# screen vs. heat transfer vs. dtg



## lankyiyer (Jun 20, 2007)

Hi all. Am Ram, a newbie from India.

I have been fortunate to be here. Lots of good discussions and very informative. But I need your help on my proposed new business. I have specifically posted in this forum since heat press stands in between silk screen and dtg and unfortunately I couldnt find a common forum or threads for all three together. And that is precisely what is the challenge facing me.

A bit on the background:

Am soon to be launching my website with "slice of life" designs which customers can order, get it printed and delivered. Am gonna stock minimum blanks for printing on demand - once a customer orders a t-shirt on the site, I print and ship it. End of story.


My Challenges on printing:

* Cant afford to outsource printing process since am sure of misuse and replications of designs in the chain - indian market
* Silk screen printing - my question is it really huge waste of money and time to silk screen one tee at a time? (i really like the most traditional form and biased towards its quality) if it is not a huge waste... would prefer to do this.
* Heat transfer printing - Customised, intricate designs and text based concepts, do they involve plotter also? And what about dark shirts? If I have to invest in a good plotter/cutter then I might as well do DTG since I presume the cost implications are almost same considering heat transfer press, curing etc?
* DTG - Now I think this really fits me since it involves just me, the comp and the printer and it becomes a one man show. Though initial capital is the highest...

Now, please help me choose the best...

Cheers

Ram


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## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

DTG or plastisol transfers are the way to go.


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## treadhead (Jul 26, 2006)

I agree with Rick.

And...plastisol transfers are basically screenprinted designs on release paper so it's the closest you'll get to direct screenprinting.

The only way to make direct screenprinting work is to have all of your designs already setup on screens. Then you would need to pull the screen, setup and align your colors for each order. The more colors you have and the more designs you have...the more complicated this would become. If you only had say six 1 color designs (for example) then you could setup all 6 designs on a 6 head press and your ready to rock. Unfortunately, it usually isn't that simple...LOL


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## lankyiyer (Jun 20, 2007)

thanks rick n john... but will screenprinting one design at a time waste a lot of ink? more i think of it... i am tending to go the plastisol way... one more thing... in plastisol, you screen print stickers and stock them rite? No need of cutter/plotter there? sorry if am being too dumb... am a beginner... so bear with me lol


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## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

lankyiyer said:


> thanks rick n john... but will screenprinting one design at a time waste a lot of ink? more i think of it... i am tending to go the plastisol way... one more thing... in plastisol, you screen print stickers and stock them rite? No need of cutter/plotter there? sorry if am being too dumb... am a beginner... so bear with me lol


It will waste a small (insignificant) amount of ink just because you can never scrape out 100% of the remaining ink but if you are careful, you can get almost all the remaining ink out of the screen and reuse it.

You print on a release paper then send the transfers through your oven at a speed and temp that will sort of gel (dry), but not cure the ink. It usually takes a little practice at first to get the hang of it. If making your own, make sure to test them thoroughly before deciding that you have it down pat.


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## azit (May 20, 2009)

you can buy plotter cutters and heat press from rs.50k onwards.
dtg is too costly. but if you can afford it....


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