【Original】2023.02.10

DTG is short for direct to garment, DTG printer is the printer which prints directly to garment. DTF is short for direct to film, if DTF printer used for printing on fabric, it need to print on film first, then stick it onto fabric. DTG and DTF are the two different methods of printing designed photos onto textiles.

DTG printer for printing is a technology of inkjet printing, which is designed to print directly onto garment and fabric materials. This type of printing is ideal for short-run and full-colorprints printing, it follows original CMYK 4 colors printing theory to print colorful photos onto fabric goods. There is another special feature of DTG printing, as the textile ink will be absorbed into the fabric and the printing becomes the part of the garment itself, the printed garments are typically soft to the touch and has a natural look and feeling, especially for light color fabric printing, it touchs soft and smooth.

DTF printers for printing is inkjet printing as well, but it is printed onto transfer paper ( film) first, then is thenheat-pressed onto the fabric, you can call it sticked,too. This type of printing is typically used for mass production, it is a little cheaper than DTG printing, but printed film sticked onto fabric, the final goods are usually less soft and with plastic feeling compared to DTG printing.

In one word, the main difference between DTG and DTF printing is the method of printing, DTG printing machine supports to printin directly onto the fabric while DTF printing is printing on film first then with sticker onto fabric, which will result in differerence from terms of softness, feeling, and durability.

What they had one thing in common is that no matter DTG or DTF, they all need hot press machine.
DTG printer for t-shirt printing, it need hot press machine,the function of hot press machine
1). Before printing , use it to get the T-shirt and uniform smooth ( not plicated) for getting best printing result. About 170 T ——  15 seconds ( need Teflon paper )
2). After printing , use it to get the T-shirt and union dry fast and make it stable ( will not fade from color ) . About 170 T ——  10 seconds ( need Teflon paper )
DTF printer for t-shirt printing, it need hot press machine as well,the function of hot press machine is to stick the printed film onto fabric.

6 and 4 and 2 and 1 Work Stations DTG Flatbed Printer Machine T-shirt Printing Video and Process