DTF printing is changing the fabric printing business.
As DTF printing revolutionarily changes the global fabric printing with its versatility and durability, more and more related businesses have successfully arisen and thrived. Plan to be one of the winners but not sure will it work out or not? Scroll down to get some practical hints!
PASSAGE SUMMARY
1. Is DTF Printing a Lucrative New Trend?
So extensive the coverage of DTF printing from the press, right? Claiming how it has met and created a new trend, how it has revolutionarily changed the way people do apparel decorating. But still confused about why so?
Here we go, let’s dive deep into that and start from understanding the custom apparel printing industry.
According to Precedence Research published in March 2023, the global custom T-shirt printing market has gained impressive total revenues in 2022. And optimistically, this value will gradually increase and hit around USD 14.81 billion by 2032.
Based on the achievements so far and the rapid improvement of Internet and printing technology, during the period of 2024-2032, the global custom T-shirt printing market is estimated to develop with trends as below:
More digital printings - Though screen printing has still been the top printing method applied in 2022, more and more people are changing from it to digital printing for its more accurate printings as well as abundant colors and environment-friendly operations.
Broader online market - With popularity of POD (Print-on-demand) business and e-commerce, online t-shirt sales segment has gained significant progress through all these years and is expected to continuously grow.
Personal preferences are more and more emphasized - In 2022, though graphic design (normally about standarized images like brand slogans or logos) takes up 58% of the t-shirt custom printing market share, t-shirts with artwork printings (normally about more personalized and unique designs) have accomplished impressive faster growing. Consumers have shown gradually increased interest in designs of personal preferences and products for personal use.
Does DTF printing meet all the trends above?
The answer is a YES.
DTF printing is a kind of digital printing, more specifically, heat transfer printing. It has aroused massive and broad attention since the day it’s introduced to the printing world. Unlike traditional printing method of screen printing, DTF printing requires minor manual force during the entire printing process; unlike DTG (Direct-to-garment) printing which has surprised printing world since 2000, DTF printing asks for no pre-treatment of fabrics and presents brighter colors even on dark-colored substrates.
Normally a DTF printing proceeds as below: ①DTF printer prints out graphic on PET film ②Adhesive powder being spread on printing ③Powder being cured via oven ④The cured printing being applied on fabric via heat press ⑤Film layer being peeled off.
DTF printing presents printing output with high reproduction of both colors and details; even though it needs multiple machines for production, the whole set of DTF printing takes up much less space than normal printing machines of industry-level, and is especially suitable for small businesses and studios.
According to Exploding Topics, among the top trending topics of April 2024, DTF (Direct-to-film) printer ranks as #9 with a search growth of 9.7%. Undoubtedly it is one of the most lucrative new trend in printing business.
2. How to Increase Your Revenue with DTF Printing Business
Now that DTF printing marks such great potential, how to start a related business and gain profit from it? Here we’re going to share some feasible business practices to get you inspired!
2.1 Home decors
Get your eyes off the screen and now look around, name any decoration items made of fabric as you can see: cushion cover, carpet, curtain, tapestry, coaster...... People nowadays are not content with living in a room that’s just okay, instead we’re chasing for a living environment that’s full of personal traits or memories, we are trying to produce a characteristic interior decorating style or just to create “a room of one’s own” - we turn to custom product services.
Take custom cushion covers as example. Cushions are always seen on sofa and bed, and they’re always in different cover patterns or colors. Given that, custom cushion cover orders tend to be of smaller quantity, and will be easier for DTF printing business holders to proceed.
photo by Procolored user @Hala Touch
2.2 Holiday & seasonal items
Any traditions popping out in your mind as naturally as buying a Christmas tree in Christmas season? You may answer this question with your head shaking, but luckily some of your customers are looking for personalized products for their personalized festive celebrations!
Among the numerous printing feedback from our users, we’ve noticed that some of them are special t-shirt orders for celebrating diverse personal milestones, like being about to deliver a baby, or a 100-days-of-school celebration for the child. Not to mention costumes prepared for universal holidays like Christmas or New Year.
Custom holiday and seasonal items indeed is a potential and lucrative market. The cost of one or two t-shirts does not that matter to most buyers, how the custom clothing fit right in those remarkable moments is the real thing they keep chasing for.
photo by Procolored user @Kristie Manley
photo by Procolored user @Stacey Hall
photo by Procolored user @JM Creative Prints
2.3 Specialty clothing
Apart from personal use, DTF printing businesses can also be started with producing uniforms for groups like shop employees, sports teams, etc.
As an advanced digital printing method, DTF printing can be applied on a wide range of materials, including cotton, polyester, silk, synthetic fibers and so forth. With such versatility, there are increasing orders of DTF printings on team caps, soccer socks or brand bags, besides on clothes.
Unlike manufacturing orders, these orders of specialty clothing normally are of smaller quantities and sometimes require diverse graphics or nameplates even in one order. DTF printing can meet all the needs at the same time.
photo by Procolored user @Familia Loera
photo by Procolored user @somos beautique
2.4 More practical ideas
There are also other practical ideas of doing DTF business like producing custom tote bags, towels, or even costumes for pets. Some of our users even start to search for more innovative applications of DTF printing - they transfer DTF printings onto wood and got some rather vivid decors!
photo by Procolored user @Hala Touch
photo by Procolored user @Hala Touch
photo by Procolored user @J Arthur Davis
3. Extra Business Tips
Washability - To better protect DTF print and help it last longer, we highly recommend the laundry method for all related clothes: wash inside out, low water temperature, tumble dry in low temperature.
Custom brand tag - One way to effectively promote a brand is by marking the products - for most apparel manufacturing brands, they sow a woven main label on the back neck or side seam of each product; but for most apparel printing producers, a heat transfer labels on the finished white-label clothes will be much more practical.
DTF can easily achieve that, the only thing you need to do is to confirm the label layout (which can be found online) and the printing placement (normally at the inner back neck). With proper washability method, both the brand label and artwork printing will last long and stay striking on the clothes - your customers will always be reminded of where such impressive custom shirts come from 😉
photo by Procolored user @Adriell Gutierrez
photo by Procolored user @Elvira Stewart
About the Author - Simon
Simon has worked in inkjet printing industry for years. He has the rare ability to see print related issues from many perspectives. Witnessing the gradual development of digital printing especially inkjet printing, Simon knows better about what the users are looking for and how the new technologies will truly help big or small businesses.
About the Author - Simon
Simon has worked in inkjet printing industry for years. He has the rare ability to see print related issues from many perspectives. Witnessing the gradual development of digital printing especially inkjet printing, Simon knows better about what the users are looking for and how the new technologies will truly help big or small businesses.
Subscribe
To join our mailing list
and never miss our updates!
Subscribe
To join our mailing list
and never miss a baby update!
Subscribe
To join our mailing list
and never miss our updates!
