ABOUT ON-DEMAND PRINTING

What is On-Demand Printing?

On-demand printing is a method where a digital printer is used to print a design directly onto a garment using inkjet technology with direct-to-garment (DTG) or sublimation printing. Think of a computer printer that uses a tee or mug instead of paper.

What is Direct-to-garment (DTG)?

Direct-to-garment (DTG) digital printing has become on par quality-wise with traditional screen printing methods. Artist Shops uses DTG printing because it’s less limiting to you - the artist - and allows us to offer you tons of awesome products to print on. Since on-demand printing uses a digital printer, it has less color limitations than screen printing, which allows for more versatility since you are not required to match colors by inks and Pantones. Because of this, the print stays pretty close to true color. Additionally, with on-demand, customization is super simple. Since you are able to print an image directly on a garment, on-demand does not require any up-front investment, inventory commitments, or set-up requirements. on-demand printing helps us invest more in artists and less in inventory, providing more opportunities for artists to be creative and take design risks while giving them more canvases to explore.

What types of inks do we use?

All of the inks used in our on-demand printing are water-based. They do not contain PVC, phthalates, or AZO dyes.

COLORS

DTG provides tons of versatility in terms of color options and product options, but because you’re printing directly onto a garment, certain garment types may affect how those colors show up. Here’s a quick guide to how certain colors and shades appear on various types and colors of fabric!

DTG Color Spectrum: below is a full-color spectrum printed on DTG. As you can see, the hardest hues to hit are the bright reds, cyans, and greens.

Here's a Color Swatch Template. Let's view some printed versions to see how colors show up on different garments:

On a black garment:

On a heather gray garment:

And on a white garment:

Note that on white all colors fade naturally because prints done on white shirts do not use an under base. Designs on other colors will use a white under base that will make your transparencies fade out to a lighter color as opposed to a darker one.

Pros vs Cons of DTG vs Screenprinting

Let's take a look at a few pros and cons of DTG vs screen printing.

On-demand prints colors more accurate to the original art file, whereas screenprinting has to find the closest pantone match which can cause a bit of variation. If you’ve ordered a reprint of a tee you’ve owned in the past, this is the cause for the variation – on-demand will match the artist’s original colors, whereas the old shirt contains colors we thought were the closest pantone matches.
Saturation is higher in screenprinting. While on-demand can achieve nice and bright colors, there are certain hues (i.e reds) that mayprint a little bit more toned down especially on darker apparel colors.
With screenprinting, you run the risk of running out of certain sizes or styles of a design and having to wait until the items are remade and restocked. Because on-demand is made as you need it with a faster process, you don’t run the risk of running out of stock.
Halftones with higher frequencies can be achieved nicely on screenprint but can get lost with on-demand because of their small size. With on-demand, we’ve found that frequencies less than 25LPI prevent the largest loss of details.

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