Technology moves us ever forward when it comes to quality, environmental awareness and sharing our creations with one another. The process of custom printing your designs on apparel has moved forward with technology too even if the everyday customer of such products isn’t aware.

Silk-screening is the method of using screens as stencils to layout color by color layers onto a piece of clothing.

This limits your creative license for your designs should you wish to get them printed on apparel to an average of 9 colors per design. That is an artist’s nightmare. Imagine being placed in front of a blank canvas and being told to bring the creation in your mind to life, but only use 9 colors.

Limitations on creativity aren’t the only downfalls as lack of quality in screen-printing can be seen in the way the design will fade over time. As well as the heaviness and feel of the print as it lays on a shirt or hoodie. This is because the ink itself lays overtop of the fabric and remains separate from the actual threads.

How Does Silk Screening Affect the Environment?

The other hidden elephant in the room, sadly is the waste of the silk-screening industry. The negative environmental impact can be seen through the amount of water used in the process as well as the push for bulk orders when an order perhaps shouldn’t truly be bulk.

Bulk discounts are always a great thing to look out for when you indeed need a larger order of clothing, say for employees, fundraisers or sports teams. However, for those one-off orders or let’s say an amazon seller who doesn’t need the product printed until they have made a sale, then bulk ordering doesn’t make sense. However, for a silk-screening company’s bottom line a push for bulk orders on any purchase is often used due to the long levels of set up time that are required to get a design ready for print.

Think of a nine colored design where each color needs a stencil made just to print one T-shirt. It’s not cost effective for them, so it certainly won’t be cost effective for you. And what happens if a lot of unnecessary bulk orders are produced? Waste. And where do those extra apparel items that can’t be sold go? Landfills or burned, which any environmentally conscious person will tell you adds to pollution and is anything, but green.

What is DTG and is it better than Silk Screening?

Direct to Garment or DTG catches this old art industry up to our digital age that surrounds us daily. Technology allows DTG printers to print a design directly onto and into the fabric of your product. The image and design that is nearly limitless when it comes to numbers of colors and complexity that can be recreated become part of the fabric. They are infused within the threads of the apparel creating a perfect custom look as though your design should have always been there.

As the image fades over time, it fades because the shirt and fabric itself fade and so the entire look isn’t of a cracking and withering looking design, but rather a stylistic fade of a well-used and loved piece of clothing. These machines work with today’s technology to communicate the design digitally from the computer to the machine itself. The ink is sprayed directly to the apparel and makes the options for what you can print on far vaster. T-shirts, hoodies, pants, socks, hats, even shoes!

And with this compact, self-contained unit, the waste is minimal. Also, those large bulk orders can be done efficiently and streamlined to all look the same without variances in the way the ink has been applied and those one off quick Christmas gifts or personal designs are each to set up. That means better for our environment and better for your checkbook.

DTG Printers are better for your Time, Environment and Wallet!

Another huge advantage you the customer can count on with DTG printing as your choice is the availability and speed of your final product. Now we’re not saying that all printing companies are waiting for you to walk in with your shirt in hand and can print it on the spot, however you will find the majority of silk-screening businesses will easily put a 2-3 week timeline for you to receive your order regardless of the quantity.

So even if you only have 5 shirts to get customized, remember all that stencil talk…..it takes time. DTG printing requires and electronic file of your design that the printer can convert into the file type needed for their printer and print away. Your turn around time with a DTG printer is going to make you smile!

When it comes to Custom Apparel, SwissDuck has you covered! We are very excited to see you soon for all your DTG printing needs! Get a quote today by calling our customer success team toll free at 440.502.8686 or visit us online at Swissduck.com.

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