Screen Printing vs DTG Printing: Which to Choose
Ordering 12 custom tees through the wrong print method can cost you 40% more than it needs to. The short answer: use screen printing for orders of 24 or more identical garments and DTG for small runs, photographic artwork, or one-off personalised pieces.
What Screen Printing Actually Is
Screen printing forces ink through a fine mesh stencil onto fabric, one colour at a time. Each colour in your artwork needs its own screen, burned from a film positive or exposed digitally. That process adds a fixed setup cost of roughly £15–35 per colour before a single shirt is touched.
The ink sits on the surface. Plastisol, the most common type, produces bold, opaque colour. A properly cured plastisol print holds up for 50 or more machine washes before visible fading begins.
What DTG Printing Actually Is
DTG (direct-to-garment) printers are modified industrial inkjets. They fire water-based ink directly into the fabric fibres rather than laying it on top. A single file can contain unlimited colours, which is why the method dominates photographic and gradient-heavy streetwear graphics.
Setup is near-zero. Load the file, pre-treat the blank, heat-press, print. No screens to burn, no minimum quantity to justify the process. A run of one costs the same per unit as a run of ten.
The Cost Crossover Point
The economics flip at roughly 24 pieces for a standard 2-colour design. Below that number, DTG wins on cost. Above it, screen printing's per-unit price drops fast. These are typical UK market figures for a 2-colour front print on an adult tee:
| Quantity | DTG (per unit) | Screen Print (per unit) |
|---|---|---|
| 12 pieces | £8–12 | £18–24 |
| 50 pieces | £8–12 | £5–8 |
| 200 pieces | £8–12 | £3–5 |
DTG price barely shifts with quantity. Screen printing falls sharply. For a streetwear drop of 50 or more identical pieces, screen printing almost always saves significant money.
Colour Count Changes the Maths
Every extra colour in a screen print design adds another screen, another ink mix, and another pass through the press. A bold 1-colour chest print is inexpensive at volume. A 7-colour graphic with tonal blends might make DTG competitive even at 100 pieces.
Before choosing a method, count the distinct colours in your artwork. More than 6 spot colours at quantities below 100 and DTG may actually cost less. Simplified, block-colour artwork is screen printing's territory. Complex, multi-tonal designs belong to DTG.
Where DTG Is the Only Sensible Option
DTG handles full-colour photographs, gradients, and fine line detail naturally. If your design includes a photographic face, a watercolour wash, or a subtle tonal fade, DTG reproduces it accurately. Attempting the same via screen printing would require so many colour separations that the cost becomes impractical.
DTG is also the only practical route for pieces where every item differs. If your brand lets customers personalise each tee with a name, number, or custom text, DTG processes every variant at the same unit price. The Gildan Heavy Cotton Adult T-Shirt, a 180 g/m² ring-spun cotton blank used widely across UK print shops, takes pre-treatment evenly and produces clean ink adhesion wash after wash.
Fabric Compatibility
DTG bonds best with 100% cotton. On polyester blends above 50% polyester content, ink sits differently and colours appear washed out unless specialist polyester pretreatment is applied. Most UK DTG suppliers only guarantee clean results on fabrics with 80% cotton content or higher.
Screen printing with plastisol ink handles a wider range of fabrics. It performs reliably on cotton, polyester, blended fleece, and performance materials. Printing on a moisture-wicking polo or a technical outer layer? Screen printing gives more predictable results every time.
For custom hoodies, both methods work on fleece blanks. The Gildan Heavy Blend Adult Hooded Sweatshirt, a 50/50 cotton-polyester blank widely used in UK streetwear production, is well suited to screen printing. DTG on the same hoodie is possible but requires careful pretreatment and produces slightly less vibrant colour than on pure cotton.
Hand Feel
Standard plastisol screen print sits on the fabric surface. You can feel a raised edge on bold, solid graphics. Water-based and discharge inks, a bleach-based alternative that works on light garments, produce a much softer hand feel, close to having the design dyed into the cloth itself.
Modern water-based DTG inks, when properly cured on pre-treated cotton, are similarly soft. Premium streetwear labels often choose DTG specifically for this reason: no raised edge, just colour sitting within the fabric fibres.
Turnaround Time
Screen printing requires screen-making before any garments are printed. A first-time order typically takes 5–10 business days. Repeat orders run faster because screens are stored and reused. DTG needs only a digital file and a pre-treated blank. Standard turnaround sits at 2–5 business days, and many suppliers offer next-day production for small runs.
Twenty tees needed by Friday? DTG is almost certainly the method that delivers.
What About Sublimation?
Sublimation is a third option worth understanding. Heat converts a special dye into gas, which bonds permanently with polyester fibres. The result is full-colour, all-over printing with zero surface feel: the dye lives inside the fabric. The limitation is that sublimation only works on 100% polyester or polyester-coated surfaces. On cotton, it produces faded, muted results.
If your range includes technical fabrics, or you want genuine all-over printing from hem to collar, sublimation opens options that neither screen printing nor DTG can match. For standard streetwear drops on cotton-rich blanks, screen printing or DTG will serve you better at lower cost.
Making the Call
The choice is primarily a maths problem with a handful of fabric exceptions.
- Order is 24 or more identical designs
- Artwork is bold, 1–6 spot colours
- Maximum print durability is the priority
- Fabric is polyester or a mixed-fibre blend
- Order is under 24 pieces
- Design uses photographs, gradients, or fine detail
- Each item is individually personalised
- Fast turnaround is needed
- Fabric is 80% cotton content or higher
Many growing streetwear brands use both methods. DTG handles early test drops and personalised capsule items at low risk and no minimum quantity. Screen printing takes over once a design proves popular and reorder volumes justify the screen costs. No rule says you commit to one method for everything.
FAQ
What is the minimum order quantity for screen printing?
Most UK screen printers set a minimum of 12–24 pieces per design. Below that threshold, screen setup cost makes the per-unit price too high to compete with DTG. Some printers accept lower minimums but add a screen setup fee of £30–60 to cover the cost.
Can DTG printing match Pantone colours precisely?
No. DTG printers mix CMYK inks, which approximate Pantone shades but rarely match them exactly. For brand colours that must be precise, screen printing with a pre-mixed spot-colour ink is the correct method. A good screen printer can match a Pantone reference within one or two delta-E units.
How many washes does a DTG print last?
A properly cured DTG print on 100% cotton, washed inside-out at 30°C, typically stays vibrant for 30–50 washes or more. The biggest risk is high wash temperature. At 60°C, most DTG prints fade visibly within 15–20 washes. Plastisol screen printing generally outlasts DTG at the same wash conditions.
Can I mix shirt sizes in one screen printing order?
Yes. Most screen printers allow a quantity split across sizes (S, M, L, XL, 2XL) without extra cost, as long as the total meets the minimum. The screens are set once and the press run simply loads different-sized blanks in sequence.
Which method is best for a first streetwear drop?
DTG is the lower-risk entry point. No minimum quantity, no screen setup cost, and a 2–5 day turnaround mean you can gauge demand before committing to a larger screen print run. Once a design sells through its first 30–50 units, reordering via screen printing at 100+ pieces brings the per-unit cost down significantly.