SVC / DTF
DTF Transfer Printing
Full-color transfers with no color limit, no weeding and no screen charges.
Direct-to-film is printed onto a PET carrier, powdered with adhesive, cured, then heat-pressed onto the garment. It reproduces gradients, photographs and unlimited colors at the same cost as one color, and it presses onto cotton, polyester, blends, nylon and performance fabric without changing the setup. For short runs and complex artwork it is the cheapest good answer in the building.
At a glance
DTF- Turnaround
- 3–5 business days from proof approval. Rush next-day on gang sheets.
- Minimum
- No minimum — single pieces are fine.
- Artwork
- AI, EPS, PDF, SVG, or 300 dpi PNG at final print size with a transparent background
- Approval
- Sew-out swatch before production
- Blind ship
- Available on every trade order
What it is
- A printed film transfer applied under a heat press — not screen printing, and not vinyl.
- Unlimited colors in one pass. Gradients, photographic images and fine detail all reproduce.
- No weeding, so line art and small text survive that would be lost in cut vinyl.
- A white ink underbase is printed automatically, so dark garments need no separate step.
- Presses onto cotton, poly, blends, nylon, fleece and most performance fabric.
What we do differently
No screens, so no color tax
A twelve-color design costs what a one-color design costs. Artwork that would be quoted out of reach in screen print is routine here.
Gang sheets earn their keep
Multiple designs are nested onto one film sheet so you pay for the area used rather than per-transfer. Mixed jobs get materially cheaper.
It presses on almost anything
Because there is no dye migration window to manage the way there is with plastisol on polyester, the same transfer runs across a mixed garment order.
It sits beside embroidery, not against it
A single order can run embroidered left chest and a printed full back. One shop, one approval, one carton.
Typical applications
- Short-run and one-off garment decoration
- Photographic and full-color artwork
- Team and roster printing with per-piece names and numbers
- Merch drops and event runs with tight deadlines
- Left-chest and full-back placements on mixed garment types
- Anything a distributor needs without a screen charge
Materials and substrates
- PET transfer film, matte and gloss finish
- Pigment ink with white underbase
- Hot-peel and cold-peel adhesive powder
- Gang sheets to any length
Artwork we can work from
AI, EPS, PDF, SVG, or 300 dpi PNG at final print size with a transparent background
- Send raster artwork at the size it will actually press. A 72 dpi web image enlarged to a full back will look exactly as rough as it sounds.
- Transparent backgrounds matter: anything white in the file prints white, including a background you thought was empty.
- Very fine lines below about 1 pt can break up on the press. Thicken hairlines before sending.
- Tell us the garment color and fabric. It changes the underbase and the press settings.
The artwork guide covers stitch counts, placements, backings and what does not translate to thread.
Questions we get
- Do you also offer DTG printing?
- Yes. DTG prints directly onto suitable garments; DTF uses a film transfer. We review your fabric, artwork and quantity to help choose a process.
- How does DTF compare to screen printing?
- Screen print wins on very large runs of simple designs, because the per-piece cost keeps falling as the count goes up. DTF wins on everything else: short runs, many colors, photographic artwork, and mixed garment types in one order. There are no screens to make, so there is no setup charge and no color count to price around.
- Will it crack or peel?
- Not if it is pressed correctly and cured properly. A good DTF transfer survives commercial laundering. Wash inside out, warm rather than hot, and skip the fabric softener.
- Can you print and embroider the same order?
- Yes, and it is common — an embroidered left chest with a printed back is one of the most requested combinations we run. It stays a single job with a single approval.
- What is a gang sheet?
- One large film sheet with many designs nested onto it. You are charged for the area used rather than per transfer, so sending twenty small logos together costs far less than twenty separate transfers.
Next step
Send us a dtf printing job.
Tell us about your team, the garments you have in mind and your target date. Need help choosing? Include that in your request.
Or email DigitalxBoutique@gmail.com