As a business trying to increase brand visibility and awareness, you have probably considered branded merchandise as one of the tactics to achieve this goal. If so, one of the printing techniques worth considering is Direct-to-Garment (DTG) printing. Custom DTG Printed Apparel will help you create vivid and detailed designs that will undoubtedly help you stand out from your business rivals. But before you can settle on it, here are a few things that you need to know about DTG printing:
Steps Involved in DTG Printing
Pretreatment
The first step to DTG printing is pretreatment. Garments have to be pretreated so that the ink can stick. There are several ways in which garments can be pretreated. Wagner hand sprayers, generic household spray bottles and paint hand sprayers are commonly used for this process. However, they may cause unevenness and inconsistency. Also, they are associated with a lack of control for the amount of pretreatment sprayed. One of our main DTG printing tips is to use a pretreatment machine. This is preferable since it ensures evenness and consistency with every garment.
Artwork Preparation
After pretreating the garments, it is now time to load the digital artwork. A graphics lab is often used to position the image and add text. At this stage, you also get to make adjustments, such as distressing layers, before sending the file for printing.
Printing
At this point, most of the manual labor is over. All you have to do now is dress the DTG platen in your garment and lock it in place. But before you press "print," you need to adjust the settings in the printing program, so they match your specifications.
Curing
After printing, you need to leave the garments to cure. This process ensures that the ink dries and properly settles in the fabric. Thus, the design remains intact even as it interacts with routine washing and daily activities.
Benefits of DTG Printing
- Unrivaled quality. DTG prints colors that are closely accurate to the original art files. Hence, it is most suitable for full-color photographs. Also, DTG printers handle a wide array of colors. Thus, it allows for easy printing of illustrations with many details or complex photos.
- Fast and economical for small orders. Very few set-up steps are involved with this type of printing. Thus, compared with other printing methods, DTG is pretty fast. Also, no screen set-up is required for this process, and colors do not have to run independently. Therefore, running a few orders does not cost more than printing a large order.
- Eco-friendly. If you are adamant about protecting and preserving the environment, you need to consider DTG printing. This technology primarily utilizes water-based colors, which are environmentally friendly. While other printing techniques use harsh chemicals that have adverse effects on you and the environment, DTG helps you achieve your goal of reducing your environmental impact.
If you have a business struggling with creating brand awareness and getting your message out to clients, you might need to consider DTG printing from 3 in 1 Design. Call us today at (619) 795-0888 or email us at [email protected] and get customized advice from our team of print pros. We ship nationwide and internationally.