Impressions - September 2014 - 66

talking SHOP

Digital Decorating

Being Consistent with
Direct-to-Garment Printing
Learn your machine and the printing parameters for successful DTG printing.
By Terry Combs, Contributing Writer

location for setup and training. You've
made a large ﬁnancial investment. I've
seen many business owners pass on the
training, only to come back later for some
hands-on education.
This a sophisticated printing device
you are purchasing. It is important to
maintain it in a clean and environmentally
controlled workspace. Maintaining a comfortable room temperature around 72˚F
and a minimum of 40%-50% humidity is
the ideal setting. A hygrometer (available
for less than $20 at a home-improvement
store) will indicate the humidity level.
If it's necessary, a humidiﬁer many be
required to maintain your shop's humidity level.

WHAT YOU CAN PRINT

Curing the water-based inks used for direct-to-garment printing is most often done using a heat
press. A clamshell press with auto-release capability is your best bet, as it will allow you to walk away and
let the heat press do its job. After heating is complete, it will open automatically.

hat does it take to be successful in the direct-to-garment
(DTG) printing business? First,
you must become proﬁcient at the machine. That will take some time, as with any
new equipment or technology.
Second, prepare high-resolution graphics.
DTG printing machines reproduce exactly
what you send to them - either perfect
reproduction of a beautiful ﬁle, or perfect
reproduction of a poor, pixilated image.
Third, go out and market your product
to the buying public. Customers for this
type of high-resolution, short-run garments
are everywhere. Your potential niche markets are limited only by your imagination.
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Impressions | September 2014

It's important to learn the basics of an
industry art program, such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, CorelDRAW or the like.
The higher your proﬁciency, the easier it
will be to prepare your artwork for printing. Remember, there are plenty of professional graphic designers in this industry
who would love to do contract work for
you, and who also are fairly reasonably
priced. You may be surprised at the price
and how easy this is to accomplish via the
Internet without ever meeting your artist
face-to-face.
Also, get training on your new DTG
machine when you buy it. Go to the
dealer or have a technician come to your

As for the garments you print, your absolute best substrate will be 100% cotton
since DTG machines use water-based inks.
Not all cotton shirts are created equal, so
do some experimenting. Some garments
will look brighter and more crisp than
others simply because of the fabric weave
and ﬁnish. You can print on fabric blends
down to 50% cotton/50% polyester, but
100% cotton will always give you the best
print and washability.
You also can print on golf towels, canvas bags, artist canvases (uncoated), baby
bibs, mouse pads, denim jackets and jeans,
etc. If you can ﬁt it on a shirt holder and
it's cotton, you can print it with your
DTG machine.
With a special polyester pretreatment
available from most suppliers, you now
also can print on light-colored 100% polyester. The colored inks will bond with this
pretreatment on the shirt, but white ink
will not. So if your clients want shirts that
are made with white or light-colored fabric, you can do the job.
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Impressions - September 2014

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