DTG / direct to garment

DTG printing in Sydney

DTG puts photographic detail straight into the fabric rather than laying ink on top of it, so the shirt still feels like a shirt. No screens, which means no setup fee and no minimum. One is a real order. We print it at 4/18-20 Hotham Parade in Artarmon, on Sydney's North Shore.

  • ★★★★★5.0 on Google · 24 reviews
  • ●No setup fee, no minimum
  • ●Printing in Artarmon since 2018

How to pick

What DTG is good at

Full colour and photographic artwork

Gradients, fine detail, illustration, photographs. The colour count does not affect the price, which is the opposite of how screen printing works.

One offs and small runs

No screens to make means no setup cost to spread across the run. A single shirt costs what a single shirt should cost.

Retail tees you intend to sell

The print goes into the fabric, so the garment stays soft. That matters when someone is paying for it over a counter rather than being handed it at work.

Samples before a bigger run

Print a handful on DTG, see how the design actually looks on the garment, then move to screen printing once the numbers justify it. We keep the artwork on file so the full run matches the sample.

When it is not the right call

Large volume in a small number of colours is cheaper and tougher on screen printing. Polyester, hi vis and technical fabrics will not take DTG properly and want DTF instead. Send us the job and we will tell you which one wins before you pay for anything.

What it costs

What DTG costs

Printing and GST included. No setup fee, no minimum. These are the same numbers the designer shows you, published here so you do not have to email anyone to find them out.

Quantity
Price per tee
1 tee
$45
10 tees
$27 each
50 or more
$21 each

Hoodies from $38.50 each in bulk. Printing onto garments you already own is BYO printing: $15 one-off artwork setup per design, then $12 a print. Express turnaround adds $2.50 a garment on selected products.

Get your exact price

How DTG holds up

DTG comes through normal washing well and softens gradually with wear, which on a retail tee is usually the point rather than a problem. It is not as bulletproof as screen printing under constant industrial washing, so for uniforms and club gear worn every week we will point you that way instead. If a print of ours fails, we reprint it.

Wash cold, inside out, and skip the dryer if you want it to last. That is true of any print, not just ours.

Trade and wholesale

Contract DTG and pretreatment for other printers

We also work with other print studios. If you run DTG and you are short on capacity, or you want garments pretreated properly before they hit your press, we do both. We have built a reputation among smaller print houses for honest pricing on AS Colour blanks, and we do not mark them up heavily.

  • ✓Contract DTG printing on your jobs
  • ✓Pretreatment on garments you supply
  • ✓AS Colour blanks sourced at fair trade pricing
Talk to us about contract work

What people say

24 reviews. Every one, five stars.

★★★★★

Really helpful in getting from concept to design. The printing is flawless and colours match brilliantly. Delivered on time and no hassles whatsoever.
— Andrew L.

★★★★★

These guys are so good! Very quick in-house design and such high quality printing.
— Travis W.

DTG questions

Is there a minimum order for DTG?+

No. One shirt is a real order and there is no setup fee, because there are no screens to make.

What resolution does my artwork need to be?+

300 DPI at the size you want it printed. If what you have is smaller than that, send it anyway rather than scaling it up yourself. Our illustrators can usually redraw it so it prints cleanly.

Can you print white ink on dark garments?+

Yes, and it is included. White ink on a dark garment prints at the same price and the same turnaround as anything else. The garment is pretreated first so the white sits bright rather than sinking into the fabric.

What fabrics can you print DTG on?+

Cotton and cotton rich. One hundred percent cotton gives the best result. Polyester, hi vis and performance fabrics will not hold a DTG print, and for those we use DTF instead.

Does the number of colours change the price?+

No. A one colour design and a full colour photograph cost the same on DTG. That is the main difference from screen printing, where each colour is another screen.

How does DTG compare to screen printing?+

DTG for detail and small runs, screen printing for volume and durability. The crossover is usually somewhere around a dozen garments, depending on how many colours are in the artwork. Send us the job and we will tell you which one wins.

How long does it take?+

Standard is up to two weeks from artwork approval. Express is within a week and adds $2.50 a garment on selected products.

Detail, in full colour, from one shirt up.

Upload your artwork, see it on the actual garment, and get the price on the screen before you hand over any details.

4/18-20 Hotham Parade, Artarmon NSW 2064 · Mon to Fri, 9am to 3pm · By appointment