Apparel Decoration

Screen print, embroidery, DTF, DTG and patches. Tell us the garment, the artwork and roughly how many, and we will tell you which method it should be -- they are not interchangeable and they cost very differently at different quantities.

What Apparel Decoration covers

  • Screen Print

    Ink pushed through a mesh screen, one screen per colour. Colour count and quantity together drive the price, which is why it is quoted rather than listed. Best on cotton and cotton-rich blends; polyester needs a blocker or low-cure ink so the garment dye does not bleed into the print. Needs a flat area, so seams, pockets, zips and caps are poor candidates. Choose it when the run is big and the artwork is a handful of flat, solid colours.

  • Embroidery

    Thread stitched into the garment. Artwork is first digitised into a stitch file -- a one-time step per logo, reusable on every order after. Thread colour changes are cheap; what drives cost is stitch count, meaning design size and density. The most fabric-forgiving option: polos, twill, fleece, jackets, bags, caps and beanies. Fine detail and small text are the ceiling, and cap fronts have hard geometry limits.

  • Direct To Film (DTF)

    The design is printed onto film with its own white ink layer, powdered, cured, then heat-pressed onto the garment. Full colour and photographic with no colour penalty -- cost follows printed area, not colour count. The widest fabric compatibility of anything here: cotton, polyester, blends, nylon, denim, canvas, and dark garments with no separate underbase step. It is a thin film on top of the fabric, so you can feel it, most obviously on lightweight shirts and large solid prints.

  • Direct To Garment (DTG)

    An inkjet printer that prints straight onto the shirt, which is pretreated first so the ink bonds. Full colour with no penalty; dark garments need a white underbase and cost more. It wants cotton -- ring-spun 100% cotton is the ideal and polyester is the weak case. The softest result of the digital methods: on a light cotton tee it can feel like nothing is printed at all. Flat garments only, so not caps or bags.

  • Patches

    The decoration is made separately, then applied. Embroidered for texture, woven for fine detail and a thin profile, printed for photographic colour, PVC for weatherproof depth, leather for etched or debossed marks. Sew-on is strongest and is what large patches need; iron-on suits cotton and most blends; hook-and-loop makes them swappable; PVC cannot be heat-pressed. Patches decouple the decoration from the garment, so they work on things that are hard to print -- caps, beanies, shells, bags and workwear.

  • Specialty Apparel Finishes

    Sublimation (dye bonds into the fibre, so there is no hand feel and nothing to crack -- polyester and light colours only, and the method behind all-over prints); vinyl and HTV (cut solid-colour vinyl, and how reflective, glitter, holographic and flock finishes get onto a garment); puff and 3D (raised print or embroidery over foam, which wants simple bold shapes); discharge (removes the garment dye instead of covering it, so the design sits in the shirt with no hand -- dyed cotton only); and applique (cut fabric stitched on and edge-embroidered, the varsity look).