Screen Printing vs DTG vs Embroidery

Ask ten “print on demand” providers what method they use and you’ll often get one answer: DTG, because it’s the cheapest to run at single-unit volume. That’s fine for some designs and wrong for others. Here’s what each method actually does, and where it falls apart.

Screen printing

Ink is pushed through a fine mesh stencil (one per colour) directly onto the fabric. It’s the oldest method here and, done properly, still the most durable and the most vivid — especially on dark garments, where it doesn’t fade the way DTG can.

• Best for: bold, solid-colour designs, logos, and text — especially on dark fabric
• Weak point: each colour needs its own screen, so it gets expensive per-design at low volume; complex photographic designs with gradients aren’t practical
• Feel: can sit slightly on top of the fabric depending on ink type, though modern water-based and discharge inks print much softer than older plastisol

Direct-to-garment (DTG)

A specialised inkjet printer applies ink straight onto the fabric, printing full colour in a single pass — like printing a photo, but onto a t-shirt. No screens, no setup cost per colour.

• Best for: detailed, multi-colour or photographic designs, gradients, and one-off or small runs where screen printing’s setup cost doesn’t make sense
• Weak point: ink sits into the fibres rather than as a distinct layer, so on very dark fabric a white underbase is needed and colours can read slightly less vivid than screen print; large solid blocks of colour can feel less durable over many washes than a good screen print
• Feel: soft, breathable — the ink becomes part of the fabric rather than sitting on it

Embroidery

Thread is stitched directly into the garment by machine, building up the design in physical texture rather than ink.

• Best for: logos, small text, caps, polos, jacket chest prints — anywhere a premium, tactile finish matters more than fine detail
• Weak point: can’t reproduce gradients, photographic detail, or very fine linework; gets expensive at large sizes since it’s priced by stitch count
• Feel: raised, textured, and extremely durable — often outlasts the garment itself

How to actually decide

Let the design pick the method, not the other way round. A two-colour logo on a black hoodie belongs in screen print or embroidery — running it through DTG wastes the method’s strength. A detailed, full-colour illustration belongs in DTG — screen printing it would mean six or seven separate screens for one design. If you’re printing a cap or anything with a small, simple mark, embroidery usually looks the most premium of the three.

A print-on-demand provider that only offers one method is quietly limiting what designs will actually look good on their products. Ask whether they offer all three in-house — see how Brandflow’s in-house model compares to Printful.