First, the honest disclosure: Press My Crew prints direct-to-film (DTF) transfers, not screen prints. So read what follows knowing which side of the counter we are on — and that we will tell you when screen printing is the better buy.
What each method actually is
Screen printing pushes ink through a stencil (a “screen”) onto the shirt, one screen per color. Setting up screens costs time and money before the first shirt is printed, which is why screen printers quote setup fees and price by the number of colors. Once set up, each extra shirt is fast and cheap, and plastisol ink lays down a thick, opaque layer that has been the standard for decades.
Direct-to-film (DTF) prints your artwork — any number of colors, gradients, photographs — with white ink underneath onto a clear film, coats it with a powdered adhesive, and heat-presses the finished transfer onto the garment. There are no screens, so a one-color logo and a full-color photo cost the same to produce, and small text and thin lines print cleanly down to 6 pt type and 1 pt lines.
Where DTF wins for a crew order
- Multi-color and photographic artwork. Logos with gradients, sponsor blocks with many small logos, memorial photos, anything with more than two or three flat colors.
- Small runs and mixed garments. Thirty shirts, or a mix of tees, polos and hoodies in the same order, with no setup to amortize.
- Dark garments. The white under-base is printed with the design, so bright colors on navy or black cost nothing extra.
- Fine detail. Thin outlines, small type on the back with a phone number, halftone shading.
- Predictable pricing. On this site the package price covers one front logo of any complexity; a back print adds $2.50 per shirt and a sleeve $2.50, regardless of colors.
Where screen printing wins
- Very large runs of a simple design. Several hundred shirts with one or two colors: once the screens exist, the per-shirt cost drops below any transfer.
- Specialty inks. Puff, metallic, glow-in-the-dark, discharge (soft, dyed-into-the-fabric prints on cotton) and true water-based prints are screen-printing techniques.
- Oversized coverage. All-over or jumbo prints beyond an 11 × 11 in back area.
- Industrial laundering. Uniforms washed hot, daily, for years: plastisol’s thickness is an advantage there.
How the print feels and wears
A DTF transfer is thin and slightly smooth to the touch, similar to a modern plastisol print, and it flexes with the fabric. Screen prints vary: a heavy plastisol print sits on top of the shirt and can feel stiff on large areas; water-based or discharge prints feel like the fabric itself. No honest printer can promise a wash count for either method: it depends on the garment, the size of the design and how the shirt is washed and dried. What helps a DTF print most is simple care: inside out, cold, tumble low or hang dry, no iron on the print.
Reading a competitor’s quote
When you compare a screen-printing quote to a package here, add the screen or setup fee per color per location, any charge for a white under-base on dark shirts, and the art fee if your file needs separating into colors. Then check the garment: a quote on a basic tee and a quote on the Gildan Softstyle 64000 adult T-shirt are not the same shirt. Our packages include the garment, one front logo, the proof and free shipping or pickup; the FAQ lists exactly what is extra.
Short answers
- Is DTF as durable as screen printing?
- For everyday wear, DTF does well with simple care: wash the shirt inside out in cold water, tumble dry low or hang it, and never iron the print. How long any print lasts depends on the shirt, the size of the design and how it is washed, so we do not promise a number of washes. Screen-printed plastisol is still the standard for very heavy, repeated industrial laundering.
- Which is cheaper for 100 shirts?
- For one- or two-color artwork, screen printing and DTF land close. For three or more colors, gradients or photos, DTF is usually cheaper because there are no screens to make and no per-color charges — our package price is the same whether your logo has two colors or twenty.
- Does Press My Crew screen print?
- No. Every garment on this site is DTF, printed and heat-pressed at our shop in Chicago Ridge; our 15 oz mugs are dye sublimated, because transfer film will not bond to a glazed surface. If your job genuinely calls for screen printing (see below), we will say so.
Ready to see your artwork on a shirt? The design studio shows the print at real size before you order, and every order gets a proof before it prints.