If you’ve read Vedda’s article about our internship program, you know that we offer 

Direct-to-Garment (DTG) and Direct-to-Film (DTF) printing options. DTG and DTF printing are different ways of getting graphics onto apparel, and in this post, we will be talking about Direct-to-Garment printing specifically.

As the name suggests, this type of printing makes it so that your art or graphic prints directly onto the garment. “But how long will it last?” you may ask. Those within the industry suggest that DTG prints can last to around 50 washes. However, we have special instructions that should help make your prints last longer. Here’s how:



• Should be machine washed cold, inside out with like colors
• Tumble dry low or hang to dry
• Do not iron decoration
• Do not dry clean

We recommend garments that are made with 100% cotton or a blend with over 80% cotton. This kind of material makes it easier to print at a high quality.

If you’re curious about the steps involved in the printing process, here are the main things you should know.

Pretreating

The area on the apparel that will have the image must be pretreated with a solution that provides a solid base for the graphic to sit on. Pretreatment is necessary because it makes images more vibrant by preventing the fabric from soaking up the ink and dulling colors. If you order for custom apparel from us, you may notice some slight discoloration in the fabric from where the pretreat was laid out. Don’t worry, this can easily be washed off as per the instructions above.

Heat Pressing

Next, the garment must be heat pressed to dry the pretreatment. We place parchment paper in between the garment and the heat press to prevent any burning from occurring. 

Printing

After that is the fun part: printing the graphic onto the garment! The garment is secured onto an appropriately sized platen and sent inside the printer. The biggest size that we can print is 16x19 inches. At Vedda, the printer we use is a Ricoh Ri 2000, and you can see it in action on our TikTok video.

Drying

Once the graphic has been printed on the garment, we carefully lay it flat under a heat press to dry the ink. Your custom designed garment is then ready to be boxed and shipped.

Direct-to-Garment is an excellent choice for big and small orders. If you need one piece of apparel printed on, it can be done super efficiently. Alternatively, If you set up an online store for your business with Vedda Printing, new, one-off orders for merchandise that require DTG can be made quickly in-house. And, because garments are only being ordered and printed on as necessary, the process can help reduce waste and provide a more eco-friendly option.

DTG is also great because it can handle more detailed images than a process like screen printing. From photographs to company logos, Direct-to-Garment produces high-quality results with no color limitations.

Contact us to get a quote or order from our Vedda Store!