You have a run of shirts to get made. Maybe it’s two hundred for your whole team for a company retreat. Maybe it’s a dozen polos for the front-of-house staff, or a name-and-number run for a youth sports league. Somewhere in the research you hit a wall. Screen printing, DTG, DTF. They all promise a shirt at the end, but they don’t all get you there the same way.
So let’s clear the fog. Here’s how each method works, what each one is good at, where each one falls short, and which one best fits the job in front of you.
We’re Kong Screenprinting in Austin, and we print for organizations, beverage brands, hospitality groups, trades crews, startups, schools, teams, and nonprofits. Some of what follows will point you toward a method we don’t do. We’d rather you end up with the right one.
The quick answer, before you read the whole thing
- Screen printing is best for medium and large runs – twenty-five shirts and up. The price per piece drops as the order size increases. Opaque ink for vibrant designs that are durable and can outlast the shirt. This is the method for team orders and brand merch, and it’s where we excel.
- DTG (direct-to-garment) is best for very small runs of full-color, photo-detailed art on cotton (it doesn’t work on synthetic fabrics). You get a soft print with no minimum to speak of, but it’s slow and pricey per piece at volume. Which makes it a poor fit for large orders. Due to its limited application it’s not a method we run, but it still has its place.
- DTF (direct-to-film) is best for small-to-medium runs, full-color art, team names and numbers, and mixed garments (some cotton, some poly, totes, a hoodie, and trucker hats all in one order). A digitally printed film that presses onto almost anything. We do run this and although we don’t recommend it for everything, there are items that it’s uniquely suited over any other method.
Here’s how they compare side by side.
| Method | Sweet spot | Best run size | Full-color art? | Hand-feel | Durability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen printing | Team orders, brand merch, one design at volume | 25 to thousands | Yes, though every color adds cost | Can be soft or bold, your call | Highest. Outlasts the garment |
| DTG | A handful of shirts with photo-level art | 1 to about 25 | Yes, easily | Very soft, printed into the fabric | Good on cotton, fades faster than screen printing |
| DTF | Small full-color runs, mixed fabrics, complex art, names, numbers, per-piece personalization | 1 to a few hundred | Yes, easily | Slight film layer you can feel | Strong with proper pressing and care |
Screen printing: the go-to for quantity
Screen printing is the bed rock of our industry. A squeegee pushes ink through a polyester screen, one screen per color, straight onto the shirt. The ink sits on the fabric then cures under heat so the colors stay bright and vibrant through a lifetime of wears and washes.
Here’s why organizations, businesses, and merch brands keep coming back to it. The setup takes work up front. We burn a screen for each color, line up registration, dial in the squeegee and speed. But once that’s done, the economy of scale kicks in so the price per piece drops as the count climbs. A run of two hundred lands at a very different per-shirt cost than a run of twenty-five. That’s the whole reason it rules big orders.
It’s also the most durable print you can buy. A screen-printed shirt washed a hundred times will still be bright and vibrant long after the collar gives out. For a brand selling shirts to customers or a crew that lives in their gear, that longevity is the point.
Where screen printing gets pricey is with high color count at low volume. Every ink color means another screen, another setup. A ten-color photo realistic print is a poor fit if you only need 50 shirts (over 100 is a different story). A bold two or three-color logo is the perfect fit. We do everything in-house here on our own presses, which is how we control quality on the big runs. If you want a deeper dive on costs, our guide to what shapes a custom screen printing quote breaks down every cost driver.
DTG: great for a handful, wrong for a crowd
DTG stands for direct-to-garment. Picture an inkjet printer, but instead of paper it prints straight onto a cotton shirt. The ink soaks into the fabric, so the print feels soft and can carry photo-level detail with unlimited color.
For a run of five shirts with a complicated full-color illustration, DTG is a genuinely good tool. No screens to burn. No color limits. Every shirt can be different if you want.
However, DTG is not our lane. We don’t run it. And for the organizations we serve, it usually isn’t the right answer anyway. DTG prints one shirt at a time at a fairly fixed cost, so it does not get cheaper at volume the way screen printing does. On a two-hundred-shirt order, that math works against you. It also works best on cotton, and it typically fades faster than a screen print over many washes.
So when someone comes to us with a job that sounds like DTG, a small run of rich full-color art, we either point them to a different provider or recommend DTF instead. Same freedom with color and detail, but it applies onto more fabrics and holds up better. More on that next. The goal is your shirt turning out right, on whatever method fits best.
DTF: full color, mixed fabrics, small runs made easy
DTF means direct-to-film. Your art is digitally printed in full color onto a special film. That film gets an adhesive applied and is pressed onto the garment with heat. The design bonds to the fabric and you peel the film away.
This method solves a real headache. Say your order is a mixed bag of fabrics, garments, and promo pieces. Forty cotton tees, twenty poly performance shirts, a stack of tote bags, and a few hoodies, all with the same full-color logo. Screen printing that mix means separate setups for the odd pieces. DTG can’t touch the poly or the totes. DTF handles all of it from one printed film, because the film doesn’t really care about what it’s landing on.
It’s also a strong pick for jobs that would carry a high cost in screens. Have a full color photo or life-like illustration for a small run? DTF wins. Need per-piece customization like individual names and numbers? DTF wins there too. There’s a slight film layer you can feel compared to a soft screen print, and long life depends more on following the wash instructions than screen printing. But for anything at small-to-medium counts, it’s hard to beat. We press DTF in-house, and you can read the details on our direct-to-film printing page.
How the three compare on the things you care about
Cost as the count grows
This is the big one. Screen printing has real setup up front, so a run of twenty-five carries that cost on a few shirts. Push the same design to five hundred shirts and the setup costs spread out, so the price per piece drops a lot. DTG and DTF cost roughly the same per piece whether you make ten or a hundred, because each one is handled on its own. That flat cost structure is friendly for small runs and unfriendly for big ones. So the crossover is simple. Small run, the digital methods compete. Big run, screen printing pulls ahead and keeps going.
Durability and hand-feel
A properly cured screen print is the toughest of the three, and we make it feel soft with the right ink and technique. DTG feels the softest because it prints into the cotton, though it can fade sooner. DTF holds up strong when pressed and washed right, with a slight film you can feel.
Color and detail limits
DTG and DTF handle unlimited color and photo detail extremely well. Screen printing handles full color too, but every color adds a screen and cost, so at small quantities it can be restrictive based on your budget. If your logo has to match an exact brand color, screen printing with a Pantone match is the tightest control you can get. We match to the Pantone system at no extra charge, and clean art makes that match easier. Our artwork file prep guide walks through getting your files press-ready.
Real scenarios, and the method we’d point you to
Enough theory. Here’s how it shakes out on the jobs we see most.
- Two hundred shirts for the team, one design. Screen printing, no contest. The per-piece cost drops with the count and the print will outlast the shirts.
- A twelve-piece run of a detailed, full-color illustration. DTF. Small count, rich color, no big screen setup to pay for. This is the classic “sounds like DTG” job that DTF does better.
- Full-color photo art, and you only need a dozen. DTF again on our end. If you truly want DTG’s into-the-fabric softness on cotton, then we’d be happy to recommend someone who can do that.
- A league roster, every jersey a different name and number. DTF has this one.
- Hats, totes, and shirts in one branded order. Mixed bag. Hats often go to embroidery, an offering we provide. The rest can run screen printing or DTF depending on count and art.
- A brand selling merch to customers. Screen printing for the volume runs. It’s the most durable and the most cost-friendly at scale.
Not sure which bucket you land in? That’s what our quote conversation is for. Our sales team are experts at this stuff. We start by asking about your project, your art, and where the shirts are going. Then we recommend the right method. If embroidery fits your hats or polos better than a print, we’ll say so. You can see the full lineup on our screen printing service page, and the whole picture on our hub, custom screen printing in Austin, made for business.
Still weighing print against embroidery for polos, caps, or bags? Our screen printing vs. embroidery breakdown covers that call in full.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between screen printing, DTG, and DTF?
Screen printing is ink through a screen, one screen per color, and cures it onto the shirt for the most durable print at volume. DTG prints full color straight into a cotton garment from an inkjet printer, which suits tiny runs. DTF prints your art onto a film that presses onto almost any fabric, which suits small-to-medium full-color runs. Screen printing is the go-to for big orders, and DTF is the flexible choice for mixed fabrics and complex color.
Which printing method is best for a large team order?
Screen printing, in most cases. Its per-piece cost drops as the count climbs because the setup spreads across more shirts, and the cured ink outlasts the garment. For one design at twenty-five pieces or more, it’s the most cost-friendly and durable option.
Does Kong Screenprinting offer DTG printing?
No, DTG is not a method we run. For the small full-color jobs people often think need DTG, we recommend DTF instead, which gives you the same color freedom with better durability and works on more fabrics. If a job is a true fit for DTG, we’ll tell you.
How many pieces do I need to order to get custom shirts printed?
Our minimum is generally 25 pieces, though we make exceptions. Screen printing rewards larger counts with a lower price per piece, while DTF works fine at smaller numbers.
How long does a custom order take?
Turnaround is about three weeks after your order is approved. Screen printing can often move faster with no rush fee in most cases, while embroidery runs on a tighter calendar, so earlier notice helps on those jobs.
