DTG — direct-to-garment — is essentially an inkjet printer for fabric. Specialty water-based inks are sprayed directly onto the garment, then cured with heat. Because nothing has to be set up per-color, DTG handles full-color, photo-style designs without the cost climbing with color count.
#What it's best for
DTG is the right fit for short runs of cotton apparel, photo-realistic designs, art with lots of colors or gradients, and one-off pieces. If your design would need eight screens to reproduce in screen printing, DTG often becomes the cheaper option. It is also the standard method for any program where each piece can be a different design — DTG has no per-color setup, so a run of fifty different prints costs about the same as a run of fifty matching prints.
#What it doesn't do well
DTG works best on light-colored, 100% cotton garments. Dark garments are possible but require a white underbase, which adds a step and changes the feel of the print. The ink sits on the fibers rather than soaking deeply into them, so very large solid color blocks can feel slightly stiffer than screen-printed equivalents and may show more wear over many washes. Synthetic fabrics, blends, and performance materials are generally not good DTG candidates — for those, sublimation is usually the answer.
#Artwork requirements
Send high-resolution raster art (.png or .tif at 300 DPI at the final print size) with a transparent background. Vector files work too and are often cleaner. DTG can reproduce gradients, soft edges, and photographic detail that other methods cannot, so there is no need to simplify the design for color count. There is no Pantone match in the strict sense — colors are reproduced in CMYK — but the design team will share a digital proof so you can confirm the look before printing.
Maximum print size depends on the garment; most adult tees support around 14 by 16 inches on the chest or back.
#Lead-time impact
DTG runs on a standard timeline for typical orders. Because there are no screens to make and no thread to digitize, setup is minimal, which makes DTG one of the faster methods to start for a brand-new design. Very large quantities run slower than screen print at the same volume because DTG prints one piece at a time.
#When to choose this vs. screen printing
Choose DTG when your design has many colors, gradients, or photo-style detail, or when the run is small enough that setting up screens does not pay off. Choose screen printing for larger runs of simpler designs — bigger color blocks, fewer colors, and a hand-feel that wears in well over time.
#When to choose this vs. sublimation
DTG is for cotton apparel. Sublimation is for polyester-rich, light-colored apparel and is the right call for all-over prints or any case where you want the design to feel like part of the fabric.