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Digital Product Printing. the Revolution Continues

Direct Printing has been around now for a few years..but its getting better,cheaper and more viable as a serious replacement for Screen Printing. 
Lets reflect for a moment and look at the state of the industry and the alternatives, their weaknesses and their strengths.

Firstly there's Screen Printing, its the oldest and most established form of Fabric Printing.
Pro's: You can print on a huge range of underlying materials from Plastic Bottles to the traditional T-Shirt.
You can print on dark Colors and you can limit the amount of Colors to save printing costs.
It is a cheap way of printing large quantities of garments and products. The finished result is very durable (if done right)
Con's: The technology is a craft and although easy to set up and learn at the basic level it really takes a lot of training and skill to master and do well. Many of the skills and techniques are passed on from master to pupil and for an outsider who want's to 'pick this up' this there is a steep learning curve some of which he or she will never master without experienced help.
Screen Printing is messy and requires a darkroom for preparing screens, a waterproof wash down area with proper environmentally safe drains.
There is a lot of time required for mixing and matching ink colors.
Each color requires it's own screen.
A film has to be produced for each screen.
Small print runs are not economically viable.
Printing Photographic Images and full color artwork is difficult to achieve. It requires a lot of skill and still is only capable of producing a low resolution image.
Silk printing machines vary from hand made manual jigs to Multi Color automatic Carousels or Flat Bed printers. From the cheap to the industrial and expensive.
You will need the services of an Artist experienced in preparing artwork for Screen Printing and a decent Image setter or similar device for producing film.
To cure the shirts you will need a heat tunnel and they are expensive.
To get into the business in any kind of meaningful way you will have to spend a lot of money.

Next we have Sublimation Printing.
Pro's: It can be relatively cheap to setup on a small scale as a start up business. At the Low end it requires a relatively cheap inkjet printer, a Bulk Ink feeder, a Heat Press and a Computer with a Graphic Design program. You can print on Mugs, Glassware, Plates, Drink Holders, Caps and a variety of Garments.
You can produce small quantities of product even one item. There are no Screens or Films and messy setting up.The print is a Dye and permanent, it wont crack or peel.
The print can be very high resolution capable of reproducing very high quality photographic images.
Sublimation printing is a very cost effective way of producing Drink Holders and has a high percentage of that market. It also prints brilliantly on the Sports materials such as 'COOL DRY' and dominates that market that market as well.
There is the serious end of the Sublimation print market using very large plotters to print large rolls of material. The Garments are printed and then cut and stitched allowing all over printing. Nearly all Sports Uniforms are printed this way. The set up cost for the plotters and huge Heat Press is high putting this in the large volume end of the market.

Con's: Inkjet printers can be temperamental. Jets can block wasting transfer paper.
The process requires a Press to press the Image onto the object. There is a learning curve here and traps for the unwary, (visit the Desktoptips Sublimation page).It can be time consuming producing a large order of garments.
There is a learning curve required in operating a Computer and mastering the art of Color Correction.
You can't print on Dark Garments.
You can only print on100%Polyester material and specially coated Mugs, Plates etc.

The other process which can be even cheaper to set up is Digital Transfer Printing. Pro's: All you need is either an Inkjet printer or a Color Laser printer. (There are different transfer papers for Laser and Inkjet Printers). A Heat Press and a Computer with a Graphics program on it. 
You can print on a wide range of materials including Cotton and there is a transfer paper for printing on dark garments. If the process is done correctly (use a proper Heat Press NOT a hand iron) the results are durable.
If you buy them in bulk the transfer sheets can be as low as $0.50c each.
Because you are printing from a Printer the images are high resolution and capable of full Color Photographic prints.
You can economically print low numbers.
Cons: Pressing shirts can be a fairly slow process.
If not done properly the print can wash away or crack off.
The Dark Color transfer material is much harder to deal with and requires hand cutting around the image. This is a very slow uneconomic procedure.
Most transfer sheets are Letter or A4 size which is OK but can be small on Larger T-Shirts.

Lastly (and by no means least) comes the
Direct to Garment Inkjet Printers.
Pro's: The smaller commercial models like the AnaJet above are now competitively priced around US $15,000.00 and that's a lot cheaper than setting up to Screen Print multicolor garments. There are cheaper machines and much much more expensive ones on the market. Make sure you see one working and try and ask for testimonials from Printers who use them. The Anajet is a sturdy American made Product and designed to work hard.
You only require a Heat press to cure the garments and a Computer with Graphics software.
It is easy to operate and set up for a novice and has a relatively low learning curve when it comes to color correction.
You can also produce up to 3000 garments a month
You can economically produce low quantities of T-Shirts, even one because you have no screens of films. The machine prints directly from the computer onto the garment.
You can print on dark colors because the printer can print an opaque white background before the other colors.
The output is high resolution Full Color photographic Inkjet technology, bright vivid colors.
Con's: It's a great garment printer but won't knock Sublimation out when it comes to Drink holders and mugs etc.
When it comes to irregular objects like Drink bottles Screen Printing still rules the roost.
But the writings on the wall folks,the men in white coats are on to it. The future looks very digital to me.

About the Author

Rod Taylor is a qualified Graphic Designer who has worked in the Promotional Industry for over 30 years. During that time he worked as an Artist, Art Director, Production Manager, Owner Printer and a Teacher of Desktop Publishing. He has also written training manuals on Desktop Publishing used by various teaching organizations and books on Desktop Publishing sold on the General market. He has been involved in Offset Printing, Pre-Press, Screen Printing, Digital Printing and Sublimation Printing. All of which he has had practical 'hands on' experience. A great deal of this information is passed on for free at www.desktoptips.net

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