Screen vs DTG on cotton
Screen printing forces ink through a mesh stencil — one screen per colour — and cures it into a film on top of the cotton. DTG printing sprays water-based ink directly into the fibres, with no screens and no setup. Which one is cheaper depends on order size, colour count and ink coverage, and the numbers below show where each method wins.
| Comparison point | Screen printing | DTG printing |
|---|---|---|
| One-time setup | USD 15-40 per colour per side | No screens, no setup |
| Cheaper order size | About 50-100 pieces and up, at 2 colours | Up to about 25 pieces, even at 6-8 colours |
| Ink on the fabric | Plastisol film, 100-150 microns thick | Water-based, 0.01-0.05 mm, soaks into the fibre |
| Cure or set | 160 °C for 15-60 seconds | Heat-set after printing |
| What drives the price | Number of colours | Ink coverage, % of print area |
| Fabric requirement | Cotton; discharge only on cotton-rich blends | At least 80% natural fibre, white or light base |
| Wash life | 50-100 cycles before the ink thins | 30-50 cycles before the ink thins |
Screen printing stencils each colour through a mesh and cures it as a film; DTG sprays water-based ink straight into the fibres.
A screen print is built one colour at a time. Each colour needs its own screen, made once at roughly USD 15-40 per colour per side, and plastisol ink is pushed through the mesh onto the garment. The ink sits on top of the cotton as a film 100-150 microns thick and is cured at about 160 °C for 15-60 seconds. That film is what gives screen prints their opacity and their slightly rubbery hand.
DTG — direct-to-garment — works like an inkjet printer for fabric. It lays down 0.01-0.05 mm of water-based ink that soaks into the cotton rather than coating it, so the print has almost no hand and no film to crack. The trade-offs are fabric and speed: DTG needs at least 80% natural fibre and a white or light base, and an A3 head prints roughly 1.5-2.5 square metres an hour at 1200 x 1200 dpi effective resolution, with typical production quoted at 3-7 days per run.
A third route, discharge, belongs to the screen family but behaves differently: a reducing paste strips the existing dye out of dark pre-dyed cotton instead of adding ink. It is the only screen method that prints a true white on a dark garment, it costs 10-30% more per metre, and it works only on cotton and some cotton-rich blends, with a visible effect on the garment's hand.
Screen printing gets cheaper per piece as quantity rises; DTG gets cheaper as colour count rises — and coverage re-prices everything in between.
Because the screen-making cost is paid once, it dilutes across the run. A two-colour screen print is commonly the cheaper route above about 50-100 pieces. Below roughly 25 pieces, a six-to-eight-colour DTG print with no setup can still be cheaper, because every extra screen colour would have added USD 15-40 before a single shirt was printed.
Between those two zones, ink coverage takes over. DTG cost scales with coverage — how much of the print area is actually inked — while screen cost scales with colours. A full-coverage black tee and the same artwork as a thin outline are priced in different bands, even though the garment and the method are identical.
A screen print on cotton typically outlasts a DTG print by a factor of about two in wash cycles.
A screen-printed cotton garment lasts roughly 50-100 wash cycles before the ink visibly thins; a DTG print manages about 30-50. Both figures assume the print was finished correctly — plastisol cured at 160 °C, DTG heat-set — and both collapse if the cure is skipped or rushed.
Care decides whether a print reaches the top or the bottom of its range. Wash inside out at no more than 40 °C and keep the garment out of the tumble dryer: heat and abrasion are what crack a plastisol film and fade a water-based print. Dark cotton also bleeds for the first 1-3 washes — a 100% cotton knit absorbs 7-8% of its weight in water — so printed darks should be washed separately at the start.
Each figure is drawn from the measurable values in the text — microns, gsm, degrees and wash cycles.
Figures are drawn from standard garment-printing practice and published fabric specifications; no proprietary price lists are reproduced.