DTF vs Screen Printing: Which Is Better for Custom Apparel?

If you are ordering custom apparel for the first time — whether it is fundraiser tees for your fire department, branded hoodies for your camp store, or merchandise for your small business, you have probably run into the DTF vs screen print question. Both methods put graphics onto fabric. Both can produce durable, professional-looking results. But the similarities end there, and choosing the wrong method for your project can mean overpaying, settling for limited colors, or ending up with prints that do not hold up the way you expected.

I have been producing custom apparel at my studio in York, PA since 2021, and I have printed thousands of garments using DTF transfers, screen printing, and sublimation. I adopted DTF technology early because it solved problems that had frustrated me with screen printing for years — color limitations, high setup costs for small runs, and the inability to print photo-quality detail on dark garment-dyed blanks like Comfort Colors. Screen printing still has its place, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. This is an honest, side-by-side breakdown so you can make the right call for your project.

What Is DTF Printing?

DTF stands for Direct-to-Film. The process starts with your design being printed in full CMYK color plus a white ink base layer onto a specially coated PET (polyethylene terephthalate) film. While the ink is still wet, a fine thermoplastic polyurethane adhesive powder is applied and melted onto the back of the print. This creates a flexible, self-contained transfer that gets heat-pressed onto the garment.

When pressed at the correct temperature and pressure (which I have calibrated for every blank in my catalog), the TPU adhesive melts into the fabric fibers, creating a permanent mechanical bond. The result is a full-color, photo-quality print that feels soft and flexible. Unlike a sticker slapped onto fabric, a properly executed DTF transfer moves naturally with the cotton or polyester fibers underneath.

At Floorboard Findings, I print DTF transfers at 1440 DPI resolution using 8-pass printing for maximum ink density. That is photo-quality detail: fine text as small as 6pt, smooth gradients, and photographic images all reproduce cleanly. If your screen can display it, DTF can print it.

What Is Screen Printing?

Screen printing is the traditional method that has been the backbone of the custom apparel industry for decades. Each color in your design requires a separate mesh screen with a stencil burned into it. Ink is pushed through the screen onto the fabric, one color at a time. For a three-color design, the garment passes through three screens, each one laying down a different color layer.

The process is simple and time-tested. Screen printing produces bold, opaque colors with excellent coverage, and the inks are extremely durable. Water-based inks give a softer hand feel on premium blanks, while plastisol inks provide maximum opacity on dark fabrics. For simple designs in high quantities, screen printing remains the most cost-effective method available.

DTF vs Screen Print: The Full Comparison

Color Capability

This is where DTF and screen printing diverge most dramatically. DTF prints in full CMYK plus white, which means unlimited colors, smooth gradients, photographic images, and complex multi-color artwork, all at no extra cost per color. Whether your design has 2 colors or 200, the DTF production cost stays the same.

Screen printing charges per color because each color requires a separate screen. A one-color design is affordable. A two-color design costs more. By the time you hit four or five colors, the per-shirt price has climbed significantly because each screen needs to be burned, aligned, and cleaned. Gradients and photographic detail are technically possible with halftone screens, but the results lack the smoothness and precision of DTF output.

For organizations like fire departments that need detailed, full-color crests reproduced faithfully, with every shade of red, gold, and black in the badge printing exactly as designed, DTF transfers are the only practical choice. I print custom gear for York County fire departments, and those intricate department crests with 8 or more colors would be prohibitively expensive in screen printing.

Setup Costs and Minimums

Screen printing has significant setup costs. Each screen needs to be coated with emulsion, exposed with your design, and washed out. That process takes time and materials regardless of how many shirts you are printing. These setup fees (typically $25 to $50 per screen, per color) make screen printing economical only when spread across a large order. For a four-color design, you might pay $100 to $200 in setup before a single shirt is printed. Order 200 shirts and that setup cost is negligible per unit. Order 24 shirts and it adds $4 to $8 per piece.

DTF has virtually no setup cost. The design is printed digitally. No screens to burn, no emulsion to coat, no color separations to produce. Whether I am printing 12 shirts or 500, the per-unit cost stays relatively flat. This is why DTF has become the dominant method for small-batch custom apparel. At Floorboard Findings, our minimum order for custom graphic tees is just 12 pieces, and the economics work because DTF does not penalize you for ordering fewer units.

Fabric Versatility

DTF transfers work on virtually any fabric: cotton, polyester, blends, nylon, and even some performance fabrics. More importantly for my wholesale customers, DTF works beautifully on garment-dyed blanks like Comfort Colors 1717 and Comfort Colors 1566. These blanks have a textured, pre-washed surface that creates challenges for screen printing (ink absorption is uneven, colors can look muddy) but takes DTF transfers with a premium, embedded look that customers love.

Screen printing works well on standard cotton and poly-cotton blends, but it struggles with the textured surface of garment-dyed fabrics. The ink sits differently on garment-dyed cotton compared to standard-dyed blanks, which can lead to inconsistent coverage and duller colors. If your project calls for Comfort Colors blanks (and if your customers care about blank quality, it should), DTF is the significantly better option.

Print Detail and Quality

DTF reproduces at 1440 DPI, which is genuine photo quality. Fine serif text, intricate line work, smooth color transitions, and photographic images all print crisply. The level of detail possible with DTF was simply not achievable in custom apparel printing until this technology matured.

Screen printing excels at bold, solid color areas and simple graphics. Block text, solid logos, and designs with clean lines look fantastic when screen printed. But fine detail gets lost in the mesh screen transfer process, and photographic elements require halftone dot patterns that are visible up close. For vintage-style designs with intentionally limited color palettes, screen printing produces a classic look that many people prefer.

Hand Feel

A well-executed DTF transfer has a soft, slightly textured hand feel. You can feel the print, but it is flexible and moves with the garment. It does not feel like a sticker, and it does not feel stiff or plasticky. The key is proper adhesive powder application (not too much) and correct press temperature (not too hot). I have spent years calibrating press settings for every blank I use (305 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 seconds on Comfort Colors, 300 degrees for 12 seconds on Bella Canvas) because those details determine whether the print feels premium or cheap.

Screen printing with plastisol ink has a heavier hand feel. You can definitely feel the ink layer sitting on top of the fabric, especially on multi-color prints where ink layers stack up. Water-based screen printing inks produce a much softer feel, almost like the design is part of the fabric, but water-based inks are less opaque on dark blanks and require more expertise to print well. Most commercial screen printers default to plastisol because it is easier and more forgiving.

Durability

Both methods produce durable results when executed properly. DTF transfers are rated for 50+ washes when cared for correctly (cold wash, tumble dry low). The TPU adhesive creates a mechanical bond with the fabric fibers that flexes and moves rather than cracking. After the initial press and peel, I do a final press with a Teflon sheet to smooth the print surface and fully seal the adhesive edges. Most DTF printers skip that step, but it significantly improves wash durability.

Screen printing with plastisol ink is extremely durable, arguably the most durable print method available. Plastisol does not wash out, and it resists UV fading exceptionally well. However, plastisol can crack over time, especially on garments that are stretched repeatedly (like across the chest) or dried on high heat. Water-based screen printing is softer but slightly less durable than plastisol over the long run.

When DTF Is the Better Choice

Based on the thousands of custom garments I have produced, DTF is the right method for the majority of custom apparel projects I see. Here is when DTF clearly wins:

Small to medium orders (12 to 200 pieces). Without setup fees, DTF keeps per-unit costs reasonable even at lower quantities. This is the sweet spot for fire department fundraiser orders, camp store inventory restocks, and small business merchandise launches.

Full-color or complex designs. If your logo has gradients, photographs, or more than three colors, DTF is the only method that reproduces it faithfully at a reasonable per-unit cost. The fire department crests and campground logos I print regularly have 8 or more colors. Screen printing those designs would require 8 separate screens and the costs would be impractical.

Garment-dyed blanks. If you want your custom apparel on Comfort Colors or other garment-dyed blanks (and you should, because blank quality matters as much as print quality), DTF is calibrated for these fabrics. The textured, pre-washed surface that makes garment-dyed blanks feel so good also makes them ideal DTF candidates.

Fast turnaround. No screens to burn means no setup time. I can turn around small DTF orders in under a week because production starts the day your artwork is approved. Our standard DTF transfer turnaround is 1 to 2 weeks, including test prints and quality checks.

Print-on-demand flexibility. I offer transfer-only orders where I print and ship the DTF transfers to you for pressing at your location. Boutique owners use this to press shirts as they sell them, eliminating inventory risk. You cannot do this with screen printing. Once the screens are made and the ink is mixed, you need to run the full order.

When Screen Printing Still Makes Sense

Screen printing is not dead, and I am not going to tell you it is. There are specific scenarios where screen printing is the smarter choice:

Large orders of simple designs (200+ pieces, 1 to 3 colors). When setup fees are spread across hundreds of units and the design uses few colors, screen printing delivers the lowest per-unit cost. A one-color logo on 500 tees is still most economical with screen printing.

Specialty inks. Screen printing offers ink options that DTF cannot replicate: metallic inks, glow-in-the-dark inks, puff ink that creates a raised 3D texture, and discharge printing that removes garment dye for a soft, vintage look. If your design concept requires one of these specialty effects, screen printing is the only option.

The vintage, hand-printed aesthetic. Some brands intentionally want the slight imperfections and tactile quality of screen printing. The way plastisol ink sits on top of the fabric, the subtle registration variations between colors, the slightly raised texture. These qualities have an authentic, craft-production feel that DTF cannot replicate. If that aesthetic aligns with your brand, screen printing delivers it naturally.

Real Examples from My Studio

Fire Department Fundraiser Tees

Starting in 2026, I began producing custom apparel for local fire departments in York County. Every fire department crest I have printed has been full-color with intricate detail: gold lettering, red and blue shield elements, detailed badges, and multi-color IAFF (International Association of Fire Fighters) insignia. These designs would require 6 to 10 screens in traditional screen printing, putting the setup cost alone over $300 before a single shirt is printed.

With DTF, there is zero setup cost beyond the digital file preparation. I print the full-color crest onto film, press it onto Comfort Colors blanks, and the per-shirt cost is the same whether the design has 2 colors or 20. For a typical fire department order of 24 to 48 pieces, DTF keeps the per-unit price in a range that works for fundraiser economics, because if the shirt costs too much to produce, there is no margin left for the fundraiser itself.

My husband Cory is a firefighter and paramedic, so I understand that fire department apparel is not just merchandise. It is community pride. The print method needs to deliver the detail and durability that a department crest deserves, and DTF does exactly that.

Pine Ridge Campground Merchandise

Since 2024, I have supplied Pine Ridge Campground in Gardners, PA with custom branded apparel for their camp store, everything from ice-dyed hoodies featuring their mountain logo to graphic tees and beanies that campers take home as souvenirs. This partnership combines hand-dye artistry with professional DTF printing to create merchandise you will not find at any other campground.

Their camp store needs vary throughout the season. Early spring might call for 36 crewnecks in a new colorway. Mid-summer might require a quick restock of 24 tees in their most popular design. Fall brings requests for hoodies and beanies. DTF handles all of these orders efficiently because there are no screens to store between runs, no setup fees to pay again on reorders, and no color limitations on the next design they want to try.

If Pine Ridge were using screen printing for their merchandise, every new design would carry a setup cost, every restock of a multi-color design would require pulling screens from storage, and their ability to test new products in small batches would be limited by the economics of screen setup. DTF removes those barriers entirely.

Cost Breakdown: DTF vs Screen Print by Order Size

Here is how the economics generally shake out for a typical full-color design (4+ colors) on Comfort Colors 1717 tees. These are approximate ranges based on my production costs, not exact quotes. Every project is different based on design complexity, print size, and blank selection.

12 to 24 pieces: DTF wins significantly. Screen printing setup fees add $5 to $10 per shirt at this volume, on top of per-unit printing costs. DTF has no setup penalty, keeping total per-unit costs 30 to 40 percent lower for full-color work.

25 to 99 pieces: DTF still wins for multi-color designs. Screen printing setup fees are less painful when spread across more units, but the per-color charges for 4+ color work still push screen printing higher. For 1 to 2 color designs, screen printing starts to become competitive at the upper end of this range.

100 to 249 pieces: The crossover zone. For simple 1 to 2 color designs, screen printing is likely cheaper at this volume. For full-color designs, DTF is still competitive because it avoids the per-color cost multiplication that hits screen printing.

250+ pieces: Screen printing wins on per-unit cost for simple designs at this volume. The setup fees become negligible per unit, and the per-impression cost of screen printing is lower than DTF at scale. For complex full-color work, DTF may still be competitive, but it depends on the specific design and press settings required.

What About Sublimation?

I get asked about sublimation printing in these conversations, so here is the quick version: sublimation is a different category entirely. It uses heat to convert solid dye into gas, which penetrates polyester fibers and produces a print with absolutely zero hand feel because the ink is literally part of the fabric. Colors are exceptionally vibrant and the print is permanent.

The catch: sublimation only works on polyester or high-poly-blend fabrics, and only on white or very light colors (there is no white ink in sublimation). If your project calls for 100 percent cotton Comfort Colors blanks in dark colors, sublimation is not an option. It occupies its own lane (performance wear, all-over prints on polyester, and specialty merchandise items) rather than competing directly with DTF or screen printing for most custom apparel projects.

Making the Right Choice for Your Project

After producing thousands of custom garments using every major print method, here is my honest recommendation: for the majority of custom apparel projects that come through my studio, DTF is the better choice. It offers unlimited colors, no setup fees, works on every fabric type, produces photo-quality detail, and keeps per-unit costs reasonable for the order sizes that most organizations actually need, which is 12 to 200 pieces, not 500 or more.

Screen printing still serves a real purpose for large-volume orders of simple designs, and for projects that require specialty ink effects. I maintain screen printing capability for those specific situations. But DTF has fundamentally changed the economics and quality ceiling of custom apparel production, and most customers who compare the two methods side by side choose DTF.

If you are not sure which method is right for your project, the easiest path is to reach out with your design and quantity. I will tell you which method I would use if it were my brand on the shirt, and I will explain why. Every order at Floorboard Findings gets personal attention. You work directly with me, not a customer service call center. Your artwork, your blanks, your print method, your quality check: all handled by the same person in the same York, PA studio.

The right print method makes the difference between apparel that gets worn once and apparel that becomes a favorite. Getting that decision right is what I do, and I am happy to help you make it.