Our Printing Methods

DTG Printing

Direct to Garment (DTG) printing is an exciting innovation which is a great option for a variety of designs including intricate artwork. It works much like an extremely advanced inkjet printer, printing your design directly onto the garment, allowing for high speed and great quality prints.

We use some of the most advanced and state-of-the-art direct to garment printers on the market. These machines use Neo-Pigment inks, which are 100% non-hazardous, 100 % toxin-free and are safe for infants and babies. They also enable ink waste reduction thanks to their single ink set, ensuring digital is one step closer to offering a solution to lower the amount of water our industry currently uses.

How does the DTG printing method work?

To start the DTG printing method, the t-shirt is sprayed with a pre-treatment. This is to ensure that the ink doesn’t soak into the t-shirt fabric. Without this step stains and defects would occur.

The t-shirt is then placed into the DTG printer and the design is printed directly onto the t-shirt, much like an inkjet printer. Once printed, the t-shirt is placed into one of our powerful dryers which helps to ensure a durable finish.

Vinyl Printing

Vinyl transfer printing works by a machine which cuts out a design onto a single-colour sheet of vinyl. The vinyl design is then heat sealed on to the garment using a heat press. This creates a vibrant, bold finish that will really stand out.

Vinyl printing is fantastic for single-colour orders. It is great for lettering and especially for vibrant t-shirts with a personalised message like those you might order for a stag or hen trip, as vinyl is low-cost and great for one-off orders. As the design effectively sits on top of the garment, no vibrancy in the colour of the design is lost.

How does the Vinyl printing method work?

This printing method starts with our expert artwork team will add an outline to the design so that it can be used in the process. This is achieved using specialised design software.

The vinyl design is then ready to be cut and applied to the t-shirt.  .

The design is next put through a digital cutter, a CAD (Computer Aided Design) cutter which electronically cuts the design onto a single colour sheet of vinyl, and then needs to be cut out from the vinyl sheet. This is done manually using a weeder, in a process called weeding. This process is achieved by using a weeder which is a small tool which helps to remove the excess vinyl so that the final cut design remains.

The cut design is then placed on application tape to prepare it to be heat transferred. Next, the design is heat pressed onto the t-shirt.

Screen and Screen Transfer Printing

Screen printing is one of the most traditional methods of printing and is great for large orders of over 500 pieces. It involves the application of colour with ink directly through a screen onto the garment.

Screen printing allows large and complex designs to have a really high quality finish. As the ink is absorbed into the garment, the finished design is smooth and glossy.

Where as, screen transfer printing involves the application of colour with ink directly through a screen onto transfer paper. The design on the transfer paper is then cured, and is transferred to the garment using a heat press.

How does the Screen printing method work?

Screen printing involves the application of colour normally by ink. In order to screen print an item the design has to be separated into the component colours on software such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw.

Prior to printing the design needs to be separated into the component colours by our artwork team so each colour can be printed individually. Every colour requires a separate screen consisting of a very fine mesh surface which is produced using light reactive chemicals. Where the chemicals have been exposed to light, they break down and are washed off leaving spaces in the mesh.

Once ready, the ink can then be screen printed onto the t-shirts directly or onto transfer paper which is later applied to the T-shirts by a heat press. If the direct printing method is used, the t-shirts are placed on a solid board. The colours are then applied individually by placing the screen on top of the t-shirt and forcing the printer ink through the relevant screen stencil onto the t-shirt.

DTF Printing

Direct to Film (DTF) printing uses a specific water-based ink to print a film transfer. Once heat pressed the soft water based ink is transferred to the garment in just 15 seconds. DTF is best for polyester and other non cotton fabrics.

DTF provides a high degree of accuracy with an exact replication of the original design on a wide variety of fabric types. This a great option for sportwear and athleisure garments.

How does the DTF printing method work?

The logo/design is sent over to our DTF printers which contain a specialist film to capture the design.

The design is printed onto the film, initially in white. Then the colours are the design are printed on top of the white layer. This is then heat pressed on to the t-shirt after the binding powder has been applied.