DTG Printer vs Sublimation

[Logoman]

I am considering purchasing a DTG Printer but would like some input. It will be used for small orders and sample. Anyone use either and can you give me Pros and Cons of each?

[mk162]

DTG will print on a broader range of garments.  Sublimation will print on a broader range of substrates outside of garments.

With CMYK only you are not really limited by what a shirt is made of anymore.  There are plenty of pretreats out there that allow to you print on 100% poly with great results. 

I am a little biased towards DTG, but I think it's because I've never run sublimation.

[Screen Dan]

We do sublimation here.  What DTG and Sublimation have in common is nearly zero setup penalty.  You really can print that "just one shirt" that we are all asked to print when someone hears we do screen printing.

We started our sublimation program to do all-over printing.  It's a bit finicky when you get to seams or deal with hoods, zippers, etc.  Apparently most of the industry has accepted the occasional wrinkle as a reasonable trade-off.  We also have a few lines of flat stock signage that look fantastic and are apparently selling well.  You can sublimate 50/50 to a limited degree, but 100% poly always looks best.

requiring poly is a pretty major limitation for garments...I think there are some types of nylon you can use too.  Also white garments only.  I'm sure you could use other light color substrates, but we've never experimented with it.

I've been pushing for a DTG for years for our low volume custom orders which are increasingly rare and just as increasingly annoying to tie up the presses with when we have plenty of high volume stuff we'd much rather be printing.  We've had demos of many units, they all have pros and cons but usually nothing too crazy.

I think DTG would be the way to go, personally.  I'd definitely wear-n-wash test thoroughly as you narrow down which units you're interested in.  Check the cost of pre-treating chemicals, ask other people with the unit how their experience is.  You might be limited to pretty much just garments and have a more limited print area, but I think being able to throw a near photographic image onto any color substrate with minimal prep (manual pre-treat, buying pre-treated garments, or the initial pre-treat pass for machines that take care of that themselves) and having virtually zero worries about economies of scale for quantities, I think that is pretty awesome.

If you do a lot of promotional products then maybe sublimation might be more up your alley...you can get sub blanks for the most ridiculous things.  iPhone cases, wood blocks, coffee mugs, key chains, tiles, street signs, blankets, towels, pillow cases, table runners, various throw-away promotional toys, etc.  It's really ridiculous.

[mimosatexas]

Sublimation is great for random items, but limited for apparel (white/light only, poly only, etc).  DTG is great for apparel, but limited when it comes to other items.  Honestly, I would probably not even compare the two.  If anything I would probably be comparing a solvent printer with DTG, since in both cases you can "print" (make transfers on vinyl) on dark substrates, and they will cost closer to the same when it comes to startup.  DTG will offer you a "better" finished product on shirts etc, but with a solvent printer you can do a wider variety of items and stickers, signs, etc.

To expand on how the startup cost is a lot different for these, and with sublimation there is a good enough chance that you don't even need to buy equipment to offer the service.  DTG is going to run you around $8-10k for printing on white only, and closer to $20k+ to print on darks (assuming you want a quality machine with good support).  Sublimation printers can be had for around $800 new, and a lot less if you convert an epson.  I personally just get sublimation transfers printed for me by another local shop when I need them, and there are online options as well that are dirt cheap and fast.