Textile & Garment Printing · The Complete Guide

How it works

Screen printing on garments and cut fabric pieces uses the same fundamental process as screen printing on paper, a mesh screen with a stencil blocks ink except where it should print. A squeegee forces ink through the open mesh areas onto the fabric below. However, fabric screen printing has several important differences from paper screen printing:

• Garments are printed on a flat pallet (a flat board slightly smaller than the garment area) rather than a printing bed
• Each colour requires a separate screen. A 6-colour design requires 6 screens, each registered precisely to the others
• Inks are cured in a conveyor dryer (or flash dryer between colours), ink must reach 160–165°C throughout its depth for plastisol to cure fully
• On dark garments, an underbase (a layer of white ink) is printed first, then flashed dry, before the colour inks, this ensures colours are vibrant rather than dulled by the dark fabric showing through

Plastisol vs water-based inks on fabric

Plastisol: PVC-based ink that stays permanently liquid until heated. It does not dry in the screen during printing (a major advantage over water-based inks for production runs), produces very bright colours on dark garments, and has excellent wash fastness. The feel on the fabric is slightly thick and plastic. Industry standard for T-shirt printing globally and in India.

Water-based: Contains the pigment or dye in a water medium with binding agents. Produces a much softer hand feel, the print is nearly invisible to touch. Discharge printing is a water-based technique where a bleaching agent in the ink removes the fabric dye in the printed area and replaces it with pigment, creating a print that is truly part of the fabric, not sitting on top of it. Preferred for premium T-shirts and organic clothing.

Simulated process printing: Multi-colour halftone separations printed with spot plastisol colours (not CMYK) to create photographic-quality results. Typically requires 6–12 screens and significant colour separation skill. The technique that produces the highly detailed, photographic screen prints on premium fashion T-shirts.

Equipment, manual, semi-automatic, automatic

How it works

DTG uses a modified wide-format inkjet printer, a print head moves across the garment surface depositing water-based pigment ink directly onto the fabric fibres. The garment lies flat on a platen (similar to a screen printing pallet) that slides under the print head. The key addition versus standard inkjet printing: a white ink channel that can deposit opaque white ink as an underbase before printing colours on dark garments.

Pre-treatment, the non-optional step

DTG on dark or coloured garments requires pre-treatment, a chemical solution sprayed onto the garment before printing that prepares the fabric surface to bond the ink. Without pre-treatment on dark garments, the white underbase ink does not adhere properly and colours wash out rapidly. Pre-treatment must be:

• Applied evenly across the print area (typically with a spray gun or automatic pre-treatment machine)
• Dried thoroughly before printing (heat press at 160°C for 30–45 seconds, or conveyor dryer)
• Applied to the correct amount, too little means poor ink adhesion; too much causes a visible stiff patch

On white or light garments (less than 50% cotton darkness), pre-treatment is often unnecessary, the ink bonds directly to the white cotton fibres.

Post-treatment, heat curing

After printing, DTG prints must be heat-cured, typically at 160°C for 90–120 seconds in a conveyor dryer (or 160°C for 45–60 seconds under a heat press). Under-curing is the most common reason for DTG wash failures. The cure is complete when the print can be rubbed firmly without any ink transfer to a white cloth.

DTG vs screen printing, when to use which

The crossover point: At approximately 24–48 pieces (depending on colour count), screen printing becomes more economical than DTG. Below that threshold, DTG is almost always the better choice. Above it, screen printing is usually more economical for simple designs; DTG remains better for photographic complexity regardless of quantity.

The physics of sublimation

Sublimation is a phase change, from solid directly to gas, skipping the liquid phase. Sublimation printing uses disperse dyes that, when heated to approximately 180–210°C, convert from solid to gas. When a sublimation-printed paper (the transfer) is pressed against polyester fabric under heat and pressure, the gaseous dye molecules migrate into the polymer structure of the polyester fibres and bond permanently within them. When the heat is removed, the gas returns to solid state, now locked inside the fibre structure.

The result: the print is literally part of the fabric. Zero hand feel. It cannot be peeled, cracked, or washed off. The colour is as vibrant as the dye chemistry allows, sublimation on white polyester produces the most vivid colours achievable in any textile printing process.

The polyester requirement

Sublimation only works on polyester or polyester-coated substrates. Cotton fibres do not have the polymer structure that disperse dyes can migrate into and bond within. On 100% cotton, sublimation produces a faded, washed-out result that has no durability. On polyester blends, results vary with polyester content, 65% polyester produces reasonable but not optimal results; 100% polyester produces the best possible sublimation output.

This substrate limitation is both the process's greatest restriction and the reason it dominates specific applications:

• Sportswear and activewear: Polyester moisture-wicking fabrics that dominate sportswear are the perfect sublimation substrate, full surface printing, vibrant team colours, permanent wash fastness
• Soft signage: Polyester fabric for tension displays, trade show graphics, and backlit displays, full-bleed printing with edge-to-edge coverage
• Home textiles: Polyester cushion covers, curtains, and decorative items
• Promotional items: Mugs, mouse pads, phone cases (coated with polyester layer)

The two routes, paper transfer vs direct

Paper transfer (the standard method): Design is printed onto special sublimation transfer paper using sublimation inks in a wide-format inkjet printer. The paper is placed ink-face-down on the fabric and passed through a heat press or calendar (continuous heat press for yardage). At 180–210°C under pressure, the sublimation occurs and the design transfers from paper to fabric. The paper is then removed, revealing the printed fabric.

Direct sublimation (industrial yardage): Sublimation ink is printed directly onto the fabric (which must be coated for this) using a wide-format digital textile printer with a built-in fixation unit. Used for high-volume yardage production. More capital-intensive but faster than the paper transfer route for large quantities.

What heat transfer printing is

Heat transfer is a category of textile decoration that uses a pre-made design bonded to a carrier and transferred to fabric using heat and pressure. It is distinct from sublimation (which involves dye migration into the fibre), heat transfer physically bonds a layer of material to the fabric surface.

The main types

Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV / flex): A coloured polyurethane film with a heat-activated adhesive backing. Designs are cut on a vinyl cutter, the waste (negative space) is "weeded" away, and the remaining design is applied to fabric with a heat press at 150–165°C. HTV is the standard technology for personalised sportswear numbers and names, custom garments, and small-batch customisation. Available in hundreds of colours and finishes, standard, metallic, glitter, holographic, glow-in-the-dark, flock.

Printed transfers: A full-colour design is printed (by sublimation, inkjet, or laser) onto a special release paper, then heat-pressed onto the garment. Quality varies significantly by the transfer type, sublimation transfers produce the best colour and wash fastness on polyester; inkjet transfers on cotton produce reasonable results with proper ink formulation.

Plastisol transfers (gang sheets): Screen-printed plastisol designs are printed onto a specially coated release paper, dried (but not fully cured), then sold or stored as transfers. When heat-pressed onto a garment, the partially cured plastisol completes its cure and bonds to the fabric. Used for small quantities where setting up a full screen printing job is not economical.

HTV limitations

• Each colour is a separate layer of vinyl, making multi-colour designs require multiple applications or pre-layering
• Very fine details (thin lines, small text) are difficult to cut cleanly and weed
• The vinyl sits on top of the fabric, visible hand feel and edge that is absent from sublimation or discharge screen printing
• Not suitable for polyester where sublimation is possible, the vinyl bond over polyester is weaker than on cotton

What digital textile printing is

Digital textile printing is the direct application of ink to fabric using wide-format inkjet print heads, essentially the textile equivalent of wide-format paper inkjet printing. The critical difference from all other textile processes: digital printing requires no screens, no plates, no engraved cylinders. A design goes from computer file to printed fabric with no intermediate tooling. This makes it uniquely suited for short runs, frequent design changes, and complex photographic imagery.

The four ink systems for digital textile printing

Pre-treatment for digital textile printing

Most digital textile printing (except pigment inks on some fabrics) requires the fabric to be pre-treated before printing. The pre-treatment solution, a mix of chemicals specific to the ink type, swells the fibre surface, aids ink absorption, and prepares bonding sites for dye fixation. Without pre-treatment, reactive and acid dyes bleed along the fibres rather than staying in the printed position, producing blurry edges. Industrial digital textile printers typically have integrated pre-treatment systems that apply the treatment coating as part of the print pass.

Key equipment manufacturers

The major manufacturers of digital textile printing systems used in India: Epson (Monna Lisa series, widely used for reactive and acid), Mimaki (Tx series, multiple ink options), Durst (Rhotex series, industrial high-speed), Reggiani (industrial yardage), Kornit (Atlas and Presto for direct garment in high volume).

How rotary screen printing works

Rotary screen printing is a continuous process using cylindrical nickel mesh screens, each screen is a hollow cylinder (typically 640mm, 820mm, or 1018mm circumference, defining the pattern repeat length) with the design as open mesh areas. Fabric travels at speed beneath the rotating screens. Inside each screen, a stationary squeegee blade presses against the screen wall, forcing ink through the open mesh areas onto the fabric. Each screen prints one colour, and a machine may have 8–20 screens arranged in sequence along the fabric path.

After printing, the fabric passes through a drying oven to fix or dry the ink, then through a washing range (for reactive and acid dyes) to remove unfixed dye and chemicals.

Rotary screen vs digital, the trade-off