Blog — print methods

A good ugly Christmas sweater is loud on purpose. The design choices that make a normal shirt look bad, clashing colors, oversized graphics, too much going on at once, are exactly what you want here. Here is how to design one and what actually happens when it goes to print. Design Ideas That Actually Read as "Ugly" Clash the colors on purpose. Red, green, and gold together is the baseline. Push it further with a busy background pattern, like a faux knit texture or an all-over print of ornaments, snowflakes, or lights, rather than one clean graphic centered on a...

Four methods dominate custom apparel decoration: DTF, screen printing, DTG, and embroidery. DTF prints a full-color design onto film and heat-presses it on, no per-color setup, works on almost any fabric. Screen printing pushes ink through a mesh screen, one screen per color, cheapest at real bulk in one or two colors. DTG prints ink directly onto the garment like an inkjet printer, best on cotton, no minimum order. Embroidery stitches the design in thread, the only method with a physical, textured result. Which one you want depends on your quantity, your fabric, and whether the design has more than...

For most orders under 100 pieces, DTF wins on cost and turnaround. Screen printing pulls ahead only once you're past roughly 150 pieces in one or two colors, where its per-piece price drops below what DTF can match. Below that line, DTF is usually cheaper, faster to turn around, and handles full-color art that screen printing can't touch without adding a screen per color. That's the short version. Here's the actual math behind it, pulled straight from real per-piece pricing, not a rule of thumb.An ugly Christmas sweater design is one place where more is more. See our guide to...