DTG vs Screen Printing: Which Suits Your T-Shirt Order?

DTG (direct-to-garment) suits small runs and detailed, colourful designs with no setup needed, while screen printing suits larger runs from around 25 to 30 shirts upward, where its setup cost is spread across more garments and its finish holds up especially well on bold, simple designs.

How does DTG printing actually work?

DTG printing works much like a specialist inkjet printer, but applied directly to fabric rather than paper. The garment is loaded onto a flat platen, and ink is applied layer by layer straight onto the fibres, allowing full-colour designs, gradients and fine detail to be reproduced without needing separate preparation for each colour. Because there's no setup process involved beyond loading the file, DTG is particularly well suited to one-off items, small batches, or designs that vary from shirt to shirt, such as personalised names or one-of-a-kind artwork. It also means there's no minimum order in the traditional sense, since each garment is printed individually. Curing the ink with heat afterwards sets the print permanently into the fibres, and modern DTG machines can reproduce hundreds of colours in a single pass, which makes reordering a single altered shirt just as straightforward as printing the first one.

How does screen printing differ in process and result?

Screen printing uses a mesh screen with a stencil for each colour in the design, and ink is pushed through the screen onto the garment using a squeegee, one colour at a time. Setting up the screens takes time and preparation before the first shirt is even printed, which is why screen printing becomes more economical as quantities increase. The often-cited break-even point sits around 25 to 30 shirts, where the setup effort starts to be worthwhile relative to the number of garments produced. Screen printing tends to lay down a slightly thicker, more opaque layer of ink, giving bold designs, particularly on dark fabric, strong visual punch and good wash durability. Once the screens are made, however, printing runs quickly, since each pull of the squeegee reproduces the design in seconds, which is why larger orders can often be turned around efficiently despite the initial setup stage.

Factor	DTG	Screen printing
Best for run size	Small, one-off orders	Larger runs, 25 to 30+ shirts
Design detail	Handles fine detail and gradients well	Best for bold, simple designs
Setup required	None	Screens prepared per colour
Turnaround for small orders	Generally faster	Slower due to screen setup

Which method suits detailed or colourful artwork?

If your design includes photographic elements, gradients, or a wide range of colours blending into one another, DTG is usually the more practical choice, since it prints in full colour directly rather than requiring a distinct screen and separate pass for each individual colour. Screen printing can still handle multi-colour designs, but each additional colour adds setup time and cost, making it better suited to designs using a smaller, clearly defined palette. For logos or artwork with solid blocks of colour and clean edges, screen printing often produces a crisp, vibrant result that DTG can sometimes struggle to match in vibrancy, particularly on darker fabrics.

How should order size guide your decision?

Order size is often the deciding factor between the two methods. For a handful of shirts, whether for a single event, a small team, or personalised gifts, DTG avoids paying for setup that wouldn't be justified by such a small quantity. Once an order grows towards 25 to 30 shirts or beyond, the economics shift, and screen printing's setup cost gets spread across enough garments that it becomes the more sensible option, while also offering a robust, long-lasting finish suited to uniforms, event merchandise or bulk promotional wear. Considering both design complexity and order size together, rather than either factor alone, gives the clearest steer on which method fits your project.

For a closer comparison, see our guides on DTG versus screen printing for small runs and screen printing minimum orders for t-shirts. If you're planning a garment printing order, Minuteman Press Ipswich can help you weigh up the right method for your design and quantity.

What other factors affect the final finish?

Fabric type plays a role too: DTG generally performs best on cotton or high-cotton-blend garments, since the ink absorbs well into natural fibres, while screen printing is more forgiving across a wider range of fabric types, including blends and performance materials. Colour of the garment itself matters as well, as DTG on dark fabrics typically needs a white ink base layer before the design colours are applied, adding an extra step, whereas screen printing handles dark garments with opaque inks more directly. Thinking through fabric and garment colour alongside design detail and order size gives a fuller picture of which method will produce the best-looking, longest-lasting result for a specific project.

Matching the printing method to both your design and your order size ensures the finished garments look their best and represent good value for the quantity involved.