Dtg versus print and cut

[jennywren]

If I'v not put this in the right section please feel free to move. My friend who is the wholesale business wanted to know which method to pick. I don't use either have a little knowledge of both but not enough to make a fair judgement on. He has money to spend but only wants one or the other. So what would you recommend and where would your go to buy, I said the print and cut would be the cheaper option and easier to maintain, the only thing I know about DGT is that it takes a great deal of maintaining , even of that I fact I'm not sure, so any input that you can input would help.

[socialgiraffe]

Here is a rough outline of the two methods

DTG

PROS
End result is arguably the best you will ever get. No need for any other materials except ink, pre-treat and garments.

CONS
You need to pretreat every garment and it is recommended that this is done in a different room, pretreating requires practice! (machines are coming to market that pretreat and print at the same time though). Things like zips and pockets on hoodies cause problems as the garment needs to be as close to the print head as possible. Speed is also a factor as you need to cure the garment for about 2 minutes. Fine if you have space and a large air dryer, but if you are using a heat press it does slow the process down. Max you will probably get from DTG is about 20 per hour, possibly less if dark garments.


PRINT & CUT

PROS
Machine is very versatile and can do more than garments, If there is an error on the image you can spot it before wasting a garment. No need for pre-treating and can be pressed on to any garment, including things like football shirts etc. You can leave the machine to print your transfers and when finished press them all in one go at about 75 per hour. Some machines now print metallic colours

CONS
It is vinyl and will look like that on the garment. You need to have a range of printable rolls for the different substrates (i.e. polyester, cotton etc etc). Unit cost (without time) is more expensive (about double I think).


In summary, if it were me who has owned both systems I would only go for DTG if I were only going to print tees and other flat items such as sweatshirts (nothing with a front pocket or zip). I would also only go for DTG if time was not a factor. The end result of DTG is far superior in every respect but is reflected in the time it takes to print.

[jennywren]

Many thanks for your reply, I printed of your reply and handed it to him, I have read back on some of the replies and info when the dgt has been mentioned and it has a steep learning curve, but I do think that the Dgt have come on a lot since they come out. No idea which he will go for, but its food for thought.

[jennywren]

Any more advice, opinions out there love to hear them

[socialgiraffe]

Had a thought as well and there are images that a DTG can do that Print and Cut can not. For example if you want to fade out the edges (a vignette) then this is not possible on a dark garment with print and cut.

[Earl Smith]

Ive also had a DTG printer. Great print which you cannot get anywhere else. But you must use it and clean it every day. I have a busy shop with plenty of t-shirt printing. Sadly around 99% of the prints could be done with vinyl or sublimated onto subli flock.
If you have plenty of continuous work with fade out edges or designs that cant be printed in any other way then go for it. For a DTG to pay for itself you need to print around 10 shirts a day.

[jennywren]

Thanks for that earl, I did suggest to him that screen printing might be another choice, just looking at wicked site to learn about that. Not sure on the pro or cons on that the equipment looks huge, I know that it will need a least 4 or 6 colours

[logobear]

While DTG has a number of complexities to it, essentially the 'process' is the same for every item regardless of the design, but with print & cut there are more stages which may be different depending on the nature of the artwork etc.
Suspect capital cost for DTG higher, but unit cost same or lower ......
As mentioned, some designs just cannot be done with print & cut, and DTG results generally better to much better.
My issue is one of space, If i had the space, i would get DTG, but don't know if I would get a 10k or a 50+k system.....

[Stitch Up]

Like Earl, I have both DTG & print & cut - I believe Earl no longer does DTG.

I recently added a Roland BN-20 Print & Cut printer to our business.

I think print & cut is great for small left breast logos, anything larger feels and looks utterly awful. It's probably okay for stag/hen nights but for fashion it's a non starter. This isn't a view I've had since I got my NeoFlex DTG, I've always thought vinyl on shirts is horrible.

Just my opinion of course.