Direct-to-garment printing (or DTG, as we sometimes call it) is a digital printing method using inks and inkjet technology. The bag or garment is mounted onto a moving board and print heads spray ink straight onto it, recreating your artwork quickly, in full colour and with brilliant detail.

With no screens and no lengthy preparation, direct-to-garment printing is easy and speedy. It’s also great if your artwork is very detailed, or features subtle shading and gradients – even photo-realistic artwork can be reproduced beautifully.

The texture of the finished product is another consideration. While screen printing can give a slightly plasticky feel, DTG works by injecting water-based ink straight into the fibres. The resulting texture feels just the same as the unprinted areas of the item.

If you're ordering a large print run, it may be more cost effective to go with screen or transfer printing instead. DTG works using the CMYK colour model, so it doesn’t print Pantone colours.

If you need an exact Pantone match, this may not be the best option for you. And if your design is simple and bold, with solid blocks of spot colour, we’d probably recommend screen printing instead.

Lastly, the print isn’t quite as hardwearing as other methods. This isn’t necessarily a big problem though – we’d recommend turning garments inside out and washing on a cold cycle to help print stay vibrant for longer.