Screen Printing vs Embroidery vs DTG vs DTF: Which to Choose?

Screen printing pushes ink through a mesh stencil, one screen per colour — cheapest per piece at volume, most durable on cotton, and impractical for photographic artwork because every colour adds a screen. Embroidery stitches the design in thread, which outlasts every print except sublimation and reads as the most premium, but it cannot do fine detail below roughly five millimetres or cover large areas without becoming heavy and stiff. DTG sprays ink directly onto the garment like an inkjet printer — it handles unlimited colours and photographs with no setup, which makes it excellent for samples and one-offs, but the cost per piece barely falls with volume and it is the least durable of the three. Rough guide: logo, use embroidery; simple design at volume, screen print; complex artwork in small numbers, DTG.

Screen printing is better for a simple design in bulk, and DTF is better for full-colour artwork, mixed fabrics or runs too small to justify screens. The deciding factor is quantity, not quality. Screen printing front-loads its cost into the screens, one per colour, so at 500 pieces it is cheaper than DTF or vinyl and at 10 pieces dearer than either. DTF is priced per piece, so it wins small and loses big. Water-based screen ink sinks into the fabric and stays soft even across a large design, while a DTF transfer is a thin layer bonded on top that you notice on a large solid area. On durability, a well-cured screen print ranks ahead of DTF. DTF's advantage is range: photographic art and gradients, on polyester, blends and nylon, where DTG struggles. We run both in the same building, on garments we cut and sew, so one supplier is accountable for the print and the garment.

For most brand t-shirts, screen printing is the right choice: it gives the lowest cost per piece at production volumes, the widest ink choice and the most durable print on cotton. Choose something else when the artwork rules screen printing out. Each colour needs its own screen, so a photographic design with gradients is impractical; on a cotton tee in a small run, DTG handles it at no extra cost per colour, and on a light polyester tee, sublimation does. DTF suits full-colour art on blends or where you cannot justify screens, at the cost of a layer you can feel on a large print. Embroidery is the premium option for a small chest logo, but it cannot hold fine detail or cover a large area. So the rule of thumb is: simple design and higher quantity on cotton, screen print; complex artwork in small numbers, DTG or DTF; small logo with a premium feel, embroidery.

Per piece it usually is, but the gap depends on design size, colours and quantity, and embroidery does not crack or peel, which can make it cheaper over the life of a garment. Screen printing is priced by colour. Every colour is a separate screen, set up before the first garment runs, so on a 150-piece order most of the print cost is setup, which thins out as quantity rises; a reorder reuses the screens. Embroidery is priced by stitches. The artwork is digitised into a stitch file once and reused on reorders, then every piece takes machine time and thread in proportion to its stitch count, plus a colour change for each thread colour. So embroidery cost follows size and density: a small left-chest logo runs quickly, while a large, dense back design is slow and turns heavy and stiff. Send the artwork and quantity and we will say which suits it and quote it for your order.

For a simple design, screen printing is usually the right method on black or dark garments, and for full-colour artwork DTF is usually a better choice than DTG. Dark fabric changes the maths for most print methods. Screen printing light colours onto a dark garment needs a white underbase first, which is one more screen and pass even for a one-colour design, and plastisol is often the right ink for high-contrast graphics there; water-based ink is softer but less opaque on dark colours. DTG on dark fabric needs a white pretreatment and underbase, which adds cost and a heavier hand-feel. DTF prints its own white layer on the film, so a dark garment costs it less extra than DTG, which is one reason we suggest DTF rather than DTG for full-colour art on dark colourways. Sublimation does nothing on dark fabric, because its dye can only darken. So one design costs more on black than on white.

Sublimation, by a wide margin, because there is nothing sitting on the surface to fail. The dye is inside the fibre, so it cannot crack, peel or lift — it will outlast the seams. The catch is that it only works on polyester and only darkens, so it is not an option for most cotton garments. Among methods that do work on cotton, a well-cured screen print is the durable choice; water-based and discharge inks sit into the fabric rather than on it and age better than plastisol, which is thicker and eventually cracks on high-flex areas. Embroidery outlasts every print except sublimation, though it is not suited to fine detail or large areas. DTG is the least durable of the common options apart from heat press vinyl and is best treated as a low-volume or sampling method rather than a production one.

Yes, for a clothing brand ordering production, screen printing beats heat press vinyl on unit cost, durability and design range. Vinyl is cut from a coloured sheet and pressed onto one garment at a time, so its cost barely falls with quantity; at 500 pieces it costs more than screen printing or DTF, while screen printing is the cheapest because the screens are a one-off. It only does solid colours with no gradients, feels noticeable and stiffer on a large design, and is the weakest for durability because its edges lift and crack with wear and washing sooner than any print. Vinyl earns its place for names and numbers, single garments and small team orders, which is why a local shop can turn one shirt around in an hour. If a supplier quotes vinyl for a bulk order, ask why: the usual reason is that screen and DTF capability is not in house.

For a design with one to three solid colours, screen printing is usually cheaper per shirt at 150 pieces, because the cost of the screens is shared across the run and each extra shirt costs little to print. For full-colour or photographic artwork the answer can flip: screen printing would need a screen for every colour, and simulated full-colour screen work adds more, so DTG or DTF may come out cheaper even at 150. Garment colour matters too, because DTG on a dark shirt needs a white base layer that adds cost and stiffness. The fair way to compare is to price the same artwork both ways at your real quantity. Since our minimum is 150 pieces per style and colour, that is the quantity we quote at, and we decorate pieces we have made ourselves.

Yes, and it is one of the most common combinations on brand hoodies and sweatshirts: a small embroidered logo on the left chest with a larger screen-printed graphic on the back or sleeve. Each method does the job it is best at. Embroidery gives the small logo a raised, premium finish that survives years of washing, while screen printing carries the large artwork without stiffening the fabric or running up a high stitch count. On the tech pack, give each placement its own entry with the method, size, position measured from a fixed point such as the neck seam, and thread or ink colours. Approve one sample with both applied before bulk: the garment is handled twice, and a sample shows whether the hoop or the press has marked or distorted the other placement.

Neither is better overall: screen printing is better for a design with a few solid colours on a production run, and DTG is better for full-colour or photographic artwork in small numbers. The difference is the cost structure. Screen printing needs a screen for every colour before the first piece runs, then each extra piece costs little, so it gets cheaper per piece as the run grows. DTG needs no screens, but every piece costs printer time and ink, so its cost per piece barely falls with quantity. Screen printing also gives the most hard-wearing print on cotton and works on most knit fabrics, while DTG needs a high cotton content and, on dark garments, a pretreatment and white base. DTG wins on artwork freedom: gradients, photographs and unlimited colours at no extra cost. We run both on garments we cut and sew, so we can quote your design each way at your real quantity.

Usually not quite: on cotton washed at home, a properly cured screen print generally outlasts a DTG print, which fades sooner. The gap is smaller than its reputation, though, and it depends more on how the print was made than on the method. DTG lasts best on high-cotton fabric that has been pretreated correctly and cured at the right heat and time; an under-cured print fades early. Screen printing has its own failure point, because a print whose ink did not cure through can crack after washing. Laundering matters too. A 2025 Clemson University study found screen prints showed no noticeable change after five home washes, but faded more than DTG and sublimation under commercial laundering. To make any print last, wash inside out, in cool water, and avoid tumble drying on high heat or ironing over the print. We wash-test prints on your actual fabric before bulk.