DTF and the future of screen printing

[Homer]

If I was a new guy looking to get into the industry, there's zero chance I'd buy screen printing equipment. Talking to my CCI rep today, it seems many shops are down sizing their fleets of automatics and adding in DTF set ups. Honestly, as technology and print speeds advance, I will be looking to make the switch too, sooner rather than later. Imagine zero screens to make, coat, clean, seps, expensive inks, large expensive presses, 6 employees to operate it all. I remember the DTG movement back at the screenprinters.net days, saying DTG will over rule but I really see this DTF stuff actually taking hold. I understand the look and feel can be rather comparable to a SP as well.....On one hand it's amazing we won't need any of that equipment anymore, but on the other, all those years of knowledge will be almost useless..give it a few years and I think we'll see a giant shift, but that's just me -  Thoughts?

 

[Atownsend]

Screen print or bust. I’ll die on that hill. DTF / DTG have their place. But the quality and versatility isn’t there. Anyone serious about their brand is still going to demand screen print. Customers worth having know the difference and care enough to want it.

[DonR]

As many of you know, I am a big supporter of DTF. However, everything has it's place. I just got a request for 30,000 shirts with a 1 color print (First order this large since before Covid). It's being printed on our screen printing equipment. I don't see anything coming in the near future that would change this.  DTF is a great new tool and is the best choice in many cases but not all.

[zanegun08]

I welcome the incoming decline on DTF.

[CBCB]

Doing a lot of it here.

Had some trouble getting a heat press with certain members here repainting them and trying to block people from buying directly.

Had some trouble finding a reliable supplier, ended up going overseas for it all. Way better than any domestic shop I tried.

Now that’s it’s running it’s great. My market doesn’t have 30k piece jobs but when someone wants a multi-colour print front and back on 50 pieces we’re making money with no headaches.

Just pressed 200 on Friday. Not me though. Someone who was trained on it in like 15min. That’s another factor. It’s very simple to operate.

[Homer]

Doing a lot of it here.

Had some trouble getting a heat press with certain members here repainting them and trying to block people from buying directly.

Had some trouble finding a reliable supplier, ended up going overseas for it all. Way better than any domestic shop I tried.

Now that’s it’s running it’s great. My market doesn’t have 30k piece jobs but when someone wants a multi-colour print front and back on 50 pieces we’re making money with no headaches.

Just pressed 200 on Friday. Not me though. Someone who was trained on it in like 15min. That’s another factor. It’s very simple to operate.

see, that's what I mean. 15 minutes, a new hire off the street and banging out multi color jobs. Employees or lack of- might be one of the major driving factors into which direction a shop should go, I would think? I'm sure high volume shops would still need a fleet of autos to hit production numbers but most mom and pop shops, 2-3k piece orders at very most, how can you not look at dtf?! Speeds will only increase with printers, I see 600 sq/ft hour as one of the faster units but give it a few years, we'll see a huge increase. In the sign industry, we see printers that can print 18" in one single pass, that's amazing..... A few inline heat presses and you're off. No need for the auto shop - for us little guys anyway. As far as "brands", the owner of the "brand" may care how it's produced, but do you think the end user cares? I wonder if they do...I'm keeping the staff I have now but we're getting older, finding a replacement press op is next to impossible so I need to do something for quality of life for us... I don't know, talking to a few people in this industry about the the future really has me shook for some reason. This isn't the same as DTG, this seems to have potential to produce high volume at decent speeds... Just imagine not making a screen again and all that goes into it, and still producing the same quality of a product with ease....

[whitewater]

Ive been looking seriously into DTF, for the reasons that Homer pointed outFor me personally, it is partly due to staffing. We are always struggling to find press ops, constantly. I prob pay the most of any company in the area. I have tried every single way to keep them. We have hired experienced, we have trained young ins...In 2023, I hired 5 ppl for the press ops, not one of them showed up on first day.

My future business plan is not going to work without having stable staff in place. We are to busy and large enough that I can not be the one that goes back there to print, and or train someone to print.

I fee like our business model, or the customers we have will be fine with DTF. I think it can def be different for other shops depending on their clientele. Our clientele is basic. I feel like over the years it turned into that, which is fine. We are really busy and we burn and turn. We have a 6/8 diamondback, so our max is 5 print colors. So we are not doing really high end printing.

We have some orders now in  house that we are doing def on. I have samples up in the shop, to show people ( at the moment) ahead of time. And so far no one has issues.

Since the auto and everything is already paid for, I will be keeping it for a bit. We may get 4 large runs per year, if need be just on those runs Ill jump back there for a few hours and pump them out. I don't mind that, but it can not happen day to day.

We are getting a TMEZ new 6 head, (because we have 3 older tajimas ), and looking hard at DTF printer.

Removing 2 employees off my payroll, I would have more than enough to make our monthly payment on both machines, with out the struggle.

[blue moon]

If I was a new guy looking to get into the industry, there's zero chance I'd buy screen printing equipment. Talking to my CCI rep today, it seems many shops are down sizing their fleets of automatics and adding in DTF set ups. Honestly, as technology and print speeds advance, I will be looking to make the switch too, sooner rather than later. Imagine zero screens to make, coat, clean, seps, expensive inks, large expensive presses, 6 employees to operate it all. I remember the DTG movement back at the screenprinters.net days, saying DTG will over rule but I really see this DTF stuff actually taking hold. I understand the look and feel can be rather comparable to a SP as well.....On one hand it's amazing we won't need any of that equipment anymore, but on the other, all those years of knowledge will be almost useless..give it a few years and I think we'll see a giant shift, but that's just me -  Thoughts?

How do you het DTF to feel like SP?
On a side note, our DTG is actually doing ok. The feel and quality are indistinguishable from SP. the only downfall is poly content.
pj

[Ron Pierson]

Are we talking DTF (direct to film) or DTG (direct to garment)...??

[blue moon]

Are we talking DTF (direct to film) or DTG (direct to garment)...??

DTF, We can make it not so shiny, but no matter what it always feels like a sticker.

pj

[Homer]

Are we talking DTF (direct to film) or DTG (direct to garment)...??

DTF, We can make it not so shiny, but no matter what it always feels like a sticker.

pj

Our mutual CCI rep told me about it yesterday. He said it felt wonderful, I'm dying to know myself... I have samples from every DTF printer dealer I can find so see what the magic ink /powder combo is, maybe I can find out.  I know our Mutoh/STS dtf printer feels like a sweat patch/sticker. It's not good, at all...

[blue moon]

Are we talking DTF (direct to film) or DTG (direct to garment)...??

DTF, We can make it not so shiny, but no matter what it always feels like a sticker.

pj

Our mutual CCI rep told me about it yesterday. He said it felt wonderful, I'm dying to know myself... I have samples from every DTF printer dealer I can find so see what the magic ink /powder combo is, maybe I can find out.  I know our Mutoh/STS dtf printer feels like a sweat patch/sticker. It's not good, at all...

definitely let me know what you find out. We have been heat pressing with something rougher after application, but even then it's not quite right.

[brandon]

There are some shops like Pierre's, Rick Roth's, and Jacob's that can make DTG feel and seem just like screen printing. But I have not seen one DTF print that I would be okay with on a ringspun cotton shirt. Not a single one. It's an enormous sticker. Trying putting that on a Metal band tee shirt. It's not gonna happen.

[Homer]

There are some shops like Pierre's, Rick Roth's, and Jacob's that can make DTG feel and seem just like screen printing. But I have not seen one DTF print that I would be okay with on a ringspun cotton shirt. Not a single one. It's an enormous sticker. Trying putting that on a Metal band tee shirt. It's not gonna happen.

agree 100%, it feels terrible, not a wearable option -right now. But what if it didn't, What if it felt the same, or close? Since this is the biggest complaint, you know that issue will be addressed first in the coming years.... You could have youth SM - 6XL tall metal heads, all with the size appropriate logo and it won't be an issue, at all...

[farmboygraphics]

This needs to be looked at from the customers side. I printed some tri-blends with digital heat apply on half of the back for a small order, they loved them. A large motorcycle club that I've printed for had their last two orders done with dtf and love them, my brother is a member. If you still have another 10 years to go in this business you better be looking hard at this, keep in mind, right now is the worst these printers will be. I don't remember there ever being a dtg expo, yet there's one coming up for dtf. I've had a big uptick in customers wanting multicolor prints, for now I work around that with sim or full color process. You can turn your nose up at AI art, but it's not going away and everyone with a phone and Canva (they had almost 2 billion in revenue end of last year) are going to want what they made on shirts. I just turned 58, my shop and equipment are paid for and I sure don't feel like dropping 30 grand on anything again, plus building out a room to keep it in. My plan is to set the money aside this year and see where this goes for me. Like I said, customers opinion and not your feelings are moving this needle.