3. An excellent way to test new designs and see how they perform before placing a bulk screenprint order.
4. Personalizations, such as names or numbers, are much more cost-advantageous in this method.
5. Fast, easy and simple to get your orders going. There’s a very low barrier of entry for the DTG method!

Cons –
1. There isn’t much room for customizations using specialty inks or other methods for elevating your garments.
2. Not the most cost-advantageous for orders over 30 pieces.
3. 100% cotton products will achieve the best-quality print and as synthetic fibers, such as polyester or rayon, the print quality can decrease.
4. Always requires a pre-treatment liquid solution which can create a slight stiffness to the shirt before the first wash.

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We hope you found this list and video helpful in making the best decision for your brand. If you’d like to get a screenprint order started, check out our website at stokedonprinting.com or send us an email at sales@stokedonprinting.com. If you’re looking to find out more about direct-to-garment printing or get some designs going, check out our DTG application Merchloop! We’ve built a custom DTG app that integrates right into your Shopify store; set up your designs, sit back and watch those shirts fly!