Each color used in the design is printed separately with its own screen. DTG printing is most cost-effective for small batches of custom printed t-shirts. Our production team handles each, The Bonfire Design Team works every day to make sure that the vision you have for your t-shirt comes to life in an amazing way! You may see the total pricing on different costs undertaken in the printing process, but some fail to show the breakdown on the number of colors in the artwork. Do you print more than 3000 meters of a certain design? They both have their pros and cons. Fashion brands are under the pressure to produce a large variety of designs and rapidly respond to changes in trends. Find a full overview of all indirect cost drivers for digital textile printing in Figure 2, as listed in a recent study by Gherzi. There are so many variations between each customer order that it's difficult to qualify which printer is the cheapest. DETAILS. This method of printing involves the use of mesh stencils. This means that when printing a design that consists of more colors no additional costs are made. Three core advantages of digital textile printing that have helped other textile printers to address new business units and assure their businesses of a future. Age of screen printing process Screen printing’s original roots go back to Egyptian times with stencilling and then later in China (900 A.D.) when they first forced ink … JAVELIN, Textile Printing, If you print more color ways with the same set of screens, the costs are divided over more printed meters. Each separated color is exposed to individual screens. Digital printing is newer, whereas silk screen printing is as old as the Chinese Song Dynasty. This is limited to the number of screen positions that the rotary printer has. This means that when printing a design that consists of more colors no additional costs are made. Digital Textile Printing, In an independent study conducted by Gherzi (. With years of experience, Jos can tell you all about the basics of textile printing as well as the latest innovations that help you grow your business. When the screens are engraved, they have to be installed and registered in the rotary printing machine so all colors match up perfectly. The stencil process means that set-up costs are a little higher, but it also makes screen printing more efficient for large orders of one design. This break-even point depends on different parameters, mainly in the rotary printing process. For each extra color you want to use in rotary, a new screen has to be engraved. Screen printing is a method of printing that gives you your artwork laid down layer-by-layer with a solid base underneath. Small orders can be equally impractical for screen printing. You can have your finished t-shirt with little or no clean up. When you want to produce brochures, flyers, books, newsletters, posters, and other marketing material, your first step is … As a more labor-intensive process, screen printing produces beautiful, saturated colors and a distinctive, authentic appearance. Below, I’ll specify the most important indirect costs in more detail. Ideally, this means that in the future discount sales are no longer necessary. Multi-pass Scanning Printing, Screen Printing is ideal for bulk orders that are approximately 25 or more of the same design. New research in digital printing is focused on increasing color depth and colorfastness. From automation vs manual printing, DTG vs screen printing, or water based ink vs plastisol ink, screen printing shops have to be ready to make these decisions on a daily basis. The number of colors used won’t seriously affect the final price. Digital printing works like a big inkjet printer for products. DTG printing works like the inkjet printer in your home office. Digital textile printing helps printers to directly print a new order and have it delivered to the customer in a short time frame. Learn more about the difference between digital textile printing and rotary screen printing when it comes to fast-fashion manufacturing in the video below: Did your cost comparison show that digital textile printing could be of value for your printing company? But with screen printing, there are typically cost savings built in as you print more t-shirts! After that the separation process a separate screen has to be created for each color. Cost of Silk Screen vs. DTG Printing. The ink is pulled across the stencil using a blade or foam tool, producing a single layer of the design with full, saturated color. We’ll answer these four most common questions: If you’ve never printed your own custom shirts before, follow these best practices and study up on the different ways your shirts can be produced. Here’s how they stack up: Screen printing is most cost-effective for larger batches of shirts. For example, when you do a 4-color printing job, you have 4 plates. Whether you’re creating custom t-shirts for a creative project, a fundraising campaign, or another reason, understanding the printing process will help you make the best possible decisions. The biggest differences that you should consider when choosing a method fall into two general categories — design and cost. When making a cost comparison between rotary screen and digital printing, the number of colors in use in rotary have to be taken into account. Heat transfer printing is very convenient and the level of detail is better than screen print. Plus, digital printing allows us to offer custom tees with no minimum order requirement, unlike screen printing, which has a 12-piece minimum because of its extensive prep time. Printed apparel that features simple designs is the best choice for this printing method and will increase production time. Then it’s time to discover precisely how this transition can make your business grow. For that reason, digital textile printing can be a more cost-friendly option for printing companies that work with very colorful designs and many color ways per design. A major limitation of screen printing is its maximum capability of four colors. Additionally, the cost and time required to set up each color is not cost effective for small-to-medium-sized, custom orders. Although there are 24-color rotary machines, most customers are limited to 12 colors but often reduce to 6 to 8 colors to save costs of screens. Sustainability is increasingly becoming a more important issue among textile printers. This is a newer t-shirt printing method that’s gained a lot of popularity in recent years thanks to technological improvements in DTG printers. One printing method is not “better" than the other, but each one has their pros and cons depending on the type of print job. This is probably the hardest question to answer. Offset vs. Digital Printing. For that reason, digital textile printing can be a more cost-friendly option for printing companies that work with very colorful designs and many color ways per design. Needless to say, the more colors that are used in a particular design, the higher the operational costs. The Verdict: Digital printing. Using more than the recommended number of colors slows down the process, though, resulting in higher final prices, since each color used needs its own screen stencil created. A market study from Smithers Pira, "The Future of Digital versus Analogue Printing to 2020," outlines the key trends in digital printing compared with that of analog printing… By following this guide, you’ll create a design, The best way to make the highest profit per shirt that you can is by keeping your production costs low. How much does screen printing cost? Digital printing is a fresh and innovative solution that offers more flexibility than screen printing on glass. Your design is uploaded to a computer that then prints directly onto your merchandise. On top of that, you need to take the number of colorways into account. The scope of your custom t-shirt printing project should be a consideration as you choose a printing service to handle it. Screen Printing vs Digital Printing. This estimate is a rough estimate: the exact break-even point is dependent on each specific printing company and for instance also depending on the country you are printing in. PIKE, [The Note] Digital textile printing vs screen printing: how to make a cost comparison. The costs involved are minimal and the set up time in very less. Jos Notermans attempts to answer all your questions regarding textile printing in 'The Note'. The printer translates the digital image or graphic file onto your blank tee! An additional screen is required for each new colour with screen printing which means any additional colours will cost you. Understanding the differences between the two methods will help you to better determine exactly what you need from a partner as you get started with your custom t-shirt project! Here at Bonfire, we use both DTG and screen printing methods. Digital textile printing provides printers with the ability to benefit from new business models. This process means that screen printing is better suited to certain kinds of t-shirt designs. Because of the flexibility of digital textile printing, fashion brands can decide to have small batches of a certain design printed and place repeat orders when that product is selling well. In rotary screen printing, on the contrary, a design has to be adjusted with special separation software to reduce the number of colors. Next, the printer swipes ink across the screen … Gherzi estimated that in general when printing less than 1200 meters of a certain design digital textile printing is cheaper than rotary screen printing. As rotary printing requires a lot more labour than digital, the labour costs from country to country can significantly influence the cost per meter in rotary. As pointed out before, it heavily depends on the number of colors you want to print, the number of color ways and the number of printed meters per color way. Since no screens have to be engraved, lead times can be shortened considerably. 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