T-shirt digital printing for photo motifs

T-shirt digital printing is also called T-shirt direct printing or digital textile printing and is the most modern printing process. Digital printing is ideally suited for the representation of colour gradients and photo motifs. So you get long-lasting prints in vivid colours. A digital printer works similar to an inkjet printer, but instead of paper, the T-shirt or other textiles are printed. Both white and coloured textiles can be printed with high-resolution designs. With digital printing, the ink is sprayed directly onto the garment, so no stencils are needed. In this way, your motifs can be implemented individually. The digital printing process is characterised by detailed and high-quality results.

The advantages of T-shirt digital printing

T-shirt digital printing is particularly suitable for small print runs and scores with a brilliant print quality of up to 1200 dpi. With digital printing you have an unlimited choice of colours at your disposal. These are sprayed on in such a way that they are only slightly perceptible, which makes for a high wearing comfort. The T-shirts and other textiles can be washed at up to 40° C and offer a very good wash resistance. In principle, the process is suitable for most textiles, with the exception of fleece or 100% polyester, as their surface structure is not smooth enough. The colours are most effective on cotton blended fabrics. Even colour gradients can be perfectly displayed.

A further advantage is that the motif does not have a frame as with other printing processes. Because you do not need pre-print processes and templates, you save costs and time. It is therefore the suitable printing process for small series. In addition, the print can be implemented quickly.

How does the T-Shirt digital printing work?

The desired motif is available digitally and is integrated by a software. You attach the T-shirt to be printed on the printing plate in such a way that it lies flat. Before the actual printing process, you spray the t-shirt with a special solution that fixes the ink and ensures a better application of the ink. After printing, a heat treatment allows the ink to dry completely.

There are a few things to consider when choosing the right printing template. If you want to print on a white t-shirt, JPEG images with a resolution of 300 dpi are ideal, but often 150 dpi is sufficient. For colour t-shirts, you can use any file format that supports transparency, such as PDF, AI or SVG. Please note that the design must either be optional or have a transparent background.

In contrast to toner transfer, which only requires a simple laser printer, T-shirt digital printers are expensive devices that can only be used for this application. The pre-treatment as well as the post-treatment for a better fixation of the colour requires a lot of time.

Convinces the T-shirt digital printing by its high print quality, however, the choice of material as described above is very limited. With toner transfer with white toner, colour gradients and photo-realistic images can also be printed. The Laser-Dark No-Cut foils also allow printing without cropping. The variety of materials for toner transfer is almost unlimited.