DTG Printer – Material

Digital Garment Printers create directly to garment custom t-shirt prints, which means just what it sounds like! A DTG Printer operates as a specialized inkjet printer designed to apply an image to a T-shirt just like your home printer applies one to a piece of paper.
Of course, because the medium is different, the inks are different and because it’s a commercial process the printer is a LITTLE larger and more complex.
The inks used in direct-to-garment printing are water-based inks and act like any liquid when it comes to the application on fabric. Any garments that have a Teflon or stain resistant coating will repel the inks used for digital printing in the same way they are designed to repel coffee, cranberry juice, or any other liquid. Many aprons, tablecloths, and work uniforms, such as in the mechanic or food service industry, are not suited for direct-to-garment printing. Polyester and poly-blend fabrics, that are often used to make t-shirts, do not work well with digital printing. Polyester fibers are essentially plastic, and as you probably know, water is not absorbed by plastic. Even if the image is transferred to a polyester or polyester-blend garment, the ink does not set and will lose integrity when washed. 100% cotton is by far the best material to use when it comes to digital printing. 50/50 blends of cotton and polyester simply don’t hold the ink as well over the long term.
However, it is important to remember that all cotton tees are not created equal. The visual quality of the print is noticeably degraded when printing on the cheaper, rougher generic tees that are available. For the best-looking print, you want to stick with the smoother, softer shirts. Apparel made from ringspun cotton is a good choice. There are other fabrics beyond cotton that can produce amazing results when printed direct-to-garment.